When do we start education?

I also think the hurried child is a great book, but I do see a difference between what he advocates against, and the view that homeschooling begins at birth. I believe it is a way of life. I dont see anything wrong w/ ASL w/ babies and stimulating toys! thats great, I have done the same w/ both of my kids. AFA the signs go its great to learn the basic signs in advance and just sign what youre doing- milk, eat, daiper, bath, whatever. My son caught on as young as 8 months, he did his first sign. After a 18 months or so I started them on signing time www.signingtime.com. Great resource, gets little ones interested in signing like the kids in the movies.

I wouldnt worry about what are the best educational toys just yet, tho. I prioritized that the toys were natural materials at first, because everything goes in the mouth. It wasnt until they were crawlers and up that I made sure the toys were stimulating, educationsl and accessable. Hope this helps.

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Ditto - here's a page that has a good article by David Elkind, as well as other interesting articles about early childhood education. Many of the articles are by various educators and researchers who are terribly concerned about the serious problems the trend for early academics has been causing: preschool/kindergaren learning activities. Underneath the articles are links to websites that have lots and lots of fun age appropriate activity ideas.

Another good book to read would be Einstein Never Used Flashcards - here's an interview with one of the authors: Einstein Never Used Flashcards, and Thoughts on the Mozart Effect.

There's even an amazing protest statement that's been signed by over 150 educators and researchers so far - A Call to Action on the Education of Young Children. You can view the names of the signers at the bottom - very impressive!

And the thing is - starting early, even if it were not harmful, would not get anyone ahead of anything in the long run. It just doesn't work that.

You can really enjoy that baby without having to worry about a formal education for many years to come. Lillian

Read, love, cuddle, travel, explore - be amazed by the wonder that is joining your life. The more you interact with the baby even now the more neurons that will fire off and connect. Skip all the commercial crap out there to "teach" children and play - Play with boxes, balls, pots, pans, dirt, trees, finger games etc. etc. etc.

Signing is cool and as you get to know your infant you will see how you cue into their needs and wants and create your own language. It is amazing to me that a mother can pick out her baby's cry amongst a crowd of other youngsters. The connection is that intense. That is so cool - congratulations on your journey

As for body image and comfort - The way you treat yourself is the biggest predictor of how he or she will feel about his or her own body.

Infants have a lot to learn. They have to learn to trust, to realize they are separate from you, to communicate their needs and to build relationships. On top of them they will learn to sit up, roll over, crawl, begin to walk and start to eat and talk.

It's a lot to learn. Why would you want to add to that? Especially since academics this early will not make a child smarter or more advanced and will likely do harm.

IMO, the best *education* you can give your children is to talk to them, interact with them and respond to their needs. Sure, read to them, but not with the expectation you are *teaching* them anything. Do it because they love your voice and to look at the pictures and your face as you read. I think baby signs are great in that they allow a child to communicate their needs before they can do so verbally but I don't think it will make a child more advanced. All the *educational* toys in the world will not make up for, or do better then, the loving attention of a parent.

Don't worry about starting formal education for some time yet. Get to know your baby, build that trust, let him/her know how wonderful you think he is.

JMO.

Well, that was certainly not my aim! I started signing w/ my dd so I could know what she wanted/ needed.. and we grew from there. She didnt talk much and I got a lot of crap that signing with her was causing her to not want to talk .. but then she was dx'd autistic. I still really depend on signs when she is having a rough day, she can get nonverbal. My son, on the other hand, I signed with from birth. He still loves to sign, the kids sign and sing together. I never thought of it as academic. I dont think pushing kids to learn academic-type stuff at an early age is good, either. I think signing is a great way to communicate with the nonverbal.. and I have deaf relatives that I wish the world could understand.