I was born and grew up in the other side of the world yet am raising my children here in the West. I climbed up the trees and swam in the rivers... my children have a closed play area with swings and slides. They have an over crowded pool, lots of toys and not much adult attention. Sometimes I sit down and think what I'm doing here. I come from Sri Lanka... and if you still haven't heard about it, its a little island in the south of India, although it is nothing like India. My children miss their grandparents very much. Thanks to skype they are not faraway. Grandparents are a important part of a child's life and sometimes feel it is unfair to take away that blessing from them. Jannah adores her Appa (grandfather). She doesn't understand why umama and appa have to go to bed when it is just getting bright and sunny for us.

7 Signs your child loves you

http://www.babycenter.com/0_7-signs-that-your-child-loves-you_10327319.bc?scid=momsbaby_20110524:2&pe=MlV5b1JmdXwyMDExMDUyNA..

Homeschooling - A choice for many parents today

The husband has always been telling me what a great teacher I am and that I should home school the kids. We have been researching about home schooling options for my three year old. There are many reasons for this and I shall list down a few here for you to consider.

1. Individual attention and student centered learning
2. Bad influence and bullying will not be a part of  home schooling
3. Valuable time will not be wasted on travelling
4. There are a number of public and private online schools that can assist you. 
5. You can study at your own pace in your own scheduled
6. It is formalized and graded just like any education system
7. You are location independent
8. It is also a way of spending quality time with parents and siblings.
9. The weather and other similar uncontrollable factors will most often not affect you
10. If you are sick you can still do some work without the spreading of germs
11. There are a number of personalised training options such  as video based learning for visual learners or audio based approach for audio learners.
12. The school district you belong to, doesn't matter.
13. Education through edutainment.

Wow!

The more I think of it the more inclined I am to it and so I talked about it with my friends and also updated my facebook status asking WYOO homeschooling. Some of my friends happen to mention that the child will be isolated and that there is less socializing. Social skills are definitely important in the development of a child. If you enroll your child into any home schooling program you will see that they do have events, group projects, picnics and parties. Although interaction is not on an everyday basis or limited, you can have your child engage in a number of extracurricular activities from swimming to sports to bungee jumping. In the modern day whether school going or not many children are glued to phones, video games and other electronic entertainment devices which  severely affect interpersonal and social skills.

Let me share a few links that may help you look at conventional academic programs differently
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY
http://www.khanacademy.org/

Get set ready, go! and we have a walker... he took his first steps on may 13th. just as i guessed he walks at ten months... two months early on everything. Sometimes i feel he will just skip walking and start running but my fears have reduced greatly as he has mastered the stairs and is quite a careful little baby. Still loves to put things in his mouth and get away before i could catch him. I know I'll be racing him all day long and in a way I'm sad because walking means the end of babyhood. However they will always be babies in the eyes of a mother, wont they?

The two bottom front teeth have come in nice and strong.. i can see the upper ones peeping too! Lol but teeth are the least of his necessities... he just loves being mobile on twos!