So sorry for not updating, we have planned to updated our progress and work once a week but the family came down with an episode of flu.
Kai was running a fever for 4 days and his temperature is really high for the first 3 days that we were dead tired sponging him through the night even with medication. We are thankful that it is fully over and grateful to God that during those couple of days, he was still able to eat and drink lots of fluid.
Sunday, 30 November 2008
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
New Schedule
We have came up with our new schedule and have been out for walk more frequently. And this schedule, we will follow through till late January.
Though we will still be doing alot of homeschooling activities, Kai will be attending school with the rest of his peers for kindy at a school about 15 minutes near our place as he has requested and that will provide him with extra time for socialising and playing with peers his age.
In fact, we have met alot of these kids at the playground and also a couple of them will homeschooling like Kai.
As I find that I need alot of time to prepare the homeschooling materials, I have decided that I will only blog once a week from now on as Kai is also using the laptop for his reading lessons in both English and Chinese.
Though we will still be doing alot of homeschooling activities, Kai will be attending school with the rest of his peers for kindy at a school about 15 minutes near our place as he has requested and that will provide him with extra time for socialising and playing with peers his age.
In fact, we have met alot of these kids at the playground and also a couple of them will homeschooling like Kai.
As I find that I need alot of time to prepare the homeschooling materials, I have decided that I will only blog once a week from now on as Kai is also using the laptop for his reading lessons in both English and Chinese.
Monday, 3 November 2008
Taking a break from blogging
Hi all
I will be taking this week off from blogging as we do some reschedule and review on our work for the past 2-3 months.
Will start blogging again when we come up with our new schedule next week.
I will be taking this week off from blogging as we do some reschedule and review on our work for the past 2-3 months.
Will start blogging again when we come up with our new schedule next week.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
We are at g, k, h and j, q, x
Kai is pretty good in Hanyu Pinyin and he is doing far better than I am. In fact, he could read out the sound of each of the consonants for me. And teaching him Hanyu Pinyin together with the chinese characters that are of the same sound and different intonations are paying off. He is able to recognise them and read out the words instead of depending on the Hanyu Pinyin.
So far it has been rewarding, he is able to recite quite a bit of children's poems in Chinese. I am waiting for the weather to pick up that we could walk to the photocopy shop to print out some writing practices for Kai to teach him to write chinese characters.
I have compiled a list for each different set of Hanyu Pinyin he is learning and this list helps me in guiding him in pronounication and also at the same time aids him in identifying more chinese characters and reading chinese stories.
So far it has been rewarding, he is able to recite quite a bit of children's poems in Chinese. I am waiting for the weather to pick up that we could walk to the photocopy shop to print out some writing practices for Kai to teach him to write chinese characters.
I have compiled a list for each different set of Hanyu Pinyin he is learning and this list helps me in guiding him in pronounication and also at the same time aids him in identifying more chinese characters and reading chinese stories.
Story Sums, Problem Sums
Kai loves story sums and he enjoys working on them using his concepts of number bonds as well as counting forward and backward to help him solve the story.
And so fast, he has grasped the concepts well though at times, he would be careless with his calculations. I am beginning to notice that he is counting without using his fingers or even drawing and that he would pause and think using his head. And some answers just came straight from him from his head instead of counting.
I am hoping to teach him the part-whole model later today and through next week to aid him in his learning and a skill for him to solve problem sums.
And so fast, he has grasped the concepts well though at times, he would be careless with his calculations. I am beginning to notice that he is counting without using his fingers or even drawing and that he would pause and think using his head. And some answers just came straight from him from his head instead of counting.
I am hoping to teach him the part-whole model later today and through next week to aid him in his learning and a skill for him to solve problem sums.
Kicking balls
Lately Kai got really interested in soccer and we have been spending quite a bit of time out in the field kicking balls and teaching him the skills of getting a ball from an opponent.
We have been having fun in the field, running and kicking and trying to see who could score more goals. It was good to get him out in the field running and at time rolling in the sun.
And this couple of days, it was pouring and we were struck in the house and we longed to get out there. Hoping to get Kai to start running with me in the early morning instead of doing different sessions with him in the late afternoon.
