Parents' Orientation Meeting

Tonight we attended the Parents Orientation organised by Superfun. Basically it's to tell us what to expect, what parents need to prepare and do on the first week. Children were not allowed to the orientation so we left Valerie at grandma's house.

At the start of the orientation, there was a brief overview of what Fungates was all about. They practiced open class room concept,  3 classes running concurrently, so as to train multi-tasks children. They have theme-based teaching and also field trips to enhance children's learing. I can't comment more on this until I see for myself how the system works. But overall it looks pretty 'fun' (I hope).

The most daunting part was the list of things to prepare for Valerie. When we were shown 4yo need a schoolbag that can fit A4 size books, I could see parents glancing at each other. Then a 5-6yo need an even bigger bag! Gosh, how is Valerie gonna carry such a big bag. Nevertheless, the teachers sounded very experience and they seemed to be very sure of what they were asking.

They said most of their books are A4 size and we need a big bag to ensure can put everything in. Here are the list of things:
1. A set of cleaned clothes including undies in case of emergencies
2. Wet hanky or wet wipes to be placed on side pocket
3. Water tumble to be placed on the other side pocket
4. Food container for snacks
5. Front compartment to put apron
6. Dry hanky to be placed in the uniform side pocket

Everything is to be labeled with the kid's name to avoid confusion. Even the food container cover. There would be 2 homework a day where parents need to help kids to complete. A message book will be used to convey any messages from teachers to parents and vice versa. At this point, Ivan gave me a nudge and asked if I'm sure about this.. we can still ask for refund if we have second thots... I'm so ignoring him....

Later there was the traffic control route, where we need to follow the one way traffic to drop of kids and leave. And punctuality is important, reach 5 mins before 8.30am. Ivan again gave me a funny look... I know I know... Valerie is still sleeping at 11+ at night and waking up at 9+ in the morning. :P

For the first week of orientation, parents are to stay with the 4yo kids for first 2 days and then accessed if more days are required. The classes will also end half and hour earlier. So this looks less scary for mommy and daddy. At least we won't need to disappear suddenly. Hopefully Valerie could cope.

At the end of the orientation, there was a Q&A session. Normally Ivan would pester me to leave, but because one daddy questioned on the fire drill security, he stayed on. I guess guys know how to ask guys questions. Seems they got everything covered. They have fire exit routes and drill routines on and off with the children.

So we left after an hour. There was a further briefing for parents who are extending their kids to daycare. Since we are still sending Valerie back to nanny's place, this is not our concern. I left the kindi, feeling a little apprehensive now. What if Ivan is right and Valerie is really not ready for this?

Valerie Speaking in Phrases

Valerie's vocab has been increasing rapidly in the last few months. She now could express herself in phrases and even argue with you. I find she mostly speaks in English when we are around, and Mandarin at nanny's place.

Because she speaks in English more, grandma and grandpa couldn't really catch what she's talking about and said she's talking gibberish. Comparing with her cousin brother, they still called her a late speaker. Oh well, I've resorted to ignore their comments :P



Here are some of the incidents which I could remember...

Scene 1:
Daddy driving and stopped at traffic light. After a few times of observation...

Valerie: Mommy, red is stop!
Mommy: Yes, Well Done... and green is go...
Valerie: (*repeats after mommy*) Green is Go!

The next time we stop at traffic light...
Valerie: Mommy... Red is Stop!

*When the traffic light turns green*
Valerie: Green is go arr??

Scene 2
Whenever Valerie wanted something from us, I always enforced her to say 'Please mommy' or 'Please daddy' instead of screaming to get her way through. It's a way to calm her down n teach her politeness.

One day, I needed Valerie to help get me a tissue...

Mommy: Valerie, get mommy a tissue from the table
Valerie: Ok....

*Valerie walked to the table and then looked back*

Valerie: Say please baby...
Mommy: Ok, please baby, get mommy a tissue

*Valerie took a tissue for me and smiled*


Scene 3
She was doing an activity but struggling...

