Fast reading technique (Little Caliph) seminar - A review

Last Friday, when I picked Lil K from school, the teacher came to me excitedly and said.. "Khaira dah pandai baca dua sukukata dah."

I stunned.

"Na.ma. Sa.ya. Su.ka," The teacher further explained.

"Ohhh..." Was the only syllable that managed to escape my mouth. It was just February, and she had a week off last two weeks due to viral fever. Only four weeks in school (plus adjusting herself with new environment, first time being away from family) left me speechless.

"She is one of the advanced student in my class," the teacher added, beaming proudly and I finally smiled.

Too many things in my mind. I never taught her A, B, C. I struggled finding time everyday teaching her hijaiyah. Now she mastered fathah, dhammah, qasrah, huruf sambung and tanwin. In 10th surahs now. Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. No, never taught her A, B, C at all.

Called Love and he reminded me, "It's true, when akhirat is the one we're aiming for, Allah SWT gives us the dunia for Khaira. How hard learning hijaiyah for her, makes A, B, C as easy as apple picking".

On Sunday, we attended a "Fast reading technique" seminar organized by Khaira's LC. They allowed one adult for each student with the price of RM30. I literally begged her teacher to allow both of us to be there and we paid RM60 first before she could even give us the confirmation. #Clingycouple.

The seminar started 45 minutes late, and we came half an hour early. Imagine the wait.. not a good start.

But, ended up so well. Highly recommended ok, please goooo!!!

Do you know that at the age of 0 to 9, kids learn using both brains? And from 0 to 5 they absorb as much as 80% of what they learn? Like sponges, these kids. And that from 0 to 5, they progressed according to month of birth. Kids born in early of the year learn faster than the end of the year. K was born in October.

Basically, the LC method starts by first teaching them to read in Malay, then English and finally Jawi. They teach these languages via Phonics. They have their own reasoning and logic behind. So, please go and listen to their explanations.

And they treat each word as a picture of sound. They associate each word as action.

a - hysterical 'a'
ba - bouncing the ball
ca - caca dancing
da - playing drum
fa - flower
ga - shaking
ha - like "ha.. ha.. tak tau" like that.
ja - janggut (beard)
ka - laugh as in "ka.. ka.. ka.."
la - singing "la.. la.. la.."
ma - "mmmm maaa.. delicious, Alhamdulillah" *
na - pukul nyamuk
pa - candle blowing
ra - driving motorcycle
sa - snake
ta - shooting people
va - driving van
wa - crying
ya - "yahooo! Alhamdulillah" *
za - bees

*See how they integrate Islam as much as possible?

I always asked Khaira what she learned in school. Her answer would always be, "colouring, playing". To be honest, I am ok with it. Come on.. she is just 4. But actually she learned via playing. So, she thought it was just playing.

For example, the teachers would put the words at the floor and asked them to pick up the letter by saying something like, "Khaira, run like a cheetah and give me a 'ma'". Seriously how funnn??? Or they would asked them to catch the words using something ala2 joran. Cool ok!

They also have individual reading. Not forgetting, stickers everytime they finish reading. No wonder she is sooo obsessed with sticker. Rewards everywhere. Hand clapping, so funn!!

After learning all these, then only they would learn other vowels like "bi, bu, be, bo". They learn these by associating the "ba" with other vowels. One of the way is the Ulat Bulu song.

"Ada Sang Ulat Bulu
Punya kaki seribu
Siapa nampak kakiku
Jikalau tak nampak
Terpaksa ku melompat
Denagn kakiku kurang satu"

So they need to change this song to other vowels. For example..

"Idi Sing Ilit Bili, Pinyi kiki siribi.."

Make sense? No, and according to the speaker, the more ridiculous it is, the easier it is to stick in their mind.

Afterwards, they will learn to make sense of the words they are reading.

"Sa.Ya. Su. Ka. Ba. Ca" is actually "Saya suka baca," you know. All that.

Then they would learn huruf tertutup.

"Sa. Yu. R" is "Sayur"

Then... English. And Hijaiyah.

