A challenge for myself!

          Since last week, I have been trying to be consistent in doing learning activities with my children. Junior2 needs to have revision assigned and checked daily. He also needs to be told again and again to finish his homework from school. Junior1 has been doing daily 'brain exercise' as I call it. It is basically playing with specific games that require concentration, problem solving and imitation. The games also needs her to practice her fine motor in stacking, and putting duplo pieces together. I tried assessing her in her counting skills and found that all has gone. We have to start anew! Heck! I am now wondering if she has even forgotten the numeral symbols for numbers! Sigh!

           

          Junior3 is as curious as ever. I am basically just following his interest in his activities. Recently, he is interested in shapes. He would bring his shape sorter box and pointed to the shapes drawn on the box, requiring me to name them. He's getting better in pointing with a finger. Previously he would pull my fingers and touch the things he wanted to know about. He is very active and curious with his surroundings too. I am trying very hard to not to restrain him too much as he explores his environment. 

         As I prepared for Junior1 and Junior3's learning activities, I challenged myself to use only things that I already have. I have lots of manipulatives, stickers, books, games that I've bought and learning materials that I've made over the past years in my attempt to teach Junior1. As I am still trying to unpack my boxes containing all these things, I try to use them too. Over the years, I had also collected a lot of free printables online that I thought might be useful for my children. These came in useful when I needed something new but do not want to buy anything. I can just print them and laminate them.Yup! I have loads of printing paper and laminate pouches AND the old laminator is still going strong. I am extremely grateful for that. 

Learning Update - 12/10/2015 - 30/10/2015

I thought it's time I started having proper account of her learning progress no matter how small it seems. Initially I've wanted to do a weekly account, but she needs more time to learn as the 'skills' get harder. 

For 3 weeks, I had her learning to trace lowercase 'c', 'a', 't' in individual worksheets and now she is tracing the word 'cat' - and identifying it with the meaning. I made the tracing worksheet myself as it is difficult to find the exact one that I had in mind. I have a few more words in mind for her to trace. My logic is that now that she is older, she might find it too childish to just trace the alphabets individually and she might not see the point in them. After she managed to trace the alphabets individually, I had her progress to words to enable her to see the usefulness of these alphabets in forming words. 

Currently, she is also learning to write 'c' independently on lined paper (with no tracing). She is still working on keeping within the lines, and differentiating between the uppercase and lowercase c when writing on lined paper. 

She is relearning her counting skills. We do this every few days to have her recognise the numbers and it's value. Currently, she is still struggling with 1,2 and 3. She will be able to write numbers 1 and 2 when I hold her hands and guide her at least one time. then she can finish the rest of the work. (It is actually fluctuating progress. Sometimes she can write the numbers 1 and 2 even if I did not touch her - but only show the number. but sometimes she seems to need the extra touch to have the confidence - I can see it in her eyes, when she wrote her first few words and looked at me for confirmation. She would smile so sweetly if she had it right) However, If I simply gave her the paper and pen, then asked her to write 1 or 2..... she usually ends up with writing the number 2. For the number 3, she is still struggling to differentiate between 2 and 3. She needs someone to at least touch her hand lightly (I usually just touch her little finger) and she would trace/write the number. I think it's just a matter of self-confidence. I will be having her trace/write all the numbers 1,2 and 3 everyday so that she doesn't forget. 

It is the same for colour identification. I tried in our mother-toungue (Chinese) to gauge her ability to tell the colours. She made a few mistakes - what else to say for English. I guess I am starting again from the beginning - to teach her all the skills that she learnt and mastered in the past few years. This time, I am determined to make it more systematic and make it a point to revise whatever we have learnt again and again - even if it means it will take longer for us to progress to new things. 

But one thing I am happy about is her attitude in learning. It has been a daily routine for us, to start working after dinner. After I had a short rest and when she sees me taking out her worksheets, she will arrange the chairs and wait for me to start. 