We have been having fun in the field, running and kicking and trying to see who could score more goals. It was good to get him out in the field running and at time rolling in the sun.
And this couple of days, it was pouring and we were struck in the house and we longed to get out there. Hoping to get Kai to start running with me in the early morning instead of doing different sessions with him in the late afternoon.
Monday, 27 October 2008
1 Timothy 6:11-19
This week we focus on our bible-study on 1 Timothy 6:11-19. In this passage, we learnt about serving a Great king and true riches. In our mad rat-race world, many of us are so catch up in the race that we lost track of our christian faith and at our convenient that we go to God instead of seeking God wholehearted and honour Him in our daily life, workplace and even home.
And when Daddy and I decided to teach Kai about Contentment and find joy in serving God, this passage came to our mind and we decided to learn it together. We shared with Kai that everything we have is from God and that we should be thankful and share what we have with the poor like buying food for the beggar. We also told him about being thankful for what we have and to use it to honour God and to extend his kingdom. We should him online videos of some Africian countries where children has no food to eat, no school to attend and no toys to play and in some of these videos, children are dying of diseases or even hunger and many of them lost their parents. We told him about Jesus who came to die for all of sinners and that Jesus loves these children in Africian too and if we can and have the mean, we should extend our hands and help them.
Daddy share with him how he can help these children so that they too can have food and clean water to drink. And Daddy thought him to look outwardly to people out there in the world who needs help and God, he told Kai to share with them what God has given us is also sharing with them God's love and it is a way to reflect God in our lives.
And we chose the verse below as the main focus of our bible study for these week and we hope to reflect it in our lives and living up to what God commanded us to do.
17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
And our memory verse for this week, 1 Timothy 6:17,
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."
And when Daddy and I decided to teach Kai about Contentment and find joy in serving God, this passage came to our mind and we decided to learn it together. We shared with Kai that everything we have is from God and that we should be thankful and share what we have with the poor like buying food for the beggar. We also told him about being thankful for what we have and to use it to honour God and to extend his kingdom. We should him online videos of some Africian countries where children has no food to eat, no school to attend and no toys to play and in some of these videos, children are dying of diseases or even hunger and many of them lost their parents. We told him about Jesus who came to die for all of sinners and that Jesus loves these children in Africian too and if we can and have the mean, we should extend our hands and help them.
Daddy share with him how he can help these children so that they too can have food and clean water to drink. And Daddy thought him to look outwardly to people out there in the world who needs help and God, he told Kai to share with them what God has given us is also sharing with them God's love and it is a way to reflect God in our lives.
And we chose the verse below as the main focus of our bible study for these week and we hope to reflect it in our lives and living up to what God commanded us to do.
17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
And our memory verse for this week, 1 Timothy 6:17,
"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment."
Comprehension Skills
After a good break from Church Getaway Camp, we are fully refreshed spiritually though physically still tired from the fun at the beach. It was a good weekend to spend time with church families and building bonds.
It is time to go back into our daily schedule to learn and work together again. We started our day with lots of reading and listening to Kai's reading aloud. And he is getting better each days and putting in his phonics lessons into use to blend the words together and read out loud.
We have been working on comprehension skills for Kai like picking out the main points of a passage and teaching him to look for answers from the passage and looking for the meaning of words using the context text and look for clue. And yesterday, I got him to narrate the passage back to me using his own words and he also summarize up the main points in a few sentences.
It was interesting to see how he could comprehend when he read a passage, newspaper articles and also non-fiction books. And one thing I have noticed that he also look for important details and points to take note.
I told him that for Comprehension Passage, it is like story in a book and that he should read the passage first and then look at the questions and re-read the passage again slowly to understand what the writer write. And do not rush into answering the questions.
We have been working on Oxford books and at the end of the book, there are a couple of questions for Kai to answer and I am glad that he took time to think about it before answering and he would look through the book again to look for answer before answering.
It is time to go back into our daily schedule to learn and work together again. We started our day with lots of reading and listening to Kai's reading aloud. And he is getting better each days and putting in his phonics lessons into use to blend the words together and read out loud.
