About my little man -- Ariq Luqman

Ariq, when was 1 year old. Love to spelled out every time he sees alphabets.
He spelled Y-O-U-R.. and he pronounced yooouurrr.
(he figure the sound by himself)

One day, when he was 1 year old and a half. He loved to spelled out, whenever and wherever he saw alphabets.

"W-E-L-C-O-M-E", he pointed his small finger on the welcome mat whenever he found one (at the restaurant, at the toilet bathroom, at the front door or etc).  He could eventually say it out loud,  one by one. Slowly but surely.

Sometimes, he tried to read sign board or the billboard.. but not yet pronounced them right.

What mesmerized me was, on one fine morning... While reading a local newspapers, he will stared at the newspaper header and read it out loud..

As for example, (The STAR..) he will first pronounced the alphabets one by one.. "S-T-A-R"... And later, (UTUSAN..) He will spell the letter one by one.. "U-T-U-S-A-N"..  and pronounced them (words/phrase) correctly. 

So on that day---i found out... he could spelled and pronounce them right. And that's was the day when I realized. Oh, he probably -- CAN read.

ARIQ & BOOKS

He begin to show interest at the early age of 6 months..

His first book, at the aged of 6 months old.

His first reading.. at the aged of 1 year old & a half.

SO, starting from the day onward I tried to encouraged him by bought him more books (according to his interest), especially about World maps, flags, and languages.

Ariq and his world atlas map.

Ariq & his world map puzzle.

Never failed to bring his favourite book on the table
(this photo was taken at Kerteh, Terengganu)

He always carry his book whenever he goes. He could eat and at the same time read books too. And one day, my sister told me, "I think, he's trying to read. Maybe you could encouraged him some more".

HOSPITAL CHECK-UP, WEEKS AFTER HE WAS BORN

The day when he was two weeks old.., the doctor examined him and told me, "he had a very sharp focused, and very alert since he keep on looking and staring at the three different colour dots on the wall".. (in the doctor's room).

SO THAT’S WHAT HAPPEND---

Because of his interest (in reading & books) and his abilty to focus for long hours.. I begin to exposed him to vowels. I will pronounced the vowels (A-E-I-O-U) and he will followed.

THE ROUTINE

But to be honest, it was not a necessary / compulsory/ routine mandate to teach him everyday. I only explain and pronounced to him few times (via flash card or random book). Or I just pointed my finger to pictures or words randomly. And he-- GO figure it out by himself, LATER.

He always bring his book (random books/ dictionary/ world atlas) at dining table, restaurant .. inside the car.. to everywhere. Revising all by himself. He always reading and pronouncing by his own will.

SELF-TAUGHT

He did revision by himself without me to asked him to do so. He so rajin. He just love what he did best--READING and PRONOUNCING.

And he could eventually ABLE to read at the age of 2. And can pronounce proper and become fluent at the age of 3.
  

Some people asked me, "what did you ?"-- & "how to make my child able to read like Ariq?" , and some asked me, “What have you eaten when you’re pregnant?"

To be precise, Ariq ONLY drink plain water and dislikes cakes, ice-cream or even candy. AND he never FANCY anything sweets at all.

OH ANYWAY.. THIS WASN'T ABOUT ANY TIPS, IT JUST ME SHARING ON WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HIM.

All I remembered, when I was pregnant.. I love to watched Hindustani movies. I ate nicest things that the doctor asked me to eat. Dates, Saffron, Nuts, Raisins... (anything good for me & my baby). 

And when I was pregnant, I was a nomad too (I followed my husband who worked outstations). And I spend lot of my leisure times readings and I was so semangat to buy him books since the very beginning of my pregnancies.

I even told my baby (while I'm away from my family and on my 1st trimester pregnancies), "Please baby.. Do not request for any rare food. Please be nice. Let us.. just eat nasi lemak from makcik tepi simpang jalan every morning. Please redha for every rezeki sarapan pagi & lunch for whatever HE had/provide to us".

Since I am after all very pathetic pregnant lady (to vomit), dizzy (due to anemia) and love to only slept on bed all day long.




THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY

I'm a full time mother. And I thanked the Al-Mighty for the precious time He granted to me.

