Today, I learn about:

2010-04-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

From FamilyFun.go.com

Now, I need to know where to buy grass seeds.

Plant Pals

Your indoor gardener may not get your "bad hair day" jokes, but the fun of this grassy-haired friend won't be lost on him. Like a Chia Pet, the project requires just a sprinkling of seeds, a bit of sun, and a few drops of patience.

2010-04-20T07:37:00.001-07:00

From FamilyFun.go. com

Removable Graffiti

Just as easy for grown-ups to peel off as they are for kids to put on, these inexpensive, fun-to-make decals provide endless, ever-changing creative possibilities for young artists.

Materials

Masking tape
Repositionable clear or white Con-Tact paper
Paint pens or permanent markers

Cotton swab or paper towel
Scissors

Instructions

Use masking tape to temporarily attach a piece of repositionable clear or white Con-Tact paper to a protected work surface.
Have your child draw designs onto the paper with paint pens or permanent markers, blotting excess ink or paint with a cotton swab or paper towel.
Let the designs dry for at least an hour, then cut them out, peel off the backing, and stick them to the door.

2010-04-20T07:33:00.000-07:00

From Family Fun.go.com

Glimmer Paints

Here's a good example of the whole exceeding the sum of its parts: Add food coloring to a simple mixture of flour, salt, and water, and you get puffy, glossy paints that sparkle with salt crystals when dry.

Materials

* ½ cup salt
* ½ cup all-purpose flour

* ½ cup water
* Food coloring

Instructions

1. Glimmer Paints - Step 1 Mix together the salt, flour, and water; the mixture should be about the consistency of pudding.

2. Add food coloring until the desired shade is reached, then use a funnel to transfer the paint to a squeeze bottle. You can also transfer the paints to a ziplock bag, then snip off one tiny corner of the bag for a make-it-yourself applicator.

Tips:
Use on finger-paint paper or other heavy paper and allow your paintings to air-dry overnight. Store leftover paints in the refrigerator in airtight containers for up to three days; stir or shake before using.

No-Knead Bread recipe

2010-02-06T05:12:00.000-08:00

I'm just noting this recipe for the day I decide to bake my own bread =D

http://www.playfulearning.com/Playful_Learning/Blog/Entries/2009/12/28_Entry_1.html

3 cups All purpose flour

1/4 tsp yeast

1 a/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup water

Handmix and let it sit covered for 12 hours

Fold it a few times - sprinkle flour/wheat germ

Set into covered pan heated at 500F

Cook for 30 min with cover

Remove cover - continue cooking 15-20 min to brown

Remove and let sit to cool

Homeschool share

2010-01-28T02:06:00.000-08:00

Wai Han passed me a link to this website: Homeschool share.

It has great resources for homeschooling using Five in a Row resources. I'm quite excited to begin a lapbook now. But since we've been so busy moving house, lapbooking will have to wait until we're done with all the moving and we've schedules some quiet time together.

Tanah Airku

2009-11-19T06:39:00.000-08:00

Listening to this song reminds me of who I am.

Indonesian children songs : Burung Kakak Tua

2009-11-19T04:49:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about Indonesian children songs because it would be nice to teach Sean a few songs. I finally Googled it, DUH, should have done it a long time ago. Burung Kakak Tua was one that I've been trying to remember.

BURUNG KAKAK TUA

Burung kakatua
hinggap di jendela
nenek sudah tua
giginya tinggal dua.

Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
burung kakatua.

Giginya tinggal dua
Nenek sudah tua
Hinggap di jendela
Seperti kakatua!

Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
Tredung, tredung, tredung tra la la
burung kakatua.

You can visit mamalisa for more songs

Review books "H" and "I"

2009-10-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

I found many good books this week. We had a wonderful time reading them all.

A Field full of Horses

The series Read and Wonder has the best books. This book is particularly beautiful. It makes me want to be with horses. I would love to have all the Read and Wonder series on my shelf.

How Many?

Sean loves this book. He loves to count out loud as we read the pages of this book. In fact, we've borrowed this many times and this week, he picked it out by himself.

How to Hide a Crocodile?

Another great book by Ruth Heller. She is so good at using the least amount of words to convey so much meaning. Ruth Heller is definitely a keeper.

Ho for Hat!
I love the poem and the beautiful and detailed illustrations. It's a fun book to read out loud. I would definitely want to have it on my shelf.

If the dinosaurs came back

This is also another book that we have borrowed before. It's a favorite. The drawings are in black marker with just the dinosaur in a flat colour, but there's so many things happening in the pictures. It's also great that there's a page with all the names of the dinosaurs on it. It's a wonderful book to have.