We have been working on comprehension skills for Kai like picking out the main points of a passage and teaching him to look for answers from the passage and looking for the meaning of words using the context text and look for clue. And yesterday, I got him to narrate the passage back to me using his own words and he also summarize up the main points in a few sentences.
It was interesting to see how he could comprehend when he read a passage, newspaper articles and also non-fiction books. And one thing I have noticed that he also look for important details and points to take note.
I told him that for Comprehension Passage, it is like story in a book and that he should read the passage first and then look at the questions and re-read the passage again slowly to understand what the writer write. And do not rush into answering the questions.
We have been working on Oxford books and at the end of the book, there are a couple of questions for Kai to answer and I am glad that he took time to think about it before answering and he would look through the book again to look for answer before answering.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Number bonds and addition number sentences
Kai is graspping the concept of addition very well and could master without using any manipulatives and just using his head to count forward by verbalise it. And we have reinforce the concept by allowing him more time to work on the quiz on the computer. He started to go beyond the number 1 to 10 and he could add more than double digits and I am not forcing him to master up to double digits since we will be coming to that later part.
We were looking at number bonds and transferring the data from it to form addition number sentences and helping him to see the part-whole concepts before we move on to story sums or problem sums. I would always ask him how he came up with his answers to check on his understanding and to see the processes that went through his heads. I am focusing more on this process then how the correct answer as I think it is important to check his understanding and the journey instead of the products. And many a time, I required him to explain to me the process and how he derive the working (number) sentence. At time, I would pretend to be the teacher and Kai would guide me to the process. It is amazing to see how he master the technique and also to crack his head when the question differ from the usual style and come up the answer and explain the processes to me.
We were looking at number bonds and transferring the data from it to form addition number sentences and helping him to see the part-whole concepts before we move on to story sums or problem sums. I would always ask him how he came up with his answers to check on his understanding and to see the processes that went through his heads. I am focusing more on this process then how the correct answer as I think it is important to check his understanding and the journey instead of the products. And many a time, I required him to explain to me the process and how he derive the working (number) sentence. At time, I would pretend to be the teacher and Kai would guide me to the process. It is amazing to see how he master the technique and also to crack his head when the question differ from the usual style and come up the answer and explain the processes to me.
Doctor and Dentist
Being really busy this week, we have been following the schedule for homeschooling, just that I find that I hardly have time to do the recording and blog them for my reference.
We are focusing on two occupations each day for vocabulary where we learnt words link to the occupations, equipments used, etc. And we have been reading books related to these occupations. Kai was able to relate his own experiences too.
It was interesting to hear him tell me about his visit to the dentist and he has such fond memory of the particular dentist as she was able to bring herself down to his level, allowing him to try to continue the dental chair, show him how the drills, polisher works and how to fill up his cup with water. He also learnt his technique of washing his teeth and tongue from this dentist. And he remembered that she used a new glove, blown it up into a balloon for him and drew a smiley face on it for him beside giving him sticker for his cooperativeness during the checkup and clean-up session.
And when we went on to learn about the doctor and related vocabulary, he was able to talk about his paediatrican who he is very fond of.
We are having alot of fun reading and learning about all the words and equipments relating to these two occupations. We are working on the rest of the eight this weeks and moving on to work on more occupations (I hope to at least teach him 25-50 occupations.)
We are focusing on two occupations each day for vocabulary where we learnt words link to the occupations, equipments used, etc. And we have been reading books related to these occupations. Kai was able to relate his own experiences too.
It was interesting to hear him tell me about his visit to the dentist and he has such fond memory of the particular dentist as she was able to bring herself down to his level, allowing him to try to continue the dental chair, show him how the drills, polisher works and how to fill up his cup with water. He also learnt his technique of washing his teeth and tongue from this dentist. And he remembered that she used a new glove, blown it up into a balloon for him and drew a smiley face on it for him beside giving him sticker for his cooperativeness during the checkup and clean-up session.
And when we went on to learn about the doctor and related vocabulary, he was able to talk about his paediatrican who he is very fond of.