She manage to sit there and do her work for around 30 minutes to 1 hour, which is a great improvement. Sometimes, I'd let her have 5 minutes break in between, and she happily skipped off and came back when I called. :)

Learning progress 4/10/2015 - 11/10/2015

I've mentioned and attempted several times over these years to teach my daughter to learn academically.  A few times I'd managed to stick to a schedule for a few weeks, sometimes a few months- but in the end, life happens and I'd stop. Having high expectations causes deep frustrations in me. For almost 2 years, after she entered primary school,  I've stopped focusing on her academic skills and decided to lower my expectations to only having her not causing troubles in school and learning independent life skills.
          Once in a while,  I'd get her to do some written work, but never expecting much from her. I'd hold her hands and guided her to write - with the intention of introducing the knowledge,  while I explained in as simple way as possible the work being done. I think I've sort of given up getting her to write independently but still hoping that she'd learn something.
          Anyway, God's gentle nudge prompted me to start teaching her to write again. I almost gave up - the 2nd day. She had me crying and boiling inside throughout the day. Being pregnant, I tried hard to control my emotions but failed. I was so disappointed with myself.
          But somehow God decided that I should not give up now. Deep inside,  I felt something kept reminding me to see the readiness in my child. Yes! She does show signs of readiness in learning academically. Several times we 'caught' her peeking at her brother when he is doing his homework.  She'd come over to have a look when the brother complained about some difficult work. Whenever I asked her to come to the table for some work,  she'd willingly come. And whenever I 'helped' her with her maths addition - I'd sometimes feel her hands moving against mine as she attempted to write numbers - at times, the movement is correct.  Plus, she is showing reaction when I praised her for doing her 'homework'. After every exercise,  she'd look at me expectantly. If these aren't readiness - tell me what should I look for....
          On the 3rd day, I decided to try a different approach. I prepared a glass of milk for myself and acted as if I don't expect much from the lesson.  With a neutral tone, I had her trace her numbers 1 and 2 - sometimes just touching her little pinky to get her going. I praised her for good writing but quietly held her hands to correct the wrong ones.
          By the 4th day, she did it! She independently wrote her number 1, with enough strength and pencil control (written within the boxes).  Then we proceeded to number 2. She seemed to have gained more confidence and followed instructions to hold her pencil correctly with the other hand holding on to the sheet of paper, AND have her eyes on the paper while writing. After a few tracings,  she'd look at me for confirmation - we praised her profusely!  I try to build her confidence by having her trace the number 2 (I wrote with light coloured pencil colour) and purposely leaving a few boxes blank here and there.
         By the 6th day, she could write the number 2 without tracing. Isn't that something!!!
         What I have learned from this week is that every child is different.  I believe that she will reach her milestones in her own time. But - I will have to be attentive and alert to her signs of readiness to each milestone and work on them when the time comes. The Montessori concept emphasizes on respecting the child and to teach each child when they are ready.
         I pray that this time I will be more consistent to slowly get her to love learning academically and to continue to improve.


          I shouldn't neglect my son's progress too. For the past months,  he has discovered the fruits of hard work. In his eagerness to receive presents in kindergarten for being in the 1st to 4th position, he told me he wanted me to help him with his revisions prior to his mid year test. The beginning of the year, he got the 5th position and could only look on as his peers receive presents. 2 weeks before his tests, I did intensive revision with him ( while discovering his weaknesses in certain subjects :(, which I didn't really notice before) I created and printed worksheets after worksheets and drilled him with his spelling and surprisingly - he did not complain! He did shed a few tears, when he made mistakes in the worksheets and spelling - but he persevered. The end result - he got the 4th position. He was elated! We celebrated and bought him his favourite comics and made a big fuss of him (while reminding him how his hard work paid off)
          He couldn't stop talking about it that I took this opportunity to get him on track for a good study routine - preparing him for a more gruelling primary 1 life.
          Together with his sister - on the same day - I took the risk of tiring myself - I prepared daily schedule for him. He has the freedom to do whichever of the 4 to 5 items of reading/exercises I prepared for the day - in return for a sticker. He has to promise me not to ask or 'beg' for ipad or tv time during school days nor to complain about his workload. (More for my sanity) I do however, reduce his work when he looks tired.
          So, my son has been on daily schedule for a week too. He learned to quickly finish his work and he is free to read his comics and play. On Friday, he'll have 6 stickers (we start from Sunday) to enable his access to ipad games we downloaded (no wifi for videos). He can have the ipad until Saturday but he still has a few light items to do in his schedule like colouring and flash cards revision. (My time to relax :)  I am hoping that we can continue with this pace through the next 6 weeks of school. Then we'll have around 5 weeks of school holiday where I need to work on his weaker subjects. Hopefully by next year, I won't have difficulty getting him into the primary 1 rhythm without having to send him to tuition classes. Praying hard. :)

