(2003) Calling all 2003 babies

Hi Serenade!

Have you heard/read of the Ginn Basic Readers?

I wonder how they look like. Have been searching the web for some infos and preferrably if I can steal a look at some of the pages of the Level 1 readers.

SO far, we've been using simple phonics readers and sight words readers from Scholastic.
 


Hi moshimoshi!

Was just thinking:

Since Mel doesn't like ws, then you can do the word families projects with her. Incorporate it with your craft ideas, I'm sure she'll have lots of fun.

e.g. the "-at" family with bat, cat, mat etc...
or the "-ap" family with map, clap, tap etc...

Then you gals can make your own album, or book.
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Hi moshimoshi, worrymum,

Hope your kids are feeling better now. Over here, we have no presciptions for runny nose except for nasal spray (which I seldom use). The best cure I know is to keep blowing the nose and drink lots of water.

moshimoshi, does Mel cough a lot in the night? Does she take any med before sleeping? If so, you might want to feedback it back to the doc. Recently, we realised a med that Brandon took during bedtime was causing him to cough badly in his sleep.
 
Hi kristins_mom,

Thanks for the link. Brandon enjoys doing worksheets that require minimal writing. Think he'll like doing those worksheets.

I have yet to try the Ginn Readers. Try googling for Ginn Reading 360. I think that should be the one you are looking for. Recently, the Ginn 360 Reading has been revised and I think it's known as New Reading 360 now

http://www.heinemann.co.za/foundationSeries/NR360.asp

Too bad we are not in Singapore. A friend of mine got secondhand Ginn Readers (looks pretty new) for only S$2 per book.
 
hi serenade!

wasn't around when you beeped me on MSN. was away with a little emergency. UTI again, but this time it's me. At least I'm glad it's me and not Bryan. Coz he wouldn't know what's happening to him. And he wouldn't know until the pain is too great for him to pee.

doc gave me some antibiotics. at least now, i can set my mind at ease. it was so acute that all of sudden i had this immense pain and was passing out blood in my urine since 1900hrs. So thought it would be better that I went to the doc now and then set everyone's mind at ease. I was arguing with my husband that it's UTI and not anything else... and he was still thinking it could be a vaginal infection - which I wouldn't worry too much about and that could have waited till tomorrow...

i think this time round, i guess i took my initial cold symptons too lightly. the bacterial infection could have travelled downwards. anyway, it should go away quickly after the course of antibiotics plus lots of water. nothing is better than water to detox now...

wow, you mean the Ginn Readers are so cheap back home. Are there anymore 2nd hand copies up for grab by the time we are back?

i heard from Bryan's teacher that it's good coz the very basic reader starts with a low no. word count. that would be good to get Bryan to focus. unfortunately the teacher only has readers for higher levels suitable for 8 yrs +.

the mcguffey ones that you recommended seem interesting, esp the primer volume. but it looks very ex and amazon.de seems to sell only the 4th or 5th reader.

i wonder if it helps if i were to do powerpoint slides. one by one and get him to read off the computer. but a book is still certainly more comfortable to get around with. e.g. can laze on the couch and read. also a computer will probably be more of a distraction than of an aid.
 
Hi moshimoshi and worry mum!

Don't forget your cod liver oil the children.

And if there's fresh air in Sg - e.g. morning 7am in the park, get some. Really good for the lungs.
 
hi K's mum, I have Ginn readers but have yet to used. I know a shop in BBC and they sell them cheap ... got my edventure books that way too. will scan some pages for u ... soon.

baking : only did kueh bangkit and love letters so far. will do pineapple tarts later this week ... my hubby love the kueh bangkit and he's the sort not into such stuff, so I'm really happy. doing the tarts with ready-made filling coz first time doing and don't wanna kill myself .... sorry, k's mum, no cornflakes cookies ... is that quite sweet coz my SIL passed me a box and it's really sweet. not sure if u wanna try kueh bangkit ... mixture quite easy but i had a hard time trying to cut the dough (prob too dry) ...

for runny nose, we used to actified (the green bottle), recently switches to rhinatol .... but if it's more bronchitic in nature, we use zytec. I do use vicks on Ben ... it says suitable from 2 yrs onwards ... and I'll let him exercise more often and get the runny stuff to flow out more than backflowing

.ky.
 
oh, btw, I've won another pair of tickets ... this time to "I think I can" ... :>. really thinking of buying if can't get tickets. this time I'll be going coz the last time hubby went and did not stay throughout play ... think may have more tickets ... anyone keen? pm me to get contact ...

