Sept review

This month has past by like a quick breeze. We have to bring the kids on a few short trips this end of the year, therefore I've temporary stopped his enrichment classes for now.

Some of the new activities that I've been doing together with my 2 years old these couple of weeks...

-Mandala
I've printed out my own mandalas and practice with him at home.

 Not bad for his first try :)

 -Puzzles
Reagan is showing more interest working on puzzles, especially after HappyTrain made them practice on the 12pcs ones. He is able to focus and complete 4-8 pcs puzzles with my guidance.

- Poker/ IQ/ Spelling game
I began to use poker cards to teach counting and sorting, still thinking of more new ideas on how to use the cards. I bought a sequence cards game which was a little too easy for his age, so we only played once and then chucked it aside. The spelling game was another good buy of mine (only 5 bucks!) and Reagan simply likes to do this activity with me. It comes with many letters chips and pictures cards to be spelt. First I ask him for the name of the picture, then I spelt the word for him. After that he will pick up the letters to make the word and spell it back to me again. I'm not sure whether how many spelling words he can really absorb, but it's definitely a very good input and most importantly, he's enjoying this game very much.

-Phonics story book

I've bought a couple more phonics story books for him and this time I'm moving on to the letters blendings. 

 Reagan's new interests this month

-Loves to ride on the bus and taxi so much that everyday without fail, he'll be pleading me to take him out to ride the bus AND taxi...

- He is obsessed with railway trains, trucks and bus now and able to recognise the type of heavy-duty vehicle on the road. There was a couple of times when he surprised us by pointing and yelling out "cement-mixer" and "excavator"  when we passed by a construction site. My helper explained that Reagan has a book on trucks and he has memorised all the types of vehicles in that book! (I don't even remember buying him that book on trucks!)

- His daddy bought him a wooden train set recently and he fell in love with trains! I took this chance to introduce him Thomas the Train and Chugginton ....and yes he is now a big fan of them and also turning into a train set collector himself! Now I know what theme he can choose for his next birthday !

How Reagan Learns Sounds of Alphabets (Phonics)

Reagan can recognise all the initial sounds of the 26 alphabet letters at near 20 months. I make the letter sound, eg. "ber ber" and he can point to letter "B", "ge ge" and he points to letter "G", and so on. Now he is trying his best to say out the letter sounds vocally. Almost everyday I test him the same questions over and over again, "what does A says? What does B says? and so on..."

So far he can say out the phonics sound pretty clearly for "A,B,C,D,G,I,K,M,O" but the rest he is still babbling through haha, well at least he tries..!

 

How Reagan is exposed to Phonics

 

1)Flashing of the alphabet phonics cards since he was a baby.

2) Listening to the Phonics songs I played to him on Youtube. I sing along with him or prepare cards and flash together with the song for him.

 

3) I sang to him his ABC songs but instead of singing the alphabet letters, I sing the phonics sounds instead.

 

4) I bought a Phonics CD & book titled "Ants On The Apple" and have been going through with him since he was a year old. I let him listen to the CD and point to the letters and sentence on the book.

One of my mummies friends gave me the idea of tearing the pages out, laminate them and flash them as cards. Which is what I did!

 

I'm still looking out for more ideas for Alphabets and Phonics games because so far he is enjoying every single activity!

Reagan's Home Practice update for 1st quarter of yr 2014

An update on Reagan's current home practice as of 18 months onwards in beginning of year 2014..

Alphabets & Phonics
Although Reagan has already mastered all the 26 alphabet letters and their initial phonics letters sounds, I'm still constantly thinking of new activities to enforce further on his alphabets learning.
 
Eg. Matching the upper case letters (magnetic letters) to the lower case letters (printed on a paper). Now he can finally match correctly big capital "A" to small letter "a", all the way to letter "Z".

At times I prepare worksheets like this (below) for him to do. So far he is able to complete them all by himself, although sometimes he would miss out one or two letters, which he would still manage to find it after I gave him some hints.

 

Flashcards

Reagan is still having his daily dose of flashcards, 25-30 topics each session. There are days when I'm feeling tired (or lazy), so I may just skipped all activities and just do the cards flashing only. Till now I strongly believe that flashcards did help in building a strong learning foundation for Reagan as I can see that at this stage, he is picking up learning concepts really fast and I've to literally keep up with his learning pace.

