I'm not an expert

One of the things I am extremely passionate about is teaching young children. I gave up teaching to raise my child and I find myself turning what used to be my daughter's playroom into a learning center. I can't explain this desire but only think it's what I was meant to do. When Allie-Ann was born one of the first things I did was get her a library card. I'm not interested in Allie-Ann being in the best dance class, the best music class, the best sports program but what I am interested in is Allie-Ann getting the best education. Granted, if she has interest in dance, music, sports we will most surely have her participate in these things but as of right now and probably forever I will be wanting her to pursue learning. The things I have done (as far as teaching Allie-Ann) are really not big things but I feel that sometimes it's the simple things that go a long way. Such as taking her to the library. Allie-Ann may not know where Disney World is but she will always know about the library. There will be a time for Disney World as well. I don't tend to like to give advice on parenting on my blog because really who am I to offer advice...I'm not an expert and I fail miserable almost everyday. But, coming from a mom who is extremely passionate about learning and having been there with teaching I thought it might be nice to share some of the things I do with Allie-Ann and Belle soon.

For starters, nothing beats seeing print. I know this may be silly to some but it works....really. I label everything, I mean everything and have even before Allie-Ann could even see clearly. I just recently put up the letters. Maybe Allie-Ann was my motivation for this since I started teaching her letters before she was a year old and believe me, I'm still surprised that the little munchkin knew all her letters by 18 months old.

Nursery Rhymes....they are fundamentally the best way to teach language and the love of words to young children. Personally, as an adult who has studied nursery rhymes they can be disturbing but to little ones it is most needed. I started with nursery rhymes early as well and bought CDs for Allie-Ann to listen to. She knows all her nursery rhymes and now can tell me rhyming word pairs. Once again, I'm no expert but this is what I believe works. Flannel boards are great! I bought this piece of flannel at a fabric store, tacked it to the wall.....done.

Playing with letters. These are a few of our magnetic letters that Allie-Ann experiments with. We worked with building words. We have also used cut out letters as well.

Luckily we received this table when Allie-Ann was a little over a year old and it has been the best present. This is where she draws and creates...along with standing on top of the table and jumping off and other destructive things when mommy isn't watching.

As much as I try to keep things organized, by the end of the day this room looks as if a tornado flew in.

Now, here's comes the most important step to teaching little ones how to read and learn and that is through reading yourself. I already had a healthy supply of books but if you don't, a free card to the public library lets you check out 50 books. 50 books! You don't have to have all the play things, Leap Frog, software, iPAD....although it's very cool, to teach and promote reading, it can come through the most simple thing as sitting down to read to your child. Of course I started reading to Allie-Ann when she was still a little fetus (lots of research on this) but daily reading even if you start later is the best prescription to cure illiteracy. I go to the library every 2 weeks to pick out books for Allie-Ann, though it may be a pain at times hauling all the books, it is worth all the backache. We read at least 30 minutes a day...and I know that I'm preaching to the choir but really there are many that don't even know this. It breaks my heart and it's a mission of mine to do something about it. I check out many different genres even if they are over her head...its the tonation of words that they should be hearing. Of course most of what I read is geared to what she knows and what she likes. Like these books. The easy readers. She feels confident when looking at and reading these to me.

Then comes the fiction books, mixed in with some informational text.

We also get current event books...like holiday books and celebrations. But again I stress that I'm not an expert but I believe this is the best.

Here's our book shelf with some of our books.

Now, there is also a lot to learning that involves just plain ol' loving. A hug, a kiss, encouragement, playing around, and discipline and without you have a child that may possibly have a tough time learning.

Allie-Ann's fire truck made from legos which I think was the best invention ever. It's also important to let your child just have time to play alone. That's when they will surprise you the most but I'm still no expert.