Mommy: Come, let mommy help you.
Valerie: Come, let baby help you. (pushed mommy away)


Scene 4
Playing an activity together.

Daddy: Ok, it's daddy's turn. Let daddy play.
Valerie: No, let baby play.

Scene 5
In the car with her 10 years old cousin bro, Joshua and daddy stopped at red light.

Valerie: Mommy, red is stop! Green is go! Yellow is go faster! (The yellow is taught by her naughty uncle)
Joshua: No... Valerie, yellow is go slower...
Valerie: Yellow is go faster!
Joshua: No... listen.. yellow.. is... go.. slower...

Not happy, Valerie turned to mommy.

Valerie: Mommy... Yellow is go faster...
Mommy: Errr.....well....

Just then the left turn traffic light turned yellow and a car zoomed past....

Valerie: Mommy... look.. yellow is go faster!! (pointing to the car)
Mommy: Errrm... yes... yellow is go faster......

Oopsss.. :P

Valerie is Enrolled to Superfun!

OK, I'm simply estatic. In fact for the last 2 weeks I was thinking if I should send Valerie to afternoon class instead. And somehow my nanny is so pro-Superfun that I don't know why. She said her neighbours kids attended the kindy and it's really good. Plus it's only 5 mins away from her home. When I said there's no more spot, she asked me to call the supervisor or principal to fight for a spot.

I'm like.. huh.. do I really need to do that? It's just preschool, not even going into primary school yet. I know we need to 'fight' for a spot in Chinese school later, but not now. Anyway I resorted to leaving this entirely to God and prayed, if she's meant to go to Superfun, He would make a way. Else, Valerie would start at 5yo. Ivan agreed too.

About 2 weeks later after our visit to Superfun, I received a call from the kindy. The lady told me there is a spot available for Valerie and ask if I'm still interested! I was sooooooo excited, and said 'YES!'. That afternoon itself I went to register and made the payment!

Later I asked her is it because the kindy is opening a new class for 4yo. She said 'No' and told me one of the parents are shifting away so there's a spot available. But I said, I'm not the first in the list. She said she contacted those parents and they have registered their kids in other kindies. So I'm the next in line. In fact, she showed me the long waiting list and said one parent even attempted to jump queue to get my 'seat'.

I was kinda pleased. As we were walking out to get our car, Ivan was telling me he couldn't believe his 'baby' is going to school already and asked if we made the right decision. But deep down, I couldn't help but to think this is part of God's plan. He really did make a way so I guess this should be the right decision. Even if I doubt myself now, I couldn't doubt God.

So... our next challenge is... how to get Valerie to wake up on time for school?

Happy 3rd Birthday

We were thinking of whether to eat out or continue to have a family birthday party for Valerie's 3rd birthday. Since there were mommy's side and daddy's side to consider and which side would be celebrating with her on the actual day, we decided to throw another family party instead. No need to fight for which side getting to celebrate with her on actual day :P

We went around looking for a 'cute' birthday cake.
Turned out most famous cake franchises do not offer fanciful cake. They usually have those 'cartoon print-on cakes' or 3D cakes which were not what I wanted. So in the end we walked into one of those small cake shop and it seemed they are more creative / flexible with their cakes. We had to compromise on the flavours though.

The party turned out ok, nothing fanciful. We even dropped the idea of getting balloons due to not enough time although I think this is actually the age she would appreciate having balloons. Next time, no need to get balloons for 1st or 2nd birthday, too small to appreciate. Get balloons when the kids are 3 and above :P

Valerie with Daddy's side Grandpa, Grandma, Daddy and Mommy

Valerie with Mommy's side grandpa, grandma, aunties and uncles

Valerie with Daddy's side aunties, uncles and cousins

Singing Happy Birthday song to Valerie, she standing so straight, not used to be the centre of attraction

Blow candles time!

Open pressies time. This year, she's better at opening presents

Toys.. toys and more toys...