Besides the 25-30 topics, I've also been practicing his words/phrase cards, and at same time, adding more words for him to recognise each week.

Recently I've added in the Glenn Doman Intelligence bits cards as well, topics on "Body Organs" and "Composers", inputting one of the 10 facts each day.

 

Puzzles

I've moved on from 2 pieces puzzles to 3-4 pieces puzzles this year. Reagan knows where each piece should go to form the picture, but he still can't really piece them properly by himself. He just placed them together but not fix them together properly. There are more room for improvement in his motor skill, but I still appreciate that he didn't give up at all..

 

Reading

After Reagan can recognise words, I gradually move on to reading. Reagan is still too young to read out the sentences in the books vocally, however it does not mean that I cannot prepare him on his reading. When he was younger, I used to read and point the sentence (in one direction) to him, then describe the pictures in the book.

 

At 20 months old, I've begin to start him on the habit of pointing to the words on the page himself while he listens to me reading the sentence out loud for him. So as I read, he points the words. And hopefully soon after he turns the age of 2 and develop better speech, he can point AND read the sentence to me by himself!

 

This series of books, "WOW! I Can Read" is bought from one of the "Growing Fun" outlets when I happened to see a sales staff recommending them to a mother who wanted to get something for her 5 years old child. The mom asked if I'm also getting the books, and I replied yes, as I think they be useful to start my boy on reading. She nodded as well and shared with me how she struggles to teach her 5 years old child to read. And then the awkward part came when she asked how old my boy is now....

Well, I don't know how to tell her that my child was just 18 months that time, and getting the same books which she was going to buy for her 5 years old child. I cant blame her if she sees me as some insane kiasu tiger mom. Still I believe it is never too young to start reading especially if your baby enjoys it.

 

So back to the books, what I like is the big clear bold words and pictures with clear background. It also emphasizes on sight words which are usually common in reading, eg" This is, I am, It is, I have, Because...and many more." It comes in 3 sets of 5 books with different difficulty level. I kept the books till Reagan hits 20 months before I started him on the first set. So far he is enjoying the reading session as much as I do.

 

 What more I've planned to do soon...

- Start him on Shichida Math Dots cards again. Repeat from first cycle.
- Focus a little more on Mathematics, teach him the concept of addition and subtraction
- Practice memory games with him (eg. Instant memory, photography memory, space memory, linking memory)
- Practice more tracing and writing with him

 

Our Baby Signing Journey

The day before, coincidentally two of my mummies friends texted me at the same time to get my feedback over the use of baby signing. Reagan has been exposed to baby signing for nearly 18 months and now I've gradually retiring it because my boy is now ready for more new and challenging learnings ahead. Reagan still remembers all the signings that was taught to him and we did enjoy a fantastic baby-signing journey together. And since I was asked for a feedback, I thought it'll be a good idea to record it down on my blog as part of an update of Reagan's learning development..

How our baby-signing journey begins...

While teaching as an instructor years ago, the parents of one of my 2 years old class brought up the use of "Baby Signing Time" to me when I mentioned that their girl seems very expressive in her speech and learning concepts ( as mentioned in my previous blog before, under baby-signing.) 
So after I had Reagan, I started to teach him the signing for milk when he was just an infant, just to "trial" to see if it works. And yes it did....at 7 months old, he spoke his first word "MILK" to us, which is also the first and only baby sign I taught him during that time (as recorded here). Speaking his first word at 7 months is enough to impress and got everyone in the house jumping in awe and excitement. And they began "pushing" me to teach him more baby signings. From then on, every time he wants milk, he either sign to us or just cried out "milk milk!"  I began researching more on baby signing, introduce it to him and allows him to naturally grasp it at his own pace. It was near 1 year old onwards that he's able to do more signings back to us. Well and that's pretty much how our baby- signing journey begins...

Like other mummies, I did hear of rumours that baby signing causes delay in speech at the later stage. However I took it with a pinch of salt, as so far what I've witnessed (esp the learning development of that particular 2 years old student in my class) it seems to be the opposite of the truth. I think it is more convincing if the individual that mentioned this has experienced the delay in speech after teaching his or her own child baby-signing or witnessed or know a child ( not just heard from somewhere) who learned signing and did encounter the problem. So far I've always heard of it as a rumor but yet to witness any negative feedbacks from other real parents who taught their baby signing.

