Hyderabad Preschools - Esperanza Review

Esperanza

Esperanza is very popular among IT folks. This is because they have tie up with NASSCOM and which brings a very attractive package for parents working for NASSCOM affiliated companies. Suiting for people who make it a routine to stay back office late.. ;)

Why popular?

Wordless Wednesday :: Dancing in the road

Taken from the road side of one of the busiest area, the IT hub of Hyderabad... On our way back to home, during our search for preschools... we were waiting for Pappa to return from office... This is how she spent nearly an hour!

 

   

Book of the Week ~ Maisy Dresses Up

Welcome back to another Book of the Week issue. It's been long time since a book review and so here we go. Like I said here, we were working on FABRICs theme as a part of our homeschooling adventures and hence we were reading many books related to fabrics and clothing.

Today we're gonna share with you a wonderful book from the very popular Maisy series – Maisy Dresses Up by Lucy Cousins.

Gaza Crisis Appeal

The facts of life are that a child who has seen war cannot be compared with a child who doesn't know what war is except from television. - Sophia Loren.

I am sure that everyone is aware of the dreading situations in Gaza. Orphans in need (orphansinneed.org) is appealing to support to the orphaned children of Gaza. Anybody interested in helping, may please head over to this website..

Let's do our tiny bit to give them back the colors of their life...

Special thanks for Foz for letting me know about this website.

You may also visit this or this to extend your donations.

Friday Wisdom

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

Joining Foz, with our tiny bit of learning...

Response from KinderKare Gachibowli for my review : Disgusting!

Today, early in the morning I was more than happy to see that KinderKare, Gachibowli has sent a response to the post I made after my bad experience at their school. However, as I read through,  I seriously thought if they wouldn't have sent this mail. The only word I could express my feeling is SHOCK... SHOCK... I am pasting the mail as it's below, adding my comments in BLUE highlight. I would really appreciate if my readers could take a moment and tell me if this is something you expect from a respected school management? Would you send your child to this school, after reading this mail. I would expect to read with a neutral mindset and share your honest opinions. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Mother of Liya,

I am Lt Col Rajasekhar Reddy and I am the Director and part of the management of Kinderkare Day care and preschool.

Homeschooling Adventures : We're there!!

Now that Liya's school encourages parents to reinforce the learning at home, we are finally thinking to plan some learning activities at home. She has a lot of time after 1.00 noon, and wouldn't it be a good idea to plan it creatively? Parallel homeschooling has been in my wish-list since long. Finally, we're actually doing some planned homeschooling, yay!!

This school, like most of them, picks a theme for two weeks and learning (absolutely no teaching and no textbooks) happens around it. They recommend parent to contribute by helping kids identify and understand the 'theme' from home, vicinity and surroundings. The school has many different activities planned across the theme and those would help identify the real learning path and need of every child.

Considering that I may not be able to stick to schedules, we will update our homeschooling adventures as in when time permits, but not less than one post in a week. In Sha Allah (If God Wills)

For week 19th Nov 2012 to 02nd Dec 2012, we are following same theme as her school- FABRIC! We have many activities planned at home, for maximum an hour a day. Let's see how it turns out!!

We're all excited, to learn about FABRICs. 

...and Liya goes to Nursery!

On 14th Nov, Liya started her official pre-schooling! Yay, Liya goes to nursery. I still can not believe how fast time flies by... my tiny bug has grown into a little woman!!!

In her school uniform

After a lot of searches, researches, analysis, thinking and rethinking, we have finally decided upon Globe Toter, Gachibowli, Hyderabad. Liya absolutely loved the school. On her first day, she was all excited to go to new school. On the way she threw up and lost her mood. So, she cried when J left for office. Even so, according to her teacher, she did a great job. Her teacher certified her "Brave Girl"!!!!  Thank God!

3 years:: Where does she stand?

On 11th Oct 2012, Liya completed 3 years on planet earth. Needless to say, it's been an awesome journey, parenting a little girl, by learning, unlearning and re-learning, everyday. Thank God for each and every moment!! And today, we complete 5 years of our married life!! How awesome is that! Thank God!