Her favourite of the night - A Doll House. The minute she opened this one, she was engrossed with the figurines and furnitures. Barely saying bye bye to all the guests leaving.

Kindy for Valerie?

With the new baby due next March, I was contemplating whether to send Valerie to preschool next year or not. Since she's a year end baby, she would only be 3 years and 2 months, while following the academic year, she should be in the 4 year old class. I thought it would be a better transition for her to start early next year, before the 2nd baby comes along, rather than to juggle with having another sibling and starting school altogether mid of next year.

While still thinking, I've decided to check out Superfun Learners near my area as recommended by my sis-in-law. When we reached, the lady at the reception was very nice and showed us around and explained their curriculum. I have to say the classrooms are filled with many colourful activities sets around which I could imagine keeping Valerie occupied. I was amazed that 4yo class even included Science and Computer labs. Gosh, I'm so outdated. This seems to be a norm nowadays. And she told me they would be teaching English and Mandarin for 4yo. Bahasa would only come in at 5yo as to avoid confusion with Englsh.

Then we were shown their homework. Another shock for mommy. They already learning how to write A,B,C at the age of 4?? And numbers too? And I had in mind, 4yo kindy was more like a playschool, just singing and dancing. One of the teacher later explained it's better to start training the kids' to do writing and colouring, so as to strengthen their fingers. In fact, a lot of their activities set are also to train the kids to have good control of their hands.

After showing us around, she told us the morning class was already full and only afternoon classes are available. I was a bit dumbfounded. I've never known even for a 4 yo kindy, you need to be fast to register, like somewhere in August? And I thought there would be plenty of seats left and was still thinking want to send her to kindy or not. Nevertheless, I put Valerie on waiting list (3rd one from the list) and went home.

Some of my friends told me to check out other alternative like MRC or Q-Dees or Montessori. But I don't know why, I seem to have my mind fixed on Fungates. Simply because my nephew who attended the same kindy told me 'Go to Superfun, it's a really really fun place you know.. '. Well, what could be more convincing than to have a kid himself telling you he really enjoyed his kindy? I just wanted a place for Valerie to take learning as something fun, just like how I've adopted Heguru methods.

I've also met another colleague at the Superfun Open Day and he strongly believes in this system. He told me he sent his first 2 kids to Fungates at Brickfields and it's all about fun learning. He did switch his daughter halfway to another system but later found it was too academic based and too much homework. In fact, parents were scolded for not helping the kids to finish the homework. Then he switched back to Fungates. So I guess this looks like the most 'fun' learning system around.

So, we'll wait.. and hopefully, there may be a spot for her.

Last Day of Sunday School

Today was the last day of Sunday School for Year 2011. They called it Prize Cupboard Day. It started off with some games at the field and later a short ceremony to give prizes away to kids based on their attendance and achievement throughout the year.

It's the first time Valerie has been on such a big sports event and I was afraid she couldn't cope. When she arrived at the big field, she clinged on to mommy's feet and asked me to carry her. Her SS teacher seeing that I was preggy, offered to carry her instead. Surprisingly, Valerie didn't protest. So teacher Caryn carried her for a while n then led her to each activity. I was amazed, she didn't look for mommy, instead, focused on each of the games.



Valerie holding on to teacher Caryn




Teacher passing a bean bag to Valerie




Getting ready to throw



First in line... ready to go...




Another telematch, Valerie getting a ball




She threw the ball and it's hitting the cans!!



Valerie @ Scoop The Peanut game


Valerie & daddy @ Shoot the Animals game

Photo Memory Training (part 2)

As Valerie gets older, her memory retention power is also improving. I've now added 2 more objects to her Photo Memory Training.

Looks like she can remember all of them :D

iPad

I don't know how to begin writing about iPad. I never thought we needed this gadget but Ivan has been pestering me to get one. Reason being: Good educational value for Valerie. It wasn't until our recent trip to Redang and we figured we needed something to keep Valerie seated throughout the plane journey that I agreed to look at this gadget.

