Here we come Yokohama!!

We are ready to go. We just got everything moved out yesterday and it feels so quiet in this house suddenly. the only thing i have is 2  matresses, some dishes and this computer to keep us here till monday when we move to a hotel. 

After the months long preparation, farewell party with friends and in school, alot of explanation I think Yuta understand and acknowledged well of our moving by now. he didnt cry or feeling frustrated anymore when the mover came and take away all our stuff yesterday. but he still asked where is our big car.

We will be moving to Yokohama after all the consideration of facts and matters. It seems like a good place and more foreigner friendly place to live.

Few days to living houston, we have a rally of get to gather playdate, good bye party and luncheon. I think the kids are already worn out with the running around and not eating proper meal. After 3 years here yuta still doesnt eat french fries, eat burger and doesnt drink soda, which is definitely a good thing but is difficult when you go out.

im so looking forward to board on the plane by now. hectic months ahead before we can settle down again.

The Seven Continents

The seven continent!! We have sing the continents song alot and Yuta is getting quite familiar with names of the continent. I made him a place mat with the map earlier and wanted to make this for so long until last week. Instruction to make this from here. I used the remaining foam board i have from making the sandpaper letter. make a few flags with name of continents. I also make extra flag for Japan, Malaysia and Houston. This is also to explain about our up coming moving, to give him an idea that we are moving from 1 place to another destination. He remember name of continent by their colours. With the extra flag he can see, Japan and Malaysia is in Asia, the yellow zone. Later im going to introduce, who (friends and family) is is which continents

Beginnig Sound

The classroom is officially closed. For now most of the work will be done in the kitchen either on the dining table or on the kitchen floor. We are concentrating on working with language for the past month. I see Yuta is resisting on Math so i have stop working on mathematic for a while. We are working on beginning sound and a little bit of CVC words. I pick up books like cat in a hat for him to read. He is happy that he could actually read words from books. Im not an english native speaker and i do not remember i learn english by phonic system, infact i dont even remember how i learned english. i remember we were asked to read and do alot of comprehension. Teachers will get us to read aloud in the classroom. Now that i have to teach my kids english, i have to depend alot on reference book for guideline. After CVC words, what should i go next etc. Living in a basically monolingual country, im worry that he will lost his english once he goes to public school so, determination comes along way. It is also a fun thing for me to "relearn" the language. 

On a side note, i made that set of sandpaper letter. This is one of my earliest montessori homemade. It took me 3 months to complete this. unbelieveable. The sourcing for material is the most time consuming. I tried a few material and dont find it quite suitable and at last i settle for foam board. I dont even sure what i made is correct. I first started making them with instruction from Teaching montessori in the home by Elizabeth G. Hainstock and later when i read Basic montessori learning activities for under five by david.gettman, it says thre is no letter "q" in the sandpaper letter.I should go check in Yuta's classroom of the real thing.

With all the time spent and the cost of material were not as cheap as i though i dont know how justifiable is making montessori material at home but they work well so far and im happy with my accomplishment.



Sweeping

Sweeping object to the designated area. This is the classic montessori practical life activity. Yuta decided he wants to try with the real broom after a few times trying with the toddler size one. He let Ai to have her chance to work with the toddler size broom this time.

