Saturday, November 26, 2011
Bottle
Friday, November 25, 2011
Boys' Share of Chores
But sometimes I look at the kids and wonder what exactly can I train them to do at this age.
I know of friends whose kids are already washing the dishes, operating the washing machine, hanging up the laundry, washing their own school shoes, helping out in cooking and cleaning the floor on a daily basis.
Frankly, I don't need the boys to load the laundry into the washing machine and pressing a few buttons to start a cycle either. Besides, they can't reach the place that I use to hang the laundry, so taking them down is out of question too.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
When He is Alone
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Olivia: 2 months old
Pouting.... in a seal-like pose. Grandma was burping her very, very gently. We used to see this pouting a lot more a month ago. She seems to have stopped recently.
Woo.... showing off her chubby arms in a cute Cesar top from one of my favourite shops Chateau de Sable. I love this top! :> Thank you Aileen (and Muse)!
Dozing off in her own comfy 'couch'. Her roundness in this photo cracks me up!
Looking solemn in a hand-me-down PJ from Chip's time. Actually she just woke from a nap in daddy's arms.
Smiling at Marcus who was singing to him. In a super soft onesie from The Children's Place.
Cooing and conversing with Mama. One of my favourite photos!
Chubby, chubby arms! Makes me laugh!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
On The Way Up
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Our Maths Games
Like the Monkey Maths game, this Bus Stop game teaches simple addition and subtraction. The boys played with it for a while when they were under 4 years old.
I still think that to master Singapore Maths, as long as a child is strong in English, it is more than half the battle won. So I don't spend much time coaching the kids on Maths.
With M, I only began more serious sessions this year when he started Primary One. Since the bulk of his school work this year is a revision of Kindy 2 materials, I decided to introduce heuristics and the more challenging questions at home to keep him on his toes.
Chip, on the other hand, has always had a keener interest in Maths than Marcus since young. But I didn't do much with him till he was nearly 4 because I don't believe a child this age will benefit that much to be advanced in Maths. So what if he can divide big numbers or understand fractions or do algebra at 3 years old? He will still have to go through the Maths lessons in kindy and be totally bored by them.
So instead, I focused on our trans-disciplinary thematic learning and lapbooking that will open his mind, teach him to be inquisitive, help him develop critical and creative thinking skills, as well as strengthening his mastery of both languages.
By the time Chip was about 4, the age when M was fascinated by Geography and we were spending lots of time exploring related themes, I channelled the same amount time playing home-made Maths games with Chip.
I remember it was during one of our weekly strolls to M's school on tennis days, perhaps in February or March, when Chip decided to rote count all the way to 1000. Then he counted backwards. That was followed by counting in Mandarin. It became one of the games that he would play every week as we strolled in the hot afternoon sun.