Teaching early --- am I too kiasu?

[SofiaWee]

Ran1977:

Had the same thing with my son who was of the same age as your gal.


My aunty who is an educational consultant told me that it means that they are still not ready...try again in 6mths to 1 year.

Thanks

Ran1977: Yes, I know flexibility is key! I'm also wondering myself if I might just take a short break and see how my baby takes to the flash cards again in maybe 3-4 mths time.

[comfy]

SofiaWee:

Ran1977:

Had the same thing with my son who was of the same age as your gal.


My aunty who is an educational consultant told me that it means that they are still not ready...try again in 6mths to 1 year.

Thanks

Ran1977: Yes, I know flexibility is key! I'm also wondering myself if I might just take a short break and see how my baby takes to the flash cards again in maybe 3-4 mths time.

This is interesting, how about flashing cards with colour words. My dd has no problem with word or picture cards but only has issues with number dots cards. Maybe that explain her lack of passion for math when compare with EL in later part of her school life.

[SofiaWee]

autumnbronze:

Hi SofiaWee,


5 cards is good enough. Take the cue from your kiddo. You can break up your teaching into segments of 5 mins everytime.

I have a 16 month old DS. My second child. He has his moods too. There are days he enjoys his picture word book or his flashcards. But most days he will just throw them on the floor whenever I take them out.

However, I discovered by chance that he likes sensorial and tactile type of learning. At the moment, he likes stacking. So I am teaching him the concept of small medium large and open and close cuz he likes to open and close the boxes.

For alphabets, I have a set of letters that comes in a box that I bought from
Ikea. Again, because he likes dumping things, I give him each letter and invite him to throw the letter into the box, which he will happily do so.

For numbers, I will start from the bottom if my block and walk up counting the stairs as I do so. When we arrive at each floor, I will point at the number plate indicating the floor and say the number eg 1,2,3 etc ... I do this even when we are in the lift.

As for colours, I let him hold the colour pencil, and as he scribbles some
stuff on the paper, I take the opportunity to teach him colours. You can use the traffic lights as a teaching tool too when you take your kiddo for a walk.

There are so many stuff you can teach in real time. For instance, without fail, every time we go out, my DS will check my ears to see if I am wearing my earrings and my watch. Same goes for my flip-flops. He cannot speak properly yet, but he indicates via pointing and making his own sounds. That
is more than enough for me.

Most times we start off with a fixed idea of how we want our kiddos to learn, perhaps via recommendation, based on experience with our other kiddos etc, but sometimes, the result may not be to our expectation. Or we reach a stalemate due to a myriad of reasons. Anyway, what I am trying to
say is that we need to observe what kind of learning methods our kiddos
enjoy and work around them. Don't get too bothered about how short their attention span is. The fundamental rule is to make learning fun for them.

Enjoy your motherhood journey :hugs:

Hope this helps

Autumnbronze: Hmmm... you've set me thinking. I haven't yet discovered if my daughter prefers a different mode of learning to flash cards (which I'm thinking is a more passive form of learning and more visual-dependent). If I should try a more sensory method, my challenge would be to find a way to incorporate the written form of language (like words). I might just start sticking huge stickers (with numbers and words written on them) on the stairs and things at home.

[SofiaWee]

SarChar:

There are really many fun ways to teach our little ones and Flashcard is just 1 way.


I am very pro on flashcards. I do know some parents are not but I AM.

DD2 is 6 now. DD2 was 16 months when we started flashcards. Over the years, I made more than 2000 flashcards. I spent 4-5 hrs every Fri day for years to make those cards.

I didnt do the flashcards to impact knowledge and I flash the A5 size cards really FAST so that she can remember the images and to focus (on what I was showing her). I flashed 2X 200-300 cards each day. Each topic set 8-10 cards.

I did topics like Things in Pink, Let's go for Holidays (so I had pictures of luggage, Airport, Aeroplane, Australia Map, Koala, etc), DD2's Family (we have pictures of Grandparents, Uncles and cousins...finally a baby picture of her). Many topics but nothing too difficult.

It came 1 point that she would remember the next card because I only flash the cards in 1 order.

Today....she is very focused on whatever she is doing and has mega memory. Because it was easy for her to remember what her teachers had taught her, she learns Hanyu Pinyin and can read around 5yrs old. She also enjoys school very much and teachers have commented on her progress positively.

We were not as experienced with DD1 pri4/10 yrs old. It takes a lot of my energy to coach DD1 now on her schoolwork.

So you are not Kiasu to start early. You are only making her life easier later in her early school life.

Have fun !

SarChar:

You are simply amazing! 2x200-300 flash cards per day??!! I could hardly get my daughter to sit through a set of 5 cards. Like you, I'm pro flash cards, but like what autumnbronze mentioned above, my baby may not be quite as pro flash cards like me. I've a few questions:

(1)May I ask if you only flashed pictures? Or do you include written words as well?
(2) How long does a set of 200-300 cards take you? Did you have to train your daughter gradually to sit through so many cards? How many cards did you start with for your initial sessions?
(3) How did you get your daughter to focus on the cards? That means not looking anywhere else, not going anywhere else.

