Free Audio Books

I just found this wonderful site with lots of children's audio books. Thought I put the link up here to share with everyone.

http://www.kiddierecords.com/

Can help to save some $$$ by downloading the audio files onto the MP3 player and let T listen to them.

HomeSchool Planning

To set the records straight again. We do not have the intention to fully homeschool our little T for the time being. However, we believe that we can do more as parents for a preschooler / kindergatener than solely rely on the rigid traditional school system.

It is not about trying to make her the smartest kid around, but our bigger concern is to try to cultivate her interest in learning and encourage self motivation. I always worry about the method and approach to learning/teaching and how it can influence a person for live on what education / learning is about.

Give an example. During T's year end review with her school teacher. Teacher disclosed that T does not boldly use colours in her drawings and looks very 'stressed' and always colour only in one area of the picture. She doesn't seem 'creative' and 'confident' enough to change her colours and colour outside of an area. I was quite surprise about this as T is complete opposite at home. She keeps changing colours, is very happy and makes a 'mess' of colouring all over the page. After a short discussion, we concluded that in school, teacher always reminds them to colour nicely / neating, try not to go over the line, so as a result, the colouring session becomes more demanding than simply colouring as you wish. That is why T then opts to just stick to one colour and only one area. On the other hand, during our 'toilet wall' painting sessions at home, there's no limit set on what she can draw and we don't judge her for quality of drawing / colouring. For me, at 2.5 years, I really don't mind if her apple looks like a triangle and a pink blob of paint is a pretty flower to her. I think at this young age, its more important to encourage them to continue to draw / colour, be bold to use all the different colours / mode of arts as they wish and when they are older we can slowly introduce the rules of the game. I understand that traditional schools are there to teach the child the rules of society, to conform and obey, to respect and not question authority, etc..., but there are other approaches to life too.

This is the main reason why we try to maintain some homeschooling activities at home, so I can have a chances to expose her to less traditional method of learning, encourage her to attempt to solve the problems and find answers by herself and also observe for myself her strengths and weaknesses. Being 1 to 1, I can adapt our materials and lessons to her learning style and making timely decisions to change our lessons to match her current interests (windows of opportunities).

I realised these weeks when we try to pick up on the homeschooling that I lack a focus and direction on this topic. What we do is too random and ad hoc and I have no clue if the activities are age appropriate, if I am missing an important element to build a good foundation, if we are moving in the correct direction? As such, I also spend / waste alot time doing random research and getting distracted by all sorts of information that I think may be of interest, but might not really be useful. The conclusion, some proper planning needs to be in place so we can be more efficient and effective in our efforts.

So I put aside 2 whole days and seriously researched into preschool / kindergarten education. First was to find out what are the norm milestones for a 3-4 year old to reach, second was to think about besides these basics, what other 'stuff' to we wish T to learn during this time? Lastly was to organize the information in such a way so that we can make lesson plans and easily track and follow up on how we are progressing until we achieve the goals.

I gathered the info online from a variety of sites, reviewed, filtered and consolidated what I felt was reasonable for 3 - 4 yr old into the below charts. (I haven't figured out how to put downloadable files on blog, so if you are interested, you will have to print them or save them as photos). For curriculum planning and tracking, I referred to http://www.donnayoung.org/ and got some templates and ideas from her, made some customization and now I have a thin binder book to help me track our homeschool progress. If you are interested in taking a look at my homeschool planner book, drop me a line in the chatbox. With these tools in hand + my Montessori pre-school teaching manuals + the lovely BFIAR recommended curriculum for lapbooking, I now feel alot more confident that we will be able to have an enriching and enjoyable preschool home school experience at home. I also no longer spend alot of time browsing and researching like a headless chicken and wasting alot of time, instead, I just have to put aside a couple of minutes a day, or an hour on the weekend to plan ahead for next week's activities. Its been a great time saver (goes to explain why I have time to update the blog now)

By the way, we've worked on 2 more BFIAR books these weeks, stay tuned for post on them once we finished.

Useful Weblinks

I realised that for the past 2 years, I had spent alot of time researching and reading up on childcare. Here is a list of some informative sites (thank God for blogs, cos I got most of them by reading other mummies' blogs)

I have not had the time to read all the sites yet, so some may be better than others, but all contain somewhat interesting and useful information.

I hope that by sharing this list here, that I can help others save time scouting around for similar information. I will try to update this list with any new finds I am lucky enough to chance upon.

Montessori Activities:
http://www.maitrilearning.com/downloads.html
http://community.webshots.com/user/madarajo >>> photo album
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfsjy/mts/_link.htm >>> Jenny Yen’s album
http://www.montessori-materials.com/price_en.asp >>> materials made in china for retail
http://www.infomontessori.com >>> AMI guide
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/Cultural-Materials_ep_61-1.html
http://montessorimom.typepad.com/montessorination/
http://www.joymontessori.net/ >>> good site, Malaysian teacher, with pics and examples
http://www.pcdevelopers.com/montessori-at-home/default.aspx?c=33
http://www.michaelolaf.net/
http://members.shaw.ca/montessori4all/info.htm
http://www.mymontessorihouse.com/my_montessori_house_at_home.html
http://www.montessorimaterials.org/index.htm
http://blog.montessorimom.com/
http://www.montessori.edu/
http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/Cultural-Materials_ep_61-1.html
http://www.montessorimom.com
http://lapazfarm.homeschooljournal.net/some-montessori-activities/