montessori method

I immediately wanted to blog about this after i watch this video. It is an awesome video explaning how montessori method is different from conventional school education system. It brought alot of insight for a person who do not know alot about montessori method but would like to practise montessori method with her children. I can see a whole lot of difference and impact montessori method has on yuta after attending montessori school for 2 years. I quickly spotted these differences and improvement just after 3 months he attended the school. From then on i have a very strong urge to read and know more about montessori system. I remember i read from an article saying that parents should practise montessori method at home and not only sending them to montessori school. and so i want to supplement my children with this system eventhough they will be going to the public school later on. A comment in this video made me sad that i can no longer to afford sending my children to a montessori school. Im not saying that conventional school is all bad and kids dont find success in public school but is sad that you have to let go the which best system that worked well for your kids. I did a few search about montessori school in japan but i found only a handful of result and it just shocked me that one of the montessori school is a international school and there will be no way that we can afford the fee. Most of other schools dont use the name montessori but "international" or english school but even that it cost a bomb to us. When financially not allowed i will have to go back to work , and im not sure if i can even supplement them with just 1 hour of home education. I have asked a friend of mine why home schooling is getting so popular in recent years in america and she told me many parents dont agree and dont trust the school system anymore and prefer to educate their child by themselves but again, she said not all family can afford to homeschool due to the costly homeschool material and level of education of the parent(s). Im not crazy about montessori method but im using it as a guideline to help me help my kids learn but i have many friends and people that dont really agree with me. A friend said "you dont have to teach them shape, discrimination of size, colours, they will sure know them later on, so what is the fuss". All in all, i like montessori method and think it works well for me and my children.

Volcano

Thought this is not a successful volcano model. I have limited vinegar in hand. Could have made a more impresive one next time.

In the kitchen

Making onigiri

Roll sushi



cutting with butter knife

Yuta has been wanting to help in the kitchen alot now. He would offer to cut and clean vegetables and wash dishes. I showed him how to make onigiri (japanese rice ball) and basically now he can make them by himself but is not allowed to scoop rice direct from the rice jar. We make makisushi(roll sushi) and he thought that we fun and thats a good way to get him to eat more and have some fun.

I dont remember where i saw post of this activity. Ai likes it so much and she will do it again and again. I first show her how to put each pom pom in the pallet well, she didnt seem interested at all but were shouting ball, ball and tossed those pom pom around. Then gave her a spoon to scoop and she is liking it. I have been doing quite abit with Ai but didnt take any picture of her working because everytime i take picture she will stop working and want to grab and play around with the camera.

July 4th

Hunting for Mr.Frog

Have some marshmallow left from last christmas

This is our 3rd July 4th here. Didnt do much because it was just too hot to go out so we decided to do some American thing. BBQ! WE got our tent set up days before the holiday weekend. Swim in the pool, BBQ, later jump in the tent and found our friend Mr. Frog were in there, star gazing for 5 minutes. I was alittle upset about how Yuta didnt like the idea of start gazing but as usual he ussually will say no to new activities. He were more happy to go around looking for Mr. Frog. and later we did some marshmallow grilling. Yuta actually requested for a bonfire but unfortunately due to the drought the burn ban were in effect so we cant do the bonfire and no fireworks as well.

Baking

Chinese egg tart Japanese bacon and cheese bread (never seen had this in while in Japan though)

Green tea and red bean bun kolache style sausage bun

Recently i have been crazy about baking. Was so addicted to recipes on this food blog. It has alot of nice asian pastry and cooking recipes which calls for only very basic ingredient so i can just make them anytime that i like without any hassle looking for ingredients. This is my first time making bread and pastry. Not that im a big fan of egg tart and bread but just want to try them out and they turned out surprisingly good and got very good welcome by all in the family.

The five bottles of life

Recently a friend posted this picture on fb. I think this is so true. It also reminds me when i was in my early 20's i used to jokingly said to my friends " in teens we would talk about our friends boyfriends, in 20's would talk about who is getting married, in 30's about kids and in mid 30's who is getting divorce, 40's who has gotten sick,50's whos has passed away". It makes me reflect alot of life in these past 3 years where i got the news of 2 friends passed away at early age, friend in coma, friends that husband cheated on them, divorce.
Today is another bad day that i heard of a friend's husband cheating. Cheating dont surprise me anymore, maybe i watched too much Steve wilko show. For some reason i like Steve. Watching the show also make me realise how different american value and asian value. Its always good and bad about both. Im always the explosive type and i know im in no good position to give any advise or comment but seeing friends getting hurt is not easy as well. I was asked will you take and forgive your husband if he cheated on you? I said a big NO, that was when yuta were still a baby, when i had Ai , i thought that over i thought i would say "i will probably" for the kids sake. I dont know what my answer would be if it really happens to me. Of course i pray that days like this wont come. good luck.