Updates... on Jay (sort of)

I have to keep reminding myself that I need to be fair to both my children. As I spend more time teaching my daughter, I still have a son who needs my attention just as much. He is such a blessing to us... but at times I have to remind myself that he is still young and I know I am rather tough on him as I expected alot from him.

      This year is his last year in kindergarten. Next year he will be in Primary 1. He insisted on going to the same school as sister, which after long discussions and thought, we registered him there. Hopefully by not separating them in different schools, he will grow up learning to protect his sister in the community.

       He learnt to love reading chinese books and comics during free time, and has been requesting for books and more books as presents when he get good marks in his school tests. We don't mind getting him books, as he really does put in alot of effort in his study when we promised him the books... And he learnt alot of the idioms and proverbs in Chinese... he loves to test me all the time - knowing well that I am not that proficient in Chinese. I am still working on his phonics and English though. And his suku kata and BM certainly needs some pushing. I'll work on that intensively during the school holiday.

      As for his piano, his piano teacher is getting him ready for Grade 1 next year - so I'll have to start worrying where to get him a real piano for practice at home.

      I'm giving him until the end of the year to decide if he will continue with his arts class outside. He doesn't seem to progress much in his colouring skills from his 3 hours per week lessons. It has been almost 8 months but I do not see any progress from the arts that he brought home every week. We'll see....

       He has been a huge help in helping to keep an eye on his sister whenever we are not free, or when they are at MIL. He knows how to handle his sister, and loves to insist sister to interact with him. The sister will comply when she is in the mood but there will be 'squabbles' too... which I think is normal between children - especially when they are after the same toys. He forces sister to learn to share her things and taught her her 'school work' in his own cute ways. I am glad that the sister is quite compliant with her brother.

      He has also been helping alot with housework. He learnt to wash the dishes (which I need to redo when he is not watching), helped to sort out the mountain of clean clothes, sometimes folding his and sister's clothes, helped to put dirty clothes into the washing machine, pick up the living room (after scolding), vacumm the floor, etc etc.... for a 6 year old, he is doing quite alot, in my opinion.

      Anyway, I am aware that he is still a little boy. I still have a lot of things that I need to teach him as he grows up - hopefully into an all rounded personality that is able to care and love his sister and this family well.

Updates.... progress in Joy (sort of)

It has certainly been quite awhile since I updated this space. I check in everyday, to go through the blogs I follow, but does not seem to feel the need to write. Rather, I am not feeling very chatty. Anyway, as usual, there always seem to be something that prompt me to write something. So here I am....

         As for progress in my daughter, I can see much improvement in her daily living skills. Improvements are good, though they do pose more problems at times. She is quite independent nowadays when it comes to changing her own clothes. She changes into her pajamas when it's almost bedtime (sometimes on her own, sometimes with a reminder from me), and when she wakes up in the morning, she would change into her day clothes - all by herself. She automatically will pick up her clothes and put them in the dirty pile. BUT - with this, she also started to exercise her preference of clothes. At times she would wear the same blouse and shorts for days, until I step in and throw them into the washing machine, at which she would reluctantly find other clothes to wear. She even knows to put the clothes she wanted to re-wear, after changing into pajamas at a place or hide them in a bag so that she can wear them again the next day. I caught her observing me, when I purposely try to get the clothes she laid nicely on the chair for the next day. The moment I touch the clothes, she ran and took them away.... hmmm.... somehow I don't mind. As she shows a character where she would protect what she wants. As long she doesn't make a fuss when I insisted on throwing them into the washing machine, I am ok. Previously she didn't or rather not know how to choose pajamas that matches in colours, now she would go and search for the matching sets first. But she knows if she can't find the matching ones, she can always wear whatever she found. So there's flexibility.