.ky.
 
Hi Kristin's mum,

Do you give Ben nose drops when his nostrils get congested? I admit I am failure in this.. Yes, we do have it here in Spore. But, Benjamin just refuse to use that.. He is rather stubborn and dont let anyone touches his nose.

Ya, not forgetting the cod liver oil.. it really help to build up their body.

Ops, U take care and get well soon too.
 
Sent her back to school and surprise surprise, no tears after a 5-day break, maybe she misses schoool. Tomorrow is her excursion to sci ctr, don;t want her to miss taking schoolbus with friends, this will be her second time on a bus, pampered gal rides in cars la.


Hi serenade
Got the link to ur blog, will find time for it ;).Abt med, mel was given some syrup to help night cough, seems to work. I am trying to reduce the dosage now that she's better, and yes, doc here overmedicate, most are just to relieve symptopms.

Hi Worrymum
hope ur darling is better today, i have a friend whose son is perpetually sick due to senstitive airways so doc suggested long term neubiliser else he would have to do lotsa antibiotics, heard he went thru almost 10 courses!!??


Hi k's mom
more on Ginn ltr, time to pick mel.
 
Hey Ky,
Lucky you! I have only won one lucky draw in company's D&D. I think the play sounds good too. Going with Hannah's sch.

As for your CNY goodies, how abt passing some to us??
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I love love letters. I used to pinch them while my mom bakes.

Btw, a friend told me that I should stop cod liver oil when your kid is down with flu, cold, cough. Anyone aware of it?
 
hi Apricot ... BBC = Bras Basah Complex

Moshimoshi, don't think Neubilizer = antibiotics. usually antibiotics is to prevent lung infection ... neubilizer is still considered the most effective way to clear phlegm. I've got one on long-term borrow at home. ya, schoolbus is an excitement for kids... ben still remembers his last yr. hope Mel will enjoy hers!

Sarah ... can, but how to pass to u? I'm challenging hubby to do some this weekend coz he kept saying easy to make *we shall see his results* ... hee.

nope, we dont stop cod liver oil when kid is down, but we did stop vit c pills for a while and now no longer taking it.

.ky.
 
Hi all,

just a quick update. Benny was still running fever yesterday evening since Fri so brought him to KKH A&E and was admitted by the doc as the lump has not been responding to oral antibiotics.

He has done CT scan today and was on antibiotic through drip. Still waiting for doc's decision after they had the CT scan report.. they may operate on him these few days.. so praying hard!!

got to rush back to KKH now.. will keep you moms updated!!
 
Gee, ky, ur hubby bakes too??? interesting couple! think my hub and i are real kitchen idiots man!
mel uses rhinothil too, from SBCC? her PD is at mt alvernia


Joanne, i cannot imagine the stress u are going thru, but trust and believe that all will be well, have faith!

Abt cod liver, i only did for a week and that's it! very ill disciplined,must buy a new bottle to restart now. hey, at abt $3 a bot, mommies, do u think it is as good as many claim??

K's mom
Abt Ginn, i used them when i taught in a centre many years back, they have been around for ages, some preschools are using them. personally prefer Ladybird peter n jane which has more real life vivid engaging illustrations. let me know if u want to look at the books, i can take pix.

thanks for the suggestion on the word family, will see what i can do.


ladies
what readers do ur kids use in sch? anyone has Kites to sell me? the sch sells them at $5 per book!!! and its compulsory to get them, else mel will be 'bookless' in sch, the thing is i don;t even know what i am paying for and if i like the bks. Can't find info abt those readers on the net
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on the other hand, i am most happy to buy the chinese readers, anything chinese is welcome man!keke
 
Some puppets therapy during sick days.