It's been such a long since my last Liya update. So much had happened since then. Given the fact that pre schoolers learn quickly, last few months have been rapid 'development' time for her too.

Drawing/Coloring: 

She has always been crazy fan of drawing and coloring and the same goes on. Now, she can color almost neatly and inside the picture. She draws many pictures and all coming from her imagination.

Dated august 2012 

3 Years :: Pics

Lumbini Park, Hyderabad

Hyderabad Preschools: Strawberry fields - Review

We did not see a chance for a quick move from Hyderabad, so we began looking for preschools. The very first school to check was Strawberry fields.
SF is another popular network in Hyderabad. I just learned that they have started a new school in Paradise circle.

Why Strawberry Fields? 

KinderKare Gachibowli: Bad Experience

KinderKare is one of the popular daycare cum preschools in Hyderabad, located in Gachibowli. But, we had a really bad experience with them and chose not to go ahead with the school.

Don't forget to read the follow up-  Response from KinderKare Gachibowli for my review : Disgusting!

Why did we shortlist? 

Hyderabad Preschools : Sunshine Begumpet -review

Sunshine, Begumpet

This is where Liya went for nearly 1.5 months. Soon after we landed in Hyderabad, we just had to find a daycare and this one was closer to the place where we stay as of now. Moreover, it was on my way to office so was convenient for me to drop and pick her.
We opted for Sunshine, without a second thought because I had received an awesome feedback from an ex-colleague plus we did not get time to go and search for schools. Hence opted this as a temporary set up until we find a good school to put her in nursery.

Momma doesn't know to drive!!

"Momma, don't you know to 'ride' this car?"
Asked Liya when the car turned off twice in the traffic, on my first day drive in Hyderabad.
"I do know sweetie, just that it's been such a long since I drove in such a heavy traffic"- said Momma and drove.

After 2 days, when she was traveling with J, the issue was brought into his attention. Momma doesn't know to ride this car, Let's bring our car from the US. (That's the thing.)

Image- Hyd traffic

Search for Pre schools in Hyderabad...

I have heard so much and so much about the difficulties in finding a pre school in Indian metros. It's not that India has got very less options but we have more schools than the no. of kids in the entire city, I guess...lol! At every corner of cities, you will be bombarded with millions of billboards, advertisements, fake promises and some sugar coated words like 'holistic approach, child friendly, learning through fun, credibility, vast experience, excellent teachers etc etc. But the more you enquire you will know how far they live from their promises...

Vacation in Kerala :: A flash back

It was pouring season in Kerala. Liya was all excited to see rain pouring and badly wanted to play in the rain. In fact, she played too..:)

A view from our sit out area

 Climate was too bad when we both were traveling to Hyd. Almost all flights were delayed due to torrential rain. I was afraid that they would even cancel the flight. Liya was not ready to sit in the waiting area, she just wanted to play in the water. She was shouting at me and was pleading that "look momma all uncles (the staff cleaning the runway) and planes are getting wet and playing in the water... why not me?"

Look who is back...!!

Yes, I am back to PL, my fav place in the cyber world. There are so much to say... just too much! Regarding my regular posts, yes bucket list updates from June onwards are in my highest priority list..:)

So, what's up with little girl and us? We had spent 2 weeks in Kerala- one week with my family and another with my in laws... We had no breathing time there. Though Liya was enjoying all pampering, she was badly missing her Pappa. J had to leave to Hyderabad after 2 days and most of our vacation Liya and I spent with family. It was more like her first time without Pappa around for such a long gap. Indeed it was a nightmare. She behaved more like the 'bride' whose husband left for abroad after a week of wedding..:) So desperate and gloomy!! Believe me, she didn't eat anything in these two weeks except one MAC cheese in every morning and needless to say she was more than happy to gobble all the ice creams and chocolates, despite all her tensions and gloominess.

Liya's response to preparations...

Couple of months back, I was saying Liya about our 'big move'...

