Introducing Simple Multiplication to Ryan

Guess what! I got a little ambitious and decided to introduce the concept of Multiplication to my 5 year old son, Ryan. Just to see if he could grasp it. Not initially when I tried to explain groupings but I thought of a way which is easier for him to comprehend.

With the example below, I just told him to take either one number, in this case 3, as the number of baskets/boxes. Then the remaining number is the number of balls to put in each basket/box. After that, he is to add up all the balls and that is the answer to 3 x 2. See below.

And since he can also choose 2 to be the number of boxes and 3 to be the number of balls in each box, then it will be that 3 x 2 = 2 x 3 = 6.

He got it! When I tested him another day, all he did was to draw the boxes and balls for 3 x 2. Then for the 2 x 3 in the next line, he just wrote the answer 6.

Try it out and let me know if it works for you. At this stage, the kindies children and E.nopi kids are familiar with counting balls. So, I just use back what is familiar to them and introduce the concept. I'm definitely NOT asking him to memorize timetables now ;p

Teaching Ryan Number Sequence

His E.nopi classes helped him a lot. His Maths is quite steady and fast. It really pays to spend a bit more for enrichment classes. As such, when I coach him, I went a bit more advance. I taught him number sequence up to 5 digits. Sounds big but the E.nopi training on recognizing patterns help a lot. For instance:

1100 1200 ....

All he has to do is to see which pattern is changing - ie last 2 digit constant. 1st 2 digit is increasing by 1.

100 110 120 130 ...

68 69 70 71 ...

2 4 6 .... even numbers

1 3 5 .... odd numbers

Easy for him as he recognizes it as +2. Just the sequence 1st.

Not yet the part on understanding odd and even numbers. He is after all only 5 years old :)

So on...

Here is an example of the E.nopi training on concepts for pattern recognition. I just use this concept to teach this sequencing. It just took him a few minutes to understand.

Bows & Ribbons Hair Clips for My Little Girl

I mentioned that I was checking up Youtube for 'How to-s' on crafts. I came across some videos that teach people how to make cute, beautiful bows for hair accessories. Perfect! I have been buying little cute hair clips for my little princess. Now, I can make for her instead. It's quite easy to learn but takes practice to perfect the bows. I went to shop at Minlon for some ribbons, hot glue gun and some beads. I got some nice cute buttons from a haberdashery. I also used some nail art rhinestone stickers as well. Anything that I think I can make use of. Then, my clumsy attempts to make some ribbons and bows hair clips for her.

Here are some of my materials - 'ka chang' in cantonese :)

Some hair clips that I attempted. Hope I can get better with it soon :)

The motivation is that the bows are made for my little girl. She wore one of mine for her birthday and she looks cute with it :)

I Went Shopping Today

I went shopping today. Some friends told me to take a visit to the new wing IOI Mall. There is this Branded Outlet that I can check out but I didn't get anything there. I wasn't in the mood to shop for myself. I shopped at the new Daiso Store selling Made in Japan stuff all at RM5. Sounds interesting as I need to get some craft materials to make hair clips for my little girl. Found some but not all the materials. Good enough to start off with some of my ideas. Also some materials for my wire jewelery craft and others too. All at RM5!

Then I saw this cute little shoes for my little girl in FOS. Made in Sweden. Good material and lovely design. Only at RM17. Also bought some nice short 'hugging' pants for her too. Baby Gap. RM10 for 3 pieces!! Good buy!

My last stop was to the Popular bookstore. I wanted to get some more practicing workbooks for Ryan for English, BM and Math. I didn't get him the Chinese ones as I don't know how to teach unfortunately. I will use these when I coach him the next time. Popular bookstore is a good place to get these workbooks. Cheap and good. The only downside is that it's focus is on Chinese. I was looking for a Std 1 Math workbook in English but couldn't find it. Ha,ha.. what am I doing with Std 1 Math when Ryan is only 5 years old??? ;p

Good 'sau wok' (achievement) today!!

Sending 2 Year Olds to Kindy??

I just visited the Mead Johnson forum. I love to check out the forum to see if there is anything new I can learn from other moms or if I can even help out some. A really good forum especially for new and young moms. Lots of information and sharing.

Anyway, as I was saying, I was checking out the Child's Learning & Education category. I found quite a few moms who are really concerned about their children's learning and education. I can understand the feeling. I too am worried about my children's studies, whether they can cope in primary.. whether they can are at least on average with their classmates...and my son, if he can survive primary school, chinese primary school, that is. I'm not exactly diligent in coaching my children. In fact, I'm definitely nowhere near some mothers who are totally devoted to coaching their children. I really admire their patience and stamina. I only start home lessons with my son when he started kindergarten at 4-years-old. At least with the help of his teachers, I'd just reinforce the learnings. I'm surprised when I read that some moms want to send their children to kindies at 2 years .. want them to learn ABC and 123 and upset that their kid couldn't. I'm just thinking that are moms of today putting too much demands on our children? When I was blogging or commenting in forums about teaching and coaching and signing up classes for my son some time ago, some moms actually advised me not to put too much pressure on my kids, but to let them enjoy their childhood. I don't quite know how to balance. I still send my 5-year-old son to E.nopi, Art classes, which I'm not regreting. And I'm already thinking about Cosmotots for him. I tried art class for my 3 year old son, but he's too young to sit still. I suppose it is no harm to teach and attend some light classes for young children if they are fun and entertaining. But for 2 Year Olds? Maybe some fun stuff like Gymboree? Music and singing? And of course there are some institutions like Shichida who boast that they can help children and even infants - that's for you to decide, really. I seriously don't think we need to pressure 2 year olds for actual serious studies. The last thing we want is to frighten them off studies. Most kindergarten offers 3 year old classes - just singing, fun basic ABC and such - more of a play group or day care. The serious learning in kindies starts at 4 year old. Even so, the 1st few months are only concentrating on prewriting skills.