Other HomeSchool Approaches :
http://simplycharlottemason.com/
http://homeschoolinformation.com/Approaches/charlotte_mason.htm

Toddler Craft :
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/280_toddler-craft-activies-video.htm
http://www.free-printables.com/mini-book.pdf
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/crafts/sewing_cards/
http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/TotSchool.html
http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/homeschoolfun/
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/
http://www.mathusee.com/primer.html
http://lapbooksbycarisa.homestead.com/TotSchool.html
www.toddlertodder.com
http://www.lib01.com/bg000011.htm
http://abcteach.com/directory/basics/abc_activities/preschool_tracing_pages/
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/
http://www.fastq.com/%7Ejbpratt/education/theme/earlychildhood.html
http://thelittlefeet.wordpress.com/
http://www.thehomelibraryonline.com
http://singaporehg.byethost13.com/
http://www.home-school.com/GetStarted.html
http://www.beginningwithbooks.org/guidelines.html >>how to choose good kids books
http://www.3moms.com/html/home.asp
http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/280_toddler-craft-activies-video.htm
www.freekidscraft.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVPNyXJb09E
http://www.shirleys-preschool-activities.com/preschool-training.html
http://www.dltk-bible.com/
http://www.kinderkorner.com/abc.html
http://www.coloring.ws/t.asp?b=m&t=http://www.coloring.ws/abc/a-ant.gif
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Chicka_Chicka_Boom_Boom/index.shtml
http://www.childfun.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=66
http://mrsalphabet.com/letteroftheweek.html
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/alphabet_station.shtml
http://www.first-school.ws/activities/alpha/b/bee.htm
http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/reading/letterpoems.htm
http://www.fiarhq.com/fiarold/catalog/before.html
http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php
http://www.fastq.com/%7Ejbpratt/education/theme/earlychildhood.html
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/how-to-draw-channel.htm

Blogs on toddlers (with activities) :
http://mommytaught.blogspot.com/
http://chiahfamily.wordpress.com/
http://lingsum.livejournal.com/
http://artfulparent.wordpress.com/
http://pilgrimparent.wordpress.com/category/activities/
http://chickadeee.blogspot.com/search/label/Art%20Projects
http://artfulparent.wordpress.com/
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/

Phonics / Reading :
http://www.starfall.com/

Useful Tips - What to put in a diaper bag

Some friends have asked me what do I put in my diaper bag, so this blog is for them. My diaper may look bulky, but till now it has never failed me and I am glad that there were times I was able to offer a spare dress, some medications, shade, wind etc... to other babies.

This is what I have in it. (starting from left, and going up, down)

1. my check list, cos forgetful me will probably leave things out if I didn't have this check list

2. water bottle

3. tissue

4. wet wipes

5. toy bag

5. food bag

6. diapers

7. medication bag

8. travel first aid kit

9. clothings bag

10. handheld fan

11. plastic bag

12. baby carrier pouch

13. umbrella

Clothings Bag :

1. a long sleeve shirt / jacket, in case it gets cold

2. diaper cloth, can use as 'blanket', or clean up mess. Once I had to use it to wipe up T's vomit in a bus (very convenient)

3. underwear (now that sometimes we will go out diaperless

4. a change of clothings

5. small hand towels

Toy Bag :

1. travel doodling pad

2. stickers (absolute life saver, don't leave home without them)

3. storybook

4. MP3 player (I've loaded children songs in it so T can listen and sing along when she is bored)

5. pens / pencils

6. crayons
7. notebook, for paper to scribble/colour on

Food Bag :

1. Container holding wet face towel. Good to wipe down sticky face, body, etc...

2. Scissors, to cut up food

3. cookies

4. packet of juice

5. dried fruits

6. 2 sets of untensils (very often 1 set end up on the floor)

Medication Bag :

1. plaster

2. lip balm

3. soap to wash utensils (in case both sets drop on the floor)

4. antiseptic cream

5. sun block

6. moisturiser (calendular cream)

7. hand sanitizer (rubbing type, no need to use water)

8. insect repellent

9. comb and bands to tie hair

First Aid Kit : (we bought this pre-pack from pharmacy, though it might be good to have just in case)

1. Insect repellent wipe

2. Antiseptic wipes

3. plasters

4. bandage guaze

The remaining space in the bag will hold my wallet, handphone and camera. In the winter months, we usually have to use a bigger bag so as to put the coats inside.

The above is just my own modification. Here is a list that we copied from a baby magazine when T was just a newborn and we just kept modifying the contents to suit our own needs.

FOR WHOLE DAY TRIP :
Diapering & Clothing

6 diapers

wet wipes

tissue

changing pad

diaper cream

2 change of clothings

plastic bag for soiled items

burp cloths

2 - 3 bibs

2 - 3 face towels (1 wet in container)

blanket

hats

Feeding

pre-measured formula

bottles with water for mixing

hot water flask

bottle of plain water

jar food & spoon

packets of snacks

plastic bib

pacifier

teething rings

Toys

comfort toys

small books

Safety & Emergencies

Band aids

hand sanitizer

umbrella

common medication

cell phone

money

house keys

FOR SHORT QUICK TRIP
Diapering & Clothing

3 diapers

wet wipes

tissue

changing pad

1 change of clothings

plastic bag for soiled items

burp cloth

face towels

Feeding
pre-measured formula

bottles with water for mixing

hot water flask

bottle of plain water

jar food & spoon

packets of snacks

plastic bib

pacifier

teething rings

Safety & Emergencies
cell phone

money

house keys