We are having alot of fun reading and learning about all the words and equipments relating to these two occupations. We are working on the rest of the eight this weeks and moving on to work on more occupations (I hope to at least teach him 25-50 occupations.)
Monday, 20 October 2008
I want them as my pet...
Ever since we moved into our present place, Kai was so fascinated by the birds of the air living in the nature reserve near our place. And every now and then, he would look out from our living room into the reserve and see the different birds.
And during our nature walks, we have spotted a couple on trees or flying past us. And some feeding around us when we took our break. And some times, we are not fast enough to capture them on camera or they are too far for us to capture them on camera unless Daddy is around and use his camera.
Instead of our usual walk, we decided to walk from our place all the way to the library to source for books which is a very long walk of about 2-3km. Since Kai standed running, I have made it a point for him to walk longer distance instead of using the car and public transport to tone up his leg muscles and it is also a good way of exercising for us.
It was a rewarding experience for us as we were able to spot a couple of birds along the way on the trees, near the parks. After getting all the books from the library, Kai decided to play for a short while at the playground just outside the library that we spotted a magpie up on a tree protecting her nest of magpie chicks. And having just read a book on Magpie in the library, Kai has decided to leave the playground quickly before the magpie swoop down and poke us.
While walking back, we spotted some Rainbow Lorikeet flying in pairs. And saw some nicely gardens and some colour butterflies that Kai stopped to look. They were so fast that I could not capture them. We decided to stop by the oval near our place for Kai to play at the playground before heading back home to read our books and have some fun learning together.
And this is the places where we spotted a huge flock of them, feeding at the oval. We also saw some mynah on the branches but we could not capture them on camera before they flew away.
We spent some time sitting on the benches observing this flock of birds that are fearless of us. They even came so near to us a couple of time that I could capture them on camera. And Kai proclaimed, "Mummy, they are my pets. I see them daily on the branches on the trees in the nature reserve near our place."
And Kai was so delighted that I could capture them so close this time and that he could watch them so close. After he was satisfied that I have taken enough photos of these birds that he went on to play at the playground before we headed home.
I am a bird that make raucous screeching noise. I have a crested that distinguish me from other and I live in a huge flock with my companion. I feed on wheat,oats, seeds of grasses, herbs and weeds. I would also feed on berries and insects. Who am I?
Can you make a guess of what we have capture on camera?
Click to see whether you have guessed correctly
And during our nature walks, we have spotted a couple on trees or flying past us. And some feeding around us when we took our break. And some times, we are not fast enough to capture them on camera or they are too far for us to capture them on camera unless Daddy is around and use his camera.
Instead of our usual walk, we decided to walk from our place all the way to the library to source for books which is a very long walk of about 2-3km. Since Kai standed running, I have made it a point for him to walk longer distance instead of using the car and public transport to tone up his leg muscles and it is also a good way of exercising for us.
It was a rewarding experience for us as we were able to spot a couple of birds along the way on the trees, near the parks. After getting all the books from the library, Kai decided to play for a short while at the playground just outside the library that we spotted a magpie up on a tree protecting her nest of magpie chicks. And having just read a book on Magpie in the library, Kai has decided to leave the playground quickly before the magpie swoop down and poke us.
While walking back, we spotted some Rainbow Lorikeet flying in pairs. And saw some nicely gardens and some colour butterflies that Kai stopped to look. They were so fast that I could not capture them. We decided to stop by the oval near our place for Kai to play at the playground before heading back home to read our books and have some fun learning together.
And this is the places where we spotted a huge flock of them, feeding at the oval. We also saw some mynah on the branches but we could not capture them on camera before they flew away.
We spent some time sitting on the benches observing this flock of birds that are fearless of us. They even came so near to us a couple of time that I could capture them on camera. And Kai proclaimed, "Mummy, they are my pets. I see them daily on the branches on the trees in the nature reserve near our place."
And Kai was so delighted that I could capture them so close this time and that he could watch them so close. After he was satisfied that I have taken enough photos of these birds that he went on to play at the playground before we headed home.
I am a bird that make raucous screeching noise. I have a crested that distinguish me from other and I live in a huge flock with my companion. I feed on wheat,oats, seeds of grasses, herbs and weeds. I would also feed on berries and insects. Who am I?