In the Night Kitchen

Maurice Sendak is so imaginative. Reading this is like going through a fantastic dream. It's also a must read.

I wanna Iguana

It's a cute book. The story is told through correspondence of notes between a son and his mom. He was trying to convince his mom to let him have a baby iguana. I really like the play of words, but the drawing of the iguana is really ugly! =P

I heard Said the bird

A beautifully illustrated book about a bird telling the animals that it heard about a new one.

It's the Bear!

A follow up to 'Where's my Teddy'. Sean still finds it scary though. He's scared of the giant bear or maybe the expression of fear on Eddy's face.

Falling for Rapunzel

It's a funny twist of the Rapunzel story. It's really cute but Sean was not interested. Definitely a cute book for girls.

Owls

I love all the science series. It's short and simple but had enough photographs to capture your attention. I wish we have more of these books in the library. Maybe they are really popular and are mostly borrowed out.

Montessori Play and Learn

A great book which list out games you can do. It has a good summary about what the Montessori concept is all about. I haven't really gone through the games yet though.

Book reviews : 'G' and 'H' books

2009-10-14T10:08:00.000-07:00

This is a combination of last week's and this week's borrowing. I didn't get to scan last week's books because I was just too involved in searching for a kindergarten for Sean.

The Glerp

A really funny story about a Glerp that eats everything that crosses it's path. The animals had a wonderful time bouncing inside the Glerp until the Glerp fell sick and cough them all out.

Green Eggs and Ham

An all time favorite. A book that has been borrowed over and over again. Totally recommended!

The Greatest Show on Earth

It's about a little boy in a circus family who is surrounded by amazing people who has amazing skills. He can't do any of them yet but in the end, he did them all and became a star of the show. I love the illustrations and the story. Highly recommended.

Giggle Giggle Quack

Another funny story about how duck swap the notes that Farmer Brown gave his brother, Bob, regarding his instructions for taking care of the animals. The animals got to eat pizza, bathed in Farmer Brown's soap, and watch movies.

Geraldine the Music Mouse

A story about a mouse who found music from a piece of Parmesan cheese

Guess How Much I Love You?

A warm story about a small Nutbrown Hare and a big Nutbrown Hare describing how much they love the other. It's beautiful illustration and imaginative use of words makes this a great book that we will borrow again and again.

Harry the Dirty Dog

A favorite. Harry is a white dog with black spot who hated to take a bath. He hid the scrub and went about happily making himself as dirty as possible until he was a balck dog with white spots. When he went home, the family didn't recognize him. Eventually Harry dug up the scrub and begged them to give him a bath.

Hector Sylvester

A favorite. A hilarious story about an ostrich (I think) that was mighty and brave. He wasn't scared of snake, crocodile or lion. In fact he was fiercer than them. But he was terribly frightened of an incee wincee spider. The story ended with all the animals laughing and tickling each other.

Home Sweet Home

A favorite. Does a cat live in a kennel? Do butterflies live in a hive? Does Alive live in a coop? Do cows live in a stable? Do rabbits live in a hole? It's a predictable story but Sean love it because he knows most of it already. In fact, he would joke that a cat live in a kennel, etc. The simplicity of the story encourages young readers to attempt to read. It's recommended for begining reader.

The Halloween House

A funny book about 2 convicts on the run who stayed the night at the house where there were scary creatures of halloween. When morning came all of them vanished and the convicts ran back to their prison cell.

The Halloween House

A funny book about 2 convicts on the run who stayed the night at the house where there were scary creatures of halloween. When morning came all of them vanished and the convicts ran back to their prison cell.

The Hippo Boat

A story about a mother and a baby hippo recuing the baby animals in the zoo when the rain was so heavy that it floaded the zoo. Very cute.

Where are the Eggs?

A favorite. A simple book that shows photographs of animals and their nests and eggs. Hen, Robin, Goose, Stork, Crocodile, Sea Turtle, Butterflies and Penguin.

Look at Paws and Claws

A favorite. A book about the hands, paws, claws, and flippers, and what they are used for. Bery interesting.

Your Child's Growing Mind by Jane M. Healy

A must to read by every parents. It gives me a very good understanding about the mind of a child.

Part 1: Brain Development and Learning
Part 2: Foundations of Learning
Part 3: Learning applied

Gorf's Pond

A story about a tadpole who thought he was a fish. He was scared when he started losing his tail and growing limbs. Finally a new frog who came into his small pond told him that he was a frog.

