Small Beginnings : First Steps to Prepare Your Toddler for Lifelong Learning [Paperback]

Barbara Curtis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1997

UNLOCK YOUR TODDLER'S LOVE OF LEARNING NOW!

Moms of toddlers run a marathon every day just keeping up with them. But there's still time to encourage their natural love of learning! The secret is turning everyday experiences into learning opportunities. As a professional teacher, home schooling mom, and mother of eleven, Barbara Curtis has a generation of experience in teaching toddlers. Now she shares her unique perspective - and her secrets - with you.

While playing, doodling, and just being a kid, your children can also be practicing muscle control, concentration, orderliness, and other basics that will help them later on. Barbara's insights will inspire you. And her time - saving techniques will convince you that even marathon moms have time to make the most of their toddler's natural energy and potential for success.

*****Forward by Dr. William Sears**********

Editorial Reviews

Review

Among all the developmental guidelines and practical help, Barbara Curtis encourages parents and helps them see ways to build confidence in themselves as they look for the joy in those sometimes oh-so-trying, always intense and curious, wonderful toddler years." -- Brad Lewis, former editor Christian Parenting Today

Barbara Curtis really hones in on importance of the toddler years in Small Beginnings. She clearly shows that parents have a true window of opportunity during the toddler years to develop their children's God given gifts. This book would be a great resource for any parent or grandparent!" -- Dennis Rainey, FamilyLife

Years in the making, Small Beginnings is a great resource for parents raising toddlers. Only a mom with eleven children could have written this book." -- Mike Yorkey, Focus on the Family former editor

About the Author

Barbara Curtis conducts frequent workshops for mothers of toddlers and has written for more than 35 magazines, including Guideposts, Focus on the Family, Christian Parenting, and Parent Life. She has also been a teacher and marketing director of a family business. She has eleven children (among them, three with Down syndrome - two of which are adopted), ages 30 - 3, and five grandchildren.

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Broadman & Holman Pub (June 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805462872
• ISBN-13: 978-0805462876
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,142,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Back in the 70's, when I took my training as a Montessori teacher, I never dreamed someday I would be mother to 12. But here I am - and alive to tell about it too!

My life took many a tangent before it settled where it is now. From Washington DC antiwar activist/radical feminist to San Francisco drug addict/ welfare mother. In 1980 I began to see the light, cleaned up my act and tried to become the mother my two daughters - Samantha Sunshine and Jasmine Moondance - needed. In 1983, I married a fellow seeker. We meditated daily and searched relentlessly for the truth. We began building an award-winning tree care business in California. In addition we began having babies every 18 months. By the time we found Christ in 1987, we had five - the two girls, plus Joshua, Matthew, and Benjamin.

Some things changed - our politics, for instance - while some remained the same, like new babies on a regular basis. I homeschooled our children for 10 years, putting into practice all I knew of Montessori. In 1995 I began writing - in the beginning to share with other moms how to incorporate Montessori principles into their daily lives and to find more joy in raising their children.

I have since published over 1200 articles and 9 books. And for the past five years I have written extensively at my blog www.MommyLife.net where my goal is to unburden, enlighten, encourage, and empower moms to find joy in their role as mothers while staying informed about the world we live in..

Today, Samantha and Jasmine are married - each with six children of their own. Two sons are married - one a contractor and one an aspiring opera singer. Two are single - an actor and a soon-to-be marine OCS candidate. One daughter is in college. This leaves my husband Tripp and me at home with 5 - our famous daughter Maddy (seen on American Idol) and 4 sons with Down syndrome - three of whom were adopted.

I am in the unique position of having raised two full generations of kids - so I write from a position not just of "been there, done that" but also "still here, still doing this."

Eight years ago, I returned to northern Virginia with 23 native Californians. Who says you can never go home again?

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beginning Small is better than trying to start big, April 12, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Small Beginnings : First Steps to Prepare Your Toddler for Lifelong Learning (Paperback)

Barbara Curtis is the mother of twelve children (that is NOT a typo) and her book Small Beginnings describes how to encourage your child's God-given love of learning by turning everyday experiences into educational opportunities. Because three of her children have Down's Syndrome, she has had to be more deliberate than most in her efforts to teach her kids basic skills. Small Beginnings is a realistic plan to develop practical skills in your children as an integral part of your daily routine. Barbara advocates using a child's natural desire for independence to develop self-reliance, a sense of order, self-control and the ability to concentrate on a task or project. Through her gently comic examples of trial, error and success, Barbara's suggestions are simple and fun. What a relief!

Using this method, my children should be doing their laundry by age ten. (I'll get back to you on that in a few years). Barbara even includes a list of age appropriate chores. I thought four was too early for my son to get his own cereal or sort recyclables, until I asked him to try it. He was so excited about the new responsibility that he regularly asks me what else he can do now. I hope it lasts. Small Beginnings was a terrific jumpstart.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belongs on the Shelf right next to Brazelton & Sears, October 8, 2001

By 

K. Akers "kakers" (Vienna, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Small Beginnings : First Steps to Prepare Your Toddler for Lifelong Learning (Paperback)

This is a book I've turned to over and over again, to help me regain my perspective on my two children (born 14 months apart), or to glean some comfort, inspiration, advice, or encouragement. I've loaned it out more than 10 times, and have given it as a gift at countless baby showers. I've never met a person who writes so compassionately, affectionately and respectfully to parents and about toddlers, and her insights cast the Terrible Two's in an entirely different light. I don't consider myself deeply religious, but Mrs. Curtis' tone was not the least bit offensive, and she radiates love and common-sense wisdom.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making the toddler years fun!, August 9, 2005

By 

Jeanne8405 (Gaithersburg, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Beginnings : First Steps to Prepare Your Toddler for Lifelong Learning (Paperback)

I found this book 3 years ago at a library and promptly bought it. I also have recommended it to my friends. What I love about it is that it has taught me to view the toddler years through a different lens. Instead of just trying to get through the 2s and 3s, I now see these years as a great time for learning and exploring. "Small Beginnings" has lots of practical ideas to help parents structure an environment where young children can develop their potential. The activities in the back of the book have kept my toddlers interested for long periods of time using intense concentration. I can just see the brain cells connecting! This book has helped me to answer the question of what to do with my children to use our time together wisely. More importantly, it has opened my mind to see the endless possibilities around me each day that I can use to foster learning and growth in my children.