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.

Learning Mandarin thru watching plays

 It has always been my belief that immersion in drama brings tremendous benefits to the language arts. Lately, I noticed the local arts scene is more actively making Mandarin come alive for our young ones.

Just last week, I brought Zech to DBS Arts centre to watch 金发姑娘和三只熊 (Goldilocks and the 3 bears) in Mandarin. Though it wasn't exactly perfect, I find the musical and set on the stage really captivating and the songs catchy. Till today, I can still hum one of the songs the 3 bears sang on stage. I've watched so many children's plays since my days as a teacher. This is the first time the same tune kept playing in my head.

The musical was organised by 'The Little Company'. Tickets on sale were affordable at about $22 on weekdays. As we went in a big group with other kids, I bought the tics at $16.90 per person after discount.

What was impressive was also the teacher resource pack given to us. I've seen other resource packs and this is really one of the more detailed resources ever given. Worksheets were pitched at different levels for the various age groups.

I printed out 3 different activities for Zech to do. There were other more creative ones such as drawing or thinking of various uses for wood but due to time constraint, I opted for less time-consuming worksheets.

Got Zech to do a follow-up activity in his jotter book after the show. I asked him to tell me his favourite character. Surprise surprise. He told me it was 熊妈妈 because she can sing well. It's true! So my boy can judge good versus mediocre vocals. Haha!

Zech's writing in English. Didn't want to stress Zech since he has started learning to write Chinese characters not too long ago. I want him to enjoy this activity and not find it a chore.

 

 



Being curious, I also asked Zech which character he likes the least. He said Goldilocks because she entered a house and slept on a bed without permission. Sometimes, I'm quite amazed at my 4yo's thoughts and questions. :)

The next up and coming Mandarin play organised by "The Little Company' is another timeless fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling". If you are interested, go check it out here:
http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/ugly0815

Celebrating 100th day of homeschool!

Reaching 100 days of school was no mean feat. In homeschool, this must be a milestone and indeed a day to celebrate. For a beginning homeschool mum like me, 100 days of school are filled with many ups and downs, overflowing with God's guidance and blessings.

To work towards 100 days, Zech filled up a 100 chart, which was part of our homeschool routine.

When we first started out, I wrote the number for him but starting from 67, Zech took over and wrote the number himself. You can see how his handwriting progresses here.

To celebrate our 100th day of school, I did some simple décor (inspired by a friend's blog) and prepared activities in relation to 100. Very fun to be doing all these.

Bought a variety of snacks from the supermarket. Laid out 100 pieces of snacks on the dining table.

Zech, using a big ziplock bag, chose and counted his snacks. In his enthusiasm, he tended to grab a handful instead of one at a time so Mummy had to remind him to take one and count them all.

Nath loves this too of course. He was the quietest throughout as all he needed to do was eat. This was one of the best moments for me.

 

Printed out a hat (similar to 'The cat in the hat') and Zech counted and pasted 100 jewels on the hat.

 

Using do-a-dot markers (Zech's fav), he decorated the number 100.

Then he played 100 types of games. Thought of doing this as my boys have too much energy. Zech was tired by the end of this and was resting on the sofa. A rare sight indeed!

See my little one taking part with Zech? He NEEDS to be included!

Wrote what Zech needed to do on small pieces of paper. For each game, he had to do 10 times. I gave him a 100 chart and he circled the number of times he had done for each game till he reached 100.

Finally, he completed his '100th' worksheet. For this, he struggled quite a bit and had to be guided closely.

A really cool and different way to celebrate school here in Singapore. Love the concept!

Growing up. Never a simple and easy process.

Since the start of the year, I have been struggling with Nathanael, especially in the morning while I'm teaching Zech. This little boy of mine is very persistent. If training is required, it takes weeks and sometimes months. He is a real test of my patience and perseverance.

When Nath is fine, he's very huggable and ahem, adorable. I know I'm biased but all mothers are towards their own.

 

When we first started out in Jan with Nathanael alongside us, he cried and kicked up a din every time I tried to teach Zech. There was absolutely nothing he could occupy himself with. Or rather, he didn't want to. Then I noticed he was interested in whatever Zech was doing. So I gave him some of the manipulatives. From then on, I realised mess is his best friend. The entire house is turned upside down. It's like a battlefield. However, he was still discontented and kept disturbing us. Even when I was reading to Zech, he would cry and wail at the top of his voice. It was horrifying! Thank God Zech was cooperative and once, we had to read a book with his baby brother crying in the background.