Growing Frogs

About a little girl getting some frog eggs from a pond and watching them grow to be a frog, and then put them back into the pond.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

A cute way of rewriting this classic story. Goldilocks is written as a naughty little girl who doesn't listen to her mother. Despite being told not to take the short cut, she went against her mother's advice and found the bears' house.

How Far Will a Rubber Band Stretch?

An interesting story about how a little boy attached a rubber band and stretched it. He cycled out of his house, took a bus, went on a plane ride, on a train, on a boat, across the ocean, across the desert, to the moon, and then BOING, he was back in his bed. An interesting book that stretches the imagination.

Hush

A story about a mother hushing all the animals because her baby is asleep.

Here are the Brick Street Boys

A story about boys playing football.

How Do Bear Sleep?

A poem about what would bears do when they sleep. Sean did not like it, but maybe it's because it's not age appropriate yet.

Sounds All Around

A book that tells us what makes sounds.
Pingu

A collection of Pingu's story. Pingu is a naughty penguin who likes to play tricks on others.

Book reviews : 'E' and 'F' books

2009-10-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

The thing about borrowing books from the library is, you don't know what you'll get until you bring them home and read them. For last week's books, I can only give a 5 star rating to one book which really impresses me.

Think of an Eel

It's a beautifully illustrated book about where eel eggs hatch (in Sargasso Sea), and how they look like as little eel and how they grow as they travel to the rivers where they stay in adulthood. And what they do when it's time to reproduce, i.e. swim back all the way to Sargasso to breed and die. I think this is one book that we'll borrow again when Sean is slightly older. The books from the series of 'Read and Wonder' are amazing.

Each Peach Pear Plum

It has a clever word rhyme which incorporates many nursery story characters. Sean enjoyed looking for each character in the illustration.

Eating the Alphabet

A good list of fruits and vegetable from A to Z. The illustrations are colorful, but I wish they are more realistic because some of the less common fruits and vegetables are not clearly drawn.

Ernest and Celestine

An warm story about the love of an adult for a child.

Emil the Eagle

A funny story about an eagle who is near-sighted and a fly that has no wings.

Ellie's Growl

Beautiful illustrations, but I'm not so good at making animal sounds so I was not able to fully animate the story as well as it could be.

The Flea's sneeze

A cute book about all the animals in the barn sleeping but not the flea who was having a cold. The flea finally sneezed and woke all the animals up. The story ended up with everyone sleeping, except the hog.

A Flea in the ear

A beautifully illustrated story between a dog and a fox. The fox told the dog who was having a flea problem to dunk himself in the pond. The flea made an agreement with the dog that if he does not drown them, they'll hop off him and never bother him again. Of course when the dog came back, the fox has gotten away with all the chicken in his charge. The dog then tricked the fox about juicy ducks in the pond, and the flea that were from the dog leap on to the fox's back.

Frightened Fred

A cute story about a cat who had a long list of fears and how he finally got over them.

Fifty Red Nightcaps

A story about a boy and 49 monkeys who stole the red nightcaps he was bringing to the market to sell. He tried climbing after them but they were better climbers. He tried bribing them with fruits but they had more fruits on the trees. Finally he got angry and throw his nightcap on to the ground, and so did the monkeys.

The Kissing Hand

A story about a mummy raccoon soothing her child's fear about beginning school. She kisses his palm and told him that he has her love with her all day and whenever he misses her, he just have to put his palm on to his cheek to feel her love.

(Not an 'E' or 'F' book, but I wanted to check it out because it's about starting school. It's great that the library has it, but it's not something to collect.)

You can teach your child intelligence

It's about getting parents to understand what it means by intelligence, i.e. confidence and the ability to think on your feet. It's actually geared towards parents whose children are having problems at school, and changing trying to correct the mistakes we make as parents. It's an old book but it still has some valid suggestion if I ever have problems with Sean when he's older. The book is more about children above 7 years old. For younger kids, the author suggest her other book - How to be a Gifted parent. But I haven't seen it in the library yet.

Recipe: Chocolate Playdough

2009-10-03T01:32:00.001-07:00

Chocolate Playdoh Recipe

Mix together:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 cup salt

2 tsp. cream of tartar

Make sure you combine these ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed together. Then add 1 1/2 T. cooking oil and 1 cup boiling water. Mix and knead until you have a nice smooth ball of dough.

Preparing children to Read

2009-09-24T00:47:00.000-07:00

I found this link from MontessoriMom's website about how to prepare children how to read. The speaker also discourages teaching children to read too young. I've got to learn more and see if whatever I'm doing is right.

