I'm a full-time mummy

In the middle of Sept this year, I have started teaching my 3.5 years old boy unofficially. Unofficially in the sense that we do not follow any curriculum or schedule. I have tried introducing phonic word families to my boy but our progress is still at a very slow pace, hence this review is based on my sole opinion as I did not involve my boy's participation in this app. Without further ado, here goes my feedback...

* Title: ABC Phonics Word Family
* Price: $2.99
* Category: Books
* Updated: Nov 29, 2012
* Version: 2.02
* Size: 36.9 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Abitalk Incorporated
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

Description from the product page:

"The Phonics Word Family provides the word phonics spelling, beginning sound, word family phonics, short vowel sound, and images with a lot of animations and interactions for each word. There are a total of fifty six word family groups which focus on the short vowel, long vowel, two vowel, and combination vowel word family phonics learning. After children complete the phonics spelling in each group, the matching game follows and children can review what they learned. Word Family Phonics Basics includes 56 different phonics word family groups."

* I like the simplicity of this app where you choose the word family to try on and then guess the missing letter which should complete the word given.

* I also appreciate the image of the object which is also shown so that you can visualise better.

* You can hear the phonics pronounciation of the letters when you tap on it so you can try guessing which is the correct letter to drag to solve the question.

* My boy is not at the recognising so many alphabets and phonics yet so I can't really feedback on this app at the moment but I will definitely revisit this app when the time comes (I always do that for all my products and apps!).

In summary, I think this app is a great app and would benefit my boy when the time comes since I'm currently teaching him.

You can purchase the "ABC Phonics Word Family" app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

Oh boy, it's been more than 6 months since I last blogged about my boy's potty training progress! Let's see, I blogged about starting Ben back on his potty training in February after months of delaying it (Alyson came along in September and I had to pause Ben's potty training since then) and even listed down some short, medium and long terms goals that I looked forward to accomplishing with Ben. Then I also blogged about the precious sight I get to see - Ben finally pooping in his potty! (instead of diapers which he always insisted on), and revisiting those goals I set in February against the progress in early May this year and checking off the ones we achieved 3 weeks later, and now...

As for my 15 months old girl, she is learning fast by observing her big brother! So much so that when I can see her obvious signs she wants to poo, I will immediately take off her diaper and put her on her brother's potty (which surprisingly, is the one property of Ben's that he gladly shares!!!)

Of course, I do need to sit around my girl to ensure she does not get up by herself before she finished her business, but I'm glad to share that she's receptive with the potty when it comes to pooping. So that's one potty training milestones for her off the list I guess! ;)

So there you go, looks like we are getting almost all of the goals soon for Benjamin! Thank God for this and for my dear boy to be so good in following through his potty training!

We are all so proud of you both, Benjamin & Alyson!

My 3.5 years old boy has no problems identifying colors and he does coloring with chalks in our balcony sometimes but my purpose to review this app is more to see what is the story about and test whether my boy can follow the instructions in the app when it comes to using what colors to color the respective objects. Anyway, my review as below...

* Title: The Chalk Box Story
* Price: $3.99
* Category: Education
* Released: Nov 29, 2012
* Version: 1.0.0
* Size: 70.4 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Auryn, Inc
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Description from the product page:

"Eight very special sticks of colored chalk transform blank sheets of paper into exciting stories that become quite real. Pieces of colored chalk draw a story about a boy stranded on an island and the turtle who rescues him. This app helps children learn colors and also the spirit of team work. The process of knowing this through The Chalk Box Story is beautifully illustrated and written by Don Freeman. "

* It is engaging and interactive and I love that we can also move the chalks and color the pages on the screen as we go through the story!

* Initially I thought we have to color according to the story line before we could move through the pages, so I am happy to note that we can skip forward or return back to the colors on respective pages (more like free play) instead of being forced to go through each pages.

* I was not a fan of watercolored illustrations before this but I think my perception has changed after trying out this app. The drawings on each page is simply breathtakingly beautiful and cute!

* The storyline is simple and easy to follow, I'm so thankful for the happy ending where the main character gets rescued and able to leave the island he got stranded on.

* There is a bonus feature in this app which you can drag and drop the objects accordingly. The nice thing is if the object is not appropriate to be placed where you want them to, you will see a red mark on the object. For example, you can't put the dolphin on the island or crab in the ocean.

* I do however feel the price $3.99 is a bit high for this app though but I realised that the apps I am reviewing lately is around this price range.

You can purchase the "The Chalk Box Story " app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"