Don't be mistaken, I am neither from a Chinese education background (albeit I was offered the opportunity but I was a die-hard English "helipcopter" then who did not mind studying Chinese as a second language to become bilingual) nor am I a Buddhist.  Why I mention Buddhist?  This is because some Buddhist organisations are distributing these books for free.

My first encounter with this was when I heard my child reciting the verses(to me was yet another rhyming jingle then)  from one of her enrichment classes.  It did not occur to me how interesting these verses were until one day, I really perked up my ears to listen carefully to what she was saying.

现代的小孩可说是幸福既不幸福.  怎么说呢?  幸福呢是因为市场上有林林种种超好的幼儿培训材料,不幸福的地方就是缺乏宝贵的时间.  不是上补习班就是父母忙着工作. 

今天我要推荐的这系列书本,适合幼儿3至6岁,可是这需要父母阅读给他们听. 虽然我的孩子已经算是超龄了可是这系列的故事还是给她带来了无穷的乐趣.   这系列里面包括了30本书,有的故事内容简单却很有意义.

Singing has always been a dormant passion of mine as it never got anywhere except in the bathrooms and at times at karaokes like KBox once in a while with friends and relatives.   A few months ago, I went around enquiring what it took to set up the karaoke set on top on the home theatre system which we had now.  Prices like S$3000-$5000 was quoted for a system with one microphone for the low range price and 2 microphones towards the higher end price range.  And most of all, it is inconvenient to install because it seems that we need to buy separate speakers.  Making such a major decision of shifting the speakers and all would have to consult the man in the family and needs his help to check all equipment would function well after the installation.  Sounds too troublesome for us....so it became an idea to be shelved.

As tropical country creatures, the journey to subzero temperature country can prove to be extremely challenging.  This happened to my family and while holidaying had been a fun activity all these years, it became daunting for this subzero adventure for me.   This was likely because I had not done this together with a young child before.  Plus my faded memories of my past experience in such weather was I fell sick after each trip and often was ill-prepared for the weather.  Another difference was I felt young and bullish enough to brave through the cold before I had a child.

So what should you prepare?  I will start with the inner layers and everything I write is a guide, there are also personal considerations you have to build in when you execute my recommendation as everyone has different body temperatures and comfort levels.

As I do not wish to look oversize, I have kept to 3 or 3.5 layers.

1. Inner layer

This is a true story of a family I know.

It was the start of a new journey in Primary One for Goldie like any other children.  Much excitement and anxiety was running through her tiny body as she went through each day of her new adventure in the Primary School.  Everything was pleasant although overwhelming until one day a reality hit her. 

While changing into her PE attire, she removed her new wallet off and placed it gently on her desk.  Then she was distracted by a friend calling her and walked away for a while in a trusting fashion leaving her new wallet behind.  Minutes later, she let out a cry of dismay that her wallet was gone.

After some investigation by the teacher, they found the thief in the class.  Not only was the wallet retrieved, many other items belonging to other children were also found.  Astonishing?  Truly so.   It was a serious matter hence the parents of the child, Richie, was called to the school.

It was a fascinating sight at Body Worlds. It is not eerie but near the entrance, it was a little dim and the music playing at that point gave a strange feeling, could not quite put a finger to it. That was where the start of the human life cycle was exhibited.

If you like, buy the $2 booklet(pls bring a pen/pencil) at the entrance, unlike us...3/4 way through the exhibit then we realised that there was a booklet to follow through the exhibit. It is just a good way to run through the exhibit if your kids are keen, mine was.

The real-human exhibits were awesomely plastinated. I wonder if I would like to be considered for such in future...   Some of them are really like beautiful art pieces God has created, so I wonder if they have been re-sculptured or pre-selected.

Let me share some experiences with you on non-academic aspects:

Shelves and storage never seem to be enough in my household.  Perhaps this is the woes of a shopping queen.  Nevertheless I like to share some of my solutions which I have as tips for parents facing the same problem.

As usual I was out hunting for a suitable bookself which I already had 2 at home to store our books.  After a thorough search with my personal favourite store, I realised that it would be a never-ending search.  With that I went to a household name store to find the simplest design shelf and in the end, my result was zilch.  However, I found this!