How We Taught Albert to Read

Now, Albert can read more than a hundreds words
Click here At 60 months (5yo) old

The stages:
click here At 46 months (3yo & 8mons) old

click here At 46 months (3yo & 8mons) old

click here At 47 months (3yo &10mons) old

click here At 47 months (3yo & 10mons) old

click At 48 months (4yo)

Here are some of the tips that I got from the book (How to Teach your Baby to Read by Glenn Doman) which I think are quite effective based on my experience:

1) Show your child the words in lower case letters except first letter of a proper name and in large font.
2) 5-minute sessions several times a day in order not to tire out your child (Vocabulary of the family environment; Vocabulary to build sentences structure; Phrases)
3) Follow text with your finger as you read
4) Teach according to your child’s mood. Do not force!
5) Build up the confidence of your child, appreciate his accomplishments
6) Don’t start a session when one of you is tired, hungry or bored.
7) Have fun together; take this as your bonding time with your child.
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Bali Indonesia trip in May 2010










Seven months before our trip, I purchased our discounted tickets from Airasia.com. It was the 0 fare promo and I only paid S$84 which was the taxes for the three of us. Our accommodation was complimentary from Marriot which we haven’t claimed for almost two years already.

Our plane was delayed for about 30 minutes. We arrived in Bali at around 8pm and took a cab to Ayana Resort (formerly Ritz Carlton), Jimbaran and paid 90,000 rupiahs for one-way. Upon arrival, we were greeted by the friendly staff of the resort and they also adorned us with garlands and offered us fresh fruit drinks. We got in our room around 9pm. Then we hurried to the restaurant for our late dinner because we are really hungry. We had a sumptuous dinner, Alvin ordered Jimbarayan dinner while I ordered Tom Yum soup rice and Albert took a kiddie burger.

Then next day, I woke up around 630am and it was raining hard. I called up our day tour driver, Mr. Putu, and told him that we might cancel our trip if the rain would never stop by 10am. We had our breakfast at the hotel restaurant and before we finished our breakfast, the rain finally stopped. Our transport arrived around 1030am. We headed to Ubod to eat our lunch. We went to an eatery that sold Balinese sucking pig (Lechon in Philippines and Guling Babi in Bali). The package meal is suckling pig, veggies and rice. When you order, they serve the food to your plate using bare hands without serving spoons or gloves. Interesting, isn’t it? I was expecting stomach problem after eating but luckily it didn’t happen. On the table, there were mangosteen and when you pay they would ask you if you’ve eaten any of the mangosteen in your table. I thought I was complimentary and I ate four of it. We paid 80,000 for 2 plates of rice, 2 coke drinks and the mangosteen.

After our lunch we had some photos in the temple in front of the Babi Guling and went to the nearby the tourist market. There were a lot of handicrafts, bags, beach clothing and I bought some t-shirt souvenirs.






Then after that we headed to Tegalalang to see the rice terraces. On the way, we stopped at two two painting shops. We bought one abstract painting in the second shop.
Rice terraces


After seeing the rice terraces we went to Seribatu village for coffee tasting. I didn’t try their coffee I tried cocoa instead. We dint bought coffee or any spices we bought fruits instead.

It was already 4pm and according to Mr. Putu, it was raining hard in the Kintamani area so we couldn’t have a glimpse of the volcano and lake Batur.

On the way to our hotel, we asked Mr. Putu to drop by the nearest Mc Donald to our hotel. We bought chicken with rice for our dinner. We reached hotel around 7pm and quickly took our dinner. The taste of the fried chicken that we got from Mcdonald was like Mcchicken in the Philippines.

After our dinner, we had a short walk to find some stars but sad to say, there were no stars because it was quite cloudy.

The next day, the sun was UP! So I was so happy. I woke up the boys around 7am and the breakfast was delivered to our room by 730am. The hotel was on the cliff so to reach the beach we still needed to take the shuttle for around 5 minutes. At the drop-off point, needed to go down by stairs by around 150 steps. From the steps you could see the magnificent view of the Kubo beach. The waves were really strong…it was worse than our Phuket trip two years ago. Maybe we’re not that lucky when it comes to beach vacations. However even if the red flag was up (meaning that no swimming was allowed), they still allowed us to have fun in the beach. The waves just kept on getting bigger. After a while, we decided to go back to the hotel and just swim the pool. We had pizza and pasta for lunch. After that we played billiards before using the swimming pool. We had a great time at the pool and didn’t realize it was almost sunset.









On our last day, we woke up early and were still lucky enough to have a sunny day. We didn’t go back to Kuta beach because we only had time until lunch because we needed to check-out by 2pm. At the airport, our return flight was delayed (again) for almost an hour.

End of almost free vacation.



Our day tour was not that successful because of the weather. A month before, I arranged a Kintamani day tour from a driver who has a blog.
1. Cultural performance (Barong dance at Batubulan Village)
2. Lod Tunduh Village (painting center)
3. Ubud
4. Tegalalang (rice teraces)
5. Kintamani (volcano and lake Batur)
6. Holy Spring Temple at Tampaksiring
7. Any places on the way you are interested in for example: coffee
tasting at Seribatu village (if there is enough time)
The cost is only Rp 400,000 per full day.
And tour cost will include:
- driver/tour guide
- airconditioned car
- petrol
- parking fee
- flexible time
For more details about Mr. Putu visit his website http://www.probaliguide.com

Hotel:
AYANA Resort and Spa
Jl. Karang Mas Sejahtera
Jimbaran, Bali 80364, Indonesia
Phone: +62-361-702222
Fax: +62-361-701555
Website: www.ayanaresort.com

Airline: www.airasia.com
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2010 School holidays activity: Sentosa Luge








Alvin took a leave and we went to Sentosa. We had a lunch picnic at Siloso Beach and after that Albert enjoyed the beach for an hour. He was mostly excited on our main activity which was the Sentosa Luge and Skyride. We took a Family four ride so we can enjoy twice. Albert rode with Alvin in the luge. During the first luge ride, Albert kept on asking that why I was too slow. It was my first luge experience so i was not that very adventurous. I enjoyed the second ride as i was more relaxed with it.
















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2010 School holidays activity: Concert @ Esplanade





Albert likes music so I included a few music related activities during this school holidays. Last week we watched a free piano concert at the park in Botanical Gardens. Then today, we watched a free Philharmonic concert at the Esplanade concert hall. The program ran for 60 minutes and Albert really enjoyed the show, amazed at the sound of the various wind instruments.
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