sahm
Showing posts with label sahm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sahm. Show all posts

The Last Christmas In Cape Town Part 1

To me, Christmas always held a special place in my heart and I would say the same thing every year. These few years have been more special as we are away from home in Singapore. Since we are away from family and friends, which made a big part of the celebration, I tried to put in more effort to bring the meaning closer to the kids. Last year, me and Imm made gingerbread man together. Having a bigger space and more time as a SAHM truly made a huge difference and I am glad I am able to sneak in some precious memories in their growing up years. I am sure parents will always try their best to bring big smiles upon their kids' little faces and sometimes, we do that through grand celebrations or big sparkly presents which I try to avoid. I struggle with wanting to make them happy but in the simplest way possible... thus experiences like making the gingerbread man = bonding time. And this year, it was snow play and reading stories to Ko since Imm was not here yet. We also put up a Christmas tree with simple deco. Ko really enjoyed seeing the beautiful lights and would often ask if she could switch it on during the day.


We read stories together just to bring Jesus a little closer.... and she even sang a birthday song loudly in church during Christmas Day Mass. We gave embarrassing smiles to those who heard but was secretly proud of our little girl with the big voice.


This was a nice book with pop up pictures. I bought it some years back and it was a good accompaniment on every Christmas.


Since it is summer time here, I brought Ko to the the nearby shopping mall where there was a snow event for some fun. She was so scared at first because it was dark and they had some music which she was not familiar with. It surprised me because I brought her last year too and she was fine. I started digging snow first and she followed me after a while. :)



She also tried her hand at the slide! But didn't want to continue after 2 tries. Guess it was pretty fast.


We went there with my helper's kid and they were just dancing! Such innocent joy!


On another day, we went to the pool for some splashing good time. It is the school holidays and I try to occupy her with some outdoor time as her big brother is not around to disturb her, hee...


She didn't really dare to go inside the water actually and would bend forward to fill her bucket. Sometimes I was afraid she would plunge headfirst into the pool.... parents and their worries, oh well.


Anyway, it was indeed great fun spending time together and sharing about Christmas with Ko. This year, I spend more one-to-one time with her, which I never had with Imm around. Thus, it was a little teeny bit more special. Though I also missed Imm, it is also a special pre Christmas bonding time with my little girl....
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Organizing Our Learning!

It had been a pretty busy week for me! I was unpacking our stuff, sorting them, clearing away old stuff and planning our learning journey for the next 3 months. The Shichida way of planning our term calendar every quarterly year has rubbed off on me and I think it will stay for life. It might be tedious right in the beginning but things settled down and move on smoothly for the next 3 months. If you asked me, it is worth the effort. It helped me to get into gear quickly; when I feel lazy, I will refer to my schedule when I cannot think of anything new to do with the kids.

Kiasu mummy syndrome when it comes to teaching the kids? Maybe. But I know deep down I just want to help them enjoy learning as much as possible. I don't want to reach a stage when we feel stressed and have to cramp our learning. So now, I try to cater to their learning needs as much as possible. At least it is within my means now. Another reason is that I will try to abstain from tuition as much as possible as I want them to be independent learners. One way to become such is being able to think critically as well as to read. Reading is one of the most important tools to open our gateway to lifelong learning. How to do it in an interesting way? Well, I am still finding my way around. :) Last of all, I enjoy doing it! For children, life is about play and learn right? So why not schedule it so it will be more fulfiling?

Anyway, here is a general preview of what I do every 3 months:

1) I refer to old lesson plans and see what I did and what I had not done
2) I put those that I had not done last quarter into the new lesson plans so that I will try to do it again. I did not follow some activities due to lack of time or simply because they are not ready/not interested.
3) I looked at the new books I had brought along this time and make sure we read these books every week. This is to make sure every book is accounted for :) I read Oxford Tree Series, Berenstein Bears Series and I just bought some Dr Seuss books from Amazon recently.
4) I will also just repeat some activities for reinforcement as they do not know yet. For example, it is taking me sometime to let Ko learn phonic sounds because she is just not very interested.
5) I made sure I include character and faith learning.
6) The first month schedule will be done more briefly as I intend to research more on what to teach them this "semester" during this first month. I just needed a general plan to kickstart first.

White ones are for Ko while Blue ones are for Imm so that it is easy for me to differentiate.:) I do this so that I can personalise their learning as I know what they like to do or not so good at. I know some kids already know their phonic sounds and letters by 2 years old but I will just keep trying other activities with Ko for her to pick it up at her pace. Learning A and B has been in her learning schedule since 1 year old.. sometimes I try not to compare as I know Imm already knows his alphabets and numbers at 2 years old. Trying :)



I then packed the books and activities into these 4 boxes. Every start of the month, I would remove and add in the new books.


Then I also packed my cupboard and made sure that every activity has a "home" so that it saves me time rummaging in the cupboard. I don't want to 海底捞针.


That is my summary for this week. :)
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SAHM - a wise choice?

I have often struggled with feelings about being  a stay-at-home mum. No, I didn't feel elated when told that I don't have to work and instead "just" follow my husband to another country and "just" look after the kids. Instead, there was a dull feeling in my heart in the beginning and I wondered over the uncertainty of how I would fit into the labour market in a few years' time (or many years' time).

Yet, I tried to make the best out of circumstances (like how we should always do in life). Which is the reason why being a stay-at-home mum can be even more exhausting than working at a full time job. My husband was posted to London when Immanuel was 18 months and I also see it as a crucial moment to spend as much time with him and also to teach him well. Be it in faith, manners, academic etc. I remembered that when I was working, I have only 1-2 hours a day to spend with him. I also could't prepare any materials to teach him as I was too tired. During weekends, we would go to friends' places for gatherings or go out for meals. Or else, I would have sent him for enrichment classes, which was what most of my friends do since they have no time to teach. Outsourcing is also a good choice as teaching can be a chore especially when the child can "run" away from the mum at home. Yet, I feel purposeful thinking of what I can do for Immanuel and Reiko. Most of all, it is my presence. It is not about the academic knowledge but the little things like manners, faith, love that needs to be practised, emphasized and felt.

I am the type who struggles to be efficient, you might think that a stay at home mum has all the time in the world but I beg to differ. Even with a helper now in Cape Town, I struggle to do the best I can with the little time I have. I do count myself blessed to have a considerable amount of time to myself while the kids are at school but I tell myself to use this time efficiently for their sake, be it in learning, having fun, or meals (as research do take a lot of time!)

And I so want to be there for my children, laughing and enjoying their presence. It is all so worth it and I am enjoying every minute of it. Looking at it through a practical viewpoint,  I know before that it is a good and wise choice to stay home (for exposure and finances) and now I am feeling it in my heart too. :)

This is Immanuel now... making his own 48 piece puzzle.. I am a simply hands on teaching mum cos of my Shichida background. Knowing what other kids can do at this age makes me set expectations for myself to teach my children as well.

This was him at 18 months when we were in London. I often engage him in practical and finger training activities. This is one area which I love to focused on.
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