(2007/03) March 2007 MTBs


huingee/QQ
u gals are so down to earth
i have been itching to go out now that the gals are bigger
or rather my heart has grown "harder"
in fact i have been thinking if i want an official friday night out so that hb will bbsit while i get a break from the kids

your hbs are lucky then
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QQ: aiyo.. ok lor.. i let Rae waer CNY clothes to go dancing.. hahahah.. maybe a cheena tutu.. hahaha.
u guys come back on sat and can still make it for dancing on sun morning!! amazing leh, no need to rest?
your mum is so widely traveled.. good to still have the energy and interest to tour around at her age.
 
star, she is still v v young. < 60 yo.
she said she lives like she has only another 5-10 years more to go. cheong whenever she can. alamak!

SQ, cause u face them all day, v siong! no wonder u wanna escape.
i think both of them big big now, v sinnang and honeymoon now.
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SQ: hey firday night out is good.. can jio me out too.. we can have nice sit down adult dinner.. hahaha.. i think i will need one too when mei mei comes out.
 
SQ, jay said no more chillis cause very salty the food. but the kids like them. hahahaha! next time he suggest we go demsey hill. we dunno wat to eat or do there, but just anyhow say when we passed by demsey hill. haha!
 
i checked the website, this usborne sells books via direct sales. oh, i see.
maybe that's y not easy to get full set from stores.
but the books look more appetizing and intersting though.
i think tian will like them.
haha!
 
QQ
my hb will be happy to escape from chilis
haha
we are v scared of the place but YE really likes it

star
yes i need a break
i know someone who has girls night out EVERY friday night so that they get a break from their kids, and i really like the idea. she has been doing it in her 30s n is now in her 40s. there's a group of 3 who always check out new places every week, or they go to their favourite haunt
 
last nite while we were watching some korea show and there was a scene where the lead actor and actress were close to each other nose-to-nose by chance and created moment of embarrassement. Clyde saw and ask "eh.. why they like this?" hahah hb and i dunno how to explain ahaha..
 
star: wanted to go ur place last nite but A &amp; his cousins were playing n enjoying themselves so much till 9pm. too late to go over liao. he so sulky n sad when going home, says he still wants to play
 
SQ, star, ok dempsey hill, or resort. haha!!

giolyn, alamak. .. how to answer ah? next time maybe he will ask u, later bb come out then how?

after my short survey, i think i will give ladybird series a miss. i might come back to this topic next time.
cause i think i should pick up books that tian is interested in, something like BALLERINA, etc. then she will love to read books.
however, i do not know if systematic reading is really that importnat? or just read, anything......

luckily tian is still young now, otherwise i will be stress. now can still play a bit. haha!!!!!

star, so each outing we bring one book and read to them? doable or not?
 
AAA,
I think ICR is good for kids learning to read, like from kindergarten to P1 age. As iCR unique for their reading program, i heard their other primary sch program is so so. No point paying so much for a so so program. So i intend to learn Esther finish her ICR stage.
I will explore other creating writing program for Esther as I'm weak in this area. There is Jan &amp; Elly, Bristish council, TLL, Mind stretcher, Morries Allen etc for primary sch level.
http://www.icanreadsystem.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=17&amp;Itemid=33
Recently then the added the primary sch program. Think i want to earn $ to bigger group of students bah.

See this phonics course for mummies
http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/353635/4576938.html

Lorna Whiston also offer courses for adults and kids which are quite good.
http://www.lornawhiston.com.sg/tdu/courses.html
 
Germ,
Not I 万事通, it's I already experienced this. This time i even registered the Loran Whiston 4 days course for parents for phonics. But didn't go in the end cos no time and very sian no one go with me.
The ladybird books are nice and easy for our kids now. Hence easy to encourage them to read and pick up.
I also bought Clifford phonics books.
Heehee, in the end i give up and send Esther to lesson as I can only teach her to read 3 letter sound words. Beyond that i don't know what to teach liao.
 
Germ,
Also, now I need to teach Esther han yu pin ying. At P1, they need to have spelling on han yu pin ying. The teacher will read out and they need to write. Not easy, i try to teach her now. Heehee, that's why i mention chinese program as they will intro han yu pin ying in K2 level to prepare them for P1.

AAA,
Esther is in primary 1 now.

SQ,
I'm a boring person lah.
 
SQ,
Cos i have frens, sil and sis kids are older. Get the info from them loh, to prepare P1 is english must know how to read and do comprehenison and chinese must know han yu pin yang.
Also i will go read the smh thread on prepare P1 and kiasuparents.
 