          As she is taller now, she started to cast her sights on higher places - upper parts of cabinets, top of closets and cupboards, upper part drawers... anywhere she was not able to explore before. (did I mentioned that she loves 'exploring?). She learnt to make use of chairs and stools, and even canes to climb and open doors which we kept closed with special hinge - not too sure what it's called. With her new problem solving skills, we have to be more diligent in keeping an eye on her - believe me, she can cause a real havoc. An example of an incident was at her grandmother's place. I was late from work, and she was to explore on her own while her grandmother rested. In less than 20 minutes (I was told), the grandmother began to get curious since the girl has been quiet and out of sight - that she began searching for her. Alas! This naughty girl got her hands on her uncle's new can of hair wax (put on top of the cupboard) and brought it upstairs and started to 'wax' the newly laminated living room floor, grandmother's bedroom floor, chest of drawers and her bed! When I arrive, the grandmother was exhausted from cleaning and mopping the place over and over again. - Her poor knees really hurt for the next few days. Though this incident did not surprise me at all, (she did this all the time in our own house - but we manage to minimize them by not letting her out of our sight at all) - it really shows how things will get more and more complicated as this girl grow older and older.

         As for her feeding herself, it depends on her mood or rather the type of food served. When she is back from school, she will usually feed herself 'coz she's really hungry and keep out of her sight. For dinner at our own home, she would sometimes want me to feed her or she would not eat at all - especially if the food is not her favourite. I had to insist on her feeding herself at least half of her plate before I feed her - or if I'm feeling lazy, I'll let her off for not finishing her food. Scolding her will not solve anything - and I do have to pick my battles with her.

        She has learnt to bathe herself too, with someone (grandmother or me) sitting outside the bathroom giving instructions - clean here, clean there...etc... hopefully she will progress to cleaning herself without instructions soon. She knows to take her bath towel and head to the bathroom with minimum prompt. Perhaps this is partly because she does feel hot and stuffy in school uniform for the whole morning.

       We usually have to pack at least 5 sets of the children' daily clothes to bring to my mil since they bathe there during school days. At first I tasked my son to find and pack the clothes every Sunday/Monday. However, since my girl now has preference of what clothes she would like to wear, she sometimes would take out her clothes (packed by brother) and change with her favourite ones. That's good, right? At times when she did not like the choice of clothes at grandmother's place, she would comply by wearing whatever she has and change them when she got home. I don't mind this, as it's better than her previous behaviour of insisting not to wear anything she didn't like that we had to let her re wear her school uniform (after bath) and change her when we got back home.

         Another skill/ compliance that makes my life easier is that she will respond when ever we asked if she needs to go to the toilet when we are not at home. As a habit, she would go to the toilet before we go out. But if we are out and about, which we often are, I'll just have to remember to ask her if she needs to go... she will quickly pull us/ or run to the direction of the toilet. At times when we forgot to ask, she would simply pull us to the toilet direction. Now I'll just have to figure out how to get her in the toilet and close the door for her business. Plus we are still working on her learning to wipe herself after toilet.

        Though I could not say that she has improved in her speech, we will sometimes get short forms of certain words that she wanted to say. We are still working on her in this area - as she is really stubborn in imitating sounds or producing sounds that we wanted her to learn. We had to be be creative to get her to pronounce/ say certain words all throughout the day so as not to make her feel that we are 'working' on her speech. But one thing I am happy with is that she willingly respond with some sounds/any sounds, if I am searching for her. If I was resting on the sofa, and I can't see her anywhere from my position, I'll just call out, and she would respond.

       Most of the time she is very compliant to my requests. If I need a rest after work, and her brother is not around to help me keep an eye on her, I'll ask her to sit on the swing with her favourite toy or book (the swing positioned strategically where I can see her from my resting position). AS I drifted in and out of my naps, she will be sitting on the swing until she sees that I am awake.