LC teach only small letters first because they are more common. Anddd, surprise, surprise.. they said, city kids are harder to write (too many tablets, fine motor skills needs to be stimulated). Khaira now, can write Alif, Ba, Ta and all slowly. Like I said, I did not teach her other than Hijaiyah and hafazan at home. Tapi lepas ni, kena kerja lebih keras.

After the seminar, I tried reading some stuff with K, and yup, Alhamdulillah.. so fast, she got almost all correct, just needs to work on her "ba" and "da". A bit confusing.

All in all, the teachers must have done a good job, only Allah SWT can repay their kindness.

Having said that, I have no regrets sending K to LC regardless of her traumatic first day experience. I am a lecturer myself. And the first rule, on the very first day I taught in my class, I would always say to them, "Have faith in me. I won't disappoint you. I would teach you as accurately as possible, kalau ada tersilap sekalipun, I would rectify as soon as I could. The moment you don't have faith in me is the moment it would ruin this course."

It's true.

And with clear conscience, hati ikhlas full of trust, in your hands teachers, I'm putting my "life" kain putih bersih for you to shape, to train this caliph, this little hafizah to be someone to contribute to the Muslim society. Not only to excel in her exam, no, but to contribute to the human beings, in shaa Allah.

In you teachers, I have faith :) And to you, dear Allah SWT, I let her go.

The much needed getaway

More than half a year without a vacation was driving us crazy.

I love travelling.. But after KK.. I was pregnant, then I gave birth and juggling with two wonderful little humans.

Just about to settle down when Love called me up during work suggesting us a weekend getaway during Christmas.

"Somewhere nearby," he said.

Melaka? PD?

"The Royale Bintang, The Curve," he declared.

I should have seen it coming. He brought me there during my birthday 4 years ago to surprise me. Read about it here. He went there almost every year for a night's out with the boys.

Ok, let's the pictures do the talking. It was surely a wonderful one, look how excited our expressions were in the pictures.

End of the year was fun for us due to the long holiday. Yet, this year was a very unfortunate year for the flood victims in east coast. After having that much fun, we went for diapers hunting to be donated for them.

Bila niat baik, memang dipermudahkan. Got way too many discounts, because we happened to buy an item from Fischer Price that entitled us for a 15% discount of the whole purchase in that same receipt.

We dropped by at the volunteer centre where Malaysians of all races just unite.. omg what a touching scene. A foreigner that looks very susah himself came with a trolley full of groceries left us crying.

Masha Allah, Subhanallah, dear Allah.. please bless all these wonderful souls. Subhanallah..

Aisha's aqiqah

I just realized I haven't blogged about Aisha's aqiqah!!!

It was a small event, celebrated together with Khaira's birthday. Only family members and colleagues on 18th October; Aisha was 2 months plus.

We had the marhaban group from our surau as usual and the foods were cooked by my friend's mom; which was yummy!

Afterwards, we shaved her botak just like Khaira.

She didn't  have much hair to begin with; so not much difference the before and after.

Khaira of course had a blast on her birthday. Received so many Frozen stuffs, we could open a shop, hehe.

Cake done by my SIL where Khaira requested for Barney. Which she changed her mind 2 days before the event; said she wanted Frozen cake which was too late 

Nonetheless, she was the happiest girl wearing Anna inspired dress from my dad. Now that she appreciates birthdays more, I am really considering of having clowns for her 4th birthday. In shaa Allah :)

Khaira's first day in kindy..

..had been hard for both of us.

When we left her that morning, she was alright. Didn't cry and quickly made friends.

When I picked her up, I remembered she was having her Asar prayer.What a beautiful sight. Afterwards, I called her name softly, she looked at me, ran and hugged me and said, "Ibu.." And cried horribly.

And the reality sunk in.

Long story short, Khaira had been hit by a part time teacher on the first day of school because she took out the numbers on the wall.

I don't feel like telling the whole detail, because it hurts. She was traumatized ever since. Her first time away from her family had been traumatized. My first time letting my baby go to a stranger's hand with good faith had been tarnished.

And it will never be the same again.

