New Friends

I feel so blessed that I've made so many wonderful friends out of the blogosphere and recently I've made a new friend whose kids are of the same age as my two kids... and the bonus was she's just a few bus stops away from me *grin*...

Although she doesn't keep a blog (I am guessing, Joan, let me know if you do have one hehehe)...she reads my blog... so I am hearten to have known her... as a SAHM I am in a constant need of adult conversation... truly, facing the kids 24/7 is no easy feat... we need to know that we still have a 'life' (as Joan so aptly put) besides kids...I always thought play dates are more for the mommies than the kids.
Here are Joan's two beautiful kids... :) there's no fear of socializing problems anymore... now that Tim & Little Missy have two more friends to play and 'fight' with...
We were at the playground nearby Joan's place... the kids had a whale of a time... did I tell you that I was crazy enough to bring my rags to wipe up all the rain water on the slide? *smile*... well t'was all for the kids...

Beautifully Sew...

Recently, my dear friend Joyce, requested for some wristlets to be sewn as gifts... and I am enthusiastic about this order as I witnessed how all those pretty fabric being transformed into cutesy little wristlets...
Here was the line up of the fabric and materials that's been prep...
and VOILA!!! All completed and done!!! I have sewn a few more for the shop so if you are keen to purchase any, hop over to my shop for details :)

New Artful Lil' Hands (again!)

A new season of Artful Lil' Hands will commence this week after taking a few months' of hiatus, we are ready to start again...

Once again, we'll run base on themes and we are about to enter into a new fun time with these tiny wonders of the earth... Ants...
Here are some of the elements that I've prep for THE day... am not letting the cat out of the bag here so this is just a teaser of the fun we will be having *wink*
Ant hills I've created from scratch... a bulletin board for the kids to play and learn math... *smile* am seriously very satisfied with this learning aid that I've made... *beaming*

There are still vacancies for Thursday and Saturday's class... so drop me a mail at artfullilhands[at]gmail[dot]com if you are interested to join us. It's designed for kids age 2yrs - 3.5yrs old. More details on FAQ and about the playgroup can be found here Artful Lil' Hands.

Catch of the Day

We were at the Bottle Tree Park today... though it may not be new to a lot of you, it was certainly our first visit to the place and we LOVE it!!! *smile*

True to the heart of learning in a "kampong" environment... I certainly love the "nature" part of the place where the kids were exposed to so many different learning opportunities.

Learned that this Bottle Tree was imported back from Australia and it's cost the owner of the place quite a lot to bring it back... read their story here.
There was a little farm where there were lots of fruit trees, vegetables and even a teeny weeny live farm where hens were laying eggs, goose were honking away and quails were chirping... in a concrete jungle like ours, such exposure to the city kids is absolutely rare...
At the vege & fruit plantation, we saw cucumber, tomatoes, radish, carrots, beetroot, star fruit, pomelo, egg plant, kang kong, cai xin... and soooooooo much more that I can't possibly list them all down... I was bowled by it myself as I've never seen sooooooo many different types of vege & fruits still grown on trees or the ground... all I ever seen of these stuff are already harvested and on sale in the market... *blush* am a "mountain tortise" myself... muahaha

The thing that intrigued the kids most is the experience in long-kang (aka drain) fishing.
We had Caitlin's company today... it's been a while since Tim and Little Missy have an outing with a friend... so they were very excited to have Caitlin with us today... :)
This was our catch of the day... Tim was apparently quite good at fishing... he was the only one who managed to catch a few all by himself... while Little Missy & Caitlin had theirs caught by Kusmi (my helper)... teehehe...
Here's Caitlin with her catch... :)
And here's Little Missy watching over the fishes...

Great place to play and learn... I'll give it 2 thumbs up!!! *wink* This in itself is a day of lesson for us... beauty of homeschooling!~

Simply Homecooked - Shepherd's Pie

Had wanted to make Shepherd's Pie for a while... and found myself some great recipes on this dish... and here's my version of Shepherd's Pie...

You cannot imagine the tentalizing aroma that came out of this dish as it was being baked - it's indescribable!!! *wink*
And I've finally learned how to make fluffy, soft and tasty mashed potatoes (from scratch)... *grin*... this wonderfully delicious Shepherd's Pie is so easy to prepare... I kid you not! *wink*

Here's the what you need and what to do -

Ingredients -

500gms potatoes 

800gms ground beef

1 packet frozen mixed vegetables

3 cloves of garlic (skin removed)

1 large white onion (chopped)

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp all purpose flour

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 cup beef stock

100ml milk (I used full cream UHT milk, you may add fresh milk if you prefer).

Method of preparation -

1) Peel potato skin and then boil potatoes with the 3 cloves of garlic for 20mins (or until potatoes are tender)

2) Add 1tbsp butter with 2tbsp cooking oil in a skillet and fry onions till tender.

3) Stir in beef and brown it; stir in flour once beef is browned.

