Some of Abehegail's Early Learning Tips

abehegail
Jan 24, 2017
4 min read

Every child learns at different stages of life and there is no specific time to start teaching a child other than just knowing when your child is ready to learn. I started to have one on one 15 minute sessions with Abehegail at 13 months three to four times per day it just depends on the type of day. As she got older I have increased it now to 20 minutes or longer if she allows because a child can only sit for so long. Abehegail's educational schedule works well between my work from home schedule and her father's work schedule. I felt like 13 months was the right time for me to start teaching Abehegail her ABC's and numbers from 1-10 in a classroom setting since she was not in Day Care. I went ahead and set up an educational area for her at home. I began teaching her Alphabets and Numbers by introducing 4 letters/numbers at a time for 2-3 weeks just depends on when she is able to identify those letters/numbers and once she is able to then, I will introduce 4 more letters,numbers. I keep repeating those steps until I cover all the letters of the alphabet and numbers from 1 to 10 until she is now able to identify them on her own.

Abehegail's Educational Area. I Love the Letters it helps with Abehegail spelling her name.

Table and Chairs from Hobby Lobby, Letters from Walmart and Wall Decors Dollar Tree Store.

In addition, when I am giving her a bath we are saying her ABC's or counting to 10. I am counting her little toes and fingers while giving her a bath. When we are going up the stairs at home I am counting out with Abehegail every step she climbs. When I am feeding her I am counting with her how many spoonful she is eating. The key is just finding an opportunity to teach, teach at any given time. "Repetition deepens the impact". I believe the more a child gets repeated instructions or teachings the quicker a child learns. I also use some additional tools to help with her learning her ABC's and counting. Some non electronics and electronics that requires Abehegail to watch educational videos or play with her educational toys. Most of our non electronic supplies are from the Dollar Store, like flash cards with letters, numbers and comprehension skills questions. The educational video I use with Abehegail is ABC TV channel on YouTube. I will use it to count along with the flash cards when I am teaching her the ABC'S or Numbers. It is a great tool, I would recommend it. I know there are a lot of researches out on encouraging parent not to introduce Television/Video/Electronic uses to children under age 2 and there are also research findings of benefits when those are introduce to children as early as 4 months but with parent interaction while a child is watching Media outlets to help with learning.

Sit and Learn Chair. Abehegail got this as one of her Birthday gift.

I thanked that guest who gave it to her. One of the best!

Adjustable sit or stand learning ABC's, Numbers and Colors.

One of Abehegail's Christmas gift got it at Walmart.

Here are two research findings: Per the American Pediatric Association:

1). Earlier American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommendations to discourage media exposure for children younger than 2 years were based on research on TV and videos, which showed that in-person interactions with parents are much more effective than video for learning of new verbal or nonverbal problem-solving skills. This research showed that infants and toddlers experience what was referred to as the “video deficit:” difficulty learning from 2-dimensional video representations at younger than 30 months of age.

2). In one longitudinal study 14-month-olds whose mothers had talked with them during educational TV programming since infancy showed more advanced language development than infants whose mothers did not talk with them during media use.

Overall, when teaching your little ones, I would say introducing Media outlets as teaching aids have some benefits that help with a child learning when incorporate with verbal communication not when a parent leaves their child for hours watching Media without any verbal communication. Basically, limited Media and more verbal communication. Also, when a child gets older and watching Media outlets for educational use a good way to build on comprehension skills is for a parent to watch along and ask some Why, What, Where and How questions. Finding the right electronic teaching toys are also important with helping to teach Abehegail. I look for toys that are at least 8months to 1 year above her recommended age because I love to challenge her skills when I am able to. I recently found a shop on Instagram @bumblebrainbox that sells educational toys for Baby and Toddler. I ordered a Brain Box Kit and I am looking forward to using it with Abehegail once we receive it. I also did share earlier on my Media page some of the educational toys I am using if you have not seen the Video as yet please check it out. Lastly, if you are able to get help with teaching your little ones it helps a lot too because when my work schedule gets busy and I am not able to cover Abehegail's lesson then her father takes over that way she is not missing out. If a child is in Day Care that helps too but for now Abehegail is homeschooling and I am seriously thinking about it for her future school years. I will see how that works as I continue on with her educational journey. Hopefully, I shared some tips that are helpful and if you have any suggestions please feel free to comment. Also note that your email address will not be public when you comment. Thanks! Teach! Teach! Teach!