Can you make a guess of what we have capture on camera?
Click to see whether you have guessed correctly
Ephesians 4:2
This week, we focus on "Being Patient". We are training Kai to be more patient and we know that it is one for building up a character. Being a little boy, Kai could be really impatient more a time and as parents, we feel that the time is right to teach him to be patient.
We also share with him the importances of being humble to all he knows and that what we have are all from God so we should not be proud but instead be thankful. As we go about this week, we told Kai that we want to see from his action that he reflect what this verse has commanded us to do. And that people who do not know us will know from our actions that Jesus lives in us.
Our memory verse for this week, Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
We also share with him the importances of being humble to all he knows and that what we have are all from God so we should not be proud but instead be thankful. As we go about this week, we told Kai that we want to see from his action that he reflect what this verse has commanded us to do. And that people who do not know us will know from our actions that Jesus lives in us.
Our memory verse for this week, Ephesians 4:2, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
Thursday, 16 October 2008
Capital Letters and Full Stops
We have been reading lots of books and Kai also noticed the sentences in books beginning with capital letters and end with full stops. Kai has started to write and he loves writing to his friends, replying emails and writing short stories.
I thought it was a good time to start teaching him the basic punctuation rules and allowed him more time to sink into him. We talked about why we need to put a full stop behind and he requested to read more books. And usually we can read like 4 to 10 books in a go and he would still pick them up to read and look through them when I am busy in the kitchen. So this time we read a couple of books with different themes and Kai pointed out to me that each sentence begins with capital letter and ends with a full stop. And he also noticed the speeches in the stories as well as questions in stories.
After Kai have mastered our objectives of learning for this lesson, I let Kai worked on a editing worksheet with 5 sentences and he was given a blue colour pencil to highlight the part he changes.
The couple of books we read together
1. Little Platypus (Theme: Finding identity)
2. If I would (Theme: A mother's love)
3. The Sound of the Sea (Theme: The impact of death of a loved one.)
4. Plants have leaves (Theme: Living things-Plants)
Click to see Kai's work
Rewrite the sentences.
kookaburra likes to sing.
Kookaburra likes to sing.
koala loves to chew the leaves of gum trees.
Koala loves to chew the leaves of gum tress.
daddy goes for his running training this evening
Daddy goes for his running training this evening.
mummy is going to cook Vietnamese rice roll for dinner
Mummy is going to cook Vietnamese rice roll for dinner.
kai loves to fix and play with Lego sets
Kai loves to fix and play with Lego sets.
uncle eng wah is coming to visit me in December
Uncle Eng Wah is coming to visit me in December.
my grandma and uncle are going to buy me a big Lego set for Christmas.
My grandma and uncle are going to buy me a big Lego set for Christmas.
time for a break now
Time for a break now.
After checking through Kai's work, I asked him what he must remember for this lesson and one thing that I have noticed that Kai remembers that names begins with capital letters.
Remember a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
I thought it was a good time to start teaching him the basic punctuation rules and allowed him more time to sink into him. We talked about why we need to put a full stop behind and he requested to read more books. And usually we can read like 4 to 10 books in a go and he would still pick them up to read and look through them when I am busy in the kitchen. So this time we read a couple of books with different themes and Kai pointed out to me that each sentence begins with capital letter and ends with a full stop. And he also noticed the speeches in the stories as well as questions in stories.
After Kai have mastered our objectives of learning for this lesson, I let Kai worked on a editing worksheet with 5 sentences and he was given a blue colour pencil to highlight the part he changes.
The couple of books we read together
1. Little Platypus (Theme: Finding identity)
2. If I would (Theme: A mother's love)
3. The Sound of the Sea (Theme: The impact of death of a loved one.)
4. Plants have leaves (Theme: Living things-Plants)
Click to see Kai's work
Rewrite the sentences.
kookaburra likes to sing.
Kookaburra likes to sing.
koala loves to chew the leaves of gum trees.
