Tyan's Photoblog
ABC chart
Posted by tyan (Singapore, Singapore) on 11 August 2007 in People & Portrait.
Was sharing with you a few days ago that i borrowed from the Library a book that gives lots of wonderful games ideas on helping a child to be ready for reading.
One idea was to fish for magnetic alphabet,today's idea is to make the alphabet,put envelope under each letter and put in items that start with that alphabet.For eg,newspaper cutting of an apple and put into the envelope under the letter 'a' and so on.So we did our A-B-C today and Caleb had fun pasting stars on the alphabet to decorate it.I like this game,because it will occupy us for many days,i just hope Caleb doesnt get bored of it:)
Soph from Enghien, Belgium
Great to see children learning! I like his expression, very nice! Great idea!
11 Aug 2007 7:10am
@Soph: thanks soph:)
@ChaCha: thanks chacha:)
Bron from Canberra, Australia
Caleb's lucky that you get him fun games that help him to learn tyan!
11 Aug 2007 9:28am
@Bron: thanks Bron,for your kind encouragement:)
MaryB from Staffordshire, United Kingdom
Thats a really good idea tyan, Caleb looks like he is concentrating very hard, on his task. :)
11 Aug 2007 9:48am
@MaryB: yeah,for 30 seconds,Mary,long enough for me to take this shot!
Rebecca from Leicester, United Kingdom
Excellent capture of Caleb in action, tyan! And such a wonderful idea for teaching him ABCs...i must definitely try it when Elise is old enough! :)
11 Aug 2007 11:24am
@Rebecca: thanks for being so encouraging,Rebecca. How old is Elise now? Yeah,its all from this very thin book i borrowed,returned it and cant rem the title nor author.Sigh. But photocopied some interesting games.Will share more next time:) People are telling me their kids learn faster when they go childcare.Like this child who is younger than Caleb already knows the whole alphabet while C is stuck at A-B-C-W.lol.Sometimes i do wonder if i am making life hard for myself when other people just freely send their kids to childcare and they seem to learn so much more,hee.
@Saed: thanks Saed:)
@Nancy: thanks!:)
cookie from Singapore
That looks like an wonderful project. Can see Caleb has good fun. Try leapfrog letter factory to sing alphabet songs - Fangyi's fave. Try zoophonics, he's fun making the sounds of each letter.
11 Aug 2007 3:09pm
@cookie: thanks for suggestion babe,now no $ to buy expensive toys.So have to make do with paper and scrapes:)
Viewfinder from Bradenton, United States
What a great shot of Caleb -- while he already is a treasure to you, as he grows in years to come this photo will be a family treasure
11 Aug 2007 3:09pm
@Viewfinder: thanks Caleb.I hope this blog still works when he turns 20.Then it will be one of the most precious memories weleave behind for him:)
Vanessa from Kent, United Kingdom
Great shot Tyan, having fun at the same as learning makes it all that little bit easier for the little people - well done Caleb :-)
11 Aug 2007 5:14pm
@Vanessa: thanks Vanessa!:) yeah i read that children learn best when they play!:)
Rags from Plano, United States
Really nice pic. It's nice that he's learning to read.
11 Aug 2007 5:50pm
@Rags: thanks Rags!:)
Rebecca from Leicester, United Kingdom
Hi again tyan :) , elise is 19 mths old. more on her ongoing development on our blog, which is sort of like an online journal we keep for her :) . Your comments about what people say (re sending their kids to childcare and their apparently learning more that way) also spurred me on to more reflection on the issue, and just thought i should add my 2p worth of thoughts (sounds familiar, huh? LOL :) ) on that as well. here goes! really hope this helps.. the latest research in this country (i think it's the Leach study if i'm not mistaken) shows that children develop best when the care they are given is most (1) attentive (2) responsive and (3) stimulating. for children aged below 3, provided there are sufficient resources available to the mother, the studies do point towards "mummy care" being the best, although there are exceptions to that. you might find this article interesting to read.
