Archives for education category
Posted on Mar 29, 2011 under ashley, education |
Ashley has been going for Mental Arithmetic class for 4 months now and she just started Book 2. Mental Arithmetic is a 3-year course and it helps children develop mental abilities such as concentration, observation, visualization & imagination and memory. It uses the abacus but gradually the abacus is kept away and the children would have to perform the calculation mentally.
Ashley started with basic addition and subtraction of small numbers
Her homework is 6 pages of maths and each page consists of 40 sums. Last week when she started her Book 2, she told me that her teacher asked her not to use the abacus when doing her homework. Instead, she has to try to use mental calculation. I was a bit surprised because she just started doing double-digit numbers. For the first 3 pages, she managed to do the sums without the abacus.
The subsequent pages were pretty difficult. When she asked me to check her work, I could feel my head throbbing. It didn’t help that I was experiencing body acne that day. So I told her to use the abacus but the silly girl was scared that the teacher would scold her and started bawling *slaps forehead* When I told her that I would explain to her teacher, she felt better and finished her homework. Guess what? Her teacher didn’t say that she cannot use the abacus for her homework. In fact she should use it for now since she just started the double-digit calculations. Her teacher only ask her to do away with the abacus when she did the revision for the Book 1. All that crying for nothing 
Ashley said that she likes Mental Maths because her teacher said she’s good *shake head*
Posted on Mar 23, 2011 under being a mom, children, education, good stuff |
Hey everyone,
When you have time, do click on the links below. They are some of the best recent articles on parenting and kids:
Creative Parenting Tips and Tricks: Creative Parenting Tips and Tricks via Family from SC Johnson
The Best Part of Parenting: The Best Part of Parenting via New York Times Parenting Blog
Tips for Keeping Kids Busy: Ways to Entertain the Kids While You Work was recently featured on christiancounselingdegree.org
Fun Travel Activities for Kids: Top 5 Kids’ Travel Activities via Travel-Tot
Posted on Mar 08, 2011 under ashley, education |
Ashley loves playing around with the iPhone. I don’t have one. It’s my sister’s. She’s so spoilt that my sister let her use her phone all the time. I think Ashley uses the phone more than her. I have since ban her from playing all the games. However she gets to listen to the delightful children’s stories on the iPhone. My sister would download them just for her. The stories are beautifully illustrated and narrated. Because of these interactive storybook, Ashley has grown to love The Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel and etc. Whenever we are at the bookstores, she would ask us to buy her books. So far we have managed to find …
The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood
Hansel & Gretel, Goldilocks and the 3 bears and Jack and the Beanstalk.
We are still looking for The Princess and the Pea and The Elves and the Shoemaker. Ashley is able to read the first 2 books on top. There are many new words in the last 3 books which she is not so familiar with. Nevertheless, she enjoys reading them and I’m happy with the child-friendly and highly-educational apps on the iPhone 
Posted on Feb 28, 2011 under ashley, education, things that make me pull my hair |
Ashley went to school today after being absent for a week as she was unwell. Guess how many homework she has to do?
There are 14 books in the above photo. These are the ones that the teacher handed to me. She gave 4 books to Ashley this morning so that she could do them in class. Altogether there are 18 books to do. Each one has at least 2 pages 
Looks like I won’t have time to help my friend look up the health care job postings as I have to guide Ashley with her homework tonight.
I cannot let Ashley skip the homework because if I do that, she won’t be able to learn the new words. I offered to do the colouring for her but she said no as her teacher told them that they have to do the work themselves She has a few days to complete the homework but I rather do them asap because she has this week’s homework to do too. If your children are in primary school, what happens when they are absent from school? Do they have tons of homework to catch up too?
