Recently, I made the decision to pick up Arabic again. After much research on some centres which offer the language, I picked one which charged reasonable monthly fees. Coincidentally, this centre was recommended by my ex-collegue and and my bestfriend. It was also the centre which my mom took her Arabic many years back. Such a coincidence isn't it? My mom was motivated to pick it up again when I told her that I had already signed up for the course and my bestfriend signed up with me for the course as well. Hopefully, I have the 'istiqamah' to stay on long in this class.
I had 4 classes so far and it had went on well, and am motivated to even revise the stuff which was taught. I even taught Ilyasak and Balqis what I learned so they pick up some basic Arabic too. I planned to research some Arabic learning materials suitable for kids also. I really hope the 'fire' to learn and teach my kids stay on for long till we achieve a certain level insya Allah.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Botanic Gardens
Ever since, I took both Ilyasak and Balqis to Botanic Gardens recently, Balqis has taken a special love for this place. All because, she was surrounded by some 30 ducks which fascinated her to bits. Probably, because its a rare chance to come up close and personal to those duckies in an urban country like Singapore where children grow up in concrete buildings instead of 'kampong' houses.
She spend most of her time interacting with the duckies instead of scooting on her scooter like her brother. We saw a few children feeding the duckies despite the signage of 'no feeding of the animals'.
Anyhow, we plan to visit Botanic Gardens again on another weekday hopefully to fight the weekend crowd.
She spend most of her time interacting with the duckies instead of scooting on her scooter like her brother. We saw a few children feeding the duckies despite the signage of 'no feeding of the animals'.
Anyhow, we plan to visit Botanic Gardens again on another weekday hopefully to fight the weekend crowd.
Balqis scoot!
My girl can finally scoot on the 2 wheeler skate scooter. Yeay! At 3 years 5 months, I must say that its an achievement worthy of an applaud. It's true when experts said that early exposure to a certain skill can do wonders. All I did was just gave her ilyasak's old two wheeler for her to play but that was when she was 2 and a half years. She ended up pushing it around and was not very keen to scoot.
A few weeks back, she asked to be given the skate scooter to play (ilyasak 's old scooter -the 3 wheeler was long gone and so she borrowed his current scooter). I did and she scooted a bit but again more of her pushing the scooter around.
Just four days ago, we decided to scoot at Botanic Gardens but made a trip to Vivocity instead since Balqis had no scooter. We scouted for a reasonable priced scooter hoping to find one reasonably priced. It was a gleaming red sleek scooter just like the brothers only with the wheels a tad smaller at a steal. It was only $29.90- how great is that! She was happy and so was I.
Both of them scooted in the open area just outside Vivocity and also ventured at Sentosa's board walk (although no scooting is allowed). They had so much fun scooting around and we even contemplate to enter Sentosa if not for the blazing sun.
Balqis had been scooting since then.
The lack of Ilyasak's pictures was simply because that it is almost impossible to get a good shot of him nowadays. He moved so fast that we had a difficult time capturing pictures of him.
A few weeks back, she asked to be given the skate scooter to play (ilyasak 's old scooter -the 3 wheeler was long gone and so she borrowed his current scooter). I did and she scooted a bit but again more of her pushing the scooter around.
Just four days ago, we decided to scoot at Botanic Gardens but made a trip to Vivocity instead since Balqis had no scooter. We scouted for a reasonable priced scooter hoping to find one reasonably priced. It was a gleaming red sleek scooter just like the brothers only with the wheels a tad smaller at a steal. It was only $29.90- how great is that! She was happy and so was I.
Both of them scooted in the open area just outside Vivocity and also ventured at Sentosa's board walk (although no scooting is allowed). They had so much fun scooting around and we even contemplate to enter Sentosa if not for the blazing sun.
Balqis had been scooting since then.
The lack of Ilyasak's pictures was simply because that it is almost impossible to get a good shot of him nowadays. He moved so fast that we had a difficult time capturing pictures of him.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Kitchen gadget
I have always been a fan of kitchen gadgets. I am all for spending that extra bit of cash if it could speed up my tasks in the kitchen.
Recently, bought an apple corer and it has been of a great help to me although it requires more strength when I need to wedge it through the centre of the apple. Once, the wedging is done, cutting the apple will be such a breeze.
Recently, bought an apple corer and it has been of a great help to me although it requires more strength when I need to wedge it through the centre of the apple. Once, the wedging is done, cutting the apple will be such a breeze.
Alphabet stamps
This is one of my great buys- the alphabet stamps. It was on 20% discount at Toys'r'us and I just had to purchase it. It has been of great use to us thus far.
It helps Balqis with her spelling and phonics since she is not able to write yet.
The stamps are used by Ilyasak when he wants to take a break from writing. Yes, he is not so thrill as yet when it comes to any activity which requires writing (something which I need to work on urgently since his handwriting is far from legible and the fact that he is going to primary 1 next year is enough to make my heart palpitates)
It's for my use too if I need to create some cards or do some scrabooking stuff.
Best of all, it's made of wood which guarantees long lasting usage through generations definitely and gives it a vintage look.
It helps Balqis with her spelling and phonics since she is not able to write yet.
The stamps are used by Ilyasak when he wants to take a break from writing. Yes, he is not so thrill as yet when it comes to any activity which requires writing (something which I need to work on urgently since his handwriting is far from legible and the fact that he is going to primary 1 next year is enough to make my heart palpitates)
It's for my use too if I need to create some cards or do some scrabooking stuff.
Best of all, it's made of wood which guarantees long lasting usage through generations definitely and gives it a vintage look.
Ramadhan activity: playdough mats
Fished this idea out from some of the homeschooling blog but I tweak it to be in tune to Ramadhan. An activity when they can fill out their time and mummy can space out while they are at it. However, the downside of this activity is that it creates quite a fair bit of mess from the bits and pieces of the dough. It gets frustrating when the bits and pieces of dough gets stick on d the floor. Well, I don't intend for this activity to be one of our regulars. I just hate the mess!
The piece above is Ilyasak's- the boy simply did not have the patience to sit through and fill up the intricate details of the mosque. He was just happy to plonk all the blob of play dough to the mat and be done with it.
The piece above is Balqis'- she had a bit more patience to carefully fill up the entire mat. It is probably because girls tend to have more patience and are more meticulous in nature.
The piece above is Ilyasak's- the boy simply did not have the patience to sit through and fill up the intricate details of the mosque. He was just happy to plonk all the blob of play dough to the mat and be done with it.
The piece above is Balqis'- she had a bit more patience to carefully fill up the entire mat. It is probably because girls tend to have more patience and are more meticulous in nature.
Acrylic 'firefly' painting
We did this as part of the post activity after reading 'the lonely firefly'by Eric Carle.
One important note is to stay away from any kind of fabric that you do not wish to stain cause it ain't going to come off. Well, I did stain Balqis' quilt cover because silly me conduct the activity a tad too near her bed.
Nevertheless, we had fun on one of the ramadhan afternoons. I also discovered that acrylic paints produce such strong and vibrant colours as oppose to poster paints.
One important note is to stay away from any kind of fabric that you do not wish to stain cause it ain't going to come off. Well, I did stain Balqis' quilt cover because silly me conduct the activity a tad too near her bed.
Nevertheless, we had fun on one of the ramadhan afternoons. I also discovered that acrylic paints produce such strong and vibrant colours as oppose to poster paints.
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