Our school holidays Pt 2

I can't believe how fast time speeds by! Been having sleepless nights lately because just next week, we are starting on an entirely new schedule and yes, going to school, even though I'm not the one, gives me the jitters. I realized too no matter how much we treasure and value time, those precious preschool moments with Zech are a thing of the past. All turned into memories and I wonder if we would still remember them when Zech is 21. Would he tell others, 'You know? I was homeschooled during my preschool years?' Would he share of trips to the garden and parks when most of his peers were in school?

Life is really very very short. Kids grow up all too fast. I hope the values and the Biblical truths stay with Zech.

A recap of our Dec hols...

We continued with the Christmas story using 'Truth in the Tinsel'.

Collaboration between the brothers to stitch a small pillow, which represented Joseph's dream where an angel appeared, telling him to take Mary as his wife.

The finished product!

Painting. An enjoyable activity for the 2 brothers.

Another of their fav craft - the nativity.

After we read about Jesus' first visitors, the shepherds, we made a sheep snack out of grapes, bananas, marshmallows and raisins.

Posing very happily for the camera, as they couldn't wait to start eating!

Some other activities tied in with Christmas...

Nativity shadow match

Bought these foam cutouts from a website a few years ago. The kids have been using these to create their nativity scene.

Most importantly, after Christmas, we spent some time reflecting on the story and what it really means. Zech was very keen to say the sinner's prayer. I think by now, he is able to comprehend the Gospel message. Nathanael simply followed but after praying, he asked to listen to 'Jesus Loves Me'. Maybe that was his response to the message.

I've not seen him so serious before. :) I was so touched!

Boys are boys. Zech requested to go to the beach at Sentosa on his 6th birthday. He was unwell that day so we postponed the trip to a week later. So there we were on a warm and sunny Friday!

We had a joy ride on the beach tram after a McDonald's lunch, which is a rare treat for the kids!

Feeling very pleased with their happy meal toys.

Zech attended an inline skating camp at Bishan Sports Hall.

We bought him a pair of roller blades from Decathlon as his Christmas present, hoping to motivate him to continue the sport.

The boys had playdates with several friends. Zoom Park, Changi Airport, Gardens by the Bay, Christmas parties. They are very blessed.

The excitement of the hols and festive season has simmered down. We are preparing for school, be it at home or outside. And that's another very different story to tell next year.

Blessed New Year!

Our school holidays 2016 Pt 1

The festive season is here again! The best time of the year and the most loved season of all! Carnival rides, a jaunt in the Botanic Gardens, catching free live shows in shopping malls... The list goes on.

I've signed up Zech for a couple of holiday programmes since Nov.

1. The Learning Lab at United Square

A chance for Zech to hone his presentation skills. Having stayed home most of the time for school, I'm quite concerned about his oral and communication skills. At home, he can rattle on and on like a pro but I'm just not sure how he would fare in a classroom setting. Spending 2 mornings at TLL had built up his confidence and given him plenty of chances to speak and read to more than just Mummy and Nathanael.

Presentation draft.

Some of the reading materials.

My only complaint was combining the P1 and P2 children together in the same class. Perhaps it was a holiday class and perhaps there weren't enough P1 kids who enroll in the programme. But I'd much rather prefer resources specially to prepare K2 kids for P1 next year.

2. Artary at Kovan

It's a small art school but the pirate themed art programme was fantastic! The only problem I have is Zech getting too much help from the teacher. Most of the art pieces ended up really similar. But still, Zech enjoyed it much more than NAFA.

3. Vacation Bible School by Ambassador Baptist Church

A 3-day camp, Zech spent his time learning how to be his best for Christ. He came home reciting  the memory verse from the King James version! Amazing! He was very blessed to get the same teacher as the last VBS in June. The spiritual food the kids were given far surpassed any other holiday programmes.

4. Creepy Crawlies Workshop

This was conducted by NParks. During school hols, I try to sign up Zech for at least one of the programmes at Botanic Gardens or Jacob ballas Garden. This was 4 hours long and I paid $50 for it. The age range was pretty wide. Some of Zech's worksheets were beyond his age. But he knew all the answers! The teacher must have taught well.

Love this mini garden he made by himself. He repeated the instructions to me a few times. Hahaha! He really sounded like a teacher.

5. Lovable Wolves

This was the one and only storytelling and craft session I signed up for Zech at Yishun library. Cos the popular ones were all snatched up. I didn't expect much. However, the session was good! The stories were captivating. The maze worksheet was something Zech loves to do. The craft was well-taught and each child even received a little toy at the end. In fact, the entire session was very well-organised.  For once, I think the librarian was a good storyteller.

His last class in the 4 to 6 age group.

6. Basketball under ActiveSG
The best thing about programmes from ActiveSG is they are subsidised! For 5 sessions of basketball, I paid about $60 after subsidy. It was a small group of about 5 kids or so from 3 to 6 years old.