Follow up with a puppet show or old mcdonald's for younger kids or stuff food inside the brown bag for the animals to eat. eg. what do cats eat, put in milk cartons or toy rat/mouse.

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from top left, porcupine, cat, cow, sheep, duck
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this idea is from the net, make a frog with a super long tongue, stick tape on tongue and use black paper to make flies. have fun catching the flies! cheap thrill ;)

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Joanne, do be strong, we all mummies here giving you our best moral support to you. Do take good care of yourself and Benny too. Remember keep us posted! *HUG HUG**
 
Hi moshimoshi

Ben's school uses Kite too ... yes, ridiculous at $5/bk right??? I tried asking the older kids' mummies to sell me their chinese readers and they said no, so paisay didn't wanna ask so had paid liao ...

cod liver oil ... huh, more than $3 ... maybe I got the big bottle, it's like 9+ for twin pack. I just bought 1 pack from Sheng Shiong at $9.60 coz got $0.50 rebate for cashcard payments ... Ben takes 3 tablespoons each night. He likes so we give.

cooking wise, hubby more into cooking proper food. me the junkie with baking :> ... ya, sometimes the whole family would bake together, quite fun :>

.ky.
 
hi moshimoshi!

what do you store up for crafts?

I wish Bryan would be half as willing to do craft work at home. he's more into his toy trains and puzzles and also turning the whole house upside down with all his stuffs... sigh!

after a day of rest, i suddenly had this crazy idea of putting up big pieces of paper with just words. coz i can never get him to focus on words while reading him a book, so i thought i'd try this method before re-introducing the sight word readers a few days later.

e.g. on the bathroom door:
I wash my face.
I wash my hair.
I wash my hands.
I wash my feet.

on the main door:
I like to eat.
I like to drink.
I like to play.
I like to sing.
I like to sleep.

Then on the shoe cabinet:
Where is my jacket?
Where is my hat?
Where are my gloves?
Where are my socks?
Where are my shoes?

And in his room:
This is Bryan.
This is Kristin.
This is my Daddy.
This is my Mommy.
This is my book.
This is my toy.
This is my home.
I like my home.

Quite obvious what kind of words I'm introducing here. It's yielding some results at the moment. Since it's a new game, he's willing to learn a little. I think he's reading out of his memory now. But I must say, it's almost 80% accuracy.

Now I'm more inspired to do this. Poor Kristin can't do much other than recognising the letter "I" and tearing off the posters.

It'll be great if you can photograph some of the pages of the Ginn Readers for me. Thanks!
 
Hi ky!

Yeah, recipe for kueh bangkit for me to try out too?

what's BBC? Certainly not the broadcasting company we know, right?

Yap, do send some photographed pages over as samples please.
 
Hi worry mum!

It was difficult to do nose drops for Bryan. But our PD just has her practice downstairs. So I always threaten him that the PD herself will come up to do it for him if necessary. So he'll lay still for one second, then I'll quickly squirt in the nose drop.

Have you tried a nasal aspirator too to clear nasal congestion? Very useful indeed. But I use this more often on Kristin coz she doesn't know how to blow her nose well.
 
Just a little sharing of what Kai did during homeschooling for craft for CNY and also baking during homeschooling for his preschool teachers and friends.

CNY cards for relatives and friends in Singapore, we made 20 cards and Kai wrote all of them. Will share the process and a few of the cards. We have included a photo in each card.

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For Valentine's Day, Kai baked butter cookies for his teachers and Friends in preschool. I am helping him to wrap them up and include a card written by him.

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The theme for our learning in his preschool is Valentine's Day and Festivals and our theme at home is Festivals and Celebrations.

