Revolving stars

 While packing the house a few days ago, I found this set of Beginning Readers that was hidden in one of the cupboards. I flipped through the set of books and they are very decodable for toddlers who have started learning the CVC words! Hunter is able to read some of the books by himself, with the exception of tricky words such as "the". I find that it is a good supplement for the phonics class and will be continuing to practise reading with Hunter using this set.

Today, I am going to share my review of the phonics enrichment school that I have been sending Hunter to since start of July 2023. To give you the background, Curious Thoughts Academy (CTA) base its phonics classes on Jolly Phonics, and is located in Bugis.  I first got to know about CTA when they launched their phonics workshop. Being the ambitious mum, I thought that I could save some money and teach Hunter phonics by myself. After going through the workshop, I realised the amount of work I have to put in to curate the materials, and I decided that it is best left to the experts and I would just revise the contents with him at home during the week. Below are the information from CTA. They run the classes by terms and classes are tagged by levels.        Price List for 2023                         Hunter is currently in Intermediate phonics and will be advancing up next year.  I love the approach ...

 I'm back with updates about Hunter's N2 journey so far. We are quite pleased with his progress and nothing much to complain too. These are the activities that they have been doing in school: Quarterly field trip Role playing in school Making agar agar jelly in school for Mother's Day Putting in the fillings Painting Marble rolling activity Pasting activity Water transferring activity Pre-writing activity Feeding himself in school Cutting the banana on his own Bubble blowing Balancing game What a drawing! Having fruits at the playground Card making with beans Ball throwing Playing at the playground * I have deliberately not posted any group photos as some parents may be sensitive to it. I'm glad that we made the change over to this school. May Hunter continues to enjoy his pre-schooling years.

 Being a full time working mum, time with my boy is really precious. On weekday nights, I will try my best to revise what he has learnt in school/class for reinforced learning. Our weekday night routine (example) Depending on days, sometimes activities would stretch because Hunter was moody etc. 6.40pm: Reach home and have dinner with family. 7.00pm: Shower 7.20pm: Desk time - Min. 3-5 questions/exercises (max 2 pages) example of desk work 7.50pm: Games/activities to reinforce concepts/words learnt DIY games/activities 8.15pm: Independent play Example of independent play 8.40pm: Child-directed activity 9.10pm: Bedtime reading Assisted reading Hopefully this would be helpful for those who have asked about weekday night routines at home :)

 It has been a while since I last updated about Hunter's preschool. Recently, we had a PTM and I am very glad to say that Hunter has significant improvement ever since he switched out from the POP preschool that he attended previously . Background A poll that I did previously with my family and friends showed that their preference is to put the kid near home, so that it's more convenient for fetching back and forth. We took their advice and enrolled Hunter in a nearby preschool, thinking that we can save trouble for my parents.  Everything was great for IFC and the teachers were very caring and responsive. It started going downhill when the school switched to becoming a POP preschool. It may be because of the change in environment, but Hunter started biting other kids when he went upstairs in PG. The teachers also informed that he cried uncontrollably when separated from the IFC teachers. It became so bad that Hunter was suspended from school for 2 weeks (unfortunately at a ti...

 Recently, we have been on a puzzle playing spree due to the rainy weather in Singapore. I had bought these items online awhile back but didn't had the chance to start on them. When we started using them, it was a little tough as H was slightly impatient and whined when he couldn't get them right. However, as we progressed and tried them a few more times, he was able to piece the puzzles independently. Hard at work Piecing the puzzles during breakfast He enjoyed it a lot and requested for them on and off when he thinks about it.  Difficulty of the puzzles Each sets have both easier and more difficult puzzles ranging from 4 - 8/9 pieces. I filter them so that he tackles those with lesser pieces than move on to the ones with more pieces. It helps to build his confidence and within 3 days, he would be able to complete them independently (at 36 months). Verdict: A good buy for rainy days and as Christmas gifts. If you are interested, it can be bought from shopee here . 

I first got to hear about TSL Chiang Mai on IG, where I am part of the studygram community. Yes yes, call me weird, but I like to experience and learn new things, especially languages. Due to COVID, they had moved the classes to 2 options; hybrid and online class. The most enticing part was the price; 2500 baht for a month's worth of lessons, 3 times a week. This translates to about SGD102, which is very affordable! I gathered a few of my friends to attend the trial class and they were quite interested. BUT, when they heard about the frequency of the lessons, they all backed off, citing commitment issues. I pondered for a while, and when I had to clear my time off and leave to start my new job, I decided to take the plunge and try out their hybrid morning class. Thai 1 hybrid class Class intro:  The lessons were taught by Teacher Cindy, and I was the only one who is stationed out of Chiang Mai.  Lesson format: The lessons focused very much on speaking and the handouts that the...

Every year, K2 kids' parents would be very anxious about the P1 registration which occurs around this period. This year, my SIL is enrolling her daughter for P1 too. Despite my advice for her to try for Nan Hua Pri, she took the route of enrolling her daughter into Pei Tong Pri (our alumni) instead. (I guess you guys could also guessed where we are staying lol) My SIL's logic was: 1. She wants her daughter to have a carefree childhood without any stress and worrying about results. 2. She don't want to stress herself when it comes to exam period (and the though of balloting terrifies her) . It led me thinking, "Who are the ones being stressed up here? The parents or the kids?" I was in the above-mentioned neighbourhood primary school and to be honest, I didn't had a good experience there.  Example: When I finished my exam papers early in P1, I was accused of cheating because I fidgeted and looked around! (On hindsight, it was such a stupid accusation as the res...