Possible reasons why you might find that some friends' kids who are sent to childcare appear to do better are, i think, probably the equipment/toys, resources, specialised techniques/teaching skills, structured learning time, repetition of activities and peergroup stimulation that may be found in the better childcare centres. but i think even all these seemingly attractive advantages of a childcare centre setting still do not offset the deep emotional (& developmental) benefits to a young child (below 3) of having consistent reliable one-to-one (or one-to-two, in the case of having 2 kids like yourself :) ) responsiveness and attention from his trusted primary caregiver for the best part of each day, everyday. The so-called advantages that childcare centres have to offer may be reproduced in other ways without compromising on you being there for and with your precious kids during these crucial early years of their lives. The key, i think, is to provide sufficient good stimulation and peergroup interaction.
For equipment/toys & resources, whilst budget will always be a constraint, a few carefully-chosen well-reviewed long-lasting (we like to check online review websites like ciao.co.uk or dooyoo.co.uk before buying a particular toy for elise - usually 2ndhand!- toys/equipment can go a long way. we're very fortunate in this country to have access to ebay where we've been able to purchase quite a variety of 2ndhand toys/equipment for elise at a small fraction of their retail prices. i understand it's harder in singapore to do this, as there isn't a lively 2ndhand market for such. even so, we made a couple of trips to Kiddipalace in toa payoh when we were in s'pore in june and did find a couple of bargains there for elise, especially during the great singapore sale time! :) The Alphabet Puzzle/Mat at Kiddipalace was a particularly good buy, as elise loves to play with it now almost everyday (lots of fun for her to feel and play around with the letters and piece them togetherjigsaw puzzle-style, etc) and is a lot cheaper than the ones sold here in uk (even on ebay!). i think same goes for books (which i must admit we do love buying for elise, 'cos she has this ongoing love affair with books! LOL :) , & doesn't say goodbye easily to library books). several carefully well-chosen well-reviewed books (amazon is great for book reviews ) can go a long way to stimulate and encourage reading in a child.
Where specific techniques/teaching skills are concerned, i think those can be picked up from books ourselves (including library books - have you access to a copy of 'Montessori Play and Learn'? - quite well-reviewed on amazon), and you probably will find that all the easier being a teacher yourself. (btw, hope it'll encourage you that my mum was a teacher too who decided to stop work to stay home to be there for us when my younger sister vicky was born. suffice to say all 3 of us children, my older brother, my younger sister and i, benefitted and (without having any tuition nor going for enrichment classes nor other expensive resources - both my parents came from humble backgrounds, so are not the 'splash money around' sort of people) we all went on to do well at school and all went to Cambridge, did well at work, are all happily married, etc. )
enough about me. on to structured learning time and repetition (children like and learn well through repetition, provided it's not forced :) ), i think that can be easily reproduced at home by mummy. anyway, i don't think too rigid a structure is healthy for a child. learning at home has the added benefit that a child can learn at his/her own pace and focus on what he/she is interested in at that particular time, instead of having a fixed schedule imposed on him/her regardless of his/her individual needs.
as for peergroup stimulation, i do think there is value here (especially after a child turns 2) in attending parent and tots classes/groups/activities, say on a once/twice a week basis. over here in uk there are free mums & tots groups that i bring elise to regularly. in s'pore, being the competitive place that it is, there's quite a lot of enrichments classes/tots classes/preschool programmes/montessori programmes/phonics (good for learning reading) classes to choose from, many of which can be pretty pricey, but they do come also with more structured learning and specialised teaching resources, and there again, with some intensive looking-around and careful choosing, you'll hopefully be able to find a tots group that's cost-effective and 'value-for-money' (LOL :) to bring caleb along to say once or twice a week? on our part, we'll be sending elise to playschool next september ('08) for 3 mornings a week, which is the commonly done thing here once kids are about 2.5 - 3 yrs old.