4) Add frozen mixed vegetables and cook for 1min

5) Add in 2tbsp ketchup & 3/4 cup beef stock, simmer for 5mins

6) Place the cooked meat into a casserole and set it aside.

7) Once potatoes are tender, drain away the water and add in the remaining butter and mash the potatoes & garlic together.

8) Add 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese into the mixture; add the milk a little at a time and continue to mash the potatoes till you reach the consistency that you like (the more milk you add the softer the mash potatoes become).

9) Layer the mashed potatoes on top of the cooked meat in the casserole.

10) Sprinkle the remaining cheddar cheese on top and bake on 200C for 18mins.

I love one pot meals! Bon Appetit!~ *smile*

Homeschool @ Home

I've been feeling under the weather lately and also other personal reasons, I've decided to take a hiatus from the 3-days a week homeschooling at Jenny's place.

So what do we do in our home learning journey then? I've resolved to focus on just the three R's (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic), Tim's afterall still in the nursery level and I really do not want to drive him hard through the academic way. I still prefer the learn through play method. I wish to help my kids learn the natural way (ie. progressively at the child's own pace). As such, I hope my kids will embrace learning and truly enjoy their childhood playing and learning :)

Having said that, I'll still supplement the kids' learning through read-aloud and activities through lapbooks. Lapbook-ing has worked very well for us in Tim's learning thus far so I shall continue with that.

Beyond that we'll enrich our learning experience through field trips and also messy fun art. I guess I just might have all grounds covered for the nursery level.

Hubby and I have discussed at length and have decided that the kids will definitely enter school when they are due for K1 since we are not likely to homeschool them throughout the primary school years.

About our reading journey
Since end last year, I've noticed that Tim has a great love for alphabets... and ever since we started watching the "Leap Frog Letter Factory", his passion in alphabets just escalated. That time I thought he was ready to learn blending of letters and to truly learn how to read (see I was anxious, just another KS parent)... he wasn't quite ready then...so I took a long break in teaching him how to read...

Lately (past few months), we've been using incidental opportunities to teach Tim how to read - we read the road signs, and words at the car park... and he's shown great interest in reading... so I thought this is the right time to start...

I bought myself a reading program that was passionately recommended by Angie. It's the "Reading Made Easy" program. After going through several other reading programs (readers and such) I've decided that this is by far the BEST reading program. It's progressive and best of all the teacher's guide comes with a SCRIPT!!! *LOL* Can't get another program that's better, really!
It's well paced and it takes approximately 10mins to go through each lesson with your child. You need only to run the lesson three times a week. It begins with the short vowel and it definitely doesn't come with a complicated method of teaching phonics. Best of all, there's very minimal prep work to be done.
To supplement the learning experience, I used these rhyming cards to help Tim recognize the short vowel sound of A. These cards are available at my shop.
I've made these cards quite a while ago but kept it in cold storage for I realized Tim wasn't quite ready for this when I presented this to him previously.

But I am hearten that he's able to read all the words of the "AT" family now. So he's reading indeed! :) Slow and steady, that's the way to go! This learning aid is also available in my shop.
To cover the learning of the consonants, we use the program - Explode The Code. I like this series of workbooks very much as it emphasizes the sound of each consonant with different activities. It comes with a teacher's guide all that needs to be prepared is spelt out in there. There is also tracing of the alphabets for the kids to practice writing.
Finally, I used songs to reinforce what we've learned. I find it to be useful for the kids to remember... it's fun and definitely engaging...we sang the "Ram-Sam-Sam" song that's only 32seconds long... *LOL* but we played it over and over for many times and Tim was smiling and giggling away as we sing along...

Will share more about learning math and what other things we do at home later... till then stay tuned! *smile*

The Polliwogs

Was on the lookout for some place to bring the kids to so that I could steal a few moments of sanity... I came across this article from Mums-A-Musing... that got me really intrigued and all geared up to bring the kids for a time to exhaust those boundless energy...teehehe... 

We found ourselves to the Polliwogs at East Coast Park this morning rather easily. It's just a stone's throw away (a couple of minutes walk) from Marine Cove's Mcdonalds. 

The kids didn't know what was in store for them, hence, they kept asking me what it was and where were they going... 
When the door of the place was opened, I could see their eyes brighten up and they were just too excited that they couldn't wait to run into the gym area. What with all the colourful ladders and slides... the inviting ball pits and all... which child could ever resist wanting to enter into this great place of pure fun? *LOL*
In my haste, I remembered to bring socks for the kids but not for myself *duh*... hence I only send my helper in (paying $3 for a pair of socks for her) with the kids... while I sat down to read some parenting magazines...so remember to bring socks for yourself as well as for the kids if you are going to visit this place.
The kids can't have enough of it. They were rather reluctant to leave when it was time to go... so yeah... go check out the place if you are like me - need some time of sanity... *smile*
While we headed towards the underpass, we discovered cotton wool on the ground... and realised that there was a cotton tree at the place. I jumped on this opportunity to "teach" the kids about cotton wool... I love such incidental learning opportunities... 
With hands-on experience at the same time... no better time to learn about nature than to be in it!!! *smile*

Simply Homecooked - Bakes

Amidst all the busy work that awaited me, I squeezed time during the day to bake some yummies that I've been dying to bake for a while...