        Her interest in music seem to increase, though not in a way that I know how to handle. I haven't manage to figure out how to expand on this. Whenever she listens to songs a few times, she would be able to hum along the exact tune. She may not sound the same lyrics, but she would hum them with her own lyrics.... wah, wah, wah,.... lalala, papapa... etc.... Any idea how to expand on this?

    What else.... for her academics, she has shown some interests in maths and colouring. She is still not writing independently, but as I gently hold her hands when doing her maths exercises, she has the strength in the movement of the numbers she is writing. She is still working on addition of 0 - 5 with visual help. As for colouring, she knows not to colour out of the line, but still not able to control the strength. At times when I am not free, and she is feeling hardworking, she would put her colouring book or her maths book on the dining table. I usually do work with her on my own work table, but her brother does work on the dining table. I like to keep the dining table free from books when it's not 'school' time. - So I guess she knows that by putting the books on the dining table, she will get my attention. (just a wishful thought). Whenever I am coaching her brother with school work or spelling, she seemed to pay attention and would sometimes came near to peek at her brother's work. Plus she loves to flip through her brother's kindergarten books. We just have to be careful not to let her tear them apart. We have not manage to get her to mend this habit. Her own school books are in such state. sigh

      Since we are getting to the end of the school year, it is time for me to gear up with some preparation to teach her more consistently - I'll have around 6 weeks to work with her during the school holiday before she enters Primary 3.

Updates.... and some thoughts on homeschooling.

          I fully have the intention to let this blog rest for sometime coz I have other plans that needed my attention. But somehow, a friend's simple question asking me about my opinion of homeschooling got me thinking. Well, it's more of a push of that 'guilt' button that's always there but ignored. (it's not her fault - I'd like to think of it as God's gentle reminder of my responsibilities.

          As some of you might realize, I have been focusing more on myself for the past months. 2014 wasn't a good year for my family - especially me. With my daughter just entering primary school, I've had to deal with her many different issues that cropped up every few weeks, and the stress at work almost suffocated me. To make things worse, I have this bad habit of stress eating. - which is why 2014 sees me at my heaviest and most uncomfortable phase of health. I'd get easily tired, mentally exhausted and very bad tempered. - which is NOT good for my family.

          Anyway, I've started pushing myself to exercise, and eat a healthy diet AND managed to lose weight. I am very happy to report that as of now, I've lost about 10kg. I have more confidence in myself. I don't look or feel easily tired. And the most important is that I feel renewed.

          But when I look back, I feel a tinge of guilt. 'Coz in my 'quest' for health, I have in a way neglected my children. Previously, I am totally focussed on them. I don't have to cook (we go to my mil's), and I have a cleaning maid coming every week to clean the house. - which means that I have all the time (after work) to concentrate on my children especially on my daughter.

          For the past months, I leave them be. I started cooking our own meals, learning to bake, doing household chores myself (no more maid) and exercising. - which translates to less time with the children. I confronted my husband with my 'guilt' and he was very supportive - saying that he's happy that I've finally decided to 'love' myself and take care of myself and my personal development.

         But the guilt is still there. This year, my daughter is in Primary 2. This first month did not go too well. In just the first 2 weeks she managed to tear almost all her text books. She cried and refused to wear her school uniform for the first week. And refused to wear her PE uniform on the 2 days they have PE in school. She did not drink her water at all in school - and rushed for water right after she arrived at grandmother's after school. Just last Friday, she came home with a classmate's book which she tore. Her teacher asked her to bring back the book to be repaired and returned on Monday.

          I've only done the minimum for her school work too. When I am able, I'll get her to do some writing exercise and finish a few pages of her school workbooks. (Her teachers never gave her any homework - mainly because she can't write on her own yet) I think her teachers just tolerated her 'existence' because we insist on sending her to the mainstream. The only things that kept us with this decision was that though she did not improve in her academics, both the teachers and I agree that she improved in her social skills. - Our main purpose for the mainstream. Other parents may think socializing is not that important compared to academics, but to us, it's the start to her survival skills.