all that said, i really think you need not worry about Caleb's development. you're already doing lots for him in very excellent ways. i really think he is coming along absolutely fine, and will have no problems continuing to learn and excel. i think the most important thing is to keep encouraging in him the love of learning, rather than the more commonly-used style in s'pore of rote learning and 'drilling' things into kids just so that they can be 'ahead' of everybody else (then they go on to have nightmares in primary 1 about exams, and feel stressed and depressed, etc, etc.) i think it's fantastic that he already knows A-B-C-W, and hey, who cares if so-and-so's kid knows A-to-Z lol :) . that kid knowing A-to-Z now is really no indicator of whether he/she will continue to do academically well later in life (or more importantly, have the emotional stability and security to see him/her through all the other challenges that life ahead will throw at him/her). some kids may have a headstart, but usually it's pretty easy for other kids to catch up with them in due course. you may find this website helpful for info on the developmental milestones expected at each age & what helps.
whoa, this has turned out a lot longer than i anticipated (! LOL :) , so i really should end here. apologies for rambling on! and hope this has helped somewhat. God bless. :)
12 Aug 2007 3:47am
@Rebecca: wow,Rebecca,i actually stared at your reply for a good half an hour!lol:)thanks so much for sharing indeed.I really like long replies,and yours is so thoughtful.I appreciate your sharing because it realy encouraged me greatly.I think i was really looking for that extra ounce of assurance that i was on the right track.thanks so much for sharing all your 'resources',they are really helpful!I tell myself not to be one of those 'kiasu' parents to want my kids to have a headstart in life.but i realise it is really very difficicult sometimes to brush off the pressure.I remember when i was teaching,some of my colleagues(quite a no of us whose kids are abt the same age) will start comparing who speaks first,who can recognise phonics first,and a few will start to ask me 'where' Caleb is,just to give them a sense of 'assurance' that their own children are not the slowest. I get frustrated and i told myself i must never impose all these on Caleb but sometimes i do feel the tension.And while my blog seems to portray the happy things like the food and activities,as if i was doing a fantastic job,the daily challenge remains--there are days all i can manage is to take care of the 2 guys' physical needs like bathe and food.Learning ABC can sometimes be just a 5-10 min affair for the day.I try to do things with Caleb when Ian is asleep,then just a short while,Ian awakes and i have to tend to him and i had to leave Caleb to play on his own...so sometimes i feel a lot guilt and wonder whether i am doing him more 'harm' by letting him stay home instead of going to school.I wish i could do more things with him,but having to cope with 2 on my own the most part of the day,7 days a week with no help from anyone else really leaves me very tired and sometimes depressed.we are considering playgroup for him next year or kindergarten when he turns 3.I observed he likes to play with kids his age now,you know sometimes we meet some at the park,supermarket,etc.You really sound like Steve Biddulph you know!His writings are one main reason i am gritting my teeth (and sometimes tearing my hair) to let Caleb stay home instead of going to school before he turns 3.
oops i said a lot too!thanks so much again for sharing.I really really appreciate it,because there are just so few people who can encourage me this way.Its like swimming against the current,this whole staying at home thing,not going out there to earn big bucks,look pretty,freedom,financial independence,societal expectations/values,relatives' grunts of disapproval,decision to teach them rather than send them to be taught by others...so few see the value of it sometimes it really is hard to go on.But hearing from you have given me a bit more courage to go on,thanks my friend!:)
{H} creatives from Santa Clara, United States
Holy toledo....! LOL....been missing lotz of good pics, and lots of good write up, too...hahahah. Gotta catch up soon...B-) Nice angle here of Caleb. Smart boy, Caleb is...."How do I know?"...he just looks it.
Send regards as always...Cheers!
13 Aug 2007 8:29am
@{H} creatives: ha thanks dude,you are so very encouraging!
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