"Liya, you know we are moving back to India..."
"I don't want to..."
"What? Do you know what India is?"
"Yup, there are grandmas and grandpas, we can go to beach and play in the waves... But you know momma, I just don't like it over there.."

This is exactly what she told. I was so surprised that how much little bugs are lured by American life... lols!

Moving On...

Yes.. it's been a long break. I still can't assure that I'm fully back. A major part of 'Liya blogging' has been on hold for more than 2 months now. We were fully tied up with many more things happening everyday. The biggest news is that we are LEAVING America for good...In Sha Allah (God Wills)!

After long thinking, un-thinking and re-thinking, we have finally decided to move back to India. We were busy planning the big move. Shopping, packing, cleaning, selling, throwing... Ma Sha Allah (As God willed), everything has been going good, so far!

So, we have another 3 days in the US. 30th Aug we will say goodbye to US. New place, new school, new surrounding... life is going to be a complete change for Liya, but we hope for the best!

P.S: Book Club and Bucketlists were on hold too. I have missed to update bucketlist for June and July. Doesn't mean that we were not following our milestones. Just that I was lazy to blog...lols. Will update soon..:) In Sha Allah!

Ramadan Kareem

We wish you all a blessed Ramadan. The busiest month with 17 hours of fasting, long night prayers, less sleeping hours... Rolling up our sleeves and all set to welcome the blessed month!


Ramadan Mubarak to all!

Bucket List Updates :: May

I have been MIA for such a long. Now, its the time for many pending updates. Here comes our bucket list updates for month May.

May had been a wonderful month for us. As weather was awesome we were able to go out and play almost everyday. So, let's see what are we gonna cross today.

Visit a Zoo 

Yes, once again we visited a zoo and Liya had awesome time seeing all her fav animals live. She fell in love with peacocks and zebras. She literally didn't want to come back home. I had to promise burger and smoothie to console her..lolz! See our pics here.

Cook finger paints at home

Homemade finger paint

We had a great fun time preparing some finger paint at home. Little Liya was so excited to be the chief chef..:)

The power of words!

Below article is something that I came across in FB today. I post it here because I found there is a great practical message for every parent. I strongly recommend you to take a few minutes and read till end. It's worth it. Hats off to the writer. A brilliant job indeed!

This article got me thinking a lot! I know, as a parent I need to develop the skill of avoiding NOs and Don'ts in my conversations. I strongly have to work towards presenting don'ts, shouldn'ts and Nos through positive sentences. What's your take?

I remember my dad teaching me the power of language at a very young age. Not only did my dad understand that specific words affect our mental pictures, but he understood words are a powerful programming factor in lifelong success.

One particularly interesting event occurred when I was eight. As a kid, I was always climbing trees, poles, and literally hanging around upside down from the rafters of our lake house. So, it came to no surprise for my dad to find me at the top of a 30-foot tree swinging back and forth. My little eight-year-old brain didn't realize the tree could break or I could get hurt. I just thought it was fun to be up so high.

At Buffalo Zoo - 05/19/2012

Bi-lingual chaos...

Did you know- Learning a second language can actually boost up our brain power. Read the story here.
What's the exciting part of being in a bi-lingual surrounding? According to me - the code mixing and code switching in the usual conversations. It's more fun if you are in a bi-lingual household where a toddler or pre-schooler growing into two/multiple languages.

Wordless Wednesday :: Spring Bouquet

Little hands are busy making a spring bouquet...

Here is our plant...

Do you remember that hand-made surprise pot Liya did from daycare? We're here to update you what's happening inside our pot. We're very excited to watch how a plant grow...:)

Our first sprout is out....

Wordless Wednesday :: An Avid Macbook Fan

                   Little Liya's MACbook

Yes, we can 'make' a macbook out of our toy laptop...It's so simple, you know!

Much to Do before Three :: April Updates

Welcome to another bucket list update with little Liya. April wasn't bad for us, Ma Sha Allah (As God has willed), we're gonna cross a few items from our To Do list. 

