Playground

Sasha loves fountain and he was very happy that we took him to a playground that has a lot of fountains in it.

Rodin Flash Card

We were done with flash cards when Sasha suddenly asked for Rodin flash card. So I asked him which one of the sculpture flash cards that he wanted. He immediately tried to imitate the sculpture (Sasha is a very expressive boy and likes to imitate anything). After looking at him I gave him the Thinker flash card and he said: "no mama I want the Kiss." I was very surprised that he knew the name of the sculpture. Even though, I know as a Shichida kid he possesses a lot of information, I was still very surprised. He even further said that when we go to Japan again he wants to go to the museum that has Rodin sculptures.

Student of the week

Week of October 15, 2010

October

I am finally healthy and well. I have to admit, Sasha's Shichida lesson is effected heavily by my sickness. I had to temporarily stop Sasha's home lesson and could not accompany Sasha to Shichida school. These past month was the first time that Sasha did not have his daily flash cards routine as well as other right brain exercises. However, I am more determined than ever to go back to Sasha's normal routine.

Top 20 Food List

Food that Sasha loves to eat and can finish in a second:
1. Noodle
2. Rice
3. Tomatoes
4. Spinach
5. Chicken
6. Any kind of Soup
7. Seaweed (nori)
8. French fries
9. Rice porridge
10.Strawberries
11.Melon
12.Meat sauce spaghetti
13.Cereals
14.Osembe
15.Japanese strawberry short cake
16.Pudding
17.Banana
18.Japanese Hamburger set
19.Bread with nutella
20.Corn pretzel

Pride and Joy

I consider myself lucky that Sasha has grown to be a pretty easy child. He likes to eat his food even though he has a thing about onion (he refuses to eat it and can distinguish onion as one of the ingredients), he likes to go to school, loves to study and has a good manner. I truly believe that I owe all of this to the Shichida method teaching. The combination of Shichida method training and attending a good school play a significant part in shaping Sasha's life.

Necktie

Here is Sasha's latest artwork from Shichida's class.

And here is Sasha wearing a borrowed tie from his dad.

Masterpiece Painting

Yesterday, Sasha showed a remarkable knowledge of masterpiece paintings. I have been flashing the masterpiece paintings to Sasha for quite a while. I know Sasha knows a lot of paintings and the names of the artists. Yesterday I was opening a new set of masterpiece painting flash card I bought in Japan, and to my surprise, Sasha was able to name the artists just by looking at the paintings. And I mean, He was able to name many artists like Degas, Leonardo da Vinci, Redon, and Renoir.

Dots

It is already August and Sasha is almost done with his dots program again. Sasha has been following the two-months long dots program for a while. He actually had finished the dots program a couple of times already. According to Shichida Method education, a child needs to have a break in between dots program repetitions.

Big Bicycle

Not too long ago Sasha mastered the tricycle. However, to everybody's surprise, last week at his cousin's house Sasha tried on his cousin's big bicycle, the one that has two smaller tires on the sides, and was able to ride it as if he had been riding the bicycle forever. The bicycle itself was bigger than Sasha so it was kind of funny to see him on it. What most impressive was Sasha's lower body strength to push the pedals to move the bicycle. His coordination was so good that he rode the bicycle without bumping left or right.

Nursery

Sasha has just started his nursery year. He is definitely more mature than previous year and first day went by without a cry. He, in fact, seems glad that he is back in school after a long summer break.

Dancing Fountain

We came across a dancing fountain while at Sunshine City in Ikebukuro...and that has been Sasha's only destination these days. We have been taking Sasha to go see the dancing fountain everyday and spending a couple hours just looking at the fountain. While at it, Sasha likes to dance along, mostly jumping and swinging from side to side. The fountain itself is pretty amazing, at one point while it dances to the music, the water rises up to about 8 meters high.

Train

Sasha is in love with the rail transportation in Tokyo. Everyday he asks me whether we are going to ride the train. Whenever we are walking toward the train station Sasha would get excited. He even has mastered the art of sleeping in the train.

Multiple Languages

Sasha has shown a remarkable progress in his multiple language acquisition. He is now able to speak English, Indonesian and Japanese fluently. Sasha can switch languages easily, depends on who he is talking to. Sasha can talk in English to me and then immediately switch to Japanese to talk to my husband. Being in Japan has helped his listening skill as well. Sasha learned new words by listening to his surroundings. My husband often told me how he was amazed at Sasha's newly acquired vocabularies.

Shinjuku

We had been to Shinjuku couple of times when we were here in Tokyo a few months ago back in March. At the time, we often passed a restaurant where there was a giant crab model hanging on top of a restaurant in Shinjuku area. Yesterday were our third day here in Tokyo and we decided to go to Shinjuku. Right after we stepped out of the Shinjuku train station, onto the street in front of the Lumine exit, Sasha said to me: "Mama, Sasha wants to see big crab." I was totally surprised to hear that since it had been approximately four months ago that we went to Shinjuku and yet Sasha still remembered that giant crab.

