Read to your baby. This may seem like a given since it is recommended by everyone that you read to your child as much as possible, but reading can be more than reciting words on the page. Take time to select books that have a good moral to them, or that can further knowledge (like a book on shapes or animals). When you read storybooks try to use a lot of inflection. Exaggerate your voices and make it interesting. The more interesting you are while reading, the more your baby will enjoy being read to, and want to learn to also read. If your reading is boring, most likely your child wont want you to read to them very often and will think books are dull. Don't neglect the pictures in your child's storybooks either, they make great teaching tools. You can take the time to point out animals, shapes, or even emotions on faces in pictures. By doing this you can help your baby learn to pay attention to details in stories in a variety of ways, by seeing pictures, hearing your spoken words, and even later through seeing the written words and reading them.
Talk to your baby. It isn't enough to just babble jibberish to your baby, you should take time to point things out to them while you are out and about or during your daily routine. Whenever and wherever you are, make sure you keep a running dialogue (or monologue at first) going. Draw your child's attention to everything that surrounds them. Point out cars, their colors, their speed, their sounds. Tell your child what you are doing when they watch you cook, or clean, or play with them. They probably wont understand everything you say, but the more you tell them, the more they will understand, and also the less they will ask you zillions of questions later. Children who are around 3-5 ask a lot of questions because they want to know about things, if you tell your child things beginning when they are very young about the world around them and how it works, you actually will head off those questions (although you can never answer them all - so don't think you wont still get the long line of "why? why? why?" later on). Don't forget to use different emotions when you talk and facial expressions, it will help your baby decode your moods and other people's too. Also, remember that learning to read and speak depends on your child's ability to hear, recognize and repeat the sounds they hear in patterns of speech. So if you only talk in modified tones or "baby talk" to your child, they might not be able to correctly reproduce sounds the way you are hoping they will. It's ok to baby talk to your child, but make sure they get healthy doses of real talking too, where you enunciate clearly for them, especially if you are trying to have a learning or teaching time for them. If you are showing them pictures of something and you call the dog "wittle" instead of "little," your child might think that is the proper way to say those sounds. Remember, you teach your child just as much, if not more, when you don't mean to as when you do.
Play with your baby. The baby years are when school time is the most fun, for baby and you! You don't have the worksheets or textbooks to slave over yet, so learning time can be as simple as a game of peek-a-boo, or a nature walk outside. Remember that kids need physical activity to learn too - your baby wont learn to walk if you don't strengthen those little legs! Play time can also be a time when you can pay attention to find out what kind of learner your child is. Some children will sit very quietly with blocks and studiously stack them up high. Others like to throw them around, or hit things with them. Other children like noisy games or games with lots and lots of movement. If you pay attention you'll see how your child enjoys learning from the very start, and you can try to replicate that in future learning. Flash cards are good for learners who can sit still and pay good attention for long periods of time, but for the get up and go types, you may want to play a more active game, like a variation on hopscotch, hide-n-seek, or simon says.
Check for progress. You don't have to check for progress often, but you should check to see if your child is meeting developmental markers. I am totally overboard on this and created an entire spreadsheet of every sort of educational goal I could find and I add to it all the time to make sure my children are learning everything they should be learning in a timely manner. You may not be that OCD when it comes to progress, hopefully you aren't. If you are curious what's on my list, here is an excerpt, only my 0-18 months goals. Most of the goals are the EARLIEST possible that you can expect these things from your child, so if your child does them later, don't be worried.