Ride a bicycle

Mother's Day Art Project

This is Liya's art project from daycare, a gift to Momma on mother's day. Last Thursday, she was so excited to get this gift home...

Book of the Week :: Little Apple Goat

Note: Another super delayed post, originally scheduled for April 25.
Theme: Jungle
Why this theme?: You all know 22 April was earth day. This earth and everything in it is a blessing for us and the greenery we see around is the donor of our bread and breath. We have to be grateful and hence we must preserve its originality and should not tamper it.  The awareness must start from within our homes and we owe to pass over the message to our little buds, as well. So, we chose to learn about the greenery from Little Apple Goat. This book is not about jungles but about orchards.

What's it all about...? 

Much to Do Before 3 + 2.5 years update

Note: This is the Bucket list Update for March. This was in my drafts and today only noticed that I didn't publish it yet. So silly of me.

Welcome to another 'Bucket List' update. Sadly we don't have anything specific to cross in our TO DO list. But spring is almost (it's playing hide and seek...) here and Insha Allah we hope to cross a few items by April end.

As I haven't given you a 30 months update (yay we're already 2 and half), let's see what Liya is up to. Nothing new has happened since last month, like any other kid she is learning and exploring the world the world around.

* She has mastered the art of using scissors. She can crop paper, polythene etc easily. And the consequence is that our house is growing more and more messy everyday. She loves to remove tags from cloths, open the grocery polythene etc using scissor. By the way she made ice cream with scissors. Look at the picture..:)

The right side curves are not cropped by her, that was the part of the paper itself. She just made the scoop. I was so happy to see that she made it this way.

Spring has sprung...Finally!!

Much much awaited spring is finally here. We are glad to go outside and play. Liya gets to go out in the backyards of daycare to play with her friends.

Many thanks to everyone who messaged/called/commented after reading my previous post. Your love and care mean a lot to us.  So glad to have a circle of friends who really care.

Liya went missing in the store...and the happenings!

As I type this, my fingers are still trembling and I can still feel the twinge in my heart. A part of me is consoling the other part that it was just another normal day. But I know it wasn't! I have not had such a terrible shock anytime in my past... Did you know – we missed Liya in a store today! It's not as simple as that. At least for me.

We had been for spring festival in our masjid and on the way back I got an odd idea of dropping to Burlington coat factory because I wanted to buy some accessories for Liya. If you have ever visited Burlington store, you would definitely know the huge volume of things they stock and how difficult it is to navigate through the aisles. Weather turned out nice today after such a long gap,  and the store was crowded too. We were in the baby depot. I was checking something in an aisle and J in another.

Toddler Talk :: Are you a...

Yesterday, I was loaded with many 'To Dos" things and I was interrupted unnecessarily. I really get irritated if someone disturbs me especially if I'm doing something very seriously. But little girl and Pappa always love to pester me until I yell...

I was quite annoyed and jokingly said : "Aha! What do both of you think...? I'm not a machine to stay silent and do stuffs... I'm a human being..."
I wanted to go on and on with my speech, but...

Little Liya suddenly intervened : Oh, Momma, are you a washing machine...?   
(That's the machine she knows very well. She loves watching when we load washing machine / dryer with laundry. She might have been wondering how can Momma be a washing machine....?) lolz..!

I had to pause my speech and laugh aloud! Alhamdulillah *All Praises to God* for the little pleasures of life!

We've a WINNER!

I have selected the winner for our first ever giveaway- My Memories Suite - Scrapbooking Software.

TANYA JARVIS

The winner has been notified and  will get 48 hours to respond. If not, we will be choosing another winner.

CONGRATULATIONS TANYA! Thanks everyone for your entries.

Don't worry if you didn't win.... we've another offer for you... The actual price of MyMemories Suite Version 3 $39.97. Why not download MyMemories.com Software if you want to give a try? By using the Promo Code: STMMMS64910 , you can save $10.00, so the software costs only $29.99, plus you receive an additional $10.00 online store credit...that's $20.00 in savings. Simply copy and paste this code in the box for Coupon/Promo Code.

