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Homeschooling resources: DIY pocket charts



I decided to be thrify and made my own pocket chart. The total cost? Less than $5 in all, and it takes less than half an hour.

How to do it?

First, get a thick colored cardboard.

Then, determine the size of the pockets (depending on what you want to slot in) and cut some firm plastic sheets accordingly.

Finally, stick the plastic sheets on the board and secure them. There you go, all done in 3 simple steps.

Hawaiian salmon

It's not easy to find a common dish at home which everyone will like. This is especially so when both KH and K are fussy eaters.

This is one of the rare recipes that worked for us.



1. First, marinate the salmon with black pepper and some salt to taste.
2. Fan fry the salmon with butter.
3. When it's about half cooked, transfer it to a baking dish. Then add cheese and pre-bacon crisps on top.
4. Bake it for about 5 - 10 minutes. And there you go :)

The antique duck

More than two decades again, Dad bought this toy for me when he visited Japan Disneyland. I loved playing with it when I was young and I have kept this with me all these years.

Recently, K caught sight of it and requested to play with it. And so, here comes Donald Ducks again!

Linking up with

Alphabet C

After attending Jann's class, I was excited to get something going with K. Upon much consideration, I decided to do the following activity with him.

Why did I start with alphabet C? Because I can find more objects at home beginning with alphabet C. Haha.

Here's what we did:

I prepared the box as follows:


I held the box and sang to the tune of the magic box (which is what we do at JG), then I got K to tap the box.

I showed K the flashcard and read it to him. Then, I pronouned the phonetic sound for him. (I started with lowercase as that is more frequently seen in books etc)

After that, he took the objects out of the box one by one as I identified them respectively. As his mood was pretty good that night, I extended the activity a little by writing down the words as well. Then, we traced the alphabet using his Montessori sandpaper letters.

To end off, I gave him a candy from the box.

I repeated the same activity the following night and replaced some objects. K was elated when he saw cheese.

The whole activity didn't take us longer than 15 minutes. Depending on the age/ attention span of your child, you may consider adjusting the number of objects accordingly.

Needless to say, one of our bedtime reads those nights included one of his favourite book -  "The hungry caterpilar". Will be sharing more on reading tips shortly, stay tuned!

Playground at IMM

Recently, I brought K to the playground at IMM. It is divided into 2 main areas - wet and dry. K attacked the wet area first. He had a great time running around the place, while I had a great time watching him from the side. Haha, no way was I going to get myself wet!





One of the down side is there wasn't a changing room nearby. I was hesitant to bring the wet boy into the shopping mall lest he catch a cold. So I wrapped a towel around him while changing him to protect his modesty. And the play at the wet area is pretty limited too.

Overall, the playground is more suitable for older kids. Especially the dry area. It has a small rock wall which K tried to conquer. At the end of the trip, K was so tired that he fell asleep in the car without much coaxing and that continued  till he reached home. That makes me a happy mama too. Haha :)



Long beans with minced pork

K is a fussy eater. We have been trying to feed him porridge since he turned 6 months, but we were never successful. Our only consolation is he loves soup. We pushed our luck by adding some grains into his soup, but there seems to be a filter somewhere. He will spit them out, even if it's just one grain.

Recently, I tried feeding him long beans. To my delight, he accepted it! He even asked for more. Here's the recipe to share. I have vivid memories of this dish, as my belated grandma used to cook this for me and my aunt.



Ingredients:
garlic
dried shrimps (to soak in hot water before use)
sliced chilli
long beans, to be cut into sections
minced pork

Steps:
1. Heat up some olive oil.
2. Add the garlic and fry till fragant. Then add the dried shrimps and chilli. Continue to stir fry.
3. Then, add the pork.
4. When the pork is almost cooked, add the long beans.
5. Add some water and seasoning (soy sauce, pepper, oyster sauce). Cook till the beans are soft then serve. Enjoy!

Letter to K @ 16 mo

Hi son,

You turned 16 months today. It sounds cliche, but I cant believe that it has been such a long time. Now when i look at your old photos, I realised how much you have grown.

Ever since you started walking at 11 months, you have been moving all over the place and it has progressed to running and climbing all over the chairs and tables. Your itchy hands are all over the switches and cables as well. That has earned you some spanking from Daddy.

You blabber non-stop now and I can't really make out what you are saying. Sometimes, the girls next door are able to 'translate' your baby language for me. Haha. Your vocabulary is still pretty limited to the following words: no, more, bye, there, papa, mama, yi yi, knife, open, ball, bounce, tap, jump, bear, ye ye, moo ,mum. Daddy said that your progress seems a little slow, but I think it's okie since you can understand our instructions perfectly fine and you are able to recognise the objects and point them out to us when prompted. Don't worry, take your time dear :)

Each night when I return work home from a tired day at work, there's nothing more I wish to see than your smiles and a big cuddle from you. You will run to the door excitedly and hold my hand. Then, we will take a stroll. Sometimes when we bring the ball downstairs, you will be grinning all the way from the lift to the playground. Your laughter is simply infectious and I am thankful that you are a cheerful (and did not inherit any of Daddy's grumpy genes). I  am amused how you can wave and smile to the strangers you see and thankfully, people have stopped asking me whether you are a boy or a girl.

You're the little house keeeper at home. Whenever I spill a drop your cereal, I can't turn a blind eye to it. You will keep pointing to it till I clean it up and only then, will you resume eating. You do this when you are outside too. In school when you see food on the floor after meal time, you will point out to the teacher. There was once in the car when you saw a lorry driver littered on the road, you pointed your finger at him up and down, and said 'Hor Hor'. We all had a good laugh.

You have brought so much joy and laughter into our lives. And you have definitely made the house more lively. Not just ours, but the grandparents and great-grandparents as well. We love you lots. Happy 16 months old!