The How to Teach Your Baby to Read Experiment

August 19, 2000 - April 1, 2001

We are starting to teach Justice how to read and do math at the age of 25 months (2 years old). This method of teaching him is based on the book, How to Teach Your Baby to Read and How to Teach Your Baby Math by Glenn Doman. Both of these books can be bought through my website on my Books about Homeschooling page. We had done a little bit of this with Justice when he was 18 months old. With less than five minutes a day irregularly for two months, he had learned to read about 30 words.

August 19, 2000: MATH: Session 1: Dot Cards 1-5, in sequence.  Justice was very interested in seeing his math cards again. Session 2: Dot Cards 1-5, in sequence, 15 minutes after Session 1.  He looked at all the cards intently this time. Session 3: Dot Cards 1-5, in random order.
August 20, 2000: MATH: Session 1:  D.C. 1-5, random. Immediately wants to do it again. Session 2:  D.C. 1-5, random.  Seems less interested. Session 3:  D.C. 1-5, random.  Seems less interested. Perhaps I’m showing them too slowly, not joyously enough.  I’ve been asking him whether he would like to “do numbers”.  Perhaps it is better to just tell him “Let’s look at Justice’s number cards”.
August 21, 2000: MATH: Session 1:  D.C. 6-10, in sequence. He asked this morning to “do numbers”. But I had them arranged incorrectly, they were shown as: 6,10,9,8,7. Session 2:  D.C. 1-5, random.  Not so interested.  Maybe he needs new cards quicker? Session 3:  D.C. 6-10, in sequence.  As soon as I took out the number cards Justice said “No! No numbers” so I put them away right away. I wanted to see if he was learning so I did a big no-no… I gave him a problem to solve.  With 2 quarters I asked him “Are there 2 quarters or 4?”  I think he said 2 but then he said “more under bed” so I got out more quarters and asked him again with 3 quarters “Are there five quarters or 3?”  He clearly said “3 quarters”.  So he knows his numbers.  Maybe he’s just bored.  Perhaps we need to move faster or move on to equations. Session 4:  Equation: 1+2=3.  He was excited to be shown equations but as soon as he saw the number 1 he said “No.  No numbers.” Session 5:  Equation: 3+4=7.  I thought – maybe he doesn’t like the number one – too simple.  So I tried an equation with bigger numbers.  He still was not interested. “No. Don’t do numbers.” Session 6:  D.C. 6-10, random. Very quickly. Twice.  Mishkin didn’t tell him they were going to do numbers, he just started.  Justice did not protest.
August 22, 2000: MATH: Session 1:  Set 1: 1,3,4,7,9.  Justice again said “No.” Session 2:  Set 2: 2,5,6,8,10.  Justice again said “No.” Session 3:  Set 1: Retired 1,2. Added 11,12.  Justice was interested and wanted to see them again. Yeah! Session 4:  Set 2: Mishkin showed him these, wasn’t too interested but didn’t say no. We are learning that we have to be very sensitive to Justice’s mood.  This effects his interest level greatly.  I think his interest was rekindled today with the introduction of new higher numbers.
August 23, 2000: MATH: Retire: 3,4.  Add 13,14. Session 1:  Set 1:  Mishkin showed him the cards. Session 2:  Set 2: After showing him the cards. He said “Justice do it” so I decided to let him play with them a little to help him think of them as his cards.  He pulled one out and said “this is four” (correctly, I had not yet retired the four card). Session 3:  Set 1: Said "No" so I put them away immediately. Session 4:  Set 2: Mishkin showed him cards. He looked at them and didn't protest. Session 5:  Set 1: I showed him cards. Session 6:  Set 2: Mishkin showed him cards. We are learning that it is more important to be intuitive about what he is interested in learning and when he is in the right mood to look at the cards. It is not so important to follow a fixed curriculum (ie. the book). It seems that Mishkin has better luck making Justice interested in looking at the dot cards.
August 24, 2000: MATH: Retire: 5. Add: 15. Session 1:  Set 1: Again he said "no numbers". Session 2:  Set 2: Mishkin tried, he didn't pay attention until Mishkin jumped around a lot, used a very enthusiastic voice and moved the cards around. I didn't really do any sessions with him today because I wasn't enjoying the experience and the book says to stop if both of you are not having a lot of fun and are really happy. So, I'm feeling a little stressed and discouraged. I don't want to do the cards with him when he says "no". I'm thinking I will only show him the cards if he asks for them. I've learned not to make materials in his presence. I feel like he will resent the cards if their production is taking me away from his attention.