It's rather long and slow. So I myself have not finished watching it. I'll keep it for another day when I've got time to watch the whole 50 minute lecture. =P

Book reviews : 'D' books

2009-09-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

This week I couldn't find that many interesting books on D. Maybe many were already borrowed out. A lot books start with 'Don't' and many were about dogs and dinosaurs.

A Dark Dark Tale I had reservations about borrowing this because Sean doesn't usually like scary stories. But the story had such a cute end, I had to borrow it. And the illustrations are really good. This is one book I'll borrow again.

I've just found this video. I didn't think that the story telling was great, but I learn a bit more about how to tell the story, i.e. more descriptions about things in the pictures.

The Dog that Dug

A funny story about a dog who was a bit of a clot who dug and dug and dug and found an old brown shoe, a coal mining miner, a tubular train and dinosaur bones. The illustrations are very detailed. It's by the same illustrator as Captain Teachum. It's a book that even older kids will love to read again and again.

Dogs Don't Wear Sneakers

Funny, but there's no story line. It's just about all the things that animals don't usually do, told in a rhyming text. It's meant to get your imagination started. The illustrations are very cute though.

Don't make me laugh

Funny, but Sean didn't get it the first time. I don't like the illustrations though.

Don't rock the Ark

A rather long story for Sean at this time. Quite a cute story about not making the elephants in the Ark move about too much. The illustrations were cute and detailed and really gets you into how the inside of Noah's ark look like.

Dooby Dooby Moo

Another cute story from the author of 'Click Clack Moo. Cows that type', but I found there were too many 'Dooby Dooby Moo....' sound effects. Maybe after reading it several times, I got rather tired of dooby dooby mooing. =P

I wish that I had duck feet

A very cute story about a boy who wants to have duck feet, deer horns, a whale spout, a long long tail, and an elephant's nose. The text is easy and rhyming. It's meant to be a book for early readers. So I would say this is a good book to encouraeg early readers to read because of the silly story.

These are not 'D' books:

The Very hungry Caterpillar

Always a favorite. We've borrowed this many many times. Love it.

I was very happy to find this video. I didn't even know they existed until I accidentally found a link while YouTubing.

Nature's Pattern

A great book to introduce nature's patterns: stripes, spots, spirals, and symmetry. Short but it has great photographs showing the animals with these patterns.

All from an Oak Tree

A good book to show about a tree life cycle. It has lots of good photos.

Starfish
Cute story about star fish. I even learn about how starfish open up clams to eat.

The first video is rather long, but it has many pictures of beautiful starfish. So I'm keeping this for later when Sean is interested in starfish.

Book reviews : 'C' books

2009-09-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

In the excitement of Sean's birthday, I forgot totally to do book reviews of the2nd batch of 'B' books. We are reading 'C' books this week.

Captain Teachum's Buried Treasure

My personal favorite this week. The story is funny and the illustrations are so detailed that the illustrations tells the story even without words. This book is something I'd buy if I see it in the book shop.

A Cache of Jewels

Another one of my favorite. The illustrations are just right to get us interested in Collective nouns. I learn many new collective nouns. Ruth Heller is a great author. Her books are so informative and so beautifully done. I feel like buying up all her books. =D

Coulicoco's Sleepy Afternoon

I love the story of a young boy's afternoon nap, when no one would disturb him. The setting is so idyllic that I want to sleep in a hammock too. It's a beautiful story that I would like to read again and again.

Click Clack Moo Cows That Type

This is the 2nd or maybe 3rd time I've borrowed the book. A really cute story about cows and chickens demanding electric blanket. There's a funny twist in the end when the neutral party, Duck, took over the typewriter to type a note asking for a diving board for their pond.

Charlie needs a Cloak

A great story about how a shepherd whose clock is old and torn up, shears his sheep and spins them into wool, and then made them into cloth, dye it and finally made it into a new cloak for himself. The last picture showed him in his brand new cloak while one of his sheep was chewing it from behind and making new holes in it. Informative and funny. I like it.

The Cloud book

An interesting way to tell us about all the types of clouds, very informative, but I prefer to see real pictures of clouds for something like this. Maybe I just like funny books. So this is something I'll borrow again for Sean in the future when he wants to know about clouds, but I won't buy it.

These are not 'C' books, but I thought we should look at a few non-fictional books too. Sean was quite adamant about not reading these at first because they are not 'C' books. LOL. But when I read them, he liked them too.

Minibeasts

Simple clear pictures of small insects : Snail, spider, butterfly, bumblebee, grasshopper, Ant, Ladybird and Damselfly.

Did you know that bumblebees' nest is in the ground? I didn't know. I learned something new too.

Penguins

Lots of pictures of different type of penguins and about how they live. Informative. I'm glad the library carries these books.