After a terrible month in Jan, I created a routine for Nath. Before I teach Zech, I'd prepare him and asked what he would like to play. I took out some toys and prepared some Cheerios for Nath. Cheerios are what turned our mornings around! Something so simple yet I didn't discover earlier. Well, better late than never. We are now nearing the end of Feb. I must say Nath is more settled. After taking his Cheerios, he could play on his own for some time. I'm very thankful for that. More peace than chaos in the house now. Nath still cries and whines for attention after a period of time. But I'm glad for at least the 20 to 30 min of self play he indulges in. Occupying him with toys or simple household tools seems to satisfy him now.


The pictures below show one of the better days. The chaos can be 10 times worse.

 

Zech, on the other hand, is easier to handle. Age matters I guess. He knows how to read his mummy's facial expression and sometimes tells me sweetly, 'Mummy, I want you to be happy.' He still makes me frustrated but it's easier to talk to him and get him to follow our instructions, even if he doesn't really want to.

My handsome boy. Like I've said, I'm biased. :)

Recently, it struck me that my boy has really matured. Bittersweet. We were waiting for a cab. 15 minutes passed. I was feeling annoyed. Zech kept asking me why this and why that. So that made me double annoyed while I tried my best to answer his questions. Asked him if we could eat something else like roti prata but he didn't want to. Then we walked for about 5 to 10 minutes to the cross junction, hoping to catch a cab there. Still, not one cab was in sight. I started complaining how we were wasting time and why couldn't we eat here and why must Zech eat only fried rice at Heartland Mall etc. All of a sudden, Zech said very calmly, 'Mummy, I can eat here. I can try roti prata.' I looked at him and sighed, asking him if he was sure. He nodded his head. I felt bad. Really bad even though roti prata is one of my favourite food and I was pretty sure Zech would like it if he tried. We had banana prata for lunch that day. He was very very cooperative. Thank God for such a sweet boy and for the first sign of his maturity! Gone were the days when we struggled with his crying and whining. Meltdowns with Zech seem to be a thing of the past now.

Here's a pic from homeschool unit 16 on the penguin.
A card for his papa done all by himself with some guidance from me on his drawing. He has improved tremendously in his colouring and writing. Mummy's very proud of his progress.

 

As I think back, I realised perseverance plays a major part in motherhood. No matter how long it takes a child to learn and how tough the process, giving up on a child or making compromises in nurturing should never be an option. This is something I remind myself when the going gets tough with Nath on board. But I can't just count on my own limited strength and ability. What truly sustains and keeps me going is really God's Word. Reading 'The Ministry of Motherhood' by Sally Clarkson recently gave me great insights and in a way, nourished my soul and inspired me to change my parenting style. Regardless of how busy we mothers are, it's still of utmost importance to have our quiet time with God. That is, ultimately, the essence of life.

MFW - C for cow

Sharing what we do daily using MFW (My Father's World) in this blog post. Each unit is divided into 6 days.

Day 1:

Calendar time
We start with the daily calendar from which Zech identifies the date for today, yesterday and tomorrow. He writes the date for that day on the calendar chart. Then he draws a shape in a certain colour around the dates for today, yesterday and tomorrow. He learns the days of the week and months of the year from here.

Big calendar chart (my own resource) and A4 calendar size from MFW

100 chart
For every school day, Zech adds a straw into a glass jar before counting the total number of straws. I bundle every 10 straws that represents 1 ten. Zech writes the number on the 100 chart. He learns how to count in tens from this activity. We were at number 78 after completing the unit on the cow.

Alphabet tasks

After Zech learns the name and sound of the letter (in actual fact, he knows all the letters by now), he learns to form the letter using different materials such as yarn, play dough, twigs etc. Here he formed the letter C using yarn. Next, I went through the picture cards with Zech. More pictures were printed from a scholastic EBook and Zech pasted them on a jotter book.

Day 2:

The alphabet tasks are different on day 2.

We started with the upper case. Zech formed the letter on a rice tray before practising writing on the handwriting page. For the next few days, Zech practised writing the upper and lower case C. For handwriting, I printed out extra worksheets for more practice.

Went through the picture cards again. I chose another 3 letters for him to play matching with.

Just behind the handwriting page, there is a sound discrimination page. I named the object and got him to listen for the objects that start with the /c/ sound. He circled those that starts with /c/ and crosses out those that did not.

