moving on to encyclopedia

We now moving on to expand our knowledge and understand the world around us by adding up our reading collections with new 'picture encyclopedia'. I think this might be a good suggestion for those looking for a encyclopedia for your pre-kinder kids..

I was thinking of having this books for ages but waiting for the right time to introduce this books so it will be beneficial and utilize fully. Browsing through some encyclopedia, I found this one book with lots of picture and only small paragraph to explain each photo. I think this is an excellent book to start with because the short description can be our short guideline to further talk about that picture.

I use this opportunity to discuss and talk about it in English and relate to few simple arabic words that umar has learn from our everyday session after maghrib (if I'm not oncall).

The book just superb as it covers vast range of information e.g. human anatomy, the planets, the nature, machines etc.

One day we went for an outing to an animal park and saw a camel. Umar say "ummi, on its back has food right?". "where's food?nothing on his back la umar.."..umar said"no la ummi, see the 'bonggol' there..camel keep food in there..no need food for long time.."..

"eh mana umar tau ni?" umar-->"isk ummi ni kan dah tgk dalam book besar (encyclopedia)..

at least i feel good knowing that he understood something from our discussion..huhu..alhamdulillah..

p/s: never forget to relate the creations back to the Almighty..let our kids know that the most superior is Allah!;)


pict: umar and thariq berebut to open the next page..hehe

our latest project

Time is very precious to us..it is crucially important for us to find ways to make the most of the time together for bonding, learning purposes and enjoyment.

Our latest project was to encourage creativity and thinking outside the box. I personally feel that i need to nurture thinking skills in my kids. Thinking is the best weapon in life especially when combined with Iman. Thinking also vital to make us close to Allah and be grateful.

I want my kids to walk in this life as a stranger who sees the world with fresh eye, seeing failure as a way to bounce higher, seeing problems as opportunities,solving the problems rather than avoiding them. Problems are our chance to leap beyond our capabilities. All with Allah's blessings.

This time we do it outdoors to allow more rooms to move, no worries for any spill, appreciating fresh air and morning sun. *sun stimulate the 'happy hormones'..;)

lets photos tell the stories: (photo not in sequence)

the final product! Umar did it himself!

the team working together

Umar decorating his masterpiece..

Painting with his own color preference with combination of few colors..

Transforming our old 'spoon case' ..

the things we need, cost less than RM10..

the team members before we started

May try this at your home. If u wish to try this idea, please link us to your entry will ya?!

thanks!*hugs*

Early childhood education: Tauheed part1

Kita sudah familiar dgn ECE (early child hood education).
Satu komponen yg penting dan kita perlu tumpu perhatian adalah menanamkan
ilmu tauhid dlm diri anak-anak. It is also a part of ECE.


Persoalan yg timbul dlm fikiran ramai ibu2 adalah:

1)bila
2) bagaimana

Saya sendiri pernah bertanya soalan yg sama masa mengandung anak
sulung.Lumrah ibu mengandung pasti sudah fikir dan plan utk baby.
Saya seawal 4minggu usia kandungan dah fikir mcm mana environment yg saya nk
utk anak2 membesar.Persekitaran islamic, cemerlang ukhrawi dan
duniawi..then mcm mana nk capai itu semua??Sampaikan 9bulan mengandung
rasa sgt cepat berlalu.Pengalaman mengandung sgt seronok..saya suka stimulate
baby dlm perut;) ckp2dgn baby,bercerita etc.

Bila nk mula pendidikan tauhid??
Saya memang percaya dgn kebolehan bayi sejak dlm kandungan.makin awal
makin bijak dan makin hebat.jadi saya mula sejak dlm landungan.

Waktu optimum adalah 0months-8thn.
Itu period kritikal.malangnye ramai mengabaikan waktu emas ini atas
alasan "ala kecik lg","tak tahu mcm mana nk mula" dan sebahainya.

Waktu ini paling sesuai kerana mereka ada 2 tahap,pertama tahap
menerima sahaja kedua tahap mereka akan bertanya pelbagai
soalan.termasuk soalan pelik2 yg menggambarkan mereka berfikir
sebenarnya.

Tahap pertama mereka akan absorp.beri tahu saje segalanya mereka akan
absorp.Waktu ini penting utk terapkan sayang kepada Allah. Org yg
pertama kita kenal dan sayang dlm hidup memberi impak yg besar dlm
hidup kita.Begitu juga bila anak2 kenal Allah dan sayang Allah dulu
dari yg lain,pasti dia akan lebih patuh dan taat pd Allah.

Pd tahap ini kita perlu terangkan sifat kasih,pengampun,pemurah Allah
dahulu sebelum balasan2 Allah. Kalau kita terangkan yg
menakutkan dulu nanti anak2 takut dan tidak suka..

Contoh cerita dulu,

"hr ni hujan..Allah sayang kita la, betultak?'

"Betul,tp kenapa ummi?"

"Allah turunkan hujan,pokok dpt minum kemudian kita boleh dpt sayur dan buah2
an utk dimakan..subhanallah.."

Pasti anak akan diam sebentar sbb berfikir;)

Berbandibg,
"adik xsolat mesti Allah hukum adik,nanti kene bakar dlm
neraka.."

Pasti anak2 akan takut...

Tahap kedua pula dia akan mula bertanya.
Bila kita dgr, kita akan absorp dan bila kita
fikir,perkara itu akan lebih kekal dan terpahat dlm minda 'long term'
kita.ini juga akan menambah keyakinan anak2 ttg pentingnya mengamalkan
suruhan Allah.