          Since December, I sent her to piano class. Again. I requested on personal one to one instruction. Initially I accompanied her to give the teacher some idea on how to get her to follow instruction and concentrate on the lesson. So far, she is doing okay. She does seem to remember the notes taught and are more often cooperative than not. But we did not insist on the theory and written part of the lesson. She is also starting to show her musical instincts. Both her father and I love listening to music and we would often hum or sing anywhere and everywhere. My son got his father's talent in modifying lyrics into his own songs. As for my daughter, she has started humming the songs we have been singing AND fitting in her own 'words' in the music. hahaha.... try to imagine how her daddy smiles when she sang 'da di da di' to a popular song.

          As for my son, he thrived in his own way. He begged to go to arts classes and loves it. He still has his piano lessons, and is now planning for extra English classes outside too. He has more self control and very obedient. His kindergarten has water play every 2 weeks, and he never asked to play but instead reads or does his homework in class just because I told him he's not allowed to play with water in school. ( I do let him play with our water pool at home). I managed to get him to read books, magazines as pastime since we don't have television at home. He gets his dose of the TV at his grandmother after school. He is also his sister's little teacher. He'd sometimes think of some skills he wanted his sister to learn, and start teaching her. It is so endearing to see his persistence and the sister's willingness to follow his instructions. He is so ready to be a big brother that he has been praying aloud to God for a baby brother or sister. I am still not sure how to handle this request since both hubby and I have finally decided that we are really done with just 2.

          Anyway, after much thought last night, I am again gearing up for more lessons at home now that I feel more energetic and healthier. I hope I will have the persistence to be more consistent. I may not be posting as much, coz I think it'll be more of reading together and discussions, and working on my selection of 'school' books with a bit of arts and crafts thrown in. The montessori materials, flash cards and educational games and programmes will still be used - but they're all the same things that I've posted before. When I bought whole sets of 'curriculum', I fully intend to finish them. The different sets of whole programs could actually last until they are around 8-10 years old. I'm still adding quality reading materials to our collection in my effort to create a print-rich environment for them. (my main problem is that my daughter loves to tear the books apart). Since last November, I've added Legos to our list of creative work and the kids have been hanging around when I bake. (I told them mummy's learning and they are very curious to see what I'm baking. I hope this will ignite some interest in the kitchen too - home economics, right? hihi)

          Why trouble myself?
Sometimes, my colleagues would comment why do I need to spend so much energy on my children. They suggested me to just send them off to tuition centres and that's it. I don't have to buy or make the 'learning' materials and spend so much money, time and energy - and tire myself. But I think this is all worth it. My only regret is that I am not able to this full time. But I am grateful that my full time work does allow me to have more time to do all these. I am willing to search, research, spend money on materials, source out specific classes that I myself is not able to teach, and even learn some of the skills myself to be more able to guide my own children. But is this homeschooling? I guess in a way, it is - for my daughter. Since she's very young, though she does go to preschool and what nots, my purpose has always been the social and independence skills. I taught her her ABC's and 1,2,3's..... and all other things - at home. - and she gets to learn to generalise them in school. As for my boy, he is still young. I will still continue to teach him myself, focusing on his strength, and at the same time allowing him to learn the social aspect in the community (in kindy and in school) - and hopes that he'll grow into a well rounded person. I talked to him alot about the happenings in school and we discussed about almost everything we can think of. In a way, he is a mature little person.

          So, will I continue this when they are older?
Yes. It is my indefinite responsibility. I will continue to 'homeschool' my daughter based on her interests and strength. And there is a term 'afterschooling' for my son. - which means teaching him things other than the things he learns in school. This will mostly be about honing his interests and strength. As for now, I can see his interests and strength is in maths, arts and music. Besides, isn't this almost a norm for students who went to private schools here? They study international syllabus and at the same time they study for Malaysian Public examination too.

          Won't this be too much for him?
Well, I think with my knowledge of the public school system, I'll be able to adjust things accordingly. That is why he needs to learn to be disciplined and use his time wisely since young, so that he'll have the ability to organize his time wisely for both school work and his interests.