Berdosanya what I'm gonna say after this, but, selagi teacher yang pukul Khaira tak cakap sorry to me and Khaira, selagi tu, whatever she gained from that one day dia jaga Khaira from me, satu sen pun I tak berkatkan. Jadilah darah daging dia dengan duit yang I tak berkatkan tu. How could you.. If you ever read this, teacher, I could easily serang you with the CCTV's evidence, but, it's definitely not worth it. Violence is not how my daughter and I have been raised up with.

So, the drama goes on.. Up until today, she was traumatized of having left at her school.

I was on the verge of crying at any moment my little girl came to my mind; which was all the time.

I can only leave you with my doa and prayers, Allah swt is with you, my darling. Let's just hope we get over this phase with patience.

Letting go is the hardest thing, ya Allah. Grant me strength.

Seminar Kuasai Potensi Diri 2015 - A review

"Is it ok if I wear this shorts?" Love asked, pointing at his funky Dockers I bought not long ago.

"Ala.. pakai je, it's not an islamic talk pon," I replied casually.

...

"We're not gonna be separated, are we?" He asked as we were about to reach SACC.

"I don't think so," I replied.

...

As we walked to the hall, I knew I could not be any more wrong. Love was the only one with shorts (Sorry, Sayang!) Anddd.. the seats were separated between boys and girls.

"They're not gonna make us do lame things, are they? Hand clapping, saying stuff, no?" This time around I asked insecurely. He knows how much I hate those craps.

"I'm not in the mood to meet a new people or to make new friends," He replied. On very rare occasions, he would be like this. Most of the times, he make new friends like magic. "So, it's your call. It's ok if you want to leave."

I peeked inside with lightings like a night club and people wore lots of glitters, I almost ran away. Contemplating for about 15 mins, and I said, "let's give him a chance. An hour say, then we leave".

So we stayed. For 3 hours for a talk of 5 hours duration. You rate, how good he was to us. I would stay until the end.. IF I was seated next to Love, yeah we're clingy like that, I mean come on.. it was weekend, the kids were with mom, we deserved to be next to each other at least. Haha.

Anyhow, yes, he made us do lame things. But, both Love and I found a way to entertain ourselves, so we managed to go through that stage of hand clapping, anda-kaya-dan-berjaya by looking at the people who were doing it. Entertaining, I tell you.. Until now, I don't even understand the standing-up-on-their-chair-thingy and the dancing excitedly women. Had so much fun looking at them.

I was of course busy whatsapping with Love (clingy kann..) when DAO explained how the talk worked, so I was lost when people waved and said "hi" every now and then.

"Siapa nak jadi kaya dan berjaya?"

"Hi" and wave.

"Siapa nak bahagia?"

"Hi" and wave.

At that point, I was too scared to ask.

Right after the talk, Love said it was not "Hi" and wave. It was "I" and raised up your hand. Ok, that makes sense.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Put your phone down!

Jokes aside. Let's talk about the talk.

I'm especially interested in what he called as the wheel of life. And I'm gonna share just that in my post here. The rest.. lemme promote his talk at the end of my sharing here.

Basically DAO asked us to divide our 2015 planning into 6 categories:

1. Career
2. Financial
3. Family
4. Religion
5. Health
6. Emotional

Then, in a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself, how satisfy are you with these criteria (during 2014); number 10 being the best. Let's play with me. This is how I rate myself:

1. Career: 8
2. Financial: 9
3. Family: 6
4. Faith/religion: 5
5. Health: 8
6. Emotional: 5

Next step, compare it with your partner and go likeee.. "Are you kidding me? Confident gileeee!!" (Love rated himself all 8 and above, cheh.) Or went like, "Are you serious, family 6? You spent more time with the girls kots. Emotional 5?" (Love thought I did better, so I took it as a compliment).

Ok kidding again. DAO did not ask to compare.. but come on.. who didn't???

Then, take the bottom three and list 5 things on how you plan to improve yourself on that criteria.

Insaff..

