Activity Books Completed in July 2013

This is such a productive month, that we have managed to complete a number of books for both of them.

Let's begin with Ian...


BrainQuest Workbook for Pre-K - We started on this book a little late for Ian - I believe he is able to do most of the exercises by the time we started on it.  Hence, I skipped most of the exercises and jumped straight to the last part of the book on Science.  Just a little exposure to topics like natural habitats.

Kumon: My Book of Easy Telling Time - We have started on this book for such a long time, but due to commitments in the homework from enrichment classes, we have not been working on this diligently enough.  This month, we sped up on the exercises in this book and finally completed it.

Kumon: My Book of Rhyming Words - Ian breezed through this book, as it is pretty much just tracing out or copying the words.  

Chinese Sticker Book - I spotted this book by chance while surfing for activity books for Ian.  It turns out to be quite interesting (maybe anything with stickers are interesting to children)!  At least when we were doing this book, Ian did not resist it and it helped to reinforce his memory of a few simple chinese words.

Usborne First Sticker Book - Holiday- Jointly completed by Ian and Isabelle.  I purchased this book for Isabelle, but Ian seemed to be more interested in this than the books that were meant for him.  Isabelle was not interested at first, but after watching Ian enjoying himself with the book, it spurred her interest and Ian guided her on pasting the stickers correctly.

Usborne First Sticker Book - Farm- Another book that was bought with Isabelle in mind, but it attracted Ian a lot such that he was a little unhappy when Isabelle completed the book when he was away in the childcare.  Nevertheless, Ian had completed quite a number of pages as well.

Chinese Sticker Books - Wo Lai Tie (Ages 1-3 Years) - Isabelle enjoyed pasting the stickers in this book. We had not done much brain-training exercises with her in comparison to Ian, and surprisingly, she was able to match the shapes of the stickers to the correct spots in the book.  However, she was not interested in the exercises at the bottom of each page, which I thought might be a little too advanced for her.  I *think* there are 6 books in this series, but unfortunately, the last 2 books have been misplaced by Isabelle.

Enrichment Classes - Roundup for July 2013

Another update on the enrichment classes my 2 little ones are attending...

For Ian, there are some changes!  He agreed to drop the English Speech & Drama class that is conducted in his childcare centre.  This is after I asked him to choose between this or the Robotics class.  He has also completed the Advanced Phonics class at the beginning of June. So he is left with the following classes:

1. Piano Advanced Group - Staring to see a little improvement recently, as he starts to read the music score and plays on his own.
2. Abacus - Still quite a chore to make him do his homework, but seeing a little improvement as he can now do the simple addition and subtraction questions mentally, and also do the audio questions much faster than before.  However, his mathematical concept is still quite weak.
3. English Pre-Creative Writing - Nothing much at the moment, just learning nouns and adjectives.  And, also some exercises to spur their creative juices.
4. Right-Brain Training - One of the classes that he simply refuses to give up at the moment.  The teacher says that he is slowly improving and is starting to get some of the numbers in the memory exercises correct.  But he manages to get most or all of the picture memory cards correct most of the time.  
5. Lego Robotics - One of the other classes that he refuses to drop.  He enjoys the class tremendously and I think he loves getting a certificate at the end of each project!

Isabelle has started to attend classes at the same right-brain training centre as Ian.  She is so much better now, after being exposed to the childcare centre.  For the last 3 lessons, she has not created much problem in the class.  

Let's Go To The Zoo

Hubby managed to get a complimentary zoo pass again, hence, the kids got to enjoy some time with animals.

Little Belle loved her hat and bag that she refused to go without these 2 items!

Ian's favourite animals - penguins!

At the newly opened Frozen Tundra.  These 2 simply refused to leave the igloo!

Highlight of the day - Feeding the goats.  Too bad Isabelle had fallen asleep after another episode of crankiness, so Ian was the only person who enjoyed the feeding.  We wasted some time waiting for the scheduled feeding, not knowing that we could actually pick some leaves from the side to feed the goats.  Ian agreed to leave only after picking almost all the leaves from the branches.

Little boy was so excited at finding a heart-shaped leave, that he refused to feed it to the goats and wanted to bring it home as a souvenir.

As usual, we left the zoo at around the mid-afternoon, as it was getting tiring after a day with the 2 little imps.