We are reading books relating to the different Festivals and Celebrations and doing crafts on CNY. I am also baking for CNY and Kai gets to help out too.
 
This is what I make when we are coughing

Chinese Apple Soup (Help to clear phelgm and cough but need to drink for a couple of days.)

Ingredients
3 Dried fig fruits
8 red dates without seeds
1 soaked white fungus
1 big red apple, peeled
2 chinese tablespoons of bei xing
2 chinese tablespoons of nan xing
3 bowls of water

Methods:
Put all ingredients into double boiler and boiled till water boiling and switch to low heat and simmer for 3 hours.

Drink when the drink when it is room temperature.
 
hi hi apricot... only got a phone number for the shop... will pm u.

k's mum, will pm u the receipe for kueh bangkit. hubby's still digging into it last night, which is a record for him!

Am going to a Celebrating Lunar New Year (storytelling cum handicraft making session) at Sembawang this after 3-4pm. Anyone keen to join us? $2/child ... going for it as I like Ben to join in social activities before he grows up really fast :>

.ky.
 
hi pris
wow, kai writes well! and those mickey mouses, must be finger lickin good!

hi k's mom
will dig out those readers Ginn n ladybird to photograph so u can have an idea their differences, give me some time ya.
Ur sentence on objects idea is cool, as long as the child enjoys it, anything we mommies come up with is laudable ya. have u introduced phonics to him? i made mel memorised the a to z sounds. it helps with she encounters new words.

For craft supplies, i have a big box with paints, brown bags, colored tissue, cotton wool, string, pipe cleaners, foam sheets, aluminium foil, beads, toilet roll, mini pom pom for nose.eyes, ice cream sticks etc. any junk can also be recycled for crafts,esp nice boxes or bottles.

hi ky
i am always keen with the free activities orgainsed by the library, the thing is they are almost always held in the afternn, when mel is napping, so never attended any.
hey kueh bangkit is not easy man, u rock gal!

hi apricot
pl bring the chinese vcd on sun, will u be our camera woman again this round. Btw, i will be there at 10ish, pl join me early if u can.
 
Hi kristins_mom!

You must really take good care of yourself. Are you taking any vitamins at the moment? My husband insists that we take Vit C & E for health purposes.

That's a great way to introduce sight words. But don't stress yourself too much. Has Bryan's school started teaching the kids blending words yet? Once they start, I think it'll be a breeze for Bryan to learn to read. In case you didn't notice, Bryan's starting to read a little. Remember you told me how Bryan is recognising the first sounds of words? Well, that's one good indication!

Do you have any alphabet wall frieze? We have one at home and I suppose my kids learnt the alphabets from it. And it's great for decorating the room too
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Do you still do saline nose drops for Bryan? Brandon used to hate it until he was 2 years old. After our previous trip from Sg, he became very cooperative suddenly. In fact, he's the one who requested for it. But ever since he turned 3, he's been blowing his nose himself. For Cheryl, er..., I used the primitive method - by sucking out the mucus myself. Sounds yucky, right? Hehe, but most effective, haha
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But most of the time, I'll encourage her to blow her nose too. Do you know that Brandon didn't know how to blow his nose until he was 3? But Cheryl started blowing her nose when she was ard 1 year old without being taught. I bet she learnt that from her brother.

Boy, we had a busy time packing the kids' toys into boxes (for shipping) last night. It's so difficult to decide what should go and what should stay...
 
Hi moshimoshi!

Where did you get all those paperbags? I'm hopeless with craft. Maybe you can set up a corner on weekly craft? At least, I need not go cracking my brain over what to do... hehe. Give that a thought, hehe.

Hi ky,
You just reminded me of my mom's baking. She used to bake those goodies every year. I still remember how we were pampered with endless "tins" of goodies. How lucky Ben and Keith are!

Can I have the BBC contact too? Thanks!
 
Hi Pris,
Kai writes well! How did you manage to get him to write so much words? Brandon will surely complain if I get him to do it, haha...

