(2008/01) Jan 2008 MTBs

blackbatz, ya lor, don't know why his school has so many meetings. And he doesn't only teach, he will still squeeze in tuition if possible, draw comics for his weekly column and conceptualise his next book.

RA is super sticky to me lor, all her enrichment involve Mummy (yamaha music class & swimming) so think got to wait till she is older before hubby and I can have good dinner on our own on weekdays. :p

Ya, will tell him to find 1 or 2 days a month and end the day earlier and at least catch a movie together. ;)
 


kitsune, ur hb is teaching in top jc mah, of cse very busy eh.

shannonbaby, ur maid is so capable! my maid starts to get lazy now that her loan is paid, her pattern slowly come out liao

janb, congrats as sahm! i am also tinkin of resigning once i get my bonus in mar, take a break n slowly find another job. my current job is so low morale...i tink i would prf spend some time w kids at home for a while
 
Shannonbb
2 kids, plus maid is 3 adults vs 2 kids. For us now is 3 vs 3. But luckily my maid capable, or else faint liao.
I went to little skoolhouse in tampines. Very cold. I started sneezing after walking 1 round. The centre is huge, but oso a lot of kids, v noisy lor. I think their nursary has 4 classes. Too many kids liao.

Blackbatz
Thanks, I go robinsons and see first. Cos happycall is ceramic base, my fren say can wear off when scratched then now good for health leh. The robinsons one is korean made, but marble base. Aiya, I go and see. For me, I still use teflon kind, so I not so particular or wear off or not, cos wear off mah change lor.

Darius hardly naps, 15 min wake up cry, my maid will rush to pat, then again again. V siong. He hates the walker now oso. PUt liao he cry and chase after us crying. Grumpy kind oso lor.

DO you teach your kids phonics? Or flashcards?

kitsune
Dun bcos things more settled now, you take them out from cc. Later your biz hotter, you no time then your kids how? YOu really got time to prepare their food, make them nap?
You take a maid $800, you save on cc fees oso need to send to kindy. Then if send to enrichments to keep them entertained in the afternoons then back to square one!
 
krystle,
RE: happycall pan
I think cannot. cos i wanted to buy but i read that they cannot be use on electric stove.

mom2nat,
for me, is also 2 adults vs 2 kids. my hb seldoms at home due to his work nature. even if at home, he is also answering phone call or working at the comp. he will not feed them, shower them or even make milk. ok, he doesnt even know how much milk my kids drink. I think my maid is a better help than my hb..hahha...if he has time, he will spend time with me, ask me to go shopping with him, or dinner with him without kids. kids time with daddy r usually during weekends when we go out with ILs.
 
happycall pan
i heard from my sis that the smallest happycall pan should weigh 2kg. if lesser means its of a poorer material/quality

but how you know until you buy home right....bp got alot say real but its OEM versions i heard
 
Pixie
For 08 Tods age la. How to teach bb phonics? Hee! Abc oso dunno. Do u teach ur kids?

Shannonbb
U r a v devoted mom. I rather spend time shopping than teach my kids! Lol. My girl attended SM for a yr when she was 2, but I din do much at home except buy buy buy materials! So can forget abt sending #2 n #3.
Ur kids go cc or kindy?
 
Shannonbaby, that is a good book to teach Chinese but frankly it takes a lot of time n effort cos all in all 7 chapters n need to follow the instruction closely. I rewrite the Chinese character in the Flashcard cos find it too small. Do u use the small cards to build words n sentence? I realize some cards are not used at all n the cards are a bit messy after cut out. How did u manage this part?

Yes, agree with the rest, u have a super maid!! So far, only hear the scary maid stories n u are really lucky to get a good help ;) This is why I resist to engage one until now.

Aqua, follow your heart ;) If want to take a break, take 1-2 weeks leave n try to be a temp SAHM first. If really can take it well, then throw letter. Work always has ups & downs but still can take lve to escape. SAHM has no where to escape, haha.

Mom2nat, phonics is difficult to teach. Cos we did not learn this during our times. If you want your boy to learn phonics, send him to Zoophonics. They have weekend class too. Once your #3 turns 18months, you can also a/c him to weekday toddler group. Is twice weekly n they do a-z animal flashcards in phonics every lesson ;)
 
twinkystar,
Scientifically, won't infect your wound. But have risk of bacteria infection to your body. Better avoid uncooked food.
 
