I have a two year old and I feel like i don't where to go from here or how to teach him. He could recognize his colors and all the letters in the alphabet by 19 monthes. HE can count to 15, knows almost all his shapes i think. (he only answers when he wants to.) anyways he's a smart kid and has an incredible memory. I want to teach him, but i dont want to push him. I feel like i'm not sure where to go from here, what will he understand and what should i do with him. Its hard because he's advanced in some ways and like emotionally and in other ways he is just normal. How can i help him.

Hi Jenafur,
Yes, it is exciting and scary when you see your toddler doing things that most kids do at 4 or 5.

In the early stages, it is not too hard especially with all the educational preschool games and toys available. Once he masters something then simply introduce him to the next level of material. For example, once he masters recognizing capital letters, then introduce him to lower case letters, then letter sounds. Similarly with numbers, once he masters counting, then help him to recognize the numbers, and eventually introduce simple addition. I was fortunate to have a good friend that was a kindergarten teacher to help me when my daughter was a toddler. I got a little stuck between teaching the letter sounds and teaching to read. There are some auditory things like hearing beginning and ending sounds and rhyming that fill in that gap.

Introducing your child to material is not pushing, especially when your child has an interest in learning. You will run into people that say you are pushing your child because he demonstrates a high level of knowledge. I frequently had people ask me if I worked with my daughter a lot. My answer was always no. I just introduced the material. Actually, I often felt guilty that I did not work with her more.

One thing my daughter really loved to do as a toddler was check out children's encyclopedia books about animals from the library. She would memorize the names of the animals in the books, she especially loved sea creatures. It was always fun to see people's faces when she would name creatures like nautilus and gulper eel at two years old. Find something that your son is interested in like animals, dinosaurs, insects, or cars. Don't be afraid to get higher level books if he shows an interest. If he is not physically ready to handle the books by himself (still tears pages, puts them in his mouth, etc) you can look at them with him.

Also, I recommend that you look at Hoagies Gifted Education Page.

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/

Enjoy the adventure.

Summer

Hi Jenafur,

Welcome!
Here are some ideas -
1) books on tape and reading aloud way beyound what you think your kid might like. "Phantom Toolbooth" "Ozma of Oz" Roald Dahl. spend time in the Library
2) Look for homeschooling Moms to befriend, they can give you pointers for how they taught their kids. It will take some time to meet the ones who "get" your situation, but it will be worth it.
3) Singapore Math workbooks
4) Consider Keeping away from the computer. Normal development is difficult enough for our kids without fancy screens to catch their attention. I'd rather see you doing what looks like pushing to other mom's than letting your kid have open access to TV and Computer Learning.
5) singing, moving, etc. read books like "the out-of sync child has fun" for full body learning experiences that are fun.
6) Dr. Ruf's book, loosing our minds will help you feel more normal and help you document what's up.
7) Keep us posted
Smiles -
Trinity