Number tasks

For this unit, we focused on the number thirteen. Zech learned to write the number thirteen and to recognise it in word.

Then I used the place value chart to get him to represent 13. He needed to tell me 1 ten and 3 ones equal 13.

Day 3:

On the third day, the teacher's manual recommends teaching blends with the blend ladder. Zech doesn't like this so I use magnetic letters on a baking tray to go through the blends required in the unit.

There is a Math page in this unit which required Zech to circle the correct number of animals a farmer has using the clues given. I guided him through the concept of 'more than' and 'less than'. In each unit, different Math topics are introduced. For Math, I supplement quite a bit using online websites and activity books.

Next, Zech completed the cut and paste page, which is his favourite. I usually go through the words and try to get him to sound out the word. Then he matches the word to the picture.

Day 4:

More practice on blends on this day. I used the magnetic letters again to teach the blends and words listed in the teacher's manual. Then Zech completed the blend ladder page below. This is really good practice for the child as he needs to listen out to the sounds and to write the word out by discriminating each letter sound. Initially, when we started last year, this was a real struggle for me and Zech. I hated doing this so much I almost gave up. Then one day, it just happened and it became less of a struggle. Now we are enjoying this.

There is also a word list page which Zech needs to recognise using phonics. I use star stickers to reward him every time he's able to identify and tell me the word.

Day 5:

Zech completed a drawing page. He drew objects that started with a certain letter and then wrote the name of the object below. I have to help him with the spelling of course.

Another cut and paste page.

Day 6:

Zech completed the C page of the Cuisenaire Rods book. He's getting better at this.

 

Book time

MFW has a recommended book list. I usually try to borrow as many as I can from the library. From the selection, I choose one book for day 6 that I feel is of interest to Zech and compile related activities in a book pack, which was shared in my previous blog post.


I find that the MFW materials are good generally, especially in language though I have to supplement with extra worksheets. However for Math, the curriculum is definitely unlike here in Singapore. Have to supplement more in this subject. The exposure to the topics are fine but I feel more practice and hands on activity are required.

A typical homeschool week

The start of this new semester seems busier than last year. Our weekday routine remains pretty much the same except that school is slightly longer from 10am to 11.30am. In the afternoon, Zech does some extra work including his daily reading time for another hour.

First day of homeschool

On the 2nd of Jan, we celebrated the first day of school at a nearby park. Beginning our first day of school at the park nearby is going to stay as our homeschool tradition I think.

This photo below was taken last year in July 2014 during the first week of homeschool. Zech was 3 plus and Nathanael was 14 months old.

6 months later on 2nd Jan 2015, we went back to the same spot to review the alphabets, words and memory verses Zech had learned last year.

Outdoor is great for my boys. They were especially cooperative and attentive.

Goats galore!

The new unit on the goat brought us to Hay Dairies the next day, which happened to be a Sat.

Zech enjoyed looking at the goats' milking process and more than that, he savoured his bottle of goat milk as much as he could after that.

The following week, we started the unit on the goat. Here are some stuff we have done beyond the teacher's manual.

Bought this from Ikea last year. Some of the plastic animals you see in the picture are from a supermarket in Bali. A novelty for the boys who spent much time playing.

These felt animals and flannel board were resources I bought when I was a teacher. Can be bought from Growing Fun at United Square. There's a storewide discount every Dec.

Zech was given a box of craft for Christmas last year. So glad to see a few farm animal cut outs in the box. Easy to assemble. Just roll the dough and insert the cut outs.

Besides the usual worksheets and activities, in this new year, I've decided to make a book pack for a storybook related to the unit. On day 6, the curriculum recommended a time set aside for some books. So I focus on just one and plan more follow-up activities. For this unit, I chose the story 'The Three Billy Goats Gruff'.

Inside the pack, there are word cards, props for dramatization and other activities.

The boys love dramatizing so much I decided to get them to act as goats while I was the troll. The bench served as the bridge. We had lots of fun!

Some activities I printed out from http://3dinosaurs.com/printables/printablepacks.php
include reordering in size,  rearranging the story sequence and finding the pattern.

In the afternoon while Nathanael takes his nap, Zech learns to read aloud. Bought the scholastic readers from the Popular Bookfest last year. Simple storyline and interesting topics. The readers can be purchased online on http://teacherexpress.scholastic.com/. The dollar deals sale is on now and a set of the readers in eBook format is going at USD $1. Worth browsing through. Printed out many extra activities and worksheets from the ebooks I bought over the last few years from scholastic.com.

