Ever since I was waiting for my labour and confinement to end, I've stopped teaching new words to Reagan. However he has shown signs of recognising and reading new words that I've yet to taught him. Daddy explained that Reagan picked them up from his old and new storybooks that he has been reading to him every night. My mom and I tested Reagan and realised his daddy was right!
All along we've been reading to our boy for the "sake" of reading because he forced us to , otherwise he'll kick up a fuss. We didn't realise he actually remember and learn the words each time we read them to him.
Probably from his experience of words-reading, he has also began to use phonics to help him to break up words that he don't recognised. For eg. If we ask him to read a word that dont make sense such as "Bershalaka", He will try to pronounce it as "Ber ber..sss sss...ke ke". He may say or pronounce the word wrongly but we know he is trying to break up the words using phonics technique, which was a pleasant surprise for us.
Stamford Little Genius (1 x week, 2 hours)
So to further improve on his phonics-reading, I called up Math and Language Phonics class at Stamford school for them to assess him as well to know more about the programme. From what the school explained, their two years old parents-accompanied class are focusing on alphabets (upper and lower case) and the phonics sound of each letter, whereas usually by four years old they use phonics to break up the words for reading. I was told that Reagan has jumped step according to their Phonics learning structure. The consultant managed to guess that I must have been using the flashcard method after he was aware that Reagan can read words at his age. He advised Reagan to be placed in the "Independent class" instead.
However I felt that even though Reagan has mastered all the alphabets and their initial phonics sounds ,at times he still lack that 100% confidence . There are also still some phonics sounds that he has yet to pronounce properly ,such as sound of "L' and "W" and "X". He can easily point to the right letter when we made the phonics sound for him, but he still has difficulty pronouncing them accurately by himself,
In the end, I made the decision to attend the parents-accompanied class to learn with him first, as well as build up his confidence before I proceed him to the next class. I told the school my concerns and arranged with them to only put him into the "Independent Class" probably after a couple of months of attending the "Parents-accompanied class" with him.
The class that I signed him up also consists 1 hour of Math, but daddy attended him during the first day of class while I stayed outside for the programme briefing. Probably next week I'll have a better understand of what they did in Math class.. So far I haven't been focusing much on Math for Reagan, only the usual counting up and down and some flashcards topics on quantity . I like to start on some simple addition and subtraction with him soon.
Reagan's first day at Stamford Little Genius
Heguru (1 x week, 1 hour)
Reagan used to attend Heguru and now he is ready to continue class as I've decided to focus more on his right-braining learning before he turned 3. The 2 years old class is almost similar to the 12 months old class that he used to attend, except for the activities which are much more challenging of course. Reagan got me excited when I realised he understood how to play the Photographic Memory and even the Linking Memory game and able to do them by himself. He is also able to get the right answers for our telepathy game, which shows that we must have very strong bonds and telepathic connection with each other haha. As for the Irorita and Tangram puzzle, he can also complete them without my help, although most of the time he is not fast enough to finish up before the teacher collects back . As usual, he is still in love with the alphabets and phonics, flashcards and songs segment in class.
Reagan is still not able to do the Mandala by himself, and would pick the colours he like instead of following the picture shown on the screen. He is also confused by the Peg memory and Image-training and tends to give a very serious-looking expression haha. For 2 years old class, Flash memory is added inside and even though Reagan knew the answers, he will whisper very softly to me instead of reciting it out loud with the other kids in class. Overall he enjoys his class and would even calls out his teacher's name at home!
Happy Train (1 x week, 1 hour)
HappyTrain is also another right-brain enrichment school which Reagan used to attend. I've decided to put him back into the programme again from this month onwards. As usual he loves the cute props that were used to teach the learning concepts, the hands-on activities in class and of course the vibrant and excited teachers showering him with all the attention.
Reagan shows effort in completing every activity in class and at times he would turn around and smile at me or let me know the game or props that got him excited. Both of us enjoy attending the weekly lesson together very much.
Although we've pulled Reagan out from Lorna Whiston Preschool, we've nothing but positive comments about the school. The teachers are awesome, devoted and caring, the environment is conducive and spacious and the curriculum is well-structured and interesting. However, due to his weak immune symptom, putting him in a 5 days weekly preschool gets him sick too frequently. Furthermore, I weigh his enrichment classes more than his preschool, therefore I feel a school that offers flexi-days programme is more suitable for him now.
At WeeCare preschool, he attends 2 mornings, 3 hours each session without parents accompany. At least I get a break from him during two of my busy mornings phew! I also like that there is a huge indoor playground right below their school and the kids get to play there for free!
The first day of school was great. After class, his teacher feedbacked to us how well-behaved Reagan was. He listened and followed instructions well, and played nicely with his classmates. She also mentioned that she noticed Reagan recognises all the colours and can read out the alphabets that day. Great job darling, mummy is so proud of you!
Reagan @ WeeCare School
To sum it up, Reagan is attending 3 enrichment classes and 2 mornings of unaccompanied preschool sessions. I know he is enjoying all of them because most of the time at home, he would put on his shoes, points to the door and tells me he wants to go for lesson now haha! This also shows that previously he was really too bored at home when he was not attending any classes during my confinement month.
Darling Reagan, you're doing so well! Mummy is glad to see you having so much fun everyday! Continue to surprise us with things we never knew you could do or understood. Rain you with more hugs and kisses!
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