Posted on Dec 07, 2010 under ashley, education |
I have enrolled Ashley in an Arts Class which is at a mall. Her classes is every Sunday which means we will be at that particular mall every weekend. Hubs does not really mind because he gets to check out lots of electrical and computer stuff like rackmount server at this mall but the thought of going to the same mall every Sunday is scary I have been looking around for an arts class for her in our neighbourhood but could not find one that fits our schedule. So for now, we will be going to this one until school reopens. Hopefully the school would have a new schedule then and we can have the Sunday free to do other stuff.
Posted on Nov 01, 2010 under ashley, education |
When I saw Shireen’s blogshop – Old And New Stuff For Sale selling the cute Pillow Books, I bought one for Ashley. I choose Clifford The Red Dog titled A Puppy to Love by Scholastic. Ashley is into dogs right now and I know she’ll love this book to bits. The story is about how Emily chose Clifford as her pet and how she and her family take care of Clifford as a puppy.
the soft and cuddly pillow book
This is how it looks like on the inside – 10 full colour pages
reading the book
I am so glad to buy this Pillow Book for Ashley as she enjoys reading it and has learnt some new words There are other titles available such as Arthur’s Really Helpful, Babar Goes To School & Franklin and The Hero.
Posted on Oct 13, 2010 under ashley, being a mom, education |
for a week and half
Posted on Sep 06, 2010 under education, good stuff |
If you are in the US Military and are interested in advancing your military or civilian career but feel that you do not have enough time to pursue your education, well worry no more. Earning your degree online is the answer. Online education is a great way for military personnel to earn a degree while serving your country. Degree programs and online courses are developed to provide the flexibility needed. Many service men and women are earning their degree through online education every year. If you would like to learn more about online military degrees, college credit and programs specially designed for the U.S. Military personnel and their families, do check out MilitaryDegree.com.
Posted on Jul 20, 2010 under children, education, family |
On Sunday I read an article by Zaid Mohamad titled “Power of Positive Language” at the Life & Times section of the News Straits Times. Zaid Mohamed is a certified parental coach and I like to read his articles every week. What he wrote on using positive language with children is very interesting. When we use positive language to communicate with children, it helps to make them feel valued and respected. Using positive language sometimes means that we ought to avoid using negative words such as “don’t, no, and can’t” as much as possible.
I am guilty of using the word “NO” a lot. It’s not surprising that NO is one of the first words that Ashley learned to say. According to Zaid Mohamed, the best way to teach your child the good behaviour is not to tell them what not to do. Instead, tell them what you want them to do. Examples are, rather than saying “Don’t jump on the couch“, we could say, “The couch is for sitting. Please sit down” or instead of saying “Don’t give up“, use “Try again and try harder“.
Other examples – “Why are you eating so slowly?” versus “You have to eat faster than that”, or “Look at all the mess you’re making!” versus “Please be careful and keep the table clean”
Sometimes, when saying NO is unavoidable (for me especially when I want to stop Ashley from doing something dangerous), it would be better if we can try to include “thank you” after it. This will turn the phrase into a more positive one and at the same time, teaches our child to have good manners.
Interesting? I will try to remember to use more positive language with Ashley from now onwards Zaid’s website is www.smartparents.com.my if you would like to read more.
Posted on Jul 13, 2010 under ashley, children, education, toys |
We went out real early on Sunday and head to Midvalley for the Maybank Treats Fair. Sunday was the last day and by 11am, the exhibition hall where the fair was held, was in total madness. We walked around a few times, trying to decide what to redeem. Alas, I couldn’t find what I like As soon as hubs saw this, he knew he had to get it for his princess 
V Smile Pocket
A pink one which comes with a cinderella game
Unfortunately, we cannot use any points to redeem the V Smile Pocket. However, we can buy it at a discounted price of rm200 plus. About a year ago when hubs checked this portable game console out at ToysRus, it was selling at around rm400. This V Smile Pocket is fun and helps kids to learn skills like spelling, counting and problem solving.
Daddy teaching his princess how to play some games. Needless to say, Ashley is pretty hooked on this new toy
