Tidings of comfort and joy

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This advent season, I wanted to impress on B the true meaning of Jesus' birth and how it is not just about gifting but also the act of giving, and God's ultimate gift of life. Although it was hard to break free from all the commercialism, we found a few simple ways to reflect this while still doing our fair share of Christmas mall hopping :)

We made an advent calendar from B's artwork with clear plastic pockets to mark the 24 days, which was December 1 to 24 this year. I liked how this simple template could be re-used many times for things like learning numbers, letters, words, days and months, etc. Each day, we prayed for specific family, friends, those in need, our country and world, ending with the fruits of the spirit -- which B coincidentally learned in Sunbeam (Sunday School) year. On Christmas morning, we visited a single mother of 5 kids as part of our church's community blessing project before joining our cell group for food and carols. I look forward to more fun, faith-based activities as he grows up. For 2014, we could try this weekly series based on proverbs, more on the fruits or even try working through this catechism as our church's awesome new Devotional Journal weekly family section doesn't quite work for young tots.

Of course, we also covered the usual Christmas craft and books. Between work, colds, family visits, playdates, parties and our year end holiday to Hong Kong, we couldn't complete a nativity project or join many church events. After reading some books and our toddler bible, B recalls the nativity story by acting out a pregnant mama (Mary), old hunched men with presents (three wise men) and a wailing baby (Jesus).... It's a start I guess ;)

As for craft, this time around I let him try cutting, gluing, threading (punched holes around the art), and letter tracing (glued glitter on words).  We started with a Christmas star for the tree, stockings and poinsettas. We used the remaining painted rolls to make a turkey for a friend's Thanksgiving dinner. 

Wreath with holly, berries and gingerbread men
(Grandma made those cute origami mini-Santa Clauses)

Sticking ornaments on a car track painted Christmas card for his cousin

Home-made watercoloured ornaments :)

Rudolph the red nosed reindeer 

 

B in a snow globe

Collage art of peace, love and joy - the last 3 days in our advent calendar

Turning 2 has been a tipping point with some of the worst and best developments to date. B started shrieking for attention, tipping over his bowl/plate/cup when almost done (sooo annoying!), had bouts of skipped naps, early waking and general crankiness throughout the day. On the plus side, his interest in print (numbers and letters) keeps growing. He correctly spells out most words in big letters, is getting better at small letters, loves counting as well as spotting numerals. To my delight, soon after his birthday, he finally started singing. In tune! All the time! What was previously a monotone rap transformed into spontaneous singing and dancing to favourite songs and those he hears often (i.e. Jingle Bells). I even caught him singing nursery songs that I used to hum to him as a baby. Quite amazing what our kids retain at this age!

This Thursday, B will start half-day nursery, with mommy joining for a few hours/days before transitioning to a complete drop-off. I got him a personalised preschooler book, and also printed out photos of his new school to add to our scrap book to get him familiar with the concept.  It's encouraging that the school also focuses on being global citizens, i.e. donating for charity and recycling for art.  Here's hoping B's new journey with Odyssey will be even more rewarding and fun than it's been with mommy and me so far.

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Month 11 Week 2: How To Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. - Mark Twain

There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots, the other wings. - Hodding Carter

It took 3+ hours to curl my hair (after 5 years!) so I managed to finish Doman's book on "How To Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence" as I'd been curious about their approach since that Gymnademics trial class.  Stuff that got me thinking below.

Why start now vs wait for formal school (primary at 6 or nursery/kindergarten at 3)

• Learning begins from birth
• The brain grows the most at the early stages
• The first six years are the genesis of genius, limited only by how much material babies get to learn and how it's presented
• All significant brain growth is finished by six years with growth in ability dropping sharply each year
• See this recent article on how frequent, positive stimulation can make a big difference in the early years 
• What we do not use, we lose - the human brain has the memory capacity to hold ~3 million hours of TV shows :).  What are we filling ours with? 
  • Input: see, hear, touch, smell, taste
  • Output: mobility, language, manual competence
• When "teaching," have fun. Tell your kid how great he is, how much you love him ... often!  

How to teach your baby to read:

• Only humans can read
• Words must be large, clear, repeated enough, presented enthusiastically
• The more speed, the more new material, the more joy, the better
• Suggested sequence: Commonly used words, self/body, home objects, baby's possessions, foods, animals, actions, colours, modifiers (pairs, opposites), x is a/an/the y z (e.g. "Mango is a sweet yellow fruit") 
• Suggested approach: Start with 25 words - 5 new ones 3x/day, mix order. Remove one word/day after 1 week. 5 steps: Single words => couplets => phrases => sentences => books
• Note: I'm already reading books and flashing words with B but like the sequencing and approach which makes more sense than following the alphabet.  After all, what does "A" or "Z" really mean?!

How to teach your baby encyclopedic knowledge;

• Suggested approach: Show 10 cards, 10 sec, 3 consecutive days. Intro related facts and sub-categories, list 1 to 12 magnitude of knowledge, expande on sub-categories
• Suggested categories: biology, history, geography, music, art, math, human physiology, general science, language, literature
• Note:  Instead of following Doman's (excessively) detailed "bits of knowledge" specs, I may start a digital catalog instead (on iPad/Windows 8 tablets?). This is environmentally friendly, cost efficient with unlimited capacity given the ample real-life beautiful pictures and facts available online

How to teach your baby math

• Intro with the facts vs intro "laws" i.e. numerals and symbols
• Science = branch of knowledge dealing with a body of facts systematically arranged to show the operation of laws
• Suggested 5 step approach:

1. Quantity recognition: Use dots and patterns to intro 1 to 20
2. Equations: Demonstrate additions, subtractions, multiplication, division
1. Using the same dots, illustrate +, -  and x first
2. Intro 0 - shift similar quantity dots around (e.g. 5 dots + 0 = 5 dots)
3. Intro up to 100 (does not have to include all numbers from 20 on)
4. Illustrate / division
3. Problem solving: Offer choices, sequencing (e.g. 1, 3, 5, 7), greater less than scenarios
1. Doman's overall approach is that teaching/learning should be fun and testing should be limited to games or real-life evidences
2. Even if they get it wrong, your response should be along the lines of "Good try, that's actually X, this is Y"
4. Equalities: Intro (in)equalities, fractions, simple algebra 
5. Numeral recognition: FINALLY, digits (numbers) as we know them!
1. Use equalities to show 0-20, mix up the order of dots and numerals 
2. Intro 1-100 and go beyond 100s
3. Proceed to equations with numerals