7. Chengzhu Mandarin Centre (Chinese branch under Julia Gabriel) at Rochester Mall
Finally finally, Nathanael got his turn in attending a holiday class at Chengzhu. As usual, he cried on the first day. But from day 2 onwards, he was willing to walk in on his own and was even looking forward to the next lesson! He's progressing. :)

The class, again comprising of both N1 and N2, was mainly focused on cultural arts and immersion. Nathanael was able to recite a poem and even sang a few lines of Chinese folk songs. That was pretty impressive to me for a 3 year old who has never attended school beyond the home. On the last day, parents were invited to sit in for a half an hour session. My Nathanael was able to introduce himself! But he claimed to be 林宣义 (Zech's name)!!! Oh no! Even so, I'm still very elated over his mini performance for me in class. Didn't expect him to be able to sing and recite poetry together with his friends and teachers. Though it didn't last, after 30 min or so, he was restless and started doing his own stuff.

This holiday, we are still having tons of fun and the  main highlight of each day is the Christmas activities. We have our own holiday programme at home too. I'm using 'Truth in the Tinsel' again. Check it out if you are keen at http://truthinthetinsel.com/.

Find the materials very suitable for kids and my boys look forward to a small segment of the Christmas story and the craft following it every day.

The Bible I'm using besides the digital one from iPhone and ipad.

The boys love angels and simply adore their angel craft.

All the crafts they have done thus far...

Not forgetting their very first Christmas craft for the year back in Nov before we started 'truth in the Tinsel'.

It's an exciting season and we ae hoping to do more Christmassy stuff next week!

Saying goodbye to preschool days

As with all goodbyes, it is hard. It has come to a time when I can only look back and reminisce the days that were passed in a flash. The days of learning in pjs, the days spent in the park and garden, the quiet mornings of work and play are soon part of our homeschooling memories with Zech.

We started off the school year with a bang. A bang literally in a negative sense. It seems fuzzy now but I remember the resistance Zech put up on day 1 of homeschool. He had completed the God's Creation syllabus and was moving on to learning God's story. Can't quite recall the details but I learned that anything new or unfamiliar will cause Zech to be in stress mode.

There were challenging times but to be fair, it wasn't difficult for Zech to comply. I've seen really tough kids. Zech isn't that tough really. He enjoys reading stories. He loves Science, just like a typical boy. On good days, he likes doing Math. On not so good days, he finds it a chore. He struggled with summarizing stories, which I must admit is a difficult skill for his age. He relied a lot on his memory, especially familiar Bible stories. He can recite the contents of the Old and New Testament like a machine gun. Because of his good memory, he remembers all 29 Bible verses from Proverbs. I can't do it :(. I'm amazed he can even remember most of the chapters and verses from which each verse came from. There are things he dislikes about homeschool. For instance, the phonics drill in the workbook or reviewing memory verses almost daily. However, if you were to ask him, he wouldn't admit it. That's Zechariah.

This was taken during the last week of school. He was completing the last few summaries of the Bible story.

I used to sit beside him and guide him through. One day, he said he wanted to do it independently. I struggled a lot because I'm just not sure what kind of 'rubbish' he would give me. But I guess I need to let go and trust that he's doing his best. We usually did the editing together after that. Many days passed by peacefully, except when Nathanael disturbed him at times.

Something that Zech likes - solving puzzles using pattern blocks.

Our learning journey to the Lighthouse (a school for the visually handicapped) with the homeschool group.

Where the boys had the chance to dramatise the story of Si Ma Guang with other homeschoolers and pupils from Lighthouse.

It was a time to learn about empathy, compassion and acceptance for children from all walks of life.

Our last outing at a nearby park. Watching the trains passed by while reading on the picnic mat and picking up green leaves for leaf printing later were some of the activities the boys enjoyed.

Our last green project for the year. Growing new leaves from a carrot top.

Our young sunflower shoots. The boys planted the seeds and witnessed how it has grown from a seedling to a young plant.

The best part about homeschool was learning God's Word together. Learning the language through the Bible stories was the most enjoyable. The Bible Reader was where Zech learned to read. The context and the teachings that came with it were like a treasure trove. The Bible notebook was where Zech learned to write. Summarising was a difficult skill but he tried. The writing wasn't perfect with spelling and grammar errors but was perfect learning ground for him.

His final project - a show and tell to be presented on graduation day.

Notice the part he wrote about how he likes the Bible notebook? I was pleasantly surprised. All along, I thought he hated it. I guess he's grown proud of his notebook because behind the writing was a lot of hard work and effort.

Our homeschooling journey hasn't been one without tears. We learned to plunge on with perseverance, even on bad days. We picked up the broken pieces and tried to do things better the next time and our journey becomes slightly more pleasant for everyone. Some days were like the calm sea and some days were tensely rocky. It has been a meaningful journey for us. The close bonding between parent and child, the customization of daily learning and spiritual growth together as we discover God's truths revealed in our lives were priceless. With mixed feelings, we have closed this chapter. With much excitement and trepidation, a new beginning lies ahead of us. God has guided us to a school for Zech and we trust that God will lead him to grow in knowledge and stature, in favour with God and men.

Our family photoshoot at Sentosa

We had a fun family photoshoot at Tanjong Beach, Sentosa.  It was warm and sunny. The kids enjoyed it, especially the sand and water play.

Check out some of our photos taken by Michel Tay photography (www.micheltay.com). I love how our family was captured in very natural poses.

Play is serious stuff.

He was happiest in the water.

We had our photos taken some months back in July. Very pleasant experience and the boys thoroughly enjoyed it though it was tough getting them to flash their smiles. Playing while taking their photos seem to be the best choice.