It reminds me of another saying I used to hear before (as a rumour too), that you cannot teach a young child too much, otherwise when they're older, they will show no interest in learning. ??!! Seriously where do they hear this from?! THIS IS SO OPPOSITE OF THE TRUTH !!!! And I've so many reasons and facts to defiant this ridiculous rumour...

Anyway back to the topic on baby signing, there are also many who have never encountered baby signing and also doing well from other inputs too. So to me, baby signing is just another kind of learning or another type of input for babies. Good to expose, but certainly not a compulsory.
Still, thinking back on our journey of baby signing, below are some of the benefits which I like to highlight in my blog entry...  mainly based on what Reagan and I have derived from signing...

How baby signing benefits my baby and I

-Strengthen parent-child bond and boost his learning and self-esteem

Signing as a baby before he can speaks increase the number of positive interactions between us. It allows Reagan to relate to the things he sees around him and although he cant communicate to me vocally yet, his ability to sign encouraged him to initiate a conversation with me as a baby, which then of course I will respond positively back to him.
 For eg. When Reagan sees a flower, he did the sign for "flower" to me , which of course motivates me to praise him for doing the sign correctly, and carry on the conversation by telling him the colour of the flowers or count the number of flowers with me. This example shows that as a baby, he has attempted to initiate a conversation with me by signing and I was motivated to carry on the learning by adding more inputs. In other words, it helps him to relate to the things around him and aids me to provide more inputs on the subject which he signed and shows interest in. He also knew that it is a way to get my positive responds effectively when he relate to something using signing. So before my baby can speak, he has signed, communicated and learned more new information from me which therefore helps to boost his self-esteem, confidence ( more willing to express what he learned) and also strengthen our bondings.

- Early input of good manners
Baby Reagan is able to sign "thank you", "please" and "sorry" as a baby, which means at an early age he understood the use of the above gestures and able to apply it during situations that requires him to use it. I believe it is good and necessary to cultivate good manners from young, and when they're older, it gradually becomes a good habit and you don't have to constantly remind them to" use" their manners.

- Aids in teaching him to read
I feel this is probably the most important benefit of baby signing for Reagan and me. I'll never know that baby Reagan can recognise words before he can speak, IF he didn't sign to me the words he could "read". Since he had a "collection" of vocabs that he could already sign, I was able to use those vocabs and teach him to read them in words form. So although he has yet to be fully developed in his speech, he could already show me he can recognise words by signing what the words mean (video). Therefore it motivates me to teach him more and more words to give him a head start in his reading skill. And when his speech development comes in, hopefully he'll be soaring off from there.

The entire episode of baby signing learning with Reagan has been a fulfilling one. Each time my baby successfully learned a sign and used it correctly, it brings me so much joy and excitement and always motivate me to teach him more. I'll probably expose my 2nd boy baby signing too because since Reagan has already gone through the learning of signing, I knew by then he will be happy looking forward to be his younger brother's "little teacher" too !

So byebye signing time, time for your retirement....but we shall see you again very soon!

 

Reagan's Learning Milestones at 20 months

Social Skill
- Enjoys being around with other children
- Gets excited during an activity
- Shares and plays amicably
- Listens and follows instructions well individually or in a group
- Shows no signs of strangers' anxiety

Physical/motor development
- Still trying to improve on walking steadily and self-feeding with a spoon
- able to draw circle and straight line when told.

Language/Speech
- Imitate single word sounds
- Express well through signing
- Hums accurately to favourite songs
- Able to recognise and points correctly up to 100 objects (body parts, animals, things around us etc)
- Shows interest in foreign language like "San Zi Jing" in mandarin and "Hiragana" in Japanese

Cognitive development
- Recognise alphabets from A to Z and their phonetic sounds.
- Recognise the names of colours ( red, blue, yellow, green, purple, pink, brown, black and white).
- Recognise names of basic shapes ( circle, square, triangle, oval, rectangle, diamond, crescent).
- Recognise numbers 1-10, both numeral and quantity.
- Read 50 sets of words and phrases.
(For all the above, he cant say out many of the the names vocally but is able to point to the correct answer when asked to, and able to sort and match them correctly.)

