Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6

Children are an awesome gift, given to us by God above. With this awesome gift, he also gives us an awesome responsibility – the responsibility to “train up the child in the way he should go”. 

I believe that the responsibility to train our children begins at birth.  No, I am not going to assign a newborn chores to teach him diligence, sit down and have a math lesson with him, or expect him to memorize a Scripture.  All of these things will come later in life, but from the time that a baby is born into this world, you can begin pointing them in the right direction by showing them consistency, security, and love. 

During a child’s first few years, my husband and I believe it is important to lay a foundation that will support a lifetime of not only learning but also a lifetime of loving to learn. 

As you may know, our son recently turned one year old.  He loves to play and explore!  He is probable learning more quickly at this time in his life than he ever will, and I want to be intentional about helping him learn all that he wants to know!  Babies learn through interacting and playing – how fun!  So, I feel that if I am intentional about interacting and playing with my son at this age, then I am being intentional in helping him to learn.

I feel blessed that I happened to stumble upon an early childhood curriculum called Flowering Baby that has really helped me to purposefully spend quality learning time with my son.  Flowering Baby is a whole child developmental approach for birth to five years old which is designed by year and broken up into months. I love that it is broken up like this because you can start it at any time.  They also offer the curriculum in it’s entirety or just by the year. 

I only discovered Flowering Baby right before my son’s first birthday, so I have only used the “One to Two” curriculum so far, and I LOVE it! 

Here is an excerpt from the Flowering Baby website describing their curriculum.

We have developed a program where you will work with your child approximately twenty to forty minutes a day on various skills, depending on his age. This curriculum is designed for easy use but don’t let the simplicity fool you. Each activity has a purpose. The goal of the Flowering Baby Curriculum is to develop a solid and full foundation. The curriculum includes twenty, or more, activities each month.
Up until age three there are activities based on age alone.  However, beginning with age three you will find we have a Monthly section (organized by calendar month) which includes math, language, science, etc. and the Theme sections.  Theme sections are like mini-unit studies, you will select two themes to complete each month.  These are a more focused schedule of books, activities and work based around one central theme.

Here is a sample day that my son and I have already done together.

Day 4:
Play “hide and seek” today. Using a toy that your child is currently playing with is best for this exercise. Place the toy under a wash cloth or dish towel and ask him “Where did it go?” If he has trouble locating the toy, then move the towel so that about 90% is covered. This will give him a helpful hint. Repeat with different toys and maybe even using two towels for added fun. Remember, keep the game fun and cheer him on when he succeeds at finding the hidden object.

Recite “Baa, Baa Black Sheep”.

Read Gingerbread Baby.

Some of the other things that we have learned about together are facial features, knocking, stacking, and animal sounds.  We have also listened to some great music and read some great books together! 

I love that Flowering Baby is designed to use everyday household items that I already have.  We haven’t had to buy anything to use this curriculum.  The books that are listed to read in this curriculum should be available at your public library or you could just use books that you already have in place of the ones listed.  For the music, you could buy CD’s to listen to, but we have just been listening to free music on the internet instead (usually on YouTube).

As you can see, this curriculum is not anything hard. It simply gives you ideas and guidelines for nurturing your child’s growing curiosity and learning capacity.  With all of the hustle and bustle of everyday life, using Flowering Baby has made me purposefully spend one on one time with my son each day playing, learning, and loving! 

Now, obviously doing the activities in Flowering Baby is not the only interactive time I have with my son each day.  We usually get to spend all day together, and we have so many opportunities throughout the day to learn and play together.  My son LOVES to be read to, so we usually end up reading tons of books everday.  We work on and learn manners each day at meal times.  We use basic sign language to help our son communicate with us.  These are just a few examples of learning that takes place outside of the Flowering Baby curriculum.  So, while there would still definitely be learning going on without us using Flowering Baby, I feel that this curriculum is wonderful for having scheduled and planned learning activities everyday, which is what I absolutely LOVE about using this curriculum!

A Giveaway and a Discount!

Today we would like to offer a special giveaway!  We are offering a one year curriculum of choice to one of our readers.

To Enter the Giveaway:

Simply leave a comment below telling me which curriculum you would choose if you won the giveaway.  Visit the Flowering Baby website to see the different curriculums that they offer. 

In addition to the giveaway Flowering Baby is also offering a 10% discount to all of The Purposed Heart’s readers!  Just enter the code Blog10 at checkout for a 10% discount off of any order!

This giveaway is open to US Residents only.

This giveaway will close on Wednesday September 21, 2011 at 10 pm EST.

The winner of this giveaway will be contacted by email and must respond with a shipping address within 48 hours. If the winner does not respond, another winner will be chosen.

Don’t forget to leave a comment below to be entered to win a one year Flowering Baby curriculum!