SQ,
Not lucky lah, you will know when time comes too.
It's just cos Astro's Teng is in K1 now, scare there is some gap that's why give her some options for courses.
Also i will talk to Esther's classmate parents last time. Get to know many of her frens attending this and that lessons. Her another classmate also went to ICR becos of Esther. Now the mum also registered her k1 kid to ICR also.

I think most important is to read to our kid and let them like reading. I lazy to bring my kids to library as my house have many books unread yet. I'm lucky to get many good pass down of books, toys and clothes from my bil.
 
SQ, i also say, anything can ask huingee.. cause she has to set everything for esther first, then come dylan. by the time it is dylan's turn, i can also follow. soconvenient for me.
 
QQ: u can look at this too.

SQ, i wanna eat crabs!!! we should go! chinese food, i onz anytime! we can go east coast too or even pasir ris or sembawang naval base!! hahaha
 
The rain finally stopped!
Today last working day before long break till next Tues.
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Going for my family reunion dinner tonight, tomorrow company reunion dinner, Wed with inlaws ... eat &amp; eat &amp; eat, so happy. hahaha!!!
 
For maths, some go for abacus (like CMA) and Kumon or TLL (The learning Lab, an ex tuition centre that only take in elite students). It will teach time-table for the kids too.
I didn't expose Esther to time-table yet. I think she learn some at her kinder.
 
QQ: of cos doable, we sould read one english and one chinese book, anyway quite short, 10-15 mins can finish one book. we should have our own mini book club and we can create a list of the books the book club have read together.

huignee/QQ: rae has a set of my little pony phonic books cos she likes my little pony. But i dun find the book useful, i think i prefer to use my other books to teach her to read.

Huignee, actually if u ask me, i dun like tpo intro hanyu pin yin so early cos once they know han yu pin yin, they can't memorise chinese characters so well. My MIL agree with me on this.
actually for Han Yu Pin Yin, i find the easiest way to learn is constanly practise it.
 
star,
That's why han yu pin ying is when preparing P1 that is in K2.
Her char recognisation is ok as her kinder provide good foundation for her. That's why i find presch edu important.
 
Crabs: hubby and I just went there last week!! Nice lah ad usual. I like theif butter crabs.

HN: we re lucky to have u in this thread.
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do continue to share such info. I went popular just now and I agree with you re the ladybird Peter and Jane books. They re so repetitive that children will know how to read by themselves. But they don t have very interesting story lines? Or was it just the book I picked up? My concern is if thr storyline is not interesting, then will the child feel not motivated to read? Let me know what u think. I read and pointed word for word to Anna. Then she could read too! Cos she s very good with her memory and she recognized the words quite fast.
 
Huignee, my hb keen to put rae at CMA, so now i a tasked to go find out. apparently shouls start at 3 yrs old, so i am kinda 1 yr late
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QQ: hey let s not give up on the ladybird Peter and Jane books so quickly. I was at popular just now. I feel the books are simple enough for the child to read by herself. The illustration aside, I think the storyline is the issue. Let s hear what HN say to my question above.

HN: I have one question. If the child can read way before her peers, do u think she ll find it boring when the school teaches her? How am I able to keep her interested?
 
Germaine: hey your hubby and u don t kiss on front of the kids? Sometimes I will make it a point to do so, to let them know papa loves mama and it's normal.

Ash, Star: Take fish oil. It s brain food for the baby. I took loads.
 
Huignee,m Han Yu Pin Yin in P1 is still too early lah.. should be later. so at least P1 and P2 they cont to memorise chinese characters.
 
AAA; my take on this..dun worry, teacher will cover different books with them. If they are interested in reading, they will enjoy still.
 
Ok.. At Ariel's birthday party, a few of my friends were chatting. We talked about how the chinese children are getting all the good grades in school. Eg, of the 9 10 A1s students at Crescent Girls' school, 6 of them are mainland chinese. This sparked a reaction within me.. I really admire the dedication, determination and force of these pei2 du2 mamas! They left their hometowns faraway with the sole purpose of the child's education! It's no wonder their children are the top students!

This puts me to shame..

When was the last time I did something with such single-mindedness, let alone an act with such a force for my children?
 
AAA,
I think depend on kid bah. Esther is ok for Peter n jane. Not sure Anna will feel bored or not as Esther is not advance in reading. Esther start icr in end mar last yr when she was in k2. She was in the icr stage, one yr program ending in mar. Her classmate all same age as her.

Mindchamp is quite good too I heard.
 
HN: I find Peter and Jane a good series to start. But maybe we don't have to buy the entire series. I need to ask one of my friends who sent her kids to Mindchamps about it..
 
Pax,
Nice lantern
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I was thinking of doing one then realized my Angboa packs ain't that nice.