I think that the training (fast flashing of flash cards) you gave your younger daughter since young has made a big impact on her brain development --- and accounts for her ease of learning in school now. I'm definitely heartened to know that I'm not starting too early with my baby.

[SofiaWee]

mummy of three:

Wow! I start only when they were in kindergarten, you’re definitely earlier than me!

I actually wanted to start even earlier at 3-4 months! :evil: I read that you could start teaching babies from 3-4 months when they could see more clearly.

[autumnbronze]

SofiaWee:

autumnbronze:

Hi SofiaWee,


5 cards is good enough. Take the cue from your kiddo. You can break up your teaching into segments of 5 mins everytime.

I have a 16 month old DS. My second child. He has his moods too. There are days he enjoys his picture word book or his flashcards. But most days he will just throw them on the floor whenever I take them out.

However, I discovered by chance that he likes sensorial and tactile type of learning. At the moment, he likes stacking. So I am teaching him the concept of small medium large and open and close cuz he likes to open and close the boxes.

For alphabets, I have a set of letters that comes in a box that I bought from
Ikea. Again, because he likes dumping things, I give him each letter and invite him to throw the letter into the box, which he will happily do so.

For numbers, I will start from the bottom if my block and walk up counting the stairs as I do so. When we arrive at each floor, I will point at the number plate indicating the floor and say the number eg 1,2,3 etc ... I do this even when we are in the lift.

As for colours, I let him hold the colour pencil, and as he scribbles some
stuff on the paper, I take the opportunity to teach him colours. You can use the traffic lights as a teaching tool too when you take your kiddo for a walk.

There are so many stuff you can teach in real time. For instance, without fail, every time we go out, my DS will check my ears to see if I am wearing my earrings and my watch. Same goes for my flip-flops. He cannot speak properly yet, but he indicates via pointing and making his own sounds. That
is more than enough for me.

Most times we start off with a fixed idea of how we want our kiddos to learn, perhaps via recommendation, based on experience with our other kiddos etc, but sometimes, the result may not be to our expectation. Or we reach a stalemate due to a myriad of reasons. Anyway, what I am trying to
say is that we need to observe what kind of learning methods our kiddos
enjoy and work around them. Don't get too bothered about how short their attention span is. The fundamental rule is to make learning fun for them.

Enjoy your motherhood journey :hugs:

Hope this helps

Autumnbronze: Hmmm... you've set me thinking. I haven't yet discovered if
my daughter prefers a different mode of learning to flash cards (which I'm
thinking is a more passive form of learning and more visual-dependent). If I should try a more sensory method, my challenge would be to find a way
to incorporate the written form of language (like words). I might just start sticking huge stickers (with numbers and words written on them) on the stairs and things at home.

Hi SofiaWee,

Hey, that's what this forum is all about, sharing and learning from one another. If you do succeed in the use of flash cards, please share.

The younger one would focus intently when I started flashing at about 6 months. He picked up most of the alphabets from there. However, at around 9 months or so, he just started throwing them on the floor. Perhaps he was going through a phase, but I didn't want to wait around, so started observing and realized that he was a pretty curious child and was very keen in touching and feeling. Hence, the adjustment in his learning process.

My elder one, on the other hand, was totally averse to flashcards. So I stuck the word flashcards as labels all over the flat. And I had to improvise the other stuff. But he was very into puzzles and started on that at 1 and a half, doing puzzles that were meant for three years. At 2 and a half, I enrolled him for art class, which I believe allowed him to visualize concepts/ideas pretty well. He has a photographic memory too and is able to focus relatively well for a 5 year old boy.

My 2 cents here - if you treat the learning journey as not a chore but a fun activity, your kiddo will pick up the positive vibes and enjoy the process. Get them to participate in your everyday routine. For instance, the younger one actually directs me how to make my coffee using the Nespresso machine by pointing out the items I need (he cannot speak as yet). This is only cuz my DH, every morning, without fail, would carry him and go through the steps with him while making his own coffee we allow
him to slot the capsule into the machine, thus working on his fine motor skills and press the button too.

To many, this (real time) may not be a systematic method of learning, ie not according to themes/ categories etc .... but children being children, in their own way, will somehow work out the connections. Don't underestimate their abilities :love:

[iggy]

Agree with autumnbronze that we can use everyday encounters to teach our children. And it should be fun experience. At this age an exposure to structured and unstructured learning is also important. I personally believe we all have a dominant syle but you want to give each a fair chance to develop at that age.

[autumnbronze]

Kudos to you SarChar :rahrah:

[auntieM]

Interesting thread.. ..

I started my DS on flashcards only when he was 14 months, he was quite interested..
Then I got this crazy idea and started exposing him to different 'styles' of the mandarin language..
:siao: But we are still at it and having fun..
He is now able to differentiate mandarin from different countries.. I want to introduce him to reading Cantonese now .. a bit tough de..

[iggy]

Different styles of mandarin? I cant even get mine interested in one. If i flashed chinese cards she will look away or pick up the english ones.