| Subject | Age to Learn | Task |
| Development | 001 mos | follow objects with her eyes |
| Development | 002 mos | get her to sleep in a crib/bed alone for nap & bedtime. |
| Language | 002 mos | Repeat similar sounds that are made to her - basic ooh and aah. |
| Development | 003 mos | bring hands together in front of her |
| Development | 003 mos | Hold head steady when upright |
| Development | 003 mos | hold head up at 45 degree angle when on her tummy. |
| Development | 003 mos | kick feet |
| Development | 003 mos | open and shut hands |
| Development | 003 mos | Make smoother movements |
| Inter-personal | 003 mos | recognize familiar faces and respond on sight. (2 or more - not just mommy) |
| Inter-personal | 003 mos | recognize familiar voices (2 or more - not just mommy) |
| Language | 003 mos | make noises other than crying/fussing. she can make basic aaah and uuuh sounds as well as laughing. |
| Development | 004 mos | Hold head up at 90 degree angle when on her tummy |
| Development | 004 mos | Bear weight on both legs |
| Inter-personal | 004 mos | Laugh and smile spontaneously or in response to someone else’s laugh or smile. |
| Language | 004 mos | Squeal & coo in delight |
| Language | 004 mos | Goo and Coo - vowel consonant sounds |
| Development | 005 mos | Bat at an object held in front of her |
| Development | 005 mos | Reach for objects or bat at toys (this she initiates, not just when someone else holds things in front of her to see) |
| Development | 005 mos | pay attention to a small object held in front of her |
| Development | 005 mos | Roll over one way |
| Development | 005 mos | Grasp a toy in her hand. |
| Development | 005 mos | do small mini push ups |
| Development | 006 mos | keep head level when pulled to a sitting position |
| Development | 006 mos | roll over both ways |
| Development | 006 mos | reach out and grab objects and toys |
| Development | 006 mos | sit momentarily with minimal support |
| Development | 006 mos | Get upset if you take a toy away |
| Language | 006 mos | Repeat sounds like ma ma and da da |
| Language | 006 mos | immitate sounds and facial expressions |
| Language | 006 mos | make razzing sounds |
| Development | 007 mos | pick up small objects with fingers |
| Development | 007 mos | Eat finger foods |
| Development | 007 mos | get into a sitting position from stomach |
| Language | 007 mos | babble and combine two syllable sounds |
| Language | 007 mos | say mama or dada with recognition |
| Language | 007 mos | imitate sound |
| Walking | 007 mos | work at getting a toy that is out of reach |
| Development | 008 mos | mouth and chew objects |
| Development | 008 mos | reach for spoon when being fed |
| Development | 008 mos | pass object from one hand to the other |
| Development | 008 mos | turn away when done eating |
| Development | 008 mos | sit without support |
| Language | 008 mos | Recognize her own name |
| Walking | 008 mos | start crawling |
| Development | 009 mos | play peek a boo |
| Development | 009 mos | look for dropped objects |
| Development | 009 mos | clap and bang objects together |
| Development | 009 mos | separation anxiety starts |
| Inter-personal | 009 mos | wave Hello/Goodbye |
| Language | 009 mos | distinguish emotions by your tone of voice |
| Language | 009 mos | understand the word no (or don’t do that - etc - our version). |
| Language | 009 mos | combine syllables into word like sounds |
| Walking | 009 mos | Pull up to standing from sitting |
| Development | 010 mos | use thumb and finger pincer grasp to pick things up |
| Walking | 010 mos | stand holding onto someone or something |
| Walking | 010 mos | take a few steps holding onto furniture |
| Development | 011 mos | play any game with someone - even dropping things for you to pick up. |
| Language | 011 mos | say mama and dada to the right parents |
| Walking | 011 mos | stand without holding onto anything |
| Development | 012 mos | pull off socks |
| Development | 012 mos | Drink from a sippy cup |
| Language | 012 mos | babble different word like sounds |
| Reading | 012 mos | Sit and let me read to her. Turn pages in the book at random. |
| Walking | 012 mos | walk holding onto furniture well |
| Walking | 013 mos | Take a few steps without holding onto hands |
| Language | 015 mos | imitate others sounds and activities |
| Walking | 015 mos | Walking unassisted and spontaneously. |
| Language | 016 mos | Say at least 5 words other than “mama” and “dada” |
| Art | 018 mos | Color with crayons - dots |
| Art | 018 mos | Color with crayons - lines |
| Dance | 018 mos | Get her moving once a day for “dance time.” Try to get her to spontaneously dance on her own - moving to music. |
| Inter-personal - Street Safety | 018 mos | Teach her to hold hands in the parking lot and wherever there are cars. |
| Language | 018 mos | say one word other than mama or dada |
| Language | 018 mos | indicate needs with gestures other than crying |
| Language | 018 mos | Say 15-20 words |
| P.E. | 018 mos | Rolling and/or throwing a ball or other object to someone else. |
| Walking | 018 mos | Use stairs - up and down |
Lastly, just have fun - the 0-18 month range is the easiest part of home-schooling.
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