Tricycle

Sasha has just mastered his tricycle a few days ago. Everyday he rides his tricycle enthusiastically around the house. And since today is a car-free day along Sudirman street and Thamrin street, we took him to ride his tricycle on the street circling the Welcome Statue fountain.

Sasha's Radio Flyer tricycle.

Summer Vacation

Sasha is on a summer break from school so we try to use his free times as efficient as possible. For the first vacation week, we went to Taman Safari Indonesia Cisarua about 90 KM from Jakarta. Taman Safari is literary a wildlife safari park and home to many endangered animals one of which is the Sumatran elephant. There Sasha got to see the elephants that he loves so much.

Then Sasha went to have a ride on an elephant and a pony.

Pre-nursery Progress Report

Sasha finally received his first progress report card from his homeroom teacher last week. The report was very positive and said that Sasha had no trouble adjusting to the routines in class. For example, he enjoys singing, doing action songs, reciting nursery rhymes and listening to stories. His teacher also mentioned that Sasha can turn from one task to another with ease because of his versatility. Good job Sasha.

Scissors

Using scissors is one of Sasha's forte. He can cut straight lines as well as slanted. He understands the concept of cutting using scissors from early on. He is very curious when seeing art and craft that has to use a scissors. He knows that he is only allow to use the small, for kid, scissors. I am lucky that Sasha does not show any interest in playing with my big scissors that I normally use. Here are some of the artworks that Sasha made using scissors recently:

Fountains

Sasha's favorite: fountains. I think he is happiest when he can stand by the fountain.

Right Brain Training

In order for the right brain training be successful, it is important to observe our feelings (mothers) toward our children. As professor Shichida said in his teaching, a child can sense by telephatic ability how mother is feeling. When a mother is irritated the right brain is closed and all training has no effect.

Homework Update

Sasha has been given homework from Shichida for the past few months. To my delight, he loves loves loves his homework. Every night before bed time, he always asks to do his homework. Shichida homework is somewhat different than of traditional school homework. It is designed to stimulate brain at home with the purpose to exercise the brain regularly.

Accept, Love, and Praise

Constantly comparing one's child to another child or stressing out due to higher expectation or even worse, setting up a high standard in one's child academic achievement is a big no no in Shichida method teaching. Shichida method is all about accepting, loving, and giving praise to your child. Yet not all parents understood the meaning these words convey. These are very simple words but not easy to do.

Child Rearing Shichida Way

As a mom, I came across a lot of different ways of child rearing. Some are good to know and some are very helpful. However, as a certified Shichida method instructor, I learned an invaluable lesson in child rearing that no other has shared before which is child rearing of the heart: accept, love and praise your own child.

School

Sasha loves his school. He likes his school so much that everyday when we picked him up from school he always wanted to stay back. After a month of joining the school, Sasha can sing to most of his school's circle time songs and know the dance movements associated with the songs. So far Sasha has memorized all of the phonic sounds, the class's routine and songs as well as the circle time songs and dance movements.

Award

Sasha was one of the recipients for student of the week award from his school. He was awarded as Mr. Obedient. I'm so proud of you Sasha.

Elephant

Sasha adores elephant and can look at elephant pictures for the longest time. His fascination actually started when we visited Thailand and rode on an elephant. Lately, Sasha has been asking us to take him to ride the elephant at Taman Safari in Cisarua which is 90 minutes away from Jakarta. Luckily there is a circus coming in town and one of the attractions is an elephant ride.

New Interest

Like other kids, Sasha's interest changes everyday. At the moment, Sasha likes to play with wooden blocks. The blocks come with 30 cards of building instructions and each card has stars of difficulties.

Time Flash Card

Here are a few examples of flash cards about time that I bought from Shichida school as well as from the bookstore. The flash cards are pretty similar to each other but I like to have a variety of flash cards on hand to avoid boredom.

Time

Lately Sasha has been fascinated with time telling. He likes to look at the clock and ask me what time it is or tell me what time it is at the moment. So far he can tell time by the hour and half hour. He likes to say to me, "mama it is 2 o'clock" while pointing his finger to the clock or "look mama it is 7:30." I definitely give credit to flash cards for Sasha's successful time telling. I have been showing Sasha flash cards of time by the hour and half hour only. Now I am planning to show him the rest of the flash cards.

Shichida Class

Its finally the last day of Sasha's Shichida school for this term. Sasha is getting better at all of the exercises. His motor skills are improving everyday. Today, Sasha did the maze exercises all by himself and he did them very well. The mazes that Shichida school uses are ranging from simple to complex ones. The ones used in the class today were pretty challenging. One of the mazes shaped like a shoe complete with the lace as seen on the picture.

cut and paste for finger training exercise. Sasha did the cutting by himself and it was perfectly right on.

First Day

Today is Sasha's first day at his new school. It is an everyday class starting from 8:00AM to 10:00AM. One of the reasons my husband and I chose this school is because of its academic structure. The program incorporates early writing and reading skills in all of the class activities which are in line with the Shichida method teaching. I like the fact that Sasha's preschool teacher is teaching him how to hold a pencil from early on.

The Homework

Here are a few pictures of Sasha's homework from Shichida school.