Some of the things I plan to do in 2015..
1. No phone 7.30 to 9.30 (family time)
2. Recite quran everyday
3. Dhuha everyday
4. Hypnotized myself.. so I calm as I reach home
5. More patient with the kids

The rest of the talks are on positive thinking, back to the higer power, the usual.. go if you're not familiar with this. Go if you're familiar cuz you need constant reminder.

My verdict: Go! This guy is doing a beautiful job here (free if you come in a group of 3) to help his own race. Stop giving excuses and don't wear shorts ok. Hehe.

P/S: Love made a friend there who offered him a job verbally. So much of not feeling like making a new friend.. Seriously, how did guys do this?

Year end review: 2014

2014 is finally over. Phewww.. What a harsh harsh year for us Malaysians. How the Almighty reminded us over and over again to look for Him. Subhanallah..

So.. my 2014 year review..

1. Alhamdulillah, my uni suddenly organized mengaji class, I joined for about half a year until qatam all the makhraj and tajweed. How Allah swt eases everything for you when your niat is towards goodness.

2. Managed to qatam (Nazar no. 3) before I gave birth, Alhamdulillah.

3. Went to KK which was super fun, the Rafflesia was a bonus for me.

4. Managed to Pru my dad, in shaa Allah soon, mom.

5. Managed to publish 5 papers and 3 journals.

6. Gave birth easily and safely to a super healthy baby girl, so thankful for this one.

7. My savings is SEE (Super exceed expectation), extra RM841 from targeted. I don't know how I achieved this, I know it's quite crazy to dream this big. But I always remember, Kun Fayakun, never under estimate Him. Reminder to self, nothing is crazy.

8. In shaa Allah, Professional Engineeringship, soon. When He knows when is best for me.

So, hello 2015. Assalamualaikum. I hope it's a better year for all of us.

More achievements, in shaa Allah :)

And dear Allah swt, I just wana say THANK YOU. Alhamdulillah.

Alhamdulillah for the wonderful year 2014. Alhamdulillah for everything.

Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.Alhamdulillah.

Melahirkan Bayi Genius Akhir Zaman - A review

I'm done reading this in less than two weeks. Don't ask my verdict. I'm bias like that towards Puan Lina Karim.

Get the ebook here

The best RM56 I spent on (RM6 charged by pay pal; RM0 for printing sebab Love printkan, Tq Sayang!).

I especially love Chapter 7.

Some notes worth sharing:

1. Babies start hearing as early as they are 5 months in the womb. If we train them to listen to Quran, in shaa Allah, when they come to the world, they would be familiar with the Quran and at ease everytime they listen to it.

2. They have the sense of touch as early as week 8. Rubbing your tummy will generate a lot of oxytocin receptors. I discussed about oxytocin many times before in my blog. It is a happy hormone that will ease your birthing process and make your baby happier in the tummy (hence healthy and more adaptable because the baby feels loved). So, be happy especially when you are pregnant, unhappiness leads to the development of cortisol; a hormone that can cause brain damage as well as lowering down your baby's antibody.

3. The sense of taste develops during week 13 to 15. So, eat healthily. Dates help the babies to speak earlier later on. Don't forget the happy pills; Vitamin B (Acid Folic is one of them). I took Vit B with Acid Folic during my first trimester to ease up my morning sickness. Apparently, Puan Lina did mention morning sickness helps you clean yourselves internally when you are pregnant, a new insight :)

4. The sense of smell develops at week 11 to 15; they can smell the amniotic fluid which is similar to the smell of their mother; hence they recognize the mother the moment they were born.

6. At week 16 onwards, baby can start seeing and recognizing whether the outside of the tummy is dark or otherwise. After week 27, you can start stimulating them by using torch light directs to your tummy.

7. You can start a routine for your baby since in the tummy. Fix time to solat, sleep, eat and play so that it creates their muscle memory and they can hopefully continue with the sleep routine as they come out of the womb.

So many points I wish to share.. But I guess, it will never be the same; not comparable with Puan Lina's explanation.

My suggestion..

GO.BUY.THIS.BOOK.NOW.

For pregnant mommies who are reading this, happy birthing and enjoy your pregnancy because you're the chosen ones!!~