Slow And Steady: Get Me Ready: How-to Book That Grows With Your Child

by June R. Oberlander

LEARNING BEGINS AT BIRTH! Research on brain development has shown that any attempt to maximize intellectual growth must begin the first three years of life; the younger the child, the stronger t

Genres: Parenting, Education, Nonfiction, Homeschool, Teaching, Childrens, Self Help

545 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Kristin]

This book inspired me to start incorporating some simple, developmentally appropriate learning activities into our day. Nothing about this book is fancy or Pinterest worthy, but it is very worthy of reading! It would be a great book to send home with parents from the hospital when baby is born.

Although my children naturally seemed to learn many of the skills in this book, I love the concrete activities that take only a few minutes, with results: Our two year old is now singing the alphabet (somewhat correctly), drawing circles and lines, and recognizes that, in general, letters "say" words together! Our five year old can now put the letters in alphabetical order and identify beginning sounds. The best part? It's such little time every day (maybe 10 minutes), that it's fun! Fun for them, and fun for me (because who doesn't enjoy being impressed by their children?!!)!

[Kendra]

I was interested in this book because my 2 year old daughter spoke really well but was uncoordinated. Borrowing the book from the library gave me some ideas to try to improve her motor skills, but owning a copy would be much more beneficial.

[Tia Johnson]

Used this with my daughter since she was a few months old and it was so nice for quick and easy ideas to help engage with her! Almost everything used in this book is used using common household items and little to no prep. We had heard many times she was advanced her age and I acredit a lot of it to how much we used this book and the developmental activities! I will be using this book with my other children as well!

[Amy Joy]

The book is slightly outdated. Some of the activities involve things that aren’t as readily available as they were 25 years ago. There is still enough description though to find a new item and complete those activities. Overall it gave me great ideas for helping my toddler learn.

[Esther May]

This book has one activity per day from birth to age 5. There are some fun ideas to do with your kids. I enjoyed reading through them. It is really good for little babies since many people don't know what to do with their really little guys.

[Amy M.]

Curriculum for babies. Gentle. Developmentally appropriate. Great for caregivers of the under 5yo demographic.

[Lori Peters]

This book was incredibly helpful when my boys were young.

[Melissa]

The writing is a bit convoluted in places, but it is an excellent resource! It would be great as a series of blog posts or a Youtube channel.

[Ebookwormy1]

My friend referred me to this book. I LOVE it. Each week has a lesson that requires simple household items and a small bit of preparation. Lessons are practical, and the instructor shares with you what the child is to take out of the lesson. Skills are repeated.

We started my son on it right away! The one discouragement for me is that my boy is over 2 and the book starts at birth! I did feel a little behind! I decided to start about where he should be and then work forward for new lessons and back for older ones. Also, because it is not a part of his day that he is used to, my son has a short attention span for "school", i'm sure this will change/ grow as we work on it.

Some of the language and materials are a bit dated (play a cassette or use a thread spool, etc.) and as far as I can tell updated editions have not corrected for this. We have ordered a copy of the (latest, i think) Fourth Edition, published in 2002.

After trying to do this with our two year old for several weeks I gave up. He is just not ready. We will try again, probably next year in the fall.

[Heidi]

I believe this book was referenced in "The Well-Trained Mind" as a good resource for preparing children for kindergarten. I checked it out to see if it was worth buying and only had time to flip through it before I needed to return it.

It wasn't as advanced as I had expected and I felt like most of the skills being taught (especially in the first two years) would be acquired naturally in a home environment rich in play, book-reading and social interaction, so the extra effort to directly teach those skills wouldn't feel justified.

The timeline of developmental skills was also too slow for me. Oberlander didn't teach individual letters until a child was well into his/her fourth year and my oldest son wanted to learn them when he was 18 months old.

So, it wasn't a good fit for what I was looking for (a more rigorous academic resource), but many of the activities and crafts appeared fun for a lazy, rainy afternoon.

[Angelia]

This book has a lot of great ideas for learning games to play with your child from newborn to age 4+! It even has ideas to improve on the skills learned to challenge your child further,and ideas if your child is really interested in the lesson.I wish I would have known about this sooner because it goes up to almost five years old and my son is now almost five.But some of the games for younger kids can be played by older kids so I got a lot of good ideas .Anyone with a young child should read this, it teaches a new skill every week .

[Trace]

We just love this book...

We are getting back on track with the activities from this book. I just love the frugal activity suggestions that address appropriate developmental phases. And Luke usually loves each activity. If you do read this book... don't let the simplicity of the activities fool you... they are usually perfectly age appropriate.. and they are not all that simple for the children...

[Amanda Willis]

Wonderful weekly activities for children, newborn-age 5! I'm a nanny and we're using this with the 10 1/2 month old little boy I care for. We're on week 47, and loving it so far. The developmental activities help keep you on track with progression through traditional play and activities vs allowing computer games & television shows to take over the teaching. I highly recommend this book as a resource and will definitely hang onto it for when I have children of my own!

[Sherri]

This is an excellent resource for educational and developmental activities you can do with your baby, starting the first week after birth and going through age 5. There is one activity per week-- all are fun and most use objects you find around the house. It's like a do-it-yourself preschool program.

[Katelyn]

I really liked how this book is set up! Easy simple things you can do with your child every week (or every day if playing catch up). I think is going to be one I will need to buy! I did some with my girls and we had a great time, and they surprised me by being able to do what the little "games" were. This is home learning and improving your child made easy!

[Elizabeth]

I've started working from this book with each of the boys, and it's been fun. It has excellent ideas for how to guide your children 5 yrs old and younger through each successive developmental milestone. I'm excited to start this with the baby!

[Tina]

This is a great resource book. It really helps parents to understand how to help little ones meet all their milestones. I wish I had read it when I had #1. This would make a great gift for a new mom.

[Shiv]

after the first 6 to 9 months, TJ's development was clear and compelling enough that he came up with his own activities. i might flip through this from time to time, but it's collecting dust most of the time.

[Asriel]

Simple activities that aid parents in guiding their 0-5 year old's development. Easy activities that stimulate cognitive development and create wonderful bonding time with your child. Stress free and fundamental for every child. Highly recommend for any parent.

[Heather]

It is an interesting concept: work with your child on one new skill every week from birth thru age 5, so (s)he will be ready for school.

I got this when my youngest was 3 1/2 or 4, and found that my kids had acquired most of these skills thru just living our lives.

[Vivi]

Although I don't do this weekly, I find myself keep going back to this book for ideas. Especially now I have 2 kids, I am trying to find specific activities for the little one that could also be done at the same time with big sis.

[Laura Stiller]

I can't rave enough about this book. I love the simplicity of these activities - 9 out of 10 of the activities can be pulled together with supplies I already have on hand. I also really like that you always know the purpose of the activities and what skills/senses/etc. your child is developing.

[Jennifer]

Working through this book here and there...I look forward to being a little bit better about it during the summer when school will slow down with the olders...

[Jess]

This book is great. It needs real photos though.

[JaNae]

So many great developmentally appropriate ideas to use when I'm stuck in a rut playing with my kids!

[Genet]

Useful ideas. Liked reading through it. Haven't used it as much as I thought I would.

[Ashley]

Nice suggestions for daily activities from birth to age 5- probably a great gift for a new parent, particularly one who is interested in a classical education (i.e., the trivium).

[Marissa Morrison]

This looks like a gem of a book, with so many activities that it should be owned rather than borrowed from the library. Wish I'd known about it sooner.

[Jennifer]

Good ideas but it needs updating.

[Lachmi]

Great activities...Need to reference again when she is a bit older.