Toddler Talk: Ms. Pappa & Ms. Momma

Liya is all confused at when and where to use Ms. She addresses all her teachers with a prefix Ms. so that today she began calling J and Myself, with a Ms prefix. Ms. Pappa, can you do this...? Ms. Momma can we read book? Ms. Pappa let's go out... Ms. Momma, I'm very hungry..lol! We're having so much fun.

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK AHEAD BUDDIES...

Book of the Week :: And the Caboose Said...

We had a wonderful interactive story time with ...And the Caboose Said...

We encourage all little readers to have a peek at the story. We're sure that you're gonna learn more about Caboose and different entities involved in a day of Caboose...

Happy Learning...!

With Love,
Liya!

We're watching...

...and learning about our faith..:)

Dear friends,
Liya wishes you a blessed rest of the week.

My Memories Suite :: Review and ***Giveaway***

~ Open Internationally!

~ Giveaway at the end of this post!

Hello Lovely Friends,
We're here to review a wonderful digital scrapbooking software and to host our first ever giveaway. Honestly, I was not a huge fan of scrapbooking software. But when I was contacted for a review, I  had a peek through their website some ideas splashed on my mind... "why can't I use it for some learning and fun time with Liya". We're looking forward to ideas, everyday. This sounded very exciting. 

Stress!

Liya was always been very happy to go to daycare, until a few days ago. If she was still asleep, my call "Liya, don't you want to go to daycare?" would make her jump out from bed. Couple of weeks before when I said "it's Thursday, you've to go to school" she replied "No it's Wednesday...". I thought she is in deep sleep and didn't want to getup hence just finding an excuse. But sooner I realized that it's something more than just an excuse. Lying in the bed, she shouted "No.. No I won't go, today is Wednesday..."

Toddler Talk :: Where is Liya?

Since long, J had set our wedding time photo as his personal laptop wall paper. It's been such a long and we were never tied of looking at that. I am very thin there...*sigh*... and in a saree! Liya never identified myself as 'Momma' but she did recognize Pappa. So I had to teach her to identify me...lolz!

Yay!

Our new Dr Seuss packet has arrived...:)

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Story Time With Little Liya

Enjoy..:)

Toddler Talk :: Bunny eating chocos

Liya : Momma, There is a beautiful Bunny in Ms Jen's phone. He is very cute.

Myself: Ohh, really! 
** Then asked a very obvious question**

What does it do there Liya?

 Liya: He was eating yummy yummy chocolates...

Myself: Ohh, okey! 
Liya: .. and I love yummy yummy chocolates too!

Yes, I am in a trap. It's true that Ms J had some Bunny in phone. But she was  utilizing it to bring chocolates in our discussion so that she can demand one.

Kids of this era are very smart, ain't they?

Book of the Week :: Dora's Search for Seasons

Theme: Seasons

Our Pick: Dora the Explorer: Dora's Search for the Seasons (Nick Jr. Book Club)

Dora and Boots heard a baby flamingo crying. They stopped by baby flamingo and learned that baby flamingo flew too away from home and doesn't know to go back to. They help Baby Flamingo to reunite with F's family living in Summer lake. They had to take an adventurous trip through Fall Forest, Winter Mountain, spring Meadow and then to Summer Lake...

Wordless Wednesday :: Liya's sketch

Liya sketched her friend Morgan on our wall. Have a glance please... :)

I am glad that she was able to draw nose, eyes, hands and legs although out of place... :P

Book of the Week ~ Baby Minnie's Treat

Theme: Treats/ Celebrations
Our Pick : Disney Babies: Baby Minnie's Treat, a Book About Signs

Wordless Wednesday: Playing in the waves...

This is from our vacation back in the scenic land Kerala, India!

Toddler talk : I am ashamed..

The other day, when I was FBing, Liya peeked into my screen. Someone had shared below photo in some page and I was reading the message underneath. Upon seeing that Liya asked me in a soft sobbing voice "Momma is that baby hungry?"