...

 

Reagan is doing well and I respect his own pace of learning and catching up. I wish he has more confidence in his physical/ motor skill, such as walking up and down the steps or balancing himself on a beam etc. And probably more practice on his practical life skill too ,like self-feeding, drinking from a cup, zipping or buttoning his own clothes,combing his own hair and brushing his own teeth properly etc.

 

The next one will be his speech development, although he is always babbling non-stop , imitating single word and shrieking in joy and excitement now, I hope gradually he will learn to express more vocally, using proper phrases.

 

I'm pretty satisfied with his cognitive learning, because with his amazing attention span and fast rate of grasping concepts now, it is certainly a joy to teach him. He responds well and always shows great enthusiasm especially during the learning of new concepts. Soon I like to introduce more puzzles ,memory games and writing activities.  

 

 Every single accomplishment he achieved, regardless how tiny it is, is considered a giant fulfilling joy to me. I hope my darling will continue to enjoy learning , and together we will have so much more fun more than ever!

Recognising 26 Letters of the Alphabets (at 19 months)

I think 18 months is like a magical age when we gradually witness many of Reagan's "outputs". It was only yesterday that hubby and I just discovered that Reagan recognised all the 26 alphabet letters at 19 months old. It was by chance that my mom tested him on his alphabets on a book and he managed to pick all the letters correctly. Then one day when I was having a casual chat with my mom, I informed her that after his bedroom/studyroom is ready, I'll start to emphasize on the teaching of alphabet letters. It was then my mom mentioned that she thought I've already taught him because Reagan has proven to her that he can recognise all the alphabets. So we tested him and she was right.  He can't actually say out the letter but he will point to the right letter that you want him to point to.

(Click VIDEO HERE)

We tried on other topic like "colours" and he is able to recognise the name of the colours,  red, yellow, green , blue, purple, orange, black, white and grey and sort items to their respective colours.

Therefore it was certainly a pleasant surprise to all of us. In my personal opinion, I felt that his strong foundation derived from the early right-brain training and flashcards are factors that enables him to grasp concepts faster and easier. Honestly, I haven't really sit him down seriously and revise thoroughly on the topics alphabets and colours. But he did have a few flashcards topics on alphabets and colours which I flash to him almost every other day, some random puzzles related to alphabets and of course the occasional singing of his ABC song. Therefore I believe these early exposures contributes as well.

Reagan did not follow the "traditional" method of language learning, which usually begins with recognising alphabets first, then phonics, follow by reading and spelling. He actually learned to recognise words and phrases first before the alphabets letters, which is also how the Glenn Doman Method works. My next step will be starting him on phonics soon, emphasising on the initial sounds of each alphabet letters and guide him on his writing of the alphabets.

Reagan hasn't been expressing much vocally, although he enjoys babbling and humming to his favourite tunes. I hope before he turns two, he not only master the 26 letters but also able to read out the letters and their phonics sound. Both of us are looking forward to our new learning goal together!

Baby Can Read - How I teach my baby

After the video of baby Reagan recognizing words at 16 mths was posted  (click VIDEO), I've received private messages from other parents, asking how it can be done. Once again let me emphasize that ALL babies can do it. Parents just need a little time and effort to do the teaching. If you do some research online, there are many methods that can be used to teach baby to read. However I followed a little of the Glenn Doman flashcards method combined with my own schedule and method of fun teaching. So here to share...

The Preparation

First I prepare the cards I want to teach baby Reagan to read. The words have to be large and clear and be either red or black in colour. You can also write the words yourself using a bold marker, but because I don't really have nice handwriting, therefore I print them out instead. I started with most of the body parts words, action words or words that I've been teaching him to baby sign, so he can relate to them easier.

Step 1: Flash the words FAST (less than 1 sec per card)

I started off with 10 cards and since baby Reagan is comfortable with this quantity, I continue to stick with 10 and change the words every month.  You can also begin with lesser cards like probably 5 instead. 