Also started on sight words (words that cannot be decoded using phonics) with Zech. Sight words such as the Dolch list are easily found online. These words are common and frequently used in books, which is why it's so important to teach young kids.

The Bible

The Biblical aspect is still of utmost importance to us. As recommended by the teacher's manual, Bible verses related to the memory verse are read every day. This unit on the goat emphasizes on our sinful nature and how we need to turn to Jesus our saviour. Referring back to the old testament on how the Israelites sacrificed sin offerings to God using goats and relating that to the new testament where Jesus Himself took the sins upon Himself so that we are saved can be difficult for Zech to understand. However, at the end of the unit, I realised he seems to understand and recognise himself as a sinner much better than before. This unit is in fact a rather heavy and solemn one and stands as a stark contrast to the Christmas season which has just gone by. Zech may not understand fully but I'm thankful I'm able to teach him all these using the the MFW teacher's manual as a close guide.

After completing the unit on the goat, I find the time spent on homeschool more fulfilling than ever. More challenging content and concepts are taught this semester. It's truly God's grace that sustains and led me through my journey of homeschooling with Zech.  I'll share more on the daily tasks and worksheets specified in the MFW teacher's manual in my next blog, which will focus on the cow. Moo...

What's different in our 2015 homeschool?

As I was thinking of goals and preparing lessons for Zech's homeschool last year, I asked myself what I would like to do differently in 2015. Not for making resolutions but to make meaningful changes to how homeschool would be like in our family. And that starts with myself.

Patience is key to teaching I believe. Not something easy to achieve but patience in teaching, guiding and managing 2 boys goes a long way. To be patient, I guess taking in my stride helps. I have to remind myself time and again to learn the art of repeating gently when Zech does not seem to understand. I'm terrible in teaching handwriting and recently, in teaching a beginner how to read. This is something I know God wants me to work on. Encourage and motivate are 2 important guidelines for me. It's something I need to allow God to work in and through me rather than relying on my own limited abilities. On the first day of school last week, we reviewed what was taught last year. As usual, while teaching handwriting, I had to make Zech rewrite a particular letter so that it's neater and formed correctly. I realised my tone was really crucial as that motivated Zech to rewrite several times without complaining.

As I take baby steps to improve on the way I teach, I know I need more inspiration. I'm thankful for a book my friend has given to me last year. This book, 'The ministry of motherhood', emphasizes on giving grace to our precious ones, just as Jesus has given so freely to us. I've put aside some time every night to read a chapter so that as my day draws to a close, I can read and reflect, gearing myself for another brand new day.

In my homeschooling plans, God has to take centre stage. Our family theme verse from Proverbs 16:9 (A man's heart plans his way but the Lord directs his steps.) reminds me every morning to commit my plans to the Lord. It's one of the verses Zech memorises every day during our morning devotion. He remembers it better than I do. This time, as we start the year anew, I have taken more time to pray, asking the Holy Spirit to guide me every day while I teach Zech. It makes a great difference. Although I'm still busy preparing the resources and other stuff getting ready for the next day, I feel more prepared and calm compared to last year.

A few things I feel are useful as I begin the new homeschool year.

1. Little things such as filing help me in being more organised. I use many files to be organised but this is one of the most useful files which I recently bought and am using daily in homeschooling Zech. Just need to repack the file once a week. It's a file with many compartments. I divide the compartments into day 1 to day 6 and different subjects. Much easier for me to keep track and to look for things.

2. Using a pocket chart to display sight words, word cards and sentence strips is not only a classroom essential, it works for homeschool too. I bought this pocket chart from 'Growing Fun' last Dec when they had a 20% off storewide. Paid about $20 after discount.

3. Sometime late last year, it struck me that what I've always believed may not be totally right. Awful feeling! But learning to let go and embrace new ways makes one a better educator. Used to tell others how I hate using flash cards and readers. But they have a place in teaching reading I realise. When Zech first started reading independently in Mandarin, that really set me thinking. It' still not too late to discover I need to use a good mixture of methods to ensure Zech can read effectively. Balance is key here. Not over relying on flash cards etc but to make sure all four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) are taught using different methods and approaches.

It's the third day of homeschool. Not a day has gone by without frustrations but I'm grateful for the reminders that cropped up every now and then when I was almost losing my cool. It's possible because all things are possible with God.