February 27, 2008

When your kid is boring

Mom, I'm boring..." and he didn't interesting anymore with all his stuff and toys.
Have you ever heard this from your 3 - 5 years old kid?
Maybe that is the sign for you to take him 'out' for a while.

Have you ever realized that young kids have so much interested in digital camera?
So why don't you ask him to accompany you, maybe just to go to the nearest mall or supermarket and don't forget to lend him your digital camera.
He will be very very happy could 'act' like an adult.

Before 'the visit', discuss with your kid about which of interesting stuff / moment that he like to 'click' with his camera. Maybe the icecream booth, the scenery of people pass by, dog, toys, anything he wants.
Let him explore and imagination.

After that, print all the pictures. Glue to a paper or his journal book and let him describe about it with all his imagination. If your kid is in his learning to read and write stage, it would be interesting for him if he could write down about what happened in that picture.

Remember, don't argue with him about all the alphabeth he wrote.
This is his time... let him feel 'free' and happy.

February 23, 2008

Is it true, EDUCATION for ALL ?

Yesterday, I had two interesting experience, but they're so contrary to each other although both of them is about education in the same city, same country.

The first...

In the morning I went to a prescholl in a remote area in Ngaliyan-Semarang with all of my 50 preschoolers and their parents ( I run a private preschool next to my house). It's one of our program in this month, we called it "berbagi kasih" or "sharing love". The scholl we visited, was really need so much help. Maybe I could describe how its condition. No electricity (it's still in central Java province!), for all the 18 students they only have 5 wood puzzles (15 cm x 15 cm, that's the only one educational toys they have, beside one blackboard, chairs and tables and one teacher that sometimes had salary, sometime not). No books at all...Can you imagine, school without books? On the beginning of the school academic year, the teacher often should to pick the children up for school, because sometimes their mothers affraid they couldn't afford the school fee every month (Rp 20.000/month or about 2 U$). The teacher was so happy when we gave them story books (each of my students collected 2 ), stationaries, magazines, etc. We're all happy because we're friend now, our students know other children that has not have the same opportunity like them and will learn something good from this. I hope we could always get in touch.

The second one....
In the afternoon I attended the gathering and presentation of the new Catholic private school (with national plus curricullum and international standart they said) in Semarang. The venue was in Novotel, a really nice and cozy place to meet. The school itself will be start running on the next academic year, this July. The program of the school, facilities, teachers,etc, as long as the same with the yesterday presentation, of course has the best quality in town. Don't ask me the tuition...I don't feel good to tell you, especially after I went to the first school in the morning. You could guess or imagine by yourself....

Deep inside me, I feel terribly sorry for those 2 experiences I went through.

Is it true, EDUCATION for ALL?

February 22, 2008

Call Fireman Sam !

One day after my husband helped me to lift a kind of heavy stuff, he felt a little bit pain on his back. To relieve the pain, he put analgesic balm to his back skin. I know that he could never hold out the hot flush that kind of balm made to his skin. After a while I started to hear his loud voice, "ugh, ugh, ouw...so hot!".
I didn't realize that my little kid, aged 4, Ian, was playing Lego at the same room with us. Suddenly, he came to me and ask seriously, " Ma, please call Fireman Sam! Hurry...!!papa is burning..". Instanly both of my husband and I burst into laugh.