When we got into the Machines shop and let Valerie played with one of the baby games, we saw how quickly she took on the game. And yes, she knows the one big round button at the side is to switch off whatever she didn't like playing. Same concept as iPhone I guessed.

Needless to say, we bought the iPad and she sat through the journey to Redang blissfully. Ivan has been downloading loads of games / educational apps for her and I'm surprised how fast she's learning from this thing.

I've video captured her on a few apps below. Pretty impressive considering she's only 2 and a half.

Playing Memory Game - 6 cards


Playing Memory Game - but shooing daddy away. Shy, don't want to let daddy see in case she fails.


Memory Game of 10 cards - takes a bit longer but she manage to finish it


Sorting Colour


Cover Orange - how she learns to play Cover Orange really puzzles me. She observes how we played this IQ game and then demands that we show to her step by step. Then she repeats and repeats until she gets it...

Love, Affection and Knowledge

Earlier this year, Heguru founders have mentioned some changes happening in June. One of it is a short talk by the sensei on RB development. I've actually forgotten about it until we were told to stay behind after Valerie's class to listen to a short talk by the founder.

It turned out to be a video clip of Mr Henmi talking to us on 'Love, Affection and Knowledge'. It was in Japanese with English translation. As Valerie was bouncing up and down, I tried to grasp as much as I can what was being shown on the video. Here is a very short summary of what I can remember.

********************************************************************************
Love, Affection and Knowledge


Many parents like to emphasise children on education. When a child is forced on knowledge, her heart will be closed. When heart is closed, she will not feel the affection and the brain cannot develope to its fullest potential.

There are 2 aspects of Love

1. Physical Touch - give your child a lot of hugs and cuddles. She will be able to feel your love towards her.

2. Words of Affection - always smile to them, telling them everything is alright.

When Love grows, Affection will grows too. Then the mind will be open to Knowledge

Heguru Founders Were Here

The Heguru founders were here in Malaysia for 2 weeks in March. They came to give parenting talk and conducted a workshop for older children. And mainly to train up the teachers and upgrade their level. I attended the parenting talk. Personally I couldn't understand why I still had to pay RM150 for the talk considering classes were cancelled for that week with no replacement?

The talk was pretty enriching, although the founders could only speak Japanese, there was an English translator. When the talk started we were shown a video of a kid flipping books after books in a bookshop. We're told that she's wave reading, meaning she could finish reading a book in seconds just by flipping through. And that is the goal of right brain training. When a child can wave read, it means the child's right brain is fully developed.

Well, I could hear gasps around the room. Like other mommies, I couldn't help but to think if this is possible? One of the mommy asked Mrs Henmi what is the success rate in Japan. With no hesitation, she said 85%. As with more training, the right brain will open up more and more. When the right brain is developed, the child can perform wave reading. From young up to 12 years, we should focus on developing a lot of method. Above 12 years is to teach how to apply the method.

Before the talk ends, she showed us the '10 Rules of Right Brain Training':
1. Believe - understand information about Right Brain and believe in the child
2. Attend Lesson - open up the Right Brain and listen to lecture
3. Read story book
4. Stay next to student where RB is developed - Theory of talent formation site
5. Do fun and exciting thing - When a child is happy, the RB is open
6. Develope left brain without pushing hard - left brain required to strengthen right brain
7. Self Esteem is developed - do not scold for lack of ability, but for misbehaviour (should start at 2 yrs old), do not scold the child by mentioning name but scold the wrong behaviour
8. Need patience, suffering & worry - state of heart is required for growth, hard to develope RB if spoilt. I think it means we should not spoil our kids here. We should raise kids who are considerate and willing to share (should start 2-3 yrs old)
9. Fully absorb positive comments from parents, teachers and people around - encouragement will tell them to do better next time and have positive thinking, build high self esteem
10. Develope the Heart - RB strongly affected by the heart, hard to develope RB if heart is not good, so should stress on heart education

My Orderly Clean Baby

Valerie has somehow blossom into a very neat toddler. She can't stand a tiny dirt on her hands or legs. If some food got onto her hands, she will quickly said 'Mat... Mattt... ' (wipe.. wipe..). One day we were at Robinsons looking at Christmas deco. While I was busy picking up decos for our home, Valerie helped herself to one of those shiny ones. After a while, she started whining and showed me her finger.