Koala loves to chew the leaves of gum tress.
daddy goes for his running training this evening
Daddy goes for his running training this evening.
mummy is going to cook Vietnamese rice roll for dinner
Mummy is going to cook Vietnamese rice roll for dinner.
kai loves to fix and play with Lego sets
Kai loves to fix and play with Lego sets.
uncle eng wah is coming to visit me in December
Uncle Eng Wah is coming to visit me in December.
my grandma and uncle are going to buy me a big Lego set for Christmas.
My grandma and uncle are going to buy me a big Lego set for Christmas.
time for a break now
Time for a break now.
After checking through Kai's work, I asked him what he must remember for this lesson and one thing that I have noticed that Kai remembers that names begins with capital letters.
Remember a sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
Home
As we are focusing our topics on Singapore, our home. We talked about the National Flag, the National Anthem and the last was our Pledge. We talked about the places we live in Singapore, the places Kai loves to go and also about the friends.
And recently during our library visit, we found this book "Give Me A Home Among the Gum Trees". Kai loves reading books and each visit, we will have 20 books for him and he reads and remembers the stories as well as he could come up with his list of favourite storybooks and non-fiction books.
While we were discussing about Singapore, Kai stopped me and went to the library bag and pulled out this book and requested that we read together. And he started tell me about the koala in the story travelled like him to different countries and how the koala missed his home among the gum trees. And Kai started to tell me, "Mummy, I miss Singapore. When are we going back?"
I started asking him about things that he misses and he was explaining to me that Singapore is our home, our families and friends are all there. Then he told me he also missed Vancouver, where he could play in the snow and go to farm to pick fruits.
So I asked him where he want to be if we are heading off again. Without thiking, his answer was let go back to Singapore. Kids being kids, but Kai was able to tell which is his homeland even though he has friends here to play with him and I am sure he misses the families, cousins, etc.
And recently during our library visit, we found this book "Give Me A Home Among the Gum Trees". Kai loves reading books and each visit, we will have 20 books for him and he reads and remembers the stories as well as he could come up with his list of favourite storybooks and non-fiction books.
While we were discussing about Singapore, Kai stopped me and went to the library bag and pulled out this book and requested that we read together. And he started tell me about the koala in the story travelled like him to different countries and how the koala missed his home among the gum trees. And Kai started to tell me, "Mummy, I miss Singapore. When are we going back?"
I started asking him about things that he misses and he was explaining to me that Singapore is our home, our families and friends are all there. Then he told me he also missed Vancouver, where he could play in the snow and go to farm to pick fruits.
So I asked him where he want to be if we are heading off again. Without thiking, his answer was let go back to Singapore. Kids being kids, but Kai was able to tell which is his homeland even though he has friends here to play with him and I am sure he misses the families, cousins, etc.
I spot, I spot...
We love our nature walks and with all the kind warning from our friendly neighbours, we do take more precautions when we are out enjoying the nature and God's creation. Daddy and I have always agreed that we have to make full use of our stay in the different countries we live and learn about the environment, cultures and traditions
of the countries.
We love the nature more than the malls, so from young Kai enjoys walks in the park, trekking and out at the beach looking for the treasures, nature has given us. So while at one of these walks, Kai and I were playing "I spot, I spot" quiz along the track while he was quick to spot this bird on the branch.
Kai has learnt from his experience that in order for us to capture the bird using our digital camera, he has to be very quiet and he has to be quick to snap the photos. And during this walk, I allowed Kai to use the camera to collect snapshots of plants and creatures he find along the way.
He took 4 to 5 shots of this birds and got so excited that he could not wait to get home to have it loaded onto the computer. As Kai has seem this bird before when he was in Vancouver and Daddy had told him about this bird, Kai was able to tell me what he has captured on the camera and point to me the bird sitting on the branch.
Click to see the photos Kai has taken
Kai has spotted a magpie. And since Daddy has told him about the aggressiveness of this bird, Kai was careful not to provoke it. When we were home, we checked up the information on the internet and noted the different between the one we have seen in Vancouver and this one that Kai has spotted.
Here's a list of websites that we have visited,
1. Birds in Backyards
2. Highbeam Encyclopedia
3. Living with Wildlife Magpie
4. New South Wales - Australian Magpie
There are still alot on our list that we will look up but for the time being, the above is the websites that we have visited to learn more about Magpie.