Tips bagaimana betsambung post seterisnya...

mari share tips ibu2 yg membaca ni ..mcm mana anda tanamkan tauhid dlm diri anak2?

Early childhood stimulation

I was browsing and reading on a forum regarding early childhood education and I realized that some mothers view early childhood education as 'teaching' their child early with books etc. Some says that they scared to practice this as it may cause their child to become 'weng' (mental problem).

It is actually more than that. It is not so rigid where we only teach using book, maths cards.
I personally view this as an early childhood 'stimulation'. Stimulation can be done in many ways and it is important besides the loves and care we provide for our kids. Even our daily interaction, touch, and contact with our child since age 0 may be considered as early childhood stimulation.

Even if we use flash cards it does not really mean we 'teach' the baby but actually we stimulate them. For example, a newborn, their vision is very limited. They can not see many things yet and only black and white colours. It is good to stimulate the vision development by showing the flash card on many shapes and characters with black and white colours. The main purpose is to enhance the eye development and not definitely to make the child 'learn' as in the literal meaning.

The more we stimulate our child, the better they develop their senses and indirectly stimulate their brain cells thus improve the neurons connection..

above just my own personal opinion..

their work is play

Hubby and I was talking about umar's toys one day. Then he came out with this story on one of his friends whom decided not to buy any toys for his newborn son until the age of 3 years old and he planned to straight away buy books for him at that stage.

It is up to the parents how they wanna up-bring their children. It is undeniable that parents nowadays aiming high for their child especially with a lot of competitions out there.

mirror is a good 'gadget' to teach kids that they are an individual
and seperated from the image in the mirror;)

This is just my two cents opinion on this issue. Kids learn trough play. Even in Islam, Prophet Muhammad advised that for seven years of their life, parents are to play with their children, for the next seven (until the age 14) to teach them, and from the age of 14-21, to be their friend.They need stimulation through their senses. This process does not definitely needs expensive gadget or toys from the shops but provided that parents has the creativity, anything in the house maybe used to stimulate your child.

example of utilizing home stuff as toys- "matching lids"

Alhamdulillah, we are so lucky to have very good akhawat and friends while we were in Aussie, Umar had a lot of toys as a gifts from aunties and uncles. All the toys has educational values in them and are good qualities stuffs. They were kept in good condition for our future children.

The best thing is unstructured play where creativity plays a role. Anything can just be everything. E.g. a box can be a car, a washing machine etc. this type of play build confidence and form opinions on their own.

Here are some tips we can share on how to choose suitable toys for our kids:

• safety first: no small components for kids below 3 years old or perhaps older, no sharp, not containing toxic stuff (i believe many parents out there are very fluent on his issue)
  
• appropriate for the age and development milestone: may refer to many online information on our child development stage
  
• consider the gender: but never be too rigid e.g. if our son wanna play the cooking set let him be, this may spark his creativity as well
  
• educationa l values: identify the objective or areas the toys are intended to focus on e.g. motor skills, creativity etc. Avoid to buy toys that are lack of educational value and low quality.
  
• many function: build and create kind of toys e.g. lego, play dough, blogs, jigsaw puzzles
• recall our childhood: one need to think like a child to understand child completely
  

enjoy playing with your kids!

prenatal stimulation

The first year of life is a critical time. This is the time when the brain is growing explosively. The brain literally grows by use – and if we use it, we’re going to grow it. And if you don’t use it, especially in the first 12 months, then you literally will lose brain cells – you won’t have as much brain power as you would’ve had.
– Janet Doman

I am really interested in early childhood learning. I am an early reading advocate. The learning process of a child actually starts from age 0. The vital years for kids to learn is before the kinder age, 5 years old. At this time the right brain is dominant and the brain grows rapidly.

I am not saying that after the age of 5 child can not learn but those children who can read and stimulated early before 5 years old has better performance and outcome compared to those start late.

Alhamdulillah Umar finished his first book when he was 2 years plus. He can recognise words from his flash cards earlier. There are lots of kids out there can read at younger age than umar. Anyway I am satisfied at umar's achievement as he is a pioneer in my motherhood journey;)

Since I was pregnant of umar, I have started to read many books on early years education. It is hard to find a single book or method that provide good guideline thus I have tried many ways to stimulate my son with the guide from many books.

For this pregnancy, again I started early. Not so early but since I experience the quickening. I started with the Quran recitation. There are many ways to stimulate the baby prenatally (in the womb). I have not done all but some of them.

Umar putting the earphone on my tummy. They both listening to the juzzu' Ammar from my old PDA. This encourage good bonding between baby and umar too.alhamdulillah;)

To stimulate baby we can stimulate the 5 senses:

touch:
by gently response on the baby movement or rubbing the tummy.

vision:
shine 'spft' lights to the tummy. Some medical people do not advice this as there are possibility to damage the cells. Therefore it is advisable to do it in the late pregnancy i.e. 35 weeks and above. But use light that is not to bright


hearing:
talk to your baby often, tell him story, read to him etc. Baby loves mother's voice. Listen to Quran, better if mother recite the Quran as the voice has the calming effects besides the Quran miracles.

so be creative to stimulate all the senses..

Pregnancy is an excellent experience, enjoy it and enjoy the learning adventures with your baby!