          He is still young. Give him a break.
 I have my responsibility to raise up children who are well-rounded and this starts right from the beginning of their life. Pampering and shielding them from the ugly side of the society won't help them. I hope for my children to grow up able to recognize the good and the bad - and to be able to handle them properly (which is why I discussed about life and issues with them even though they are still very young). Adult life doesn't start just like that. It is continuous, and one day when they suddenly find themselves faced with adulthood and it's responsibilities, I hope they will use all the skills they've learnt since young.
       

There is no right or wrong in parenting. The same goes for homeschooling, afterschooling  or flexischooling. Every household is unique and no one approach fits into every situation. This is what fits into my family for now. Who knows, it might change as my children grow?

Year End Holiday - Days 2 to 7

The little girl went home to my parents. She's so happy to go and packed her bag willingly.

The boy learnt phonics online.

Had lots of time creating with blocks and mega blocks. He hasn't played with these for a long time (my fault), and I needed to keep on challenging him to build things. I guess children do forget how to be creative when left to rust.

I finally gave in and allowed legos to come into the house. These are only China made, but sufficient enough. The quality may not be as good as the original legos I've played with then I was young, but they do provide hours or fun creative thinking for my boy. And taught him patience... hihi, coz these legos tend to get loose more often. (think of quality)

Taking our lessons online

Phew! When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was to mentally plan the activities to be done with my children. Previously, I merely looked for the site my boy have been using through my fb, but somehow it disappeared. I searched through my pinterest and finally googled for phonics lessons, shifted through the many list of phonics programmes being offered and phew! I found it. Now I figured that posting the list I'm using would be a safer bet. So, here is the list.

1. http://www.readingbear.org/ - I loved it for it's flexibility to choose and repeat lessons.
2. http://www.abcfastphonics.com/
3. http://www.progressivephonics.com/
4. http://www.starfall.com/

Not much of a list. But these are the ones I frequent. I might add on to the list as I discover more that we liked.

Since I am doing this, I might as well make a list of our arts lessons online.

1. http://www.kinderart.com/
2. http://eduart4kids.com/
3. http://artforkidshub.com/ (our favourite)

Year end holiday - Day 1

I am guilty of not being consistent when it comes to doing activities with my children. This time, I am trying to make myself accountable by committing myself to post pictures of the activities we did every day - for the whole 6 weeks of holiday. It may sound overwhelming, but I am giving myself some allowance by posting once every few days, at best.

So, this is today.

Other conscious teaching :

1. Piano lesson

2. Table manners (meal outside)

3. Manners outside 

Art Class at home

          I found this wonderful site where young children can learn to draw and paint. It is called Art for Kids Hub. I've tried some of the easiest paintings with both my kids and they loved it. In the past week, my boy was itching for drawing lessons. So I introduced him to the site and he has been so excited for 'drawing lessons' everyday. 

Holiday fun!

Home made Hexi cards

Bingo game

Origami

Paper models.

A glimpse into our 'school'... (Jay)

          I try not to create competitive environment in my household. I realized long ago that comparison between my kids would end up with one being proud, and the other feeling helpless. In academics, I tried my best to provide exercises that did not undermine any of them. For instance, if my daughter is still working on the same kindergarten workbooks as her younger brother, I would photocopy them. This way, both would have black and white version of the workbooks, instead of one having the original, colouful version, and the other using a photocopied version. (I discovered this, when my daughter would take her brother's colourful book and almost tear apart the cover. Yet she never tried to destroy any of his photocopied books.)
          Anyway, this post is about my son. He is using the same 'books' I made for both of them. So, the following photos will be more or less the same as his sister's post yesterday.
But I can confidently say that, he did them all himself - after some explanation from me.

Chinese handwriting and word recognition.

Sight words.

Sight words and colours.

I'm still having him working on the simpler maths. But he is speeding through them.

more sight words exercise.

His reward for doing 'school'. 

He made this into a welcoming home card for daddy.

He is recently interested in organs. I bought the book long time ago. 

He initially told me it's gross and scary when I tried to introduce him to the book. 

Anyway, I have placed some more Scholastic book orders for more titles for him.