 Flash the words card FAST and read out loud to your baby everyday. Eg. Flash the card "clap" and read "clap", flash the card "ears" and read "ears" and so on. The key here is to FLASH FAST and also, NO explanation is needed. After flashing all the cards, always shower your baby with hugs , kisses and praises. Continue doing this for 10 days.

Step 2: Show the word on the cards and do the action

This is probably the step that babies may enjoy. Show the word, read the word while pointing to it in a left to right direction (as though u are underlining the word with your index finger), and do the action (using baby signing or just by pointing to it). 

Eg. Show and read the card "clap", and you clap your hands, show and read the card "ears" and you pull his or your ears, show and read the card "nose" and you point to his or your nose. If your baby is older, encourage him to do the action with you, otherwise you just let him watch you "perform". Now the key here is REPETITION.Continue doing this for at least the next 10 days, and not forgetting more hugs, kisses and praises after every session. 

Step 3: Have fun practicing

For the last 10 days of the month, you may have realized that your child is already recognizing some or even all the words! You show them the word card and "underlined" it with your finger and before you read out the word, your child is already showing you the action or pointing to the correct body part. Spend the next 10 days practicing with him. 

Every individual baby is different, some may have yet to develop the motor skill to do certain actions (Eg, you don't expect a 6 months old baby to walk when you teach the word "walk"), some may take more days to master all the words, and some may even take shorter time to learn them. Some babies do not like to be tested too many times as well, so if they refuse to show you, it doesn't mean that they do not understand the words. Reagan too have his good and moody days. On some days he can demonstrate ALL his word cards like a pro, and on some days he got bored of being tested and wants me to show him the actions instead. Parents need to be consistent, have lots of patience and trust for their baby. Their brain is absorbing like a sponge at this stage, which is the best time to INPUT!

There is also no hard and fast rules over the number of words to teach or the number of days to practice. I used 10 cards and 10 days for each step as it is easier for me to monitor the number of words and time I take to teach my 16 months old. So in average I know he learns to read 10 new words a month

Final step: Plan fun games to reinforce the words he learnt.

Even though you have moved on to teaching him the new words, don't forget to bring back the old words and practice with him occasionally. Invent new games or activities that can help to reinforce the words he had learnt. Eg.Sometimes I placed all the cards on the floor, and get him to Hi-5 or bring me the correct card that I'm looking for.

Or else I print pictures or use real-life objects and get him to match them to the correct cards. Sometimes instead of showing him the card, I wrote the letters on a paper ,whiteboard or writing board and get him to read them (as shown in the video). Be creative, think of fun ideas and interesting activities to practice with your baby! Most importantly, have lots of fun playing the games together! 

Transiting from cards-flashing to words reading

An update from the previous post here, when I discovered that at 16 mths, baby Reagan began to recognize the words that I've been flashing to him. I've added another 10 new words and at 17 mths old now, he can "read" a total of 20 sets of words. He can pick the correct card when I read him out the word, or do the actions for each word I write or show him. (click video HERE.).

I began with daily pictures cards flashing first when he was an infant, then gradually move on to pictures + words flashing, and slowly I start to show him the words one by one with actions or signings. After much repetitions, he is able to recognize the words he see and relate them to the actions. ALL babies can do it !!! I've witnessed more impressive results from other mamas and their babies.

 Baby Reagan enjoys this activity very much, and almost everyday he will bring me his writing board and wants me to go through the words with him.

Words he learnt to read last month
-clap
-head
-eyes
-mouth
-fingers
-tongue
-toes
-bellybutton
-raise your hands
-wave hello

New words he learnt to read this month
-nose
-ears
-hair
-kick
-sorry
-thank you
-milk
-baby
-close your eyes
-shake your head

My Baby Can Read too!

Today is the day that my 16 months old baby is successfully able to "read" 10 sets of words which I've been practicing with him the for last 2 months. I show him the word on the card (without reading the words out), and he is able to look at the word and point or do the action of it.

The ten words
- clap
- eyes
- mouth
- fingers
- head
- tongue
- toes
- bellybutton
- raise your hands
- wave hello

I'm still trying to find a chance to record it on video, hopefully other parents can be more motivated and convinced that all babies are really genius and they do can read !!! I witnessed my boy's success with my very eyes, not only me, but my hubby and my mom were totally amazed too. Well, hubby was skeptical and thought I was exaggerating baby's boy ability, UNTIL I proved it to him right in his face. He was blown away and was totally impressed. He even commented how unbelievable it is to witness a baby recognizing written words.