Janbb,
I make my own flashcard too. Bigger version so that my gal can see it clearly. In fact, I didn't cut out any of the cards from the books, I re-type n make them for my gal to use it.

My maid is not super. In fact, I know of a few friends' maid who teach their kids at home too. One of my student mum told me that her maid is in charge of guiding her son P1 math n eng spelling n homework cos she is v busy with work. N her son did very well without tuition.

Re: phonics
It's pretty easy to teach too! Www.star fall.com is a great website for the kids to work on phonics.
 
Pixie
Phonics of abc including blending into words? Cos if just phonics of abc Elliot know 1 yr ago, but stuck there cs I din teach Liao. I have a few of the leapfrog DVDs. Wat I m concerned is being able to blend n read words, not just single sounds. I m so lazy to learn n teach, teach wrongly how?. Lol

Janbb
My #1 went GUG so I bot the zoo phonics materials. I have the readers too. But I find not v useful leh. She later went to kindy, which used letter land. Then I send to ICanRead, end up can't read oso! But once in P1, read well Liao. So I was thinking if I shd teach the other 2 earlier, so won't wait till P1.
 
Mom2nat,
If u want #2 to pick up reading, u can start with dolch sight words - which is the high frequency words. Once he is able to read the 200+ sight words, is very easy to pick up any beginner books. Currently, my boy is attending K1 in Zoophonics n learning words blending. Every week, he came back with lots of new vocab. However, though they learn the basic phonics sound since n1 but until now some of his classmate still unable to read simple english story books.
Phonics do help my boy to pronounce clearly n blend words but I don't think he is able to read if I just send him to phonics sch. So conclusion, just read few books with him a day n introduce the sight words ;) He will be soon reading aloud to you. Jia you!!
Tips:
i) go popular bookstore to get the series of scholastic sight words story books or Peter & Jane series.

ii) Next go n google dolchword n download the words. Either write in Flashcard or notebook to teach him a few words daily.

iii) As for phonics, if u know how to blend it, then u can buy assessment book n teach him yourself. If not, juz outsource to phonics sch as an enrichment to supplement his reading skills.
 
Janbb
Thanks for your advice. So detailed!
I printed out the dolch words, but I was not consistent. I have other word flashcards too, flash once in a while, oso dun see he remember. I sold away my Glenn Doman liao, cos too bulky.

So actually, can do both phonics and sight words together? As in teach this and that. I tot either one so dun confuse them.

I have the Peter & Jane, but boring leh. LOL!!

See how troublesome I am? Frankly, I am so tired in the mornings, I hardly even talk to Elliot b4 he goes to sch. Evenings, I am busy putting baby to bed, cos breastfeed. And oso #1 gg to bed. So #2 is left out lor.
 
Janbb, thanks for sharing. I read to the gals but never teach sight words. Now I know why Peter n Jane so popular. How about scholarlistic sight books? Exp? Also must print sight words on flashcards or can just point the words out to them?
 
Peter n Jane is boring but a great book to teach reading! I start with getting my gal read 2 pages a day. but there are days when she can complete reading 10 pages with my helper.
Another great author is Dr Seuss. his books like Go dog go, green ham and eggs, etc teach sight word and the stories r funny.

actually there are 2 ways of learning to read. 1) phonics 2) whole word reading. When we r young, we learn by whole word reading too. Just keep reading to our kids and soon they will learn how to read. Sometimes its not too good to push the kids if they r not ready too. But practise make perfect..
happy.gif
There are many children who learn phonics, but if they dont practise it, they will not use it in reading or spelling too. I can safely says only a handful of kids uses phonics in reading n spelling in school. Most of the children who learn phonics didnt apply them when needed. I know of parents who send their kids to 2 - 3 phonics class, but their kids still cant read well.
 
Mom2nat,
actually u need to teach sight words and phonics concurrently. cos if u teach only sight words, then when the kid comes across a word they don't know, they won't know wat to do.
if you teach phonics only, they'll read very slowly cos they have to sound out every word. also not every word in the english language can be read phonetically.
 