Here's a Beef Pie, that I've dreamed, thought about, and fantasized about making... finally decided to take some actions and stop all the dreaming, thinking and fantasizing...
It isn't perfect but it sure tasted YUMMY... teehehe... *chest beating*...

Beef Pie
The recipe is so simple you do not have to be a culinary expert to be able to prepare this dish, I'm serious!!! I used the quiche's pastry dough for this dish. As for the filling, it's simply -
400gms ground beef, 1 big white onion chopped, 1 packet of mixed vegetables, 1 tbsp worcester sauce, some ground black pepper. Fry them all up and place it into the baking pan with the dough all lined in the pan and bake for 20mins... voila!!!

Love this one dish meal...so easy and simple to prepare! *smile*

A few weeks ago, while I was at Jenny's place, I ordered 2 pizzas from a nearby pizza cafe and was immediately in love with the mix of toppings... decided to bake them myself... *grin*
And on National Day, we had pizzas for our dinner while we watched the NDP... here's what I've used.

The dough's recipe is from here. However, instead of hand kneading, I dump all the ingredients into the bread maker... (was feeling lazy). The recipe for this pizza dough could make two 12" size thin crust pizzas.

Spinach & Bacon Pizza
You will need a packet of spinach bought from the supermarket. Boil and chop it.
Cut Bacon (I used bacon back, less fats) into large pieces
Mozerella Cheese
1/2 tsp mixed herbs (you may use only rosemary if you like)
Pasta Sauce
- Add pasta sauce on rolled out pizza dough, then add a generous amount of cheese
- Spread the toppings with spinach first followed by bacon and another layer of cheese
- Sprinkle the mixed herbs
- Bake for 20-25mins on 220C

Mushroom & Chicken Ham Pizza
You will need some portabello mushrooms sliced and fried with chopped garlic.
4-5 slices of chicken ham cut into large pieces.
Mozerella Cheese
Pasta Sauce
- Add pasta sauce on rolled out pizza dough, then add a generous amount of cheese
- Spread the toppings with mushrooms first followed by ham and another layer of cheese
- Bake for 20-25mins on 220C

Easy Peasy!!! Try it, it's very simple...and definitely YUMMILICIOUS!!! :)

Been Busy...VERY Busy...

I've been busy... which explains the lack of blog posts about the happenings around us... while the photos continue to accumulate I am finally done with all the orders of my handmade learning aids...
These were the last batch of orders ready to be delivered!!! *phew*... now that the orders of learning aids have slowed down tremendously... I have new sewing orders coming in... this is surely a month of busy lil' handmade things... *wink*

Loads of photos on our homeschooling to be updated... desperately need more time... where can I buy some? Anyone knows?

Little Quiet Book

Mystery unveiled!!! The Fun Little Quiet Book has finally been completed...and it was an immediate hit with the two kids... *smile*

Discovered this Quiet Book idea while googling and net surfing... most of the quiet books I've come across were made of felt/fabric which I thought would take me forever to complete making one... decided... to tweak it a little and made this paper quiet book instead...

The idea of Quiet Book was to provide the kids with something fun to do while the mom or caregivers needed to attend to other matters... some even use such quiet books to occupy the younger ones while the mom/caregiver homeschool the older kids... I thought that was quite a brilliant idea!!!

Since I have been creating learning aids I have already thought of putting all the elements in one bag so that the kids could have all the fun stuff stored within one bag and can pull out anything that they fancy to play with anytime they need to. Now I can put the learning aids into a small little booklet and carry it along with me whenever I need to bring the kids out...ain't that cool?!?
I used very simple activities to put this book together... had wanted to test it with the kids to see if the activities would really keep them interested...
The activities were simple enough even Little Missy could work on them... *wink*

This is a prototype, but I am planning to make more to sell at the shop once there are orders of it coming in :)

Learning Aid

How's my new Days of the Week and Weather chart looking this time? *smile* I've modified it a little from my very first one. It was a special order made for my friend Evelyn.

Yes, I am venturing into working on handmade Learning Aid. I find it pure joy to be making stuff like these...as I've made countless such learning aid for Tim in his journey of home learning... some were Montessori inspired others were made for lapbook-ing. It's nevertheless, able to captivate the kids' attention and certainly make teaching & learning more fun than running through dry text & work books... *wink*

So if you are too busy or simply don't have the inkling in making such stuff and are interested in purchasing, please hop over to my Lilhandmade Shop. I'll be putting up more Learning Aid stuff on sale soon.