 Many times I watched the beginning of the YourBabyCanRead DVD when Dr Tizer flash the words cards to his baby and she was able to "read" and do the actions for all the cards. I always wonder how true is that and if baby Reagan can do it too. And now I'm truly convinced that ALL babies can read and IT IS TRUE ! It is up to the parents how determined they are to put in effort to teach.

Probably in the next couple of days I try to catch it on video. It is not easy as most of the time I'm handling baby alone and need someone to help me with the recording while I demonstrate the cards with him. I'm truly excited and maybe next week I can come out with another 10 new words to practice with him !

Tracing Sandpaper Alphabets

Vowels are mounted on blue background and consonants on pink background. Sandpaper letters are used for babies to study the shape of the alphabets with their sense of touch, before they acquire the gross motor abilities to hold a writing tool to write the letter.

This is one of Reagan's top favorite learning material. 

I allow him to trace 2 different letters a day and he is able to relate them to his alphabet poster. 

A few times right after he finished tracing the sandpaper letters, he would crawl over to the alphabet poster to find the letters he traced. My boy is so eager to show me what he had learnt!

At 13 months (adjusted age), he is still loving his alphabets, good job baby boy!

Shapes sorter and Matching wooden alphabets

While I was tearing the packaging of this shapes sorting toy, Reagan was already climbing all over me excitedly, trying to lay his hands on it. The shapes are supposed to be inserted in the right holes of the same shapes, which helps in training IQ and finger-control. However baby Reagan has not understood how the game is supposed to be played. He picks up any shape randomly and tries to insert them in any holes. Mummy has to explain repeatedly and helps him with it. But each time either me or him successfully dropped the shape into the box, he will look at me and starts giggling. He would want to play the toy each time I brought it out, but it can only hold his attention spa for probably less than 6 minutes before he starts crawling away looking for new excitements.

 Baby Reagan is still in love with the wooden alphabets I bought recently. He can spend quite a while fondling the letters and observing each of them like some priceless antiques. And what he enjoys most is picking up the letters and pass it to me one by one while I say out the name and phonics sound of each alphabet he chose . And if he tries to pass me the alphabets and I shake my head, telling him I do not want to play anymore, he starts CRYING! Once I take the letter from his hand and starts reciting, his smiles immediately return. It can be quite hilarious actually!

 After baby Reagan is able to recognize the names of some of the pictures especially from his flashcards, I try to bring it to the next level by teaching him to match the alphabets to the picture that begin with that letter. So far he is able to match A, B and C to the right picture cards. I'm also in the midst of getting him familiar with more alphabets letters, other than those he already knew. At 13 months now, he is able to recognize and pick out the right letters,  A,B,C,O,T, X (well he gets at least 90% of the time right, the last 10% is when he gets tired of the game and just pick up any random letter to shut you up haha).

Now with the wooden alphabets, I'm gradually trying to introduce 1 new letter a week, and at same time practicing the previous ones he already knew. Baby Reagan is enjoying his alphabets game and I'm having lots of fun with him as well.

Home Practice for 15 mths old (his adjusted age 12.5mths)

Baby Reagan's yearning to learn and explore increases each day. We set up a learning corner in our bedroom, a proper area we can do our daily home practice together. Each time I want to begin our home practice, I will sing "Everybody sitting down, sitting down, sitting down. Everybody sitting down, it is fun time with mummy!" (tune of London's Bridge is Falling Down.) And my baby boy will crawl excitedly to our learning corner, where I'm already waiting.

I prepared a card with his name on it and placed it on where I want him to sit. I'll ask " R.E.A.G.A.N spelt Reagan! Who is Reagan? Your name is Reagan!" By then he'll be smiling very cheekily at me as he picks up his name card and hand it to me. 

During his Heguru class, name cards of the students are also placed on the floor, therefore he knew that when lesson starts, he needs to pick his name up and pass it to the teacher.