August 25, 2000: MATH: Retire: 6,7. Add: 16,17. Session 1:  Set 1: He sat quietly and was attentive to the cards. Session 2:  Set 2: "No cards" Though I managed to get through at least half the pile before he took them away from me (this is the wrong method to present the cards - it should only be if he wants to). Session 3:  Set 1: His attention was distracted by the chess board next to him between asking him if he wanted to do numbers (and him saying "un hun") to me actually getting the cards.
August 26, 2000: MATH: Retire: 8. Add: 18. Justice's number learning is now usually only one or two sessions a day. Mishkin is usually the one to do it. I havn't been feeling joyful about it and I don't want to pressure Justice into doing numbers. I basically consider it shelved for a while but we still do a little with him. Each number will be presented the number of times it would be normally (except now it's over a longer period of time) before it is retired. When asked if he wanted to do numbers, he said, "un hun". He did not protest when they were shown.
READING: Justice's reading program started. Justice was very excited to see words. We looked at at least 30 words. I had decided to put them in an order that would sound like funny sentences, for example: giant, ladybug, eating, chocolate.
August 27, 2000: MATH: Mishkin did one or two sessions with Justice with no fuss. READING: I now leave piles of five cards on the sofa, coffee table, next to my bed - and read them to him when he shows interest in them. I have again introduced almost 30 new words to him.
August 28, 2000: MATH: No numbers were shown today. I tried showing him an equation but he didn't want to do it. I had picked an inappropriate time. We were too distracted. READING: Today I decided to get more systematic and follow the "Doman" method more closely - now that I know he's interested and having fun with the words. I've started with three sets of words which will be shown to him 15 times per word before new words are added or any of these words are taken away. He specifically asked to see the word "Grandma" today.
August 29, 2000: MATH: Today we did two sessions with him. He seemed to enjoy it. Mishkin knows how to set up a session well (get him in the right mood for it). READING: The first time I tried to show him words he said "no words". But later he wanted to look at them and we had fun. He also wanted to do them himself and I let him hold the cards. He said correctly that the top card was "forklift". We did 5 sessions today (25 words).
August 30- September 3: We were on vacation and did a total of 2-4 reading sessions with him and we did not do any math.
September 5, 2000: MATH: We started doing numbers with him again. One session. READING: We got back into our routine and did maybe 4 sessions. I'm continuing to slowly add more words and more sessions.
September 6, 2000: MATH: Retired 9 and 10. Added 19 and 20. Justice did maybe 3 sessions. READING: He is asking to do more words. Especially when Mishkin does them - he makes it fun and exciting.

April 1, 2001: Between September and October, Justice's reading program faded out because both he and I were not having fun with it (which is a requirement for this reading program). Our second child, Haifa, was born in December. We decided to start doing words with Justice again when his baby sister started. For the past month, he has been looking at his word cards occasionally and I have made him four books with large print and illustrations. He has shown a greater interest in reading since Haifa has started her reading program. Mishkin is now responsible for teaching Justice to read and do math, while I teach Haifa. Mishkin is trying to do one session a day with Justice which includes reading (not really following the Doman method), dot cards, and "Bits of Knowledge" cards (also part of the Doman method).

This quickly faded out. We decided that it was too time consuming, required more discipline and organization than we had, and was not really producing any results with Justice. So we decided to try something completely different.