Back in Jakarta

We are back in Jakarta and Sasha is back to his routine. Last night Sasha did almost the whole set of flash cards totaling more than 500 cards. Today before his Kindyroo class we did a set of critical thinking and a few pages of numbers homework from Shichida. The homework consist of exercises that involve circling the object that is bigger, drawing lines, counting out loud from 1 to 30, determining which box has less objects and so on. Sasha seemed to enjoy doing these exercises. I will post the pictures soon.

First Snow

A few days ago we went to Hakone near Mount Fuji. The weather was perfect and Sasha got to experience his first snow.

Queuing

Sasha has learned queuing from school. However, the wait time for queuing at school is less than a minute or two. This time Sasha has to queue for a while and many of the kids were older than him, ranging from 3 years old to 7 years old. I thought Sasha did a good job waiting in line patiently.

Zoo

It was a sunny day on Sunday so we took Sasha to the zoo in Ueno. Ueno zoo has a petting zoo which is called "The Children's Zoo" on its West park. Sasha was very excited to be able to pet different animals in the Children's Zoo. First he pet different kind of goats, then a sheep and he was allowed to hold a big chicken. Sasha had so much fun. Especially when the chicken got away and the children there, including Sasha, started to try to catch it. There was a long line to hold small animals like rabbit and hamster so we just passed it.

Anpanman Museum

Sasha loves Anpanman. And from early on he collects anything of Anpanman character. So while we are in Japan, we decided to take Sasha to the Anpanman Children's Museum in Yokohama. Shichida method teaches the importance of giving a "wow" feeling to a child. Sasha was definitely wowed the whole time he was at the museum.

Tokyo

Tokyo's weather is much colder than the last time Sasha was here. Yet he is enjoying his time and experiencing his first winter with no problems. Since we walk a lot, Sasha likes to stop by and look at every window display in the store. He even pays attention to the jumbo size advertisements scattered around the train station. Sasha's favorite so far is this one ad that features a smiling old man holding a bottled tea.

Wednesday

Sasha has a Shichida lesson every Wednesday. Lately, Sasha is very picky when he is in the class. For example, he only wants to do memory game the way he likes it and does not want to follow his instructor. However, today he was completely focused and did all the exercises very well. Sasha clearly enjoyed the class in fact all of his classmates also did well. I must admit the class was full of positive energy. Even I as an adult felt the positive energy let alone the children as they are naturally more sensitive to this energy.

The Puzzle

And the puzzle is done!

Puzzle

Sasha just got a new 36 pieces floor puzzle. This is the first time that he owns a floor puzzle which is bigger than the normal size puzzle. Puzzle is often used in Shichida method classroom as one of the games. It is simple yet stimulating enough for children. Sasha has been playing with different kind of puzzles ever since he was very young. For jigsaw puzzle, he started out with 2 pieces puzzle and slowly worked it up.

Another Fingers Training Exercise

Fingers Training, Part 2

Another good way to exercise your child's fingers is by folding the origami paper. I like to show Sasha a simple origami exercise such as folding the paper into half to make a rectangle, folding the rectangle origami into another half to make a square, and then making a triangle out of the square shape.

Fingers Training, Part 1

The Shichida Method program incorporates exercises using fingers subsequently called fingers training exercise. I usually have a stack of recycle paper ready for this purpose. For example, old newspapers, used notebooks, cereal boxes, pretty much anything that can be reused. Then, I would have Sasha tear the papers off using his two fingers. He loves doing this that sometimes he tears off newspaper of the day.

DIY Flash Card

Sasha owns a lot of flash cards bought from Shichida Child Education Center. However, Sasha also owns a lot of do-it-yourself flash cards such as the alphabet flash cards. To make your own flash card it's really simple. You need print outs of an object, in my case it was the letters of the alphabet, and some card stock papers. Cut the card stock papers and the letters out, glued them on one by one and it's done.

Picture of Flash Card

Here are the pictures of "The Clothed Maja" by Goya and the box of fine arts flash cards collection.

New Flash Card

Lately Sasha has been fascinated with a new set of flash cards of fine arts. The flash cards consist of work of arts by famous artists from all over the world. Sasha's favorites so far are paintings by Goya and El Greco. There is this one particular painting that he is mesmerized with, "The Clothed Maja" by Goya. Sasha could imitate the pose perfectly. At first I did not realize that Sasha wanted me to find him "The Clothed Maja" flash card. He tried to explain it to me but I did not get it, so finally he posed just like in the painting to show me what he meant.

Tangram

Match and Count

We just got Sasha a new puzzle of matching numbers and counting objects from 1 to 20. This puzzle is the same puzzle that Sasha likes to play with while hanging out at his cousin's house. Every time he goes to his cousin's house he always look for this one particular puzzle. Sasha had been talking about this puzzle for almost three days before we decided to buy it for him. Watching him do the puzzle all by himself is priceless.

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year 2010...the beginning of the year always feels like a new beginning to do anything. I hope this year will be a better year for my family and I. As always, I am looking forward to see Sasha's progress and growth in the up coming months.