 1) First we begin with flashcards 

- 20 x topics of picture cards

- 5 x Glenn Doman words cards in English

- 5 x  Glenn Doman cards in Mandarin

- 5 x BabyCanRead Words Sliding cards

2) ESP game
Either I insert the piano or drum into one of the red packets (I wanted to use white envelopes but ran out of it.) Then I put both red packets near his ears and get him to listen for the sound made by the piano (or drum), and get him to pick the right red packet with the piano (or drum) inserted inside. 

ESP is one segment of right-brain that I did not really show much emphasis on at first , until baby Reagan started getting most of the ESP questions right during his Heguru class. So I thought he might enjoy the ESP game in his daily home practice.

3) Dot bar
The dot bar which I learned from his Heguru class, is used to teach simple addition and subtraction. The number of grid squares increases as they advance. I started with 5x5 grid and use colored magnets instead to represent the dots.

 4) Proverb & Poem reciting
Every week I introduced a new proverb in English and a poem in Mandarin. I'll just point and recite them 3 times each.

5) San Zi Jing

I began to expose him to San Zi Jing via flashcards.

By this moment, if he starts to lose attention, gets distracted or even crawl away...I'll play this SanZiJing poem (click HERE) on the Ipad right after I finished reciting the above. Most of the time it works in getting him AND his attention back. However I'm still not comfortable in using gadgets like Ipad, TV or computer to teach. It has been proven to cause more harm than benefits for babies, such as poor eyes and brain development, and behavioral problems after long-term usage. Therefore this Ipad activity only comes in when necessary. Otherwise I will put it on the Ipad but keep it away from his reach, so he can only listen to it.

6) 2 pieces puzzle
I'm trying to introduce puzzle-fixing to my baby boy, and 2 pieces puzzles are probably the best type to start him with. At the same time I can also input the concept of half and whole.

To make the game easier for babies, each lesson I only choose 2 kinds of animals for him to play with. (Throw them too many pieces at one time will confuse them and they end up chewing on the puzzles.)

 I will demonstrate to him how I fix the puzzle together to get a whole picture of the animal. Then I pick up one piece to show him and ask him to help me look for the other half of the puzzle. He just have to choose and pick one from the 2 pieces. Baby Reagan cant really fix the puzzle together by himself yet, so usually I do it for him and get him to fix them in place by tapping on it.

7) Alphabets or Phonics  

 I sing the ABC song or recite the Phonics sounds while flashing the alphabets or pointing to the chart. This is still his all-time favorite.

8) Shells Pasta Finger-Training

This is a new activity that I created for him, but only play this game strictly under close supervision, especially for babies close to a year or below. The first time I brought out the pastas, Reagan went crazy over them and was so eager to pop them into his mouth. They look similar to a type of biscuits that we often give him and therefore I had a hard time to stop him from eating my pastas before I can even start the game.

The shells pasta can be used in many ways to train their fingers-control. They can first learn to pick it up one by one using their fingers (thumb and index fingers) and transfer them to another container. As they advance, they can start using a ladle or spoon to transfer the pastas. 

I taught Reagan to pick up the pasta shell one by one and put them in individual compartment of the ice-tray and did simple counting together. The shells pasta and ice-tray activity can be used to input various math concepts, even multiplication and division.
I will come to that again when Reagan has reached that stage.

Reagan always gives up after completing like 2-3 compartments, then he will try to "spice up" the game by grabbing the pasta shells and throwing them across the floor. He also enjoys toppling the entire container of pastas and swiping them with his bare hands in glee. I hope I can gradually cultivate his patience until he is able to successfully fill up the entire ice-tray all by himself.

9) Tracing Activity

 I've started to let him use the crayons or markers to do some scribbling, since he was also given a chance to use them during his Heguru class. I bought a book on tracing, tear them out page by page and insert them into a sheet protector. So he can use the whiteboard marker to trace and erase as many times as he wants.

I still have to monitor him closely during this activity as there are still times when he attempts to put the marker into his mouth. At this stage they can't hold a writing tool very well, so I've to control his hand and guide him to trace. However he finds more enjoyment using the duster to erase off everything after this activity ends.

10) Story-reading or Music dancing

Lastly, we often end our home practice either with a story book (if his patience is still present)

, or playing the CD and dancing to his favorite songs. It depends on his mood too, baby Reagan doesn't really dance or even move or groove to the music. However he loves to watch me dance for him instead, which is what I always do.