Kai was excited to see the photos of the bird on the camera and enjoyed reading the facts and information about the birds.
of the countries.
We love the nature more than the malls, so from young Kai enjoys walks in the park, trekking and out at the beach looking for the treasures, nature has given us. So while at one of these walks, Kai and I were playing "I spot, I spot" quiz along the track while he was quick to spot this bird on the branch.
Kai has learnt from his experience that in order for us to capture the bird using our digital camera, he has to be very quiet and he has to be quick to snap the photos. And during this walk, I allowed Kai to use the camera to collect snapshots of plants and creatures he find along the way.
He took 4 to 5 shots of this birds and got so excited that he could not wait to get home to have it loaded onto the computer. As Kai has seem this bird before when he was in Vancouver and Daddy had told him about this bird, Kai was able to tell me what he has captured on the camera and point to me the bird sitting on the branch.
Click to see the photos Kai has taken
Kai has spotted a magpie. And since Daddy has told him about the aggressiveness of this bird, Kai was careful not to provoke it. When we were home, we checked up the information on the internet and noted the different between the one we have seen in Vancouver and this one that Kai has spotted.
Here's a list of websites that we have visited,
1. Birds in Backyards
2. Highbeam Encyclopedia
3. Living with Wildlife Magpie
4. New South Wales - Australian Magpie
There are still alot on our list that we will look up but for the time being, the above is the websites that we have visited to learn more about Magpie.
Kai was excited to see the photos of the bird on the camera and enjoyed reading the facts and information about the birds.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Our Singapore Pledge
We told Kai about our Singapore Pledge that we recite daily before lessons begin daily even to this day. I told Kai that it is important to have this pledge to unite the different races together in Singapore.
I explained to Kai how this pledge came about during the tranbulent period in Singapore's History where there was racial unrest and lots of riots that it became unsafe to walk on the street after a certain hour. There were alot of doubts about the different races and alot of fight as well. And told him about the origin of the pledge written during the period between 1950s and 1960s. The pledge was written by
Mr S Rajaratnam who penned down the dream of building "a Singapore we are proud of". He believed that language, race and religion were divisive factors, but the Pledge emphasises that these differences can be overcome if Singaporeans cared enough about their country. The draft text was handed to the then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who polished the text before submitting it to the Cabinet.
And I thought Kai our pledge in English. I told him that in the past when I was still in school, we recite the different language pledge on different day of the week.
I explained to Kai how this pledge came about during the tranbulent period in Singapore's History where there was racial unrest and lots of riots that it became unsafe to walk on the street after a certain hour. There were alot of doubts about the different races and alot of fight as well. And told him about the origin of the pledge written during the period between 1950s and 1960s. The pledge was written by
Mr S Rajaratnam who penned down the dream of building "a Singapore we are proud of". He believed that language, race and religion were divisive factors, but the Pledge emphasises that these differences can be overcome if Singaporeans cared enough about their country. The draft text was handed to the then Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who polished the text before submitting it to the Cabinet.
And I thought Kai our pledge in English. I told him that in the past when I was still in school, we recite the different language pledge on different day of the week.
Our Pledge
We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.
Different Languages Translation
IKRAR KITA
(Malay Translation)
Kami, warganegara Singapura,
sebagai rakyat yang bersatu padu,
tidak kira apa bangsa, bahasa, atau ugama,
berikrar untuk membina suatu masyarakat yang demokratik,
berdasarkan kepada keadilan dan persamaan untuk mencapai kebahagiaan,
kemakmuran dan kemajuan bagi negara Kami.
We are not expecting Kai to be able to sing the national anthem well and remember the whole pledge. As we go along, we will continue to practise with him so that he will be able to sing the anthem well and recite the pledge understanding the meaning well. And one thing we are glad is that Kai has a fair mixed of friends from the different races and he enjoys their company.
Adding and more adding...number fun...
Kai is really enjoying himself working with numbers. He had so much fun when we first started with Maths still the middle of August this year after our move.