I was-- a very happy soul when I was pregnant on my first born. Probably because I’ve been away from duniawi. No more rushing on datelines (when I was a journalist). And no more chaotic and stressful life. And just enjoyed my pregnancy days in PEACE.

No stress. No harm.

And to read QURAN (while pregnant), pray and be thankful... and to be able to be near Allah everytime. It was enough for me.

To be honest, the Al-Mighty creator gives me a peaceful heart the day when my husband wants to marry me.

ARIQ & YOUTUBE

No doubt kids nowadays love YouTube. Most probably Ariq home-schooled experienced was from YouTube. Since the very beginning, he love to watch and listen to ABC songs, Vowels, Arabic Alphabets, Russian Alphabets and any kind of languages. And most importantly he much more obssesed to world maps & flags.

I still remembered, the first time ever he excitedly sitting on my laps and, he randomly said out loud ALL 60's countries in the world. (I counted them by my fingers , LOL).

And I was shocked ! He was only 2 years old at that time.

And now he's 4 years old,

--- He knew much more now. The every details of geographical, the shape of the country and their flags colours and design. He remembered it all. Will continue to write about his world maps/flags journey later. (If rajin.)

ARIQ & HIS PLAYSCHOOL DAYS

He went to a short summer camp (for two weeks), at the aged of 3. Teacher said he matured enough to joined the rest. (He was only 3 at that time). And I decided to continue with playschool class afterwards but then he kept on telling me-- the school was boring). So I dismissed him from going to school right after 2 months of trials (I guess he might be know all). Teacher said he was the most rajin (love to read) in class.

I think we can skip school for GOOD. And he will continue again next year. No harm.

I'm not going to become a crazy-psycho mom who pressures her 4 year old son.

As for now, I am sending him to piano class upon his request.


LIFE SKILL ARE MUCH MORE IMPORTANT TOO.

I think, in my opinion LIFE SKILLS (skills on how to survive life and how to live a life) are much more important to me.. (to socialize, to get exposure and to gain experienced) And the ability to fits in with any kinds of humans beings without being prejudiced or judgmental about how they live their life (probably the way other people live their life  are not the same as you).. And most importantly, never judge on someone appearances no matter what or who he/she is ; And to always have a mutual respects regardless any status quo and social standard are more likely my kind of philosophy of life.

To be independent, able to think wisely. And to able brought back lights in his life eventhough he had fallen so many times in the future (Why am I being such a futuristic mother..?). And to instill optimistic thought and positive minds. 

Eventhough he doesn't know much about life since he still a little child. But these are some aspect that I wish to implements in his life motto.

In conclusions, to have a literate child is unique and tiring too. He can be very ambitious and perfectionist (which I couldn't cope sometimes) And to see him into books was such a relieved for me. But somehow.. since he may be into books very much.. most probably, he may be lack of physical sensory ability (such as cycling).. but he's a good swimmer (even though he cant really swim without his armbands).

I hope he’ll never get tired of learning about life. And always be progressive.

Life isn't about getting more A's or straight A's. But to gain more experiences in life (to explore), life skill (standing on his own feet), how to survive (able to move his own canoe when life didn't get him anywhere) , how to organized (priorities & balancing) YOUR life and how to be a survival. And be a confident humans are much likely more important to me.

To be honest, I'm just an average eager mom who wants to buy and provide anything that could benefits my son in the future. So the truth was, NEVER in my mind that I wanted my baby to read at the early age of 1 year old!

POSITIVE ENVIRONMENT

Ariq been so lucky to experienced such good environments (family & surroundings) and positive upbringing. I always encouraged him with words like, "Splendid". "You did well". "You did great". "Amazing". "Incredible". "Marvelous". "Good job". And any kind of positive words.

My tips ; dont worry, dont rush & dont compare. Its okay if your kids unable to read yet. Every kids are unique on their own ways. Just let them (the kids) enjoy what they like to do and find their passion at the early stage. The time will tell. Encouraged them, say nice positive things, and kind words.

Having a child is like planting a seed. Every seeds brings forth fruits. The important part is, just love.. seed them and watch them grow.

Here's a little video footage, that I manage to caught him reading his fav book--WORLD ATLAS (when he was 2 year old). I silently recorded this--or else he wouldnt let me. Ariq been obsessed with World Map since he was 2 years old.