At this age, an environment of love and nurturance is all-important, as it is at any age. Within that environment we can offer many opportunities for exploration and learning. 

In order to expand the intellect and create more neural pathways, exposure to nature is vital to the full development of the whole child.

Natural vs Artificial Objects: 

If I hand you a plastic dragonfly, your mind will have understood everything about it in a few seconds.  When I show you a live dragonfly, you could never understand it completely in a lifetime.  The speed of thought necessary to understand and observe natural objects is infinitely greater than that necessary for an artificial object.  And yet, we take our children from the womb and introduce them immediately to piles of artificial objects and “learning toys”.  Exposure to nature and natural phenomena speeds up a child’s cognition and helps him/her develop complex thinking capability as well as problem-solving skills. 

Sign Language:

Sign language is a wonderful way to introduce your child to a way to communicate with you in a richer than normal fashion.  Babies can easily learn a few hundred words making us wonder how much we are missing about the intelligence of babies.  

 Other Elements:

Gardening, nature walks, art, music, dancing, games and singing are all included as is play a vastly underestimated activity in today's world.  

Read more on the value of play here. 

Early Academics Or Not? 

At Light Way we prefer to allow children to choose when they are ready for this type of learning.  At the same time we recognize and honor the role of the parent in this huge decision. So, rather than say no, we recommend that you investigate the programs at the Institutes For Human Potential.  

The Institutes For Human Potential have a well documented success with teaching reading and math skills to children as early as 6 months old. 

The methods used are most certainly friendly and the parents we have talked with who have used them are delighted with both the cognitive and emotional development of their children.  

Again though, we feel that children this age are best served playing and surrounded by a natural environment.  That said, the methodologies of the Institutes are game-based.