Haiz, its been raining nonstop. Wish I don't needtogo to work ;(
 
QQ: sorry. i knocked out aft my medication :S

which blog are you talking about?
the ICR website or the mother's blog entry?

wrt to Miser teaching the other subjects.. hmm.. put it this way . it is because there isn't so much to catch up with wrt to this area.
I checked Nursery 2 and even K1 standard.. apart from sight words and the writing.. the concepts (Sentence formation in chinese and rote count to 10, plus write the corresponding word out etc) are not new to teng.. suprising he gets a lot of it already before he went to LV. in K1, they teach ordinal numbers. (1st, 2nd, 3rd... ) etc,, he already knows. the concept of more and less.. he knows.. and such..

it is english which requires a lot of catch up.. just imagine this. there are 26 letters to practice writing for individually.. then of course recognise and SPELL all the sight words leh.. :S.. sentence formation and verbal english and vocabulary.. he no issue yet.. i think coz i speak english to him.. so does ellie so he is off to a pretty good start..

but to get the child to decode for themselves and to read without any hand holding from adults at all.. i am not confident to teach.. and if we think about it this way... we read to them for exposure.. but in doing that we cultivate an dependence(Which is of course inevitable).. ultimately, they need to do it by themselves.. with minimum inference from the adults.. that ought to be the goal we work towards to...i relised it is impt to let the kid do for themselves first.. for all the years in teaching.. coz do too fast for them .. they are not learning.. so that's why u see some of those sight read activity books. they will say quite explicitly. the child should be shown the cards.. wait for three seconds. if the hcild cannot.. then read.. not read immediately for them coz they will merely regurgitate.. and in teng's case.. he does it quite openly 'no! u read ir for me!'..:S
so in a way. it is different from the flashcard concepts we do when they were toddlers...

yes ur house very conventient. u konw miser and i almost wanted to et a unit.. i think in ur block too! but the house was very old and i almost slipped.. :S hence didn't buy..

huingee: ha.. lucky you, poor esther :p
no lah.. it is good that ur hb is concerned about esther.. come miser.. hmm..he doesn't believe in pushing the child too much.. i tell u.. i can cough blood.. but he wun help one. uless i ASK FOR IT!

AA: i dun think that is the same link.. coz that link is from tarimand.. the other one.. is from the writer's blog..

SQ: i second ur thoughts. important to keep a social life.. i want to join too! can i?
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been thinking abt it for the longest time. but my social circle.. all haven't married yet :S

QQ: the books look appetising? :p


and yes. the reason why i am so KS.. and doing so much of these catch up is to prepare teng to join a class of 5 years old! :S
aft the assessment by ICR. i am convinced teng is not slow.. in fact pretty fast for his age, conginitively.. (gross motor is another issue).. but still there's no denial that these kids are one year older than teng.. the youngest in his class is born in oct.. :S

i was having second thoughts. i felt like i am hurrying teng to grow up.. i could write it to defer.. actually, i was thinking to myself, what's the big deal of deferring?
Teng can have an easier life.. coz he is already there with 07 batch.. i dun have to be so sian.. everyone all happier..
I told miser i am overwhelmed liao.. and if he could to be more proactive.. he paused and gave his reply... 'u were already aware of all these when u decided right? so why are u bringing all these up now?'.... i could only look at him.. and realise.. i need to be responsible for my decision ... *sigh*

Huingee: thank you for all the recommendations. indeed helpful! i have also discussed with some of colleagues who have school going kids.. they have quite interesting perspectives too coz they judge based on their pedagogical knowledge.. and sometimes.. come up with quite interesting conclusion! ha.. like the case of kumon which i posted earlier on...

erm.. just a thought from the english teacher
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.. grammar all these needs to be learned in context.. avoid drilling coz it makes no sense... so for all the prospective classes which you are signing Esther up for.. do take a look at their curriculum and see if they emphasise more on the daily/lively use of english to teach grammar.. if they feature drills.. my recommendation is. dun choose that..