Seeing Kai cutting the dough reminds me of how my siblings and I used to help my mom when we were young. Time really flies...
 
Hi Pris!

Kai writes fabulously well! When did you start teaching him to write?

Bryan can only trace his name so far. And only 3 kids in his class can write their names without tracing. And one of these just turned four last Sunday. I think the longer we stay here, the more Bryan will underachieve for his age... or rather the less he will achieve... His teacher thinks he does marvellously well in school already... there must be a huge gap here compared with what kids are expected to do back home in Sg.

Can't complain since I really don't do any work with him after his school here coz I'm so drained with Kristin for half the day already.

Really admire you for the discipline to run a curriculum for Kai at home and your patience to bake with him. I'd be tearing my hair out if he starts messing up with my things in the kitchen, though recently I've found a new way for him to help, i.e. sort out the cutleries while i empty the dishwasher.

Your cookie cutters look so cute. I'm sure the Kai's friends in school will love the cookies!
 
Hi moshi2!

thanks, thanks in advance for the pages! take your time. no hurry. Bryan still has a long way to reading. actually, his school's been doing phonics. Now the teacher is gonna do another round by reintroducing the alphabet in the lower case. Now I prompt him on those words on the doors phonetically.

Am excited about next week... feeling a bit stressed too coz i'll be in Bryan's class to "conduct a lesson"!!! Well, not really, just to share with the kids on CNY and do some craft with them. But I must say that I'm gonna steal your dragon idea. Btw, where did you get the nice looking dragon head? Can photograph for me too??
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ky,
thanks for the recipe. But don't think i'll dare let the kids try my own experiment... i'm not good at baking so am wondering what would come out of it... but will certainly let you know.
 
Hi serenade!

Already packing for Sg? So soon?
I wouldn't know what would happen when that day comes for us. We shipped so many things here and have also added loads now... and then packing with the kids running around the house... shudder!

ok... gtg be back later...
 
Hi kristins_mom,

Packing with the kids running around? Tell me abt it! Last night, Brandon insisted on packing his toys into the boxes himself. Now, I have to repack his toys when he's asleep. But I got him to agree in giving away some toys. Hey, he even allowed us to pack his skate scooter into the box! Looks like he really looking forward to return to Sg.

Hi Sarah,
Are you still conducting science experiments with Hannah? I recalled you did a volcano with her some time ago. Was browsing through some websites and they have pretty interesting stuff but quite exp. So, wondering if any mommy is interested in investing and conducting the science projects together.
 
Hi Serenade!

Brandon's got a skate scooter? How's it for him?
I saw Bryan skating on one at Toys R Us last Saturday. Am wondering if I should get one for him. But it's awfully expensive here. 25euros, any chance that it would be cheaper in Sg? But if we waited till jul, he would have lost out a few months of fun here... so still thinking here...

i think when the time comes for me, i hope the kids will still have school and i'll send them off from 8am to 5.30pm for a week to pack... haha!!!

we look forward to going back too, with so many friends now on the forum!
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yeah, we've got alphabet wall frieze too. bryan didn't have problems with his alphabet. it's just that he's not forthcoming with words and at repeating them. with kristin, she's beginning to recognise the I's on the word posters i made last night. She's been running to them and pointing at them, saying "I", "I".

Actually Bryan's been picture reading for me. In fact, I surprised the Daddy when he came back from Sg in Jan 2006 with a Chinese reader. It was as if he knew how to read. But he was just memorising the sentences at the prompt of each page. So with the self made sight word charts now, he's probably doing it out of his memory too. But he does use prompts from the beginning letter now... i wonder when he'll begin to see the connection in letters.
The teacher has not started on blending yet. Am not too sure if she'll still do it before the school breaks for the summer.
But I'm getting impatient here... so am gonna experiment with my own self made sight word charts and then introduce the sight word readers to him.

As for the saline nose drops, I have to coax him into doing it. I"ll tell him to hold his breath first and then squirt in the nose drop and then he can breathe normally again. And he'll tell me it's better. Of course there are days that he'll refuse and then I'll threaten to get the PD up here to do it herself!