So, is it really good to force studies on children as young as 2 Years Old? Unless it is for day care or playgroup, I feel that 2 years is too young. However, us moms can always introduce the concepts to them earlier without exerting pressure. I'm just only starting on my 3-Year-Old Raymund.

That's just my views :)

I Attended Wire Jewellery Making Workshop

I was looking for some workshop - anything along craft, even cooking. I want to learn something that is sorta useful. While between jobs, I've some time that I can concentrate on my hobbies which I put on hold for a long long long time... all except gardening :)

I've always wanted to learn some crafts. The schedules for Cooking classes were not suitable for me. So, I googled up for workshop and classes ... and voila, I found beading classes and wire jewelery classes. I sent in an enquiry and good a reply for wire jewelery that fits my schedule. Thought it could be fun coz I love costume jewelery and ear rings. I have in mind to design some for myself after I attend some classes.

My instructor is Emi Kaz. Ypu can check out some of Emi's work at http://emikaz.blogspot.com/. I had fun at the workshop. I attended the beginner's class with another lady at Emi's studio and I get to do hands on practice for a bracelet, a pair of ear rings and a ring. I was very excited after the lessons. I began ordering my tools and supply online so that I can practice. My 'toys' arrived a few days ago. I have yet to get the beads/gem stones (cheaper ones lah coz still practising :)) that I like. Seems I have to go on overseas web. Even certain wires are not available in Malaysia. It's quite easy actually.

My First Attempt at Wire Jewelery

BTW I have also done some bows and ribbons hair clips for my little girl. I'll show you later.

Rachel's photos at 1 Year Old

Oops... been awhile and I said I'll upload my little girl's photos. My maid has just gone back and a new one is here. I've been busy guiding. Anyway, here are some photos of my little princess at 1 year old :)

My Princess Rachel is One-Year-Old

My darling girl turns ONE today. How time flies!

It seems like just yesterday when I gave birth to her. I can still remember the first moment I saw her. So tiny and adorable. One year has gone already. That's fast! My hubby and I have decided that we stop at 3 children. But we are already missing the days when we get to cuddle and play with our babies. Rachel, our youngest, is already toddling, learning to be more stable on her small feet. Before long, we will be getting headaches trying to discipline and coach all 3 kiddos.

We didn't have a big party for her. We did for Ryan's 1 year old and realized that he was just too young to appreciate it. In fact, it was too tiring for him then. So with Raymund and Rachel, we just had dinner with close family to celebrate their First Birthdays.

We celebrated twice for Rachel, just like we did for Raymund. We had a dinner with my in laws in Melaka last weekend. Didn't go too well as Rachel was tired and was throwing a tantrum. My little girl sleeps pretty early. She gets tired before 9pm. Since it wasn't the actual day, we didn't have a cake then. Also, there is this 'pantang' thingy (ie taboo) against blowing the birthday cake twice. Being a banana myself, I don't quite believe but for the sake of my daughter, I just follow.

Today, we have another round of dinner. This time with my side of the family. Learning from mistake, we had the dinner earlier at 7pm so that we are in time for cake cutting later (at home). She's good today. Cute in her little blue dress. I made a hair clip with blue bows and ribbons to match her dress. I'm learning how to make more. She had on white stockings, cardigan and little powdery pink shoes. Cute and very girly :) I have yet to upload the photos. Will do so when I have the time to transfer the photos to my PC. Soon :)

For presents, Rachel gets new clothes, a soft toy (she likes toys with flappy ears/hands for her to flip back and forth) and K's Kids stacker buckets with shape sorter from her parents. She likes to stack little cups and put things into containers and out. Her grandparents gave angpau. She also gets new pretty clothes from her 'kau foo' (uncle). We sang her the B'day song. She is still too young to understand. Just curious why everyone is singing. So cute. Then, it was bedtime. Just in time!

Happy Birthday to my darling girl!

May you grow up to be a lovely, lucky, healthy and happy girl;

May all good things come your way;

Love from Daddy and Mummy.

Bedtime Stories to Build Knowledge

I have been using flashcards and some phonic books, like Clifford Phonics Fun Series and MyBig Book of Phonics to teach Ryan how to read. hilst it is good to assist him in his reading capability, I noticed that it does fulfill one other objective - GENERAL KNOWLEDGE! These books will only be teaching him how to read through phonics and some word recognition, with some simple stories to add some flavour to the lessons. What about knowledge? I just realised this not too long ago and I have decided to throw in some bedtime stories after our lessons. He is not required to read with me. Just listen and know.