I have a fren who send her boy to mind champ.. but for P3.. i look at the book.. erm.. a lot of drills..

hey.. let's go for the phonics class together?! whahaha
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lorna whiston is very different from ICR.. they emphsised in drama. .and from there, the kids pick up the essentials in english lang.. i was also considering LW too.. but i looked at my time line realistically.. and ealised teng needs a programme which teaches the rules first.. then when he is secure.. i let him have free play and explore! i wld consider LW after ICR
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is esther a child who lives up to challenges? coz hor.. if yes.. chances are she might take the level of difficulty as a challenge? I am actually trying to cultivate that sense of challenge in teng.. erm.. he is still not there yet..

star: i like the approach u are taking wrt to introducing Rae to reading.
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sometimes.. the interest is very important for it makes it easier to pick up the skills.. and i think.. that is exactly what u are doing with Rae.. so nice!
(i thank i have a sedentary boy now.. :p
already now. he is jumping all over .. it is like he is going thru a metamorphosis! :S he asks me questions non-stop.. everything under the sky.. and he takes like 50% more time to complete his writing..:S i wonder how come the teachers can tell me he shows good focus in CC and they no issue with him and confident he will catch up.. i think teng act one lah.. in school..chey)


QQ: aiya. no wonder search high and low cannot find the readers!..

Mejo: erm.. can u bring one or two and i meet you up in school to take alook ah? :p

re lady bird series..
i think i am not venturing into that. i was trying to assess the style of the author.. (and not be swayed by the poor quality illustrations)... it is really.. erm.. mundane?.
while the illustrations shouldn't be too oustdantind to distract the child.. but with such a bland story line.. it needs a lot of workon the graphics.. also we need to konw the child. his preferences.. most of the kids are drawn to the illustrations.. but of course there are some kids who are prefectly fine wit the illustraions of LB.. so i think impt to bring ur kids there.. and see which kind of books they are showing to u.. and work from there on.. i am happy teng is showing me lots of books from mr men.. hahah.. i think he recognises them all liao! :p

I think i am sticking to robin.. so many classics there!.. and maybe when teng can read by himself.. he is free to choose any books.. maybe he will take one from lady birds? :p

this usborne.. very very elusive.. teasing me in fact.. hahah
 
Huingee I agree with SQ.. We r lucky to hv u here not only becoz U know a lot on pre sch edu but that u are so willing to share yr knowledge with us
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I learn a lot from u from yr recent posts!!! Thx so much for sharing!! *I am one of those silent readers* :p
 
Ok looks like a few interested in my friday gals nite out
Let's see how many actually turns up when it happens
Will set a date aft Cny
I m ok s long s Hb doesn't hv tcon tt nite
 
QQ: read this for usig montessori method to teach maths..i think PT really helps teng a lot.. (fliter the claims part from the author.. haha.. coz she is an montessori advocate)..
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http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/category/enrichment/academic/mathematics

star: star: i read from kiasu forum.. they are suggesting not to take up abacus. coz for soe reasons..

has desmond read the discussion on Kaisu parents yet on CWA? it is very strictly on the operations in maths.. more suitable for K1 - P1.. then aft that. erm.. nothing kmuch..
if u look at the maths P6 paper. i did some myself.. :p.. (luckily i cleare).. it is really no longer on just manipulations. more on problem solving.. that was why i asked QQ. and i am glad that teng can go back to PT for MPM later.. shd he needs it..
many long and informative discussion on that. u can read it urself :p
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=287&amp;postdays=0&amp;postorder=asc&amp;highlight=math+enrichment+mpm+cwa&amp;start=40
or
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1352

AA: in this link.. is the feedback for mindchamp..
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51
 
Edde: I was the one who said we re lucky to have HN. :p Hehe..

Astro: I found usborne books together with LB, robin, and such at the BT plaza popular. Next time u are there, hop in. Except for the Peter and Jane books, the other books are more chim. I feel there s quite a big jump from p&amp;j to the next level. And at that second level, there are plenty of choices. But yes, my issue is with the bland story line. It feels more likens text book than a story book.
Hey, stop going back and forth abt whether Teng shd join K1 or not. The assessment so far has pointed to him being rather fast and able to join in, but you re still having the hesitations. Then what s the point of doing the assessments if the conclusion will be the same fr you either way? Just go for it.
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I m keen to let Anna read on her own too, and doing so not by recognizing words from memory but becos she s able to read them.
 


AA: oh! u found the books! great.. ok. i can go there when yh has his next jab! yes! FINALLY found them!! ahhh..good-a..
hah. u are right. .which is why i was very assured when teng clears that and be placed in PRS.. coz if not. i think i will keep.. ok.. i shd be more convinced and be confident in teng.. and myself..
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anna has a good memory .so it makes things much easier for her.. and for u :p.. the thing here is to cultivate a mastery of skills (which we know.. def relies on memory to remeber the skill..)which translates to true understanding..

i seen too many cases.. all working from memory.. (in higher education and secondary).. but lacks application.. to show they understand..
hey. u try the p6 papers from ny primary. it is interesting.. ha...

hmm. i shd have asked to see the workbook from ICR. to see how they make reading so fun that the kids are so happily going to school!.
maybe i can consider going there to teach instead? hahahah.. :p
 

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