It is NOT about forcing the baby to memorise or to understand the concept immediately from flashcards. Its main piroirity is to INPUT and EXPOSE to them the different topics and it doesn't matter whether if they are too young to understand that certain topic, because the purpose is to ACTIVATE their RIGHT BRAIN and store that information in it. When the right time arrive, their left-brain would automatically "decode" whatever information you've inputed into their right brain earlier, and in this way, gradually they will understand and use the learnt information at a faster rate.
Whether it is from Glenn Doman, Shichida or Heguru, which are the top 3 pioneers for babies' early-learning via flashcards, they all follow similar principles and rules, such as
1) To start as early as possible as the window opportunity is from birth to age of 3
2) Flashing at a high speed to activate the right brain
3) To teach with love and joy
When Reagan was an infant, we exposed him to visual stimulation cards and lots of music. Not only we play him different kind of songs and music, mummy also sang to him all the time.
At nearly 3 months old onwards, we started flashing picture cards, Shichida's dots cards and Glenn Doman Word cards. And from then on, Reagan's love for learning and flashcards took off from there. Till now, mummy cherishes every single bonding session with baby Reagan through our daily home activities.
Reagan displayed interest in phonics and alphabets during one of the trial classes that I brought him, therefore mummy input that in the daily home-learning, by flashing the alphabets and reciting the phonics sound of each alphabet. He has been enjoying his learning activities every since.
His Daily 5 mins Home-Learning includes:
- 5 X Glenn Doman cards
- 1 set of Shichida dots cards
- 15 topics pictures Flashcards
- 1 set Phonics flashcards
- 1 BabyCanRead book
- 1 BabyCanRead sliding words cards
Refer to the video here.
2) Math dots cards- There are two types of Math dots programs, one from Glenn Doman and the other one from Shichida. Because I'm more familiar with the Shichida method therefore I chose to use his Lightning Rapid Calculation 65 Day Dots Program. The course outline can be found here here.
3) Some of the pictures flashcards are either bought from bookstore and online websites, but most of the cards are "home-made" by myself. Believe it or not, I started making my own flashcards when baby Reagan is still in my tummy.
4) I printed my own Zoo-Phonics cards using the same animals learned in his current Bibinog school, so he can relate it during his school lesson as well. He grew familiar when I flash the cards everyday and recite the animals and the sounds they made, so during class he shows more excitement when the teacher recite the phonics to him.
5)BabyCanRead series of books and flashcards are bought at a discounted price during a baby fair held in Expo. Mainly it's just books/cards that shows the words and the pictures separately.
- Story books
It is easier to cultivate good reading habits if you start from young. I began reading storybooks to Reagan after he was able to sit up straight at around 6 months old. I just show him the pictures and read or describe the pictures to him, or point the words when I read if they are big and clear enough. To capture his attention, I choose books that are bright and colourful and flip the pages fast enough to retain his attention span.
- Teaching Folder
-Educational DVDs
There are many articles and research that emphasize the harmful effects that are caused if baby is exposed to too much tv, regardless whether or not they are educational. It may be beneficial to a toddler or a young child who is probably able to pick up what is taught in the education programme but it may not be likewise for a baby. This article explains more on the tv effects on baby, worth a min of read up.
Despite that, Reagan has 3 educational dvds, Baby Signing Time, Baby Can Read and Sparkabilities. I'm still strictly against the use of TV to teach a baby, so a little confession on my part, usually when I play Reagan's dvd , it is mainly for me to "buy" time to keep him entertained for just a short while so I can take a bath, wash up , sterilise his bottles or do some quick cleaning up. So if I really need to use the TV to buy me time, it might as well be some educational programmes. However, we set a very strict TV rule for Reagan at home. We restrict his DVD time to only 10 minutes a day (IF it is necessary only, otherwise he will go without TV the entire day) and never play it for him before his school time or bedtime. And that includes the IPad. We do alot on listening though, playing his familiar videos or songs on the IPad then hide it away from him so he can only LISTEN, which in my opinion, encourages auditory and visualization thinking skills.
-Our Goals for baby Reagan's learning journey:
1) To raise him up in a fun-loving and stimulating environment, creating lots of exposure, enriching his learning experience, so he would grow to become an inquisitive boy who finds joy in learning and displaying his creativity.
2) To provide a lifetime of love, attention, support, guidance and encouragement to build up his confidence for him to reach his full potential in life at his own comfortable pace.
3) To give him the best and most memorable childhood.
- A Teacher and a Mother
I've always got this deep interest and strong passion in the studies of early-learning. Teaching and bonding with my baby boy is one of the greatest opportunity, satisfaction and fulfillment in my life now. My baby boy is also my teacher who is teaching me so much more than what I'm teaching him now. He taught me to love whole-heartedly, to cultivate my patience, to be stronger and tougher (mentally and physically) and to be thankful and cherish every simplest thing that happen to me in life. To sum it up, he shows me the light to happiness and completes me as a better person.
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