Maria Montessori : The Secret of Childhood

This is the book I'm currently reading (not finished yet) but I would like to recommend this to all mothers and teachers. Maria Montessori is inspiring.

There are a few sentences I'd like to quote and remind myself for the future:

' We should remember that a child loves us and wants to obey. A child loves and adult beyond anything else............... It is the child who really loves, who wants to feel an adult near him, and who delights in attracting attention to himself: "Look at me! Stay with me!".................

Adults fail to appreciate this deep love of the child. But we should remember that the little child who loves us now so much will grow up and disappear. Who will then loves us as this child loves us now? Who will call us when he goes to bed, saying affectionately "Stay with me!" instead of bidding us an indifferent "Good Night."'

The book really shows how special childhood is and how much we parents should savor it.

I feel so blessed to have Sean tells me over and over again how much he loves me and kiss and hug me many many times every day. I don't want to think too hard about what he'll be like when he grows up, I just want to savor the moment.

Animal Mechannicals

2009-09-07T04:28:00.000-07:00

Sean is currently crazy about Animal Mechanicals. Unfortunately we've only found 4 episodes of the show.

More Dr. Seuss Videos

2009-09-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen these with Sean yet. I think Sean has seen some of these with Daddy though. But I thought I'll compile them here for easy viewing later on.

Dr. Seuss videos

2009-09-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I found YouTube videos of Dr. Seuss books.
Sean has suddenly become a Dr. Seuss fan and I hope whoever reads this post will like them too.
I'm really grateful to the people who have uploaded these videos. They are a treasure. =D

These are some of the books I've read to Sean. Enjoy!

There are more but they are much longer and come in several parts. I'll post them in another post since you'll probably will not be able to load this up if I put so many links.

The letter B

2009-09-01T03:49:00.000-07:00

These are videos about the letter B and a review of the books we borrow this week.

The Berenstains' B Book
A cute and silly book which started really easy enough for Sean to read on his own. Halfway the words became more challenging though, so I have to read it out to him. He's managed to read up to " Big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon blowing bubbles biking backwards, bump black bug's banana boxes...." He still has difficulty with 'biking' and 'black', but he loves it. It's usually his first choice from this week's library borrowings.

Bear's Adventure
A lovely story about what happened to a teddy bear who was washed out by the wave, floated in the sea, caught in a fishing net, picked up by a seagull, dropped off into the sea again, and then washed off ashore, and finally found by familiar hands.

Busy Beavers
A great poem about what beavers do. I love the illustrations, they are so accurate that when I show Sean a YouTube video about beavers he can immediately associate it with the beavers in the book. In fact, he was wondering why there was no wolf in the YouTube videos.... he he he.. He really thought the book and the video was the same.

Bartholomew and the Bug
A wonderful story about Bartholomew the Grizzly bear and bugs. It's about how Bartholomew help a bug visit the bright lights of the city so that he can party for the only day which he lived. We learn that Daddy-Long-Legs only live one or two days at most.

The video is about bears catching salmon. This is one of my favorite.

Big Bully Hippo
A story about good manners. Hippo was a big bully who finally learn to say 'please', 'thank you' and 'I'm sorry' and became a perfectly polite hippo.

Billy's Beetle
A really cute story about a boy asking others to help him find his beetle, when all along the beetle was on them. The beetle is so small that Sean had a lot of fun looking for the beetle which moves from one character to another in each page.

Bread Bread Bread
Lots of great pictures about what type of bread people from all over the world eat. It's a great reference book. I love it.

The video is about a tour of a famous bakery, to see how breads are made.

Inch by Inch
A little inch worm outsmart birds by inching his way out of danger. A great way to introduce the measurement of inch. I showed Sean the ruler and got him to count. I think I'm going to get him to measure things when he wakes up from his nap.

Not a story about B, but it's lovely story about a small house by the sea and the animals who live in it.

Why another blog?

2009-09-01T03:38:00.000-07:00

I've decided to keep a more organized list of things we read and learn about. I'm trying to follow the lessons from "Letter of the Week" however, I haven't been able to find all the books that are recommended. So we'll make do with whatever we find in our local library.

Since Sean is currently into the letter B, the color Yellow and the number 2. This is where we'll start. We went through the letter A, the color Red and the number 1, but I didn't blog about them in any organized manner. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more disciplined this time round.

I'm not even sure whether we can follow the lessons from Letter of the Week on a weekly basis. This is because from my experience with the letter A, Sean can be rather obsessive about it for a very long time... I can't quite remember how many months it was. Oh well, this is what a blog is all about, isn't it? So that we can record it down and look back at what we've done later on.