full fun day

Once in a while, I had a very productive day which enabled me to create some play things for Jove. Yesterday was one of such days.

We had fun playing the salt dough (1 cup salt, 2 cups flour, water as needed) on the sofa.

Then while Jove took his nap, I managed to make this felt story board. Have been planning to make this since forever, never started till yesterday.

I put this on the bed and let Jove played with it by himself. He was quiet for sometime... I was starting to feel happy that he liked what I've made. When I checked, he was busy stuffing those felt figures down the little space between the wall and the bed. Now some of them still lie down there since it was difficult to shift the bed.

Oh dear...

belajar mengatur waktu

Dengan tambahan satu anak lagi, semakin banyak pekerjaan yang harus dilakukan padahal jumlah jam dalam sehari tetap sama. Aku selalu kewalahan dalam mengatur waktu, menyeimbangkan kewajiban mengurus rumah, bermain dengan anak-anak, hobby, dan aktivitas-aktivitas lain... Fuh!

Bagaimana supaya bisa lebih efektif ya?

early christmas present

So, we had our present and currently still busy adjusting our new life with her.

Here I am in the wee hours of the morning, typing with my left hand while nursing the baby (who sleeps soundly during the day!). More posts when possible. :)

Wish you had a wonderful Christmas...

road to homeschooling

Kami belum benar-benar resmi menyekolahkan Jovan di rumah (maksudnya belum secara resmi mengakuinya pada keluarga dan teman-teman), tapi merasa sepertinya sudah perlu membuat 'tempat' untuk menyimpan catatan perjalanan homeschooling ini. Jadilah blog yang satu ini.

Saat ini kami mungkin menganut sistem unschooling, karena belum membeli/mengikuti kurikulum apa-apa. Kami memilih homeschooling karena ingin memberikan pelajaran dengan kurikulum yang sesuai dengan minat dan bakat Jovan, sesuatu yang tidak didapat di sekolah dengan kurikulumnya yang seragam untuk semua anak.

Secara pribadi, saya suka dengan theory of multiple intelligences dari Howard Gardner. Berdasarkan pengamatan saya, Jovan memiliki kekuatan pada kecerdasan:

- Interpersonal
Jovan dapat berkomunikasi secara efektif dan mudah berempati pada orang lain. Dia juga sensitif terhadap perasaan lawan bicaranya.

- Verbal-Linguistic
Jovan dapat berbicara dan berkomunikasi dengan orang lain jauh sebelum dia belajar berjalan. Jovan mempunyai kemampuan melafalkan kata dengan benar hanya dengan sekali atau dua kali mendengarkan, dan dapat menggunakan imbuhan dengan benar. Dia dapat mengasosiasikan kata-kata dalam bahasa Inggris dan terjemahannya dalam bahasa Indonesia tanpa pengajaran khusus. Sekarang ini Jovan suka main sendiri dengan mobil-mobilan sambil berceloteh ria, ceritanya mobil-mobil dan patung mainan kecil saling berkomuniasi. Jovan juga dapat menghafalkan pantun/puisi singkat dalam bahasa Inggris, Indonesia, dan Mandarin. Setelah menonton Barney: Rhyme Time Rhythm beberapa kali, Jovan sudah hafal:

This is the house that Jack built

This is the malt,
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the rat,
That ate the malt,
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cat,
That chased the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the dog,
That worried the cat,
That chased the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

This is the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog,
That worried the cat,
That chased the rat,
That ate the malt
That lay in the house that Jack built.

- Visual-Spatial
Jovan suka membuat jigsaw puzzle. Menggambar juga salah satu aktivitas favoritnya. Dulu Jovan bisa menghabiskan lebih dari tiga puluh menit untuk corat-coret di magnetic board-nya. Untuk anak umur 18 bulan, Jovan bisa duduk diam selama itu sambil serius mencorat-coret. Dari coretan yang ngga jelas, gambarnya mulai berevolusi menjadi bentuk mobil sederhana (garis lurus horisontal dengan dua lingkaran sebagai roda), dan suatu hari, Jovan bisa menggambar mobil! Setelah itu Jovan mulai bereksperimen menggambar kereta api, orang, rumah, rumput... biasanya setelah mendengarkan cerita atau menonton DVD. Dan baru minggu lalu Jovan mulai menggambar pengalamannya sendiri menaiki gajah dan unta di Taman Safari sepulangnya dia dari sana.


Untuk kecerdasan yang lain seperti Logical-Mathematical, Musical, Intrapersonal, dan Naturalistic, kami masih belum bisa merabanya. Tetapi sepertinya untuk kecerdasan Bodily-Kinesthetic Jovan tidak terlalu kuat karena dia memerlukan waktu yang lebih lama untuk belajar naik sepeda, lompat dengan dua kaki, dan aktivitas fisik lainnya.

Well, we will learn as we journey...

trip to taman safari

Last Sunday, we went to Taman Safari. It has been our dream to bring Jove to see the animals and we were so excited when it finally came true with a blast! :)


Jove seemed to enjoy looking at all the animals and feeding them carrots from the car window. We were quite surprised that this little guy had the courage to feed small skinny carrots to those smelly big mouths! He surprised us more when he was willing to pose with a naughty little baby orangutan called Aming and touched the two-month old baby tiger.

Our trip was disturbed by a heavy downpour. We had to take turn walking from shelter to shelter with one umbrella that we brought. Grandpa, grandma, and Jove managed to have a fun ride in the cable car when the rain turned to drizzle. Then we went to feed the leftover carrots to the hungry elephants (they ate 200kg of grass per day, said the trainer). Jove, with his little hand was brave enough to put the carrots on the trunk.

Jove also managed to ride elephant and camel with his aunts, and a pony by himself, after the rain stopped. We went home tired, but happy and satisfied. Jove slept soundly on our way home.

the missing ears

Lately, Jovan often "lost" his ears.

This morning, when I was doing something I couldn't leave, I noticed Jovan was plucking tissues out of the box. He plucked a sheet, threw it on the floor, plucked another one, threw it on the floor, on and on like that till a heap of tissues (about a quarter of the box) was piled next to his feet. I asked him nicely to stop doing that, and he kept doing what he was doing without even glancing at me. He did not hear my voice even when I have started shouting.

He only stopped when I picked him physically, put him to stand near the wall for time-out while I picked the tissues on the floor. Looking at him standing quietly with innocent face, I couldn't get angry for long...

But yeah, that and other similar incidents have made me scrambling to find out the best (and working) method to discipline him nicely.

So far... no luck yet. Any advice? :)

puzzles

Hubby bought a Lightning McQueen 12-piece jigsaw puzzle for Jove a few months ago. He bought it just because Jove liked the picture so much. One day, Jove tried the puzzle and got hooked. Now he have about 7 puzzles and one puzzle book (with 5 puzzles inside) that he regularly do. Like a hobby!


For the 12-piece puzzles, he does not need any help. But for the 30-piece and 48-piece puzzle, we need to help him sort out the side pieces to be done first. After a few tries, usually he would start to remember the places.


Being a firstborn, Jove always surprise us with his interest. I googled about puzzle and children development afterwards, it turned out that puzzles aid children hand-eye coordination and the development of memory. Jove plays with his puzzles daily and just in three or four days he can usually do his puzzle without any help in the initial sorting. He even can place the middle pieces at their correct places out of his memory. It's really fun to see him do the puzzles. :)