I couldn't see anything on the finger and brushed her away. Still she whined and showed me her finger again. Then I looked closely and sure enough, there was something there. One tiny gold dust on her finger. She insisted that gold dust be wiped away. I rubbed her finger a few times and it was still there. So I said 'Sorry Valerie, mommy couldn't get it off. Maybe later...'

But nope, she continued to whine and have to have the gold dust off her finger that very minute. Annoyingly I took out a wet wipe and got it off her finger. Then she showed me big smile and continued looking around the decos but making sure she didn't touch one.. :-S

Another funny incident was at Heguru class. The sensei introduced finger painting in one of the session. So sensei put some paint onto a banana diagram and rubbed Valerie's finger onto the paint to colour the banana. I was trying to show Valerie how amazing finger painting was and how nice the banana was coloured. Instead, she took one look at her finger and looked very alarm.

Yes, her finger has turned yellow. Quickly she showed me her finger. At that point of time, the wonder of finger painting was not intriguing to her at all. She just wanted her finger to be clean again. So I got out the wet wipes and cleaned her finger. I tried one more time trying to get her interested in the banana diagram. Nope... she was busy checking her finger, making sure there's no more colour on it. :-S

After she has played any toys, she needs to pack them back the way it is. Everything need to be in an order that she remembers. Also, she must have a sequence to her daily routine too. If it's time for porridge, she will run to get her chair. If you help her to get the chair, she will be crying. She needs to be the one to take the chair, if not she rather not eat. After her bath time, she needs to be the one to switch off the lights. All these minor things she can remember well. If you miss a step, she will let you know she's unhappy.

Nanny says she's very stubborn and always want things her way. This need to be disciplined. But honestly I feel if she's stubborn for the right thing, what's there to discipline? You can't scold her just because she wants to carry her own chair or switch off the light when she leaves the bathroom... Ermm.. am I right?

Daddy comic strip 11

Baby Valerie : Anyone want to challenge me arm-wrestling...?























Baby Valerie : I can beat you flatt......




Baby Valerie : ..No takers??....*sigh* *sulking*

Baby Valerie : Hey...How about you ....!???

(Published by Papa Bear Production Ltd)

Daddy comic strip 10

Baby Valerie : Wah..Kor Kor... you have alien technology weapon.... *amazed*

Baby Valerie : Now it's MINE....*evil grin*...MUaahhahahahHhaha...

(Published by Papa Bear Production Ltd)

Puzzle Tracks

We bought a puzzle train set for Valerie last Christmas but she didn't really catch on to this until two months ago. Before that, all she wanted was to let daddy build the tracks and then sat and watched as the train went round and round.

But one night, I caught her trying to piece the puzzles together on her own! I was so excited that I couldn't resist recording her. Looks like her logical brain is beginning to develope :)




Check out the video clip...
 

Tangram Puzzle

I bought a magnetic tangram puzzle for Valerie since she has always been doing this in Heguru class. I just wanted to reinforce this activity at home. In the end I've decided on a magnetic tangram since she already has a magnetic board.

What we learn at Heguru is the outline of each tangram piece is drawn on a paper to form an object. Children are given tangram pieces of various shapes and sized to fit in. So I drew a few for Valerie to do. It turns out that after the age of 2, she could put the correct shapes accordingly. Of course she still needed some guidance now and then, like reminding her to turn the shape around to fit. But overall she can do tangrams on her already.