Though we have been waiting with Maths daily since he was about 2.5 years old but without books and basically through play and manipulatives that he shouts out the answer. It has been a long journey for him and know he would sit down on his own to work on his sums and we could even play counting games in the car, waiting in the queue, etc.
I have started Kai on Addition for number 1 to 10 and Kai was so keen that he was also working with numbers beyond 1 to 10 on his own. And his face brighted up once he got the answer. Maths is so fun for him that he is treating it more like a game and enjoy working on it daily. He could work on it in the morning, in the afternoon and even at night.
So to reward him for his effort in Maths, I allowed him 15 minutes a day on the computer working on Maths.
See the samples of what he works with,
Kai works on this website for fun when he is not working on his books or using papers to write out sums. And now with all these educational website available to aid in homeschooling, it is also a good resource to tap on in our homeschooling journey making learning more fun and colourful.
Website:
1. The Little Animal Activity Centre Maths Addition
Though we have been waiting with Maths daily since he was about 2.5 years old but without books and basically through play and manipulatives that he shouts out the answer. It has been a long journey for him and know he would sit down on his own to work on his sums and we could even play counting games in the car, waiting in the queue, etc.
I have started Kai on Addition for number 1 to 10 and Kai was so keen that he was also working with numbers beyond 1 to 10 on his own. And his face brighted up once he got the answer. Maths is so fun for him that he is treating it more like a game and enjoy working on it daily. He could work on it in the morning, in the afternoon and even at night.
So to reward him for his effort in Maths, I allowed him 15 minutes a day on the computer working on Maths.
See the samples of what he works with,
Kai works on this website for fun when he is not working on his books or using papers to write out sums. And now with all these educational website available to aid in homeschooling, it is also a good resource to tap on in our homeschooling journey making learning more fun and colourful.
Website:
1. The Little Animal Activity Centre Maths Addition
Pronouns...he, she, it, you, I, they and we
We were still looking at subjective pronouns and I explained again to Kai that the subjective pronouns are acting as the subjects in the sentences and perform the action of the verbs.
Kai understood that he and she is used for different genders and the rest is neutral and he knew that some are used for plural subjects and other singular. I told him that I is used for first person, you is used for second person and the rest are for third persons.
We talked about how the first and second person subjective pronouns are used and how Kai has been using them in his daily conversations, in writing letters to his friends and then we moved on to the 3rd person subjective pronouns.
And Kai decided that we should tried to continue to write his story on "Edward, The Very Impatient MRT Train." In this story, we used the first and 2nd person subjective pronouns most of the time.
This is how Kai's story goes (Using first person account and subjective pronouns.),
Hi! I'm Edward, the sleek and shiny MRT train.
I am very busy everyday. I pick up passengers - young and old from the different MRT stations daily and I send them to different places. I send the students to schools, commuters to work. I also help to bring families to the park, shopping centres and banks.
I hate the morning and evening peak period where the passengers are rushing everywhere. I get frustrated when they tried to squeeze into my carriage when the doors are closing. And more a time, I could not follow my schedule and I become impatient as I want to be on the dot and meet my schedule.
Due to my impatience, I have the tendency to go at a higher speed so that I will not lost out to my friends working in the different lines.
I love to work on the east-west line and enjoy the view on top of the train-track.
One day, I was fetching passengers at the Boon Lay MRT Station and the sky suddenly became overcast. Finally, I was filled with commuters going to work and students going to schools. Just when my doors were closing, a couple of youth tried to sneak and squeeze in, forcing the door to be opened again.
It took a couple of minutes before the doors could be shut and I was late due to the delay. Being impatient, I refused to follow the instructions given by my train-conductor. I went at full speed in the heavy thunderstorm despite knowing that it was dangerous.
I was so impatient and eager to get to the next stop on time that I missed the warning red signal to stop as a train was changing lane. I was getting into a head to head collision with the approaching train if not for the alertness and skillfulness of my train-conductor who pulled the hand-brake and stepped on the foot-brake on time to prevent a serious collision from taking place.
It was a close shave for me and I was in shock. I have learnt to be more patient now after this incident and the thought of it still makes me feel shaky