Janbb, shannonbaby, grumpus, is it good to start with letter land phonic books n Peter n Jane for sight words? Are there any dolch words storybooks? P&J doesn't teach dolch words right?
 
janbb and shannonbaby,
Thanks for sharing those tips
happy.gif
I used to make flashcards for B which he still uses but it's all random words eg. colours, objects, etc. Will start making the dolch words too.

My lazy way of teaching B to read is to download iphone apps like Dr Seuss Cat in the hat. I find it good cos it keeps his interest level high and he can learn words and pronounciation by touching the pictures.
 
Pauline,
P&J does teach sight words. But p&j pics are quite old fashioned, my son is quite turned off by it.

Dolch words are mainly sight words, definitely found in any storybook.
 
kitsune,
P&J teach sight words too. its also inside the word list of P&J.
U can work on phonics and P&J at the same time. the result is v fast.
For me, I use a mixture (Jollyphonics) and homemade phonics resouces to guide my gal.
 
Gosh, all those teaching jargons that you mummies are talking about, I know 0 at all! How ah?

I also never started my girl or boy on anything.
I simply rely on school to teach all these... :p
Lazy mummy and too busy to start on anything....
 
krystle,
Totally agree with you - all those jargons!!!

I would stand on the philosophy - learning through play! I don't want to teach them how to read or how to write till there is no choice, like when they start primary. They attend full time childcare, and I reckon the exposure to all what you mentioned is more than enough. At home, we just focus on play. Hope my children won't blame me on being so lazy, keke.
 
Krystle, Kam, ya I also did nothing except buy leapfrog dvds last yr. Even then, never play the DVD after they lost interest. All the jargons I just learnt from the hardworking mums here. Lazy mummy. But thought it's good to complement RA's learning since she just started on phonics in school this yr but when I asked her the sounds of the first few alphabets, she seemed unsure.
 
me me me! One lazy mummy here! My kids just play play play or watch tv at home! nowadays i'm really too tired to even play with them. At the moment,C1 is attending Zoophonics for 3 hours daily, so i guess it's more then enough for her daily learning. I'm just worried that her exposure overall is too little as this lazy mummy here is too tired to bring her out like we used to.
 
Pauline & mom2nat,
U can try scholastic series of books, now 20% discount at popular bookstore. It comes in a set of 15 or 25 books. I started this series of books which emphasize on sight words at first. After that, i also buy their scholastic fairy tales- 1 box consists 15 stories. Last yr also bought the a-z scholastic (25 giant stories books). Is quite interesting as the author use words that start with the particular letter in each book. U can look under 'teacher resources' section. But be careful, do not buy those that are 5 copies in a set which mean every book comes in 5 copies which is more suitable for teachers. Unless u hv friends that keen to share the set with u.

Re: P&J
So far, I did not buy these p&j series, hehe. Cos I m using scholastic all along n it worked for my boy. Now using the same set to teach my gal too. But I heard good feedback fr other friends that complete their levels of books before k2. Think is worth to invest especially if u hv more than 2 kids
happy.gif
1 set Scholastic after discount shld be abt $25. Quite reasonable price for 25books. One book only abt $1 ;)

Pauline, u can point word to word as you read aloud to your gal. Go thru' a few times then ask her to read to u instead. Ask her to point word to word too. Like that then u know which word she can read n correct her if wrong. Concurrently, use dolch flashcards, introduce 10 or more each weeks. And few week later, test her & see how many she can memorise. Add on new dolch word after she complete a set slowly.

Re: Chinese sight words
Yes, there is such assessment book by EPH. I got it from popular bookstore too. Is call high frequency words in English n Chinese. Both comes with Flashcard. If u lazy to print doich words, u can grap a copy n tear out the flashcards behind ;)
 
Janbb, oh got 20% discount? $1 per book sounds cheap. Ok, will go check it out over the weekend. Oh, I used to point the words to RA when I was reading cos I read somewhere that it helps. But most times I am summarising the story as I read (cos rushing through her bedtime routine esp when they ask for 2-3 stories) then I gave up pointing out the words otherwise she will find out. Lazy mummy. hee.