I bought quite a few Scholastic books for him and Raymund. I had a recent order which I had just received. It was actually during the order of these books that I realized this 'knowledge' thingy. Sad but true :( So when it is not too tiring for him, I will put in some time to tell him some stories. I have already read and explained some stories about 'what he wants to be when he grows up' and about the human body. I have more children's books about manners, moral, chinese culture, animals, popular fairy tales, nursery rhymes, etc.

His kindy also encourages story reading with parents. Every week, he gets to choose a book from his school library and bring it home to read with his parents. I have to admit that I have been neglecting this last time. So many opportunities missed... especially when these are the books that he chose for himself...and he told me about it each time. Really feel bad! It's still not too late. He just brought back a book about 'Bats' last week. We had a good time. He enjoyed his stories and what he learnt about bats. I should be thankful that Ryan love books.

I tried with little Raymund some time ago. He is still too young to sit still and listen to stories. I'll start on him much later after he begins his kindy. At the moment, he is picking up a lot from Astro Playhouse Disney. Is it a good thing or not? I really don't know.

Sometimes, I really don't know how much time I can put in for my kids' studies. It is only Ryan and Raymund is soon to start. I can't imagine when Rachel is old enough. I feel lazy at times. When I work, I get very tired when I come back. How do I balance my time? I hope my new job is flexible enough so that I don't neglect my children.

Little Raymund's 1st class lesson - Art!

Ryan, my eldest has been attending a weekly art lesson at GlobalArt since 4 years old. Ever since, I found that his colouring has improved alot and his choice of colours when he does colouring is pretty good for a young kid. In fact, some of his art pieces were displayed in his kindy... proud :)

Little Raymund is turning 3 next month. Being a year end child, I'm kinda worried when he starts school next year. He will be only just 3 years old and still very much a toddler. A very active one too. Will he be able to cope? I know this worrying is needless as children will sooner or later adept to schools and lessons. I'm just thinking that my little Raymund is too active and used to having his way - what will happen in school. He is very close to his 'kakak' - everywhere he goes, his kakak will 'take care' of him.

So to give Raymund a feel of what it is to be in a class, I've let him joined his brother in GlobalArt. He has always said he wants to go to school...but didn't know what it is like. His kor kor goes and so he wants to follow. Expected! He was very excited when he was getting ready for his art class. His first lesson! But once there, he got nervous and refused to enter the classroom. He was afraid to talk to the teacher. My maid (his kakak) and I had to sit together with him and then only he would sit down. At 3 years, the lesson is just a fun lesson. He chose water colour. So the teacher let him play with water colours to do some Halloween 'artwork'. After a while, he warmed up to the teacher and soon, after every stroke of the brush, he was running to the teacher to show her his 'work'. My maid and I were slowly doing the disappearing act - just going out of the classroom only - can't go far... in case..sigh! This is what the chinese says 'pui tai jee tuk shue' (cantonese) , translate means 'accompanying the prince in studies'. Anyway, he was already warmed up and didn't seem to be upset that we were not with him. After the painting, he did some cuttings and was having fun with it. Well, he didn't get to do too much dirty and messy fun at home, so this seems great.

At the end of the lessons, he said he wanted to come to art class again. Looking good! I'm hoping that these classes will also teach him some discipline and orderliness too :) Fingers crossed!

COSMOTOTS iqd

Anyone has any advice for me regarding COSMOTOTS iqd? I'm thinking of sending my son (aged 5+)

Last week, I checked out COSMOTOTS iqd for my son Ryan. I'm looking for a place to help him with his English esp reading and Phonics. His phonics sound blending has improved somewhat but I have this nagging feeling that I may not be using the right method. Anyway, COSMOTOTS is one place that I think, and hope, can help Ryan. Much earlier, I have even checked out Vital Years and called up Cambridge but COSMOTOTS seem to be more appealing to me. It could probably be because of their sales pitch which they claim that they place importance on the intellectual development, IQ. English literary works are just a means to an end. Hmm.

I met the Chapter Director of the Bukit Jalil branch. He stressed that the importance of reading habit. And rather than just teaching children how to read, they have to analyse the story, or rather literature - guess what, their 1st story is Don Quixote!! - and speak out in class to discuss it. Student are encouraged to talk and speak up, he told me. At my son's level though, he has to start with the foundation, ie phonics first. Word recognition is not part of the program. Well, I'm quite confused about which is a better methods, Sigh!

3 times a week and each lesson is 2 hours. I'm kinda worried about stressing my son what with kindy and Enopi Math. But I think I'll try him out. After all, it's a fun class with games, audio stories and such .. and no homework... AND I like the idea that it is not strictly English but more on the part that they equip him with the ability to have thoughts and views about anything and everything. After next year, he will be in Standard One. I'm worried. I don't want him to feel stressed and left behind then. I have seen what this does to his self confidence.

Well COSMOTOTS is not exactly cheap. Hope we'll get fast and good results... most importantly also, that my son enjoys it :)