Last time, mommy has to point to her where to put on the paper. But now, she wants to do it herself. My little girl is slowly exerting a bit of her independence :)

Alphabets

Valerie was playing by herself one night, when I suddenly noticed she was putting alphabets on the magnetic board that she got from her birthday. I saw her putting the letter 'A' and she said 'A', then 'N' and she said 'N'. I was shocked beyond words and quickly asked Ivan to come over. Just then she put on the letter 'S' and said 'S'!!

Does this mean Valerie know her alphabets already? Later when my sister came over, I told her the incident and she asked Valerie the same three letters. And she repeated the same. The next day, I pointed to a brochure and asked her what is the letter and she said 'T' and 'O' correctly. I was very thrilled.

Later that week, at Heguru class, she was learning the letter 'N'. I showed the card to her confidently and she said 'N' loudly. Sensei was quite surprised.

Anyway that was about the few incidents that happened. After that she never showed she know the alphabets anymore. And I didn't specifically test her either. Up until last week, while we were out shopping at Jusco, there was plaster tapes on the floor and they were shaped like 'L'. Valerie then pointed to the tapes and said 'L' and then pointed to another 'L'. There was one that looked like a 'T' and she said 'T'. Our hearts leaped a beat, she still remember her alphabets!

And just last week, she suddenly pointed to my shirt and spelled out 'SAVE THE PLANET' one by one... The only letter she didn't seem to know was 'V'.

Sometimes I wonder if Valerie knows the full set of alphabets, or is it because when she sees something, it just come to her mind and she just blurt the letters out? Maybe the memory is stored somewhere and some day the letters flash across her mind and some day, they don't and she doesn't seem to recognise them.

Or maybe she just doesn't like to show her parents that she knows them. Only once in a while she likes to give us suprises? Ahh.. the wonder of how brain works.......

Sunday School

This year I've decided to enrol Valerie to Junior Sunday School after recommendation from a church friend. However I found out that the entry age is only at 3 but Valerie has just turned 2. But since she's born in 2008, she's considered 3 academically. So she's allowed to join but mommy needs to be around to accompany her until she's more independent.

Initially I was hoping to send her Sunday School as part of a transition for her before starting kindi. But after observing her for 2 lessons I guess I have a long way to go. No need to think about going to service while leaving her there. She's pretty much sticking to mommy the entire time. Only at the activity time (last 20 mins), she will not look for me. That's usually arts and crafts time where kids are divided into classroom according to their age.

On the hind sight, I could see she tried to join in the activities. After the first lesson, now she can show me the 'pray' gesture. When I say 'Let's pray', she will put her hands together and pray. Before this, she will let me say the prayer and then she will say 'Amen' just before she goes to bed. But she could never get the 'pray' gesture despite me teaching her many times.

Now we've started the family prayer where we hold hands together to pray just like what she learn in school. This has become one of her favourite moment before she goes to sleep. But somehow she only wants Daddy to say the pray, when I try to pray, she will put her hand to my mouth to stop me and then point to daddy. This happens every night. Maybe she knows daddy is the head of the family?? Hehe...

And at offering, she's very funny. I gave her RM1 and asked her to put into the offering bag when it's her turn. After putting, she will follow the teacher around and keep looking at the bag. Luckily she didn't come back and ask mommy for more $$$.

In terms of singspiration, she's slowly picking up songs. For the fast songs, she's still trying to follow the actions. For the slow songs, she could sing 'Jesus Loves Me This I Know' very well, that's because I've sang this to her since she's born. :) We're given an activity each week where parents have to do with children. Usually is to reinforce a particular bible verse that is being taught. There is also weekly memory verse. But I will not enforce that for now.

One of her favourite is the puppet show. This is the only session where she pays full attention to. I now see the vast difference between sending her to Heguru and Sunday School. Heguru is pretty exclusive and kids are taught they will have equal turn to participate in each activity. Well, you paid for the classes :P

But Sunday School is like a representation of what public kindi / school will be in the future. There will not be equal participation from each children simply because the group is a lot larger. And only selective kids will get to play a game or an activity. I feel this is something Valerie has to learn to get used to.