My mentioned shopping loot has arrived. Compliments from the kids' Daddy. Yes, they're books! After some general research on how to introduce reading, I've decided to embark on the ladybird, "Peter and Jane" series for Jazz. If you were near my era, you would find them familiar. I was once on them too!
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Books for reading pleasure |
We started "Peter and Jane", book 1a on Saturday, read it over 3 times and now, Jazz can read almost 80% of the words. The uniqueness of Peter and Jane keywords series is the number of times a word is being repeated as you go along. This makes learning easy and boosts confident reading. Let me know if you're keen in the series, I got them at $3.50 each, in bulk of 12. Retail is at about $4.80. Excluding postage.
I believe if a child is ready to read, it's the appropriate age. There are endless stuff to read, no worries about starting early. What harm can this cause? I would be happy if reading is their hobby. On our 3 letter words project, we're at "ap" "at" "ad" "as" "an" and "am." We've been doing this almost every night and Jazz is at 90% to master them. On Chinese, I'm also introducing new words to her every other nights, here are some words she has recognised:
Reading project is going on smoothly for me. I'm working really diligent on these because I don't send them to any enrichment classes. DIY = cost savings. Parents are the best teachers.When there are no lazy parents, there are no lazy kids, somewhat true for me now. I'm a full time working mum! I see my efforts paying off when she's able to read short sentences for me, both in English and Chinese. I'm probably more advance than her lessons in school because they only begin reading next year. Starting Maths soon!
Home lessons like these make our weekday evenings more meaningful, I'm bonding more with the kids than the usual laze around to play, while I do my personal stuffs. Jare gets his fair share of lessons too. More of motor skills. Educational toys are my best lesson objects with him.
Call me KS if you think so, I'm a true blue Singaporean anyway. Our local education system is somehow stressful when one enters Primary school. Questions asked and tested these days aren't as simple as my education days. Unless you have the power to change the system, if not, join them. I'm proud of local kids anyway, they impress and outsmart me anytime. Starting early gives them a good foundation and adapt better to primary schools. It's discouraging for a child to be always catching up in school. Likewise, they can still enjoy childhood and at the same time do well in our education system. If you've been following, you would know we work hard and we play hard. Parents have great roles to play in helping to balance that little mind of theirs.
Not kidding you, below some P1 question my colleague and friend showed me:
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From Mummy J |
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And I thought P1 was all about simple addition and subtraction |
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English spelling list
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This feels scary, but fret not, a step at a time. If they can, they can. If they can't, go slow and try again. I can't emphasize enough on how important it is to help your kids balance that mental state. Remember, Work hard, play hard!