I use the nasal aspirator on Kristin since young whenever she has problem with thick mucus. She can't exactly blow her nose on her own. But the thick ones usually come out with a hard sneeze.

As for Bryan, he's only beginning to blow his nose after he turned three too...
 
Serenade,
Brandon & Cheryl are really lucky to have you as mom! Wish I have the guts to suck out Hannah's mucus.

Good idea on the crafts session. We probably can even take turns after our learning sessions from Moshi.
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First the book club, then crafts, we sure are getting 'happening'...
 
K's mom,
Guess you must be feeling better to be posting..
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I did something similar to your sight words too, but not in sentences. Simple words like door, bed etc. My dear Hannah starts coloring or tearing it. Arrgh, I gave up. Hmm, maybe I should give it another shot. Has been so tired and lazy to do anything serious with her. Just removed my wisdom tooth, and that little 'lobang' giving me problems. Oops, less wise of course!

Hannah was eyeing a pink skate scooter which costs abt $39. So I guess price range should be thereabout.
 
Hi Ky, K's mom & Serenade,
Just want to say 'THANK YOU' for sharing your blogs. Haha, so drama hor...Well, coz I just recently finshed reading this book 'The Bonesetter's Daughter' by Amy Tan. It's about a mother-daughter relationship. And it set me thinking again.

Well, thinking of what kind of memories I would like to leave behind for Hannah when I'm gone. Used to jot down bits & pieces but has stopped for a long time. Haha, I forget that I will grow old and not remember such wonderful memories, and perhaps Hannah herself will not even remember them when she grows up. Hey, such memories has to be passed down to our grandchildren, isn't it?
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I amd therefore going to be disciplined like you gals. Nope, I'm still no blogger, still prefers the traditional way of keeping memories.
 
Serenade...Kai wrote a card at a time and then ran off to play or to read before he came back to write more.

K's mum...I only started him after he turned 3, in fact, he wanted to learn to write himself in October in Japan. Care to show your blog? Which part of Germany are you from? My 2nd oldest nephew is there for company training for 1.5yr.

Sarah...you can make into scrapebook or DVD for her. Besides, blog, I do made scrapebook and DVD for Kai. He has 3 personal albums and a couple of DVD from birthday till now.
 
Pris,
Welcome back from 'entertaining'! Where did you find the time to prepare materials for HS, household chores etc?

Yep, I just started on digital scrapbooking, quick and easy for me. I'm one lazy mom! Care to share your SB?
 


Sarah...since we are now in Vancouver, most of Kai's handmade scrapebook albums are in Singapore in my mum's storeroom. And I have done one digital scrapbooking from Kodak for him which have since been bought back to Singapore.

I used stickers, brochures, construction paper to do the scrapebook albums. It is fun to make the photos into video with music and subtitles too. Kai has fun viewing himself on TV.

I usually plan whole week cooking for the week and pack my food according to the planning and dh would inform me before marketing when he will bring back guests so I usually am well-prepared for that. Mopping and cleaning of the house, Kai will help with the vacuuming and I mopped and dh will wash the toilets on weekend. Washing of clothing is done twice a week etc. Cleaning of the windows once a week with Kai's help too. Ironing is done when Kai naps in the afternoon after laundry days. When I prepare meals, Kai is either playing, reading on his own, doing logico or watching a selected educational program. And currently we are into phonics too and it helps alot to since dh is also very involved with Kai helping him to learn to read and also getting him to run at a track. We are currently Sourcing for a swimming class for Kai under the Red Cross Program in Vancouver where Kai will learn to swim as well as learning the safety and life-saving skills.

I prepare the HS material while Kai is in preschool since I spend my time in the library about 5 minutes from his preschool and source for the books and DVDs as well. I also do my flashcards for new words there which I fully utilise the time I have. And if we are slightly early for his school, we will read books, flashcards etc before he goes into class.
 
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