Our daily home practice consist of 10 easy steps and has increased from 5 to 8-10 minutes a day. The entire curriculum is catered to my boy as every baby's interest is different. I'm looking forward to add some memory games like Mandala and linking memory, or speed-reading and Iroita to his home practice once he is ready for it. I'll gradually monitor and adjust his home practice session as he grows older. 

Baby boy is still enjoying his fun learning time with mummy and I too cherish every single home practice bonding session with him. Mummy has so much fun learning together with you, love you always my baby boy!

Baby signing

We admit that we haven't been very consistent with our signing practice with baby Reagan. Well, until he unexpectedly signed back to us at 11 months (corrected age). His first sign was "MILK" (open fist close fist). My mom was bathing him when he actually signed to her that he wants milk. Check out video here. Daddy is now convinced that baby signing really works and started signing more often to him. Our next sign to teach him is, "thank you."

Update of 5 mins daily home practice for 1 yr old

Home practice for my 1 year old (corrected age 9.5mths old)

-some changes to his daily 5mins home practice.

1) Increase to 20 topics of flashcards
I started off with 10-15 topics when he was still a baby, and now I've increased to 20 different topics and gradually trying to add on to 25 sets. Usually I flash all his cards once a day only but on certain nights when he is still energetic and can't get to sleep, I will take out 10-15 sets of his retired cards and flash to him again.

2) Retired the BabyCanRead books but continue its sliding words cards.
Baby Reagan seems to have lesser patience for books reading now. He prefers the pages to be flipped fast, otherwise he would either try to flip it himself before I can finish reading, or he would just simply crawl away happily. Therefore I decided to stop his books reading for a period of time first, before trying it again some day. I really want to start the habit of reading him a book before putting him to bed at night. But I guess I'll have to begin this habit probably when he's slightly older like 18mths to 2 yrs old.

2) Add in 5 mandarin Glenn Doman words cards to his current English cards.
Everyone at home and even in school, speaks to him in English. Probably it's time he needs some Mandarin input as well.

3) Add in Peg Memory cards
Ever since he started his Heguru class, I prepared a set of Peg Memory cards which show similar items that are flashed by his teacher in class, just to get him to be familiar with it. I just flashed once to him and made a story to link the items together. So far he has yet to show much interest in it, probably just treat is as one of his usual flashcards topic.

4) Changed new Phonics Cards
I've retired his "ZooLander" phonics cards, the animals one where are used in his Bibinogs class, and changed to another new set of pictures. He is still loving his alphabets and phonics sounds. Even his grandparents picked up phonics just to entertain him because it made him so smiley and happy when someone sing the alphabet song and recite the phonics for him. Sometimes I randomly pick up 2 cards and get him to "Hi-5" to the alphabet I'm looking for. I can say he gets it right like 75% of the time, especially if you want him to look for his favorite picture like the "A for apple" or the "D for dog". On certain times I try to do ESP game with him with the cards below too, one of the segment from Heguru class as well,eg. telepathy or clairvoyance.

I'm still keeping his home practice strictly 5 minutes and always stop before he wants to stop. Every session is our fun bonding time together and I hope baby Reagan continues to enjoy it further. 

Sensory Play - Touch & Smell, Counting

Playing with real fruits and vegetables while mummy is preparing his meals. I described each fruit to him and encouraged him to feel the texture and smell the fruit.

 

 Practicing finger-training and counting the cereal stars.We always do counting together, from 1-10 and backwards.

Reagan's Early-Learning from Infant stage

For babies below 12 months, learning is mainly about exposure, exploration and inputting information. And therefore the fastest, easiest and most convenient way to expose them to a various topics under the sun, is via flashcards.

 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.

1) Glenn Doman cards- I bought the 2nd-hand Glenn Doman reading kit set from another parent on the internet, after the book I read "How To Teach Your Baby To Read (The Gentle Revolution)" sparked my interest on this learning method.

 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.

Reading the words and pointing them in a left to right direction at a young age can reduce the risk of dyslexic for children in future. 

- Teaching Folder

I actually prepared this teaching material when I was pregnant with baby Reagan. First I show him  the words, then the pictures and then tickle the body parts that was shown. He enjoys this game as well.

-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.