Butterfly alive!

Homeschool has been exciting lately. From witnessing how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly to growing crystals, life has never been better at home.

I'm always amazed to see first-hand the magical transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Previously, as a teacher, I had kept some twice and I would spend time observing the caterpillars. By the time I released the butterflies, I would share with others how an active caterpillar with 'diarrhoea' is about to change into a chrysalis.

As Zech studied the unit on butterfly, we bought 2 butterfly kits from the butterfly lodge for $5 each. 4 caterpillars in total. Check out http://www.ohfarms.com.sg/butterfly.

One morning, I noticed the caterpillar hanging upside down. So I told Zech it was ready to built its cocoon.

True enough. As Zech was having breakfast, right in front of him, the caterpillar started to wriggle and we could see it secreting some kind of liquid to form the chrysalis.

Within a short span of time, the larva was in the pupa stage.

In exactly a week later, the chrysalis has turned black at the bottom. Again, I prepared my boy to watch for the big change.

Too bad we didn't catch the butterfly coming out of the chrysalis. Hopefully we could do that for at least one of the others. After naptime, I checked on it again. Lo and behold! The butterfly was out! Not flying yet as the wings were still damp.

After about an hour, it started flapping its wings. In the evening while it was still bright, we released it in the roof garden.

Zech was really excited. We had read a book 'Bye bye butterfly' and he wanted to re-enact the scene from the story where the kids all waved and said bye bye to their butterflies. We watched our butterfly take flight and gradually, it flew higher and higher, further and further away from us.

This unit on the butterfly is really interesting. We did some awesome craft.

My boys used a spoon to put some paint on one side of the butterfly. Then, fold over and open to see the magic. Perfect way to teach symmetry!



Used playdough to illustrate the life cycle of the butterfly.

In the first pic, it should be egg first followed by the larva. Didn't notice these were placed wrongly for photo-taking till I see this now.

Memory work with butterfly craft.

Didn't know tissue paper craft can be so pretty! Wish I had bought more.

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Thought of doing a short and useful sharing for every blog post so here's my first!

Teaching the place value concept is really important to build up a child's Mathematical concept and understanding of numbers.

Here, Zech counts aloud 21 cubes. For every 10 ones, he exchanges it for 1 ten.

He exchanges 20 ones for 2 tens. Then he says aloud 2 tens and 1 one = 21. We've been doing this daily since Zech started learning numbers above 10. When he learned to count in 10s, he was able to visualise the number rather than just memorisation.

Concrete learning like this is essential for a young child. There are other Math manipulative that can be used besides cubes and rods. Using ice-cream sticks or straws then bundle them together for every 10 ones made are good resources too. For the place value chart, simply use Powerpoint, create a table with 2 rows and 3 columns and type in hundreds, tens and ones. Laminate it for durability. This chart comes in useful for learning addition and subtraction with numbers above 10 too.

Nathanael's almost 2!

Before Nathanael was born, Zech was the centre of our attention. With Nathanael, our attention became somewhat divided. It has never been equal it seems. How to? I simply work on priorities.

Ever since Zech was of school-going age, our mornings and even late afternoons are spent on 'school'. I feel guilty sometimes for not reading every day with Nathanael.  I remember when Zech was Nathanael's age, I never fail to read to him every single day. And it must be at least 4 English and 4 Mandarin books. Now I can only read (at most) 2 English and 2 Mandarin books every day to Zech and Nathanael separately.

Other than reading, Nathanael does a lot of stuff with his brother. Sometimes, he joins us for school. Painting, do-a-dot, colouring, playdough, play pretend etc. It's a different ball game altogether with the second child. So I wonder if Nathanael learns as much as Zech. Although I don't teach him explicitly, he is picking up things by listening while I homeschool Zech. Nathanael's always the first to get stuff for me when I need to. In a way, he learns alongside Zech. That's how he picks up new words and expands his vocabulary I guess. He's not 2 yet but I hear him speaking in complete sentences sometimes.

As Nathanael is about to turn 2 in a month's time, I'm grateful and contented with how much he has grown since he was born in 2013.

Nathanael was tiny at birth but grew steadily.

At almost 2 years now, his height is above 50th percentile and his weight is at 50th percentile.

Here's Nathanael with his favourite instrument, the ukulele.

Nathanael's also most blessed to have a brother who loves him very much.

When Zech was learning to ride his bike, Nathanael was happy to toddle behind.

The 2 brothers singing during morning devotion. A joyful sight for me indeed.

During school time with Zech, these are what Nathanael does sometimes.

Nathanael enjoying his quiet moment. A far cry from when we first begun in Jan.

Picking up pom poms with tongs is an easy task for him it seems.

Nathanael does have his quirky ways. Sleeping on the floor outside our bedroom in the middle of the night is a daily affair.

He would do anything for food, especially rice and snacks.

Never a day of boredom with 2 boys. I'm glad Nathanael is the youngest and last child in our family. He needs that kind of attention which he would never get if I had a third. In Nathanael's 2nd year, I pray that God continues to plant His Word in Nathanael's heart and mould his character to be faithful and strong.