Wah, really got Chinese sight words, I was just joking. Recently, I was reading the chinese storybook to RA and she pointed to the word 一 (yi) and said Mummy, I know the word. I was so happy at first, then she told me that word is 横 (heng). LOL... Technically, she is not wrong lar. Had to correct her that that word is 'yi' not 'heng'. so now at least she recognises one word.

Her CC is teaching 横竖撇納 but she told me she doesn't know. she only knows 横竖点. Oh well, never mind, one step at a time. Tackle English first. Chinese I am more confident of teaching her since I know hanyupinyin. :p
 
Mom2nat, I read in the newspapers today that Little Skool house at Tampines under watchlist for HFMD cos 10 kids infected so far. That school seems to always have HFMD problem. Wonder why. :p
 
Kitsune
I went b4, they have 100+ kids. 4 N1 classes last yr. Prob more kids more chances lor.

Me v sleepy... Will read n reply tmrw... Nite nite folks
 
Mom2nat, oic, I visited before too but only saw the playground and counter area cos that time when I went in 2010, they were also down with HFMD so there were visitor restrictions. :p
 
JanBB
Can show the photo of the Chinese sight word resource you have? I always have problems finding good chinese resources. Any internet resources?

More worried about Chinese. The other day went to Kam's house for the playdate, realised that almost all the kids speak Mandarin so well! And my C is like a potato.. omg. I really don't wish to send her to Chinese enrichment lessons..
 
mcfluffy
my girl also eat potato one. when she went N1 she knew zero mandarin. even her own Chinese name!!

now in N2 slightly better but she doesn't recognize any Chinese characters only some conversational mandarin
 
Mcflurry,
Can I watapps u the pix cos using iph n can't load the pix. Still the same hp no? Who else interested?

Heehee, maye we can form a watapps chatgroup with mummies here ;) so far, only have a few contact in my hp
Kam- u hv the most contacts, u give me the rest of the contacts in watapps n I invite one by one or if u free u invite us instead ;)
 
my gal also eat potato..hehe..she speak mandarin like an ang mo..and all her prounication is so wrong. but nw she is more willing to speak to her grandparents in mandarin after i stop my ILs from speaking in singlish with her. This year, i tried to make an effort to speak to her in mandarin more often.

Weekend is coming! Mummies have any plans? Intend to bring my kids to the botanical garden this sun for a picnic.
 
Pauline,
I m surprised to find high frequency words for Chinese too. This book is indeed a good help to me. My boy has finished the first term of that book n he is able to read simple sentences. He is unable to speak mandarin at all last yr. Since I sent him to Chinese enrichment last July or aug then he slowly pick up. And pls don't rely on HYPY. Cos my niece n nephew was too relying on HYPY in k2 & pri 1. Then comes p2, their Chinese is without HYPY. And they did quite badly cos no HYPY help to read the Chinese character. So better start to teach kids from scratch n complement with HYPY in K2.
 
Kam,
U are fast to watsapp so many of us ;) Gemini is Gemini!! Fast n efficient ^.^ As u said only 10 contact in one watsapp group chat n there are so many of us. Think maybe can watapps by certain subject next time ;) thanks for linking us up!! Wonder is it the reason why so many thread has 'die' long long ago!! Even my #2 thread is not moving at all since last yr! Glad that our is still alive though somedays are slow haha ;)
 
Janbb, now that u r not working, u can post more n help keep our thread alive.
happy.gif
I am going to popular later to check out the books. Tempted to go baby fair to buy diapers, milk powder but dun want to squeeze with all the pregnant women. :p
 
Kitsune, mom2nat, shannonbaby, you don't use whatapps?

JanBB, hehe
happy.gif
Now move on to LINE. GO download the apps and add me, ok! Think LINE can have 20 people group chat,just nice for us.

I also created another group in whatapps. Who was not invited in whatapps? PM me your HP number, I!
 
janbb & kitsune,
I went to Popular at Nexx during lunch and bought the Fairy Tales series (15 books), Spongebob Squarepants series (12 books) and a Maths (simple additions) board game for about $59 after discount. All from scholastic
happy.gif
Quite happy cos I find it hard to find books suitable for 4 year olds - those with attractive pictures and not too little/too many words. The big book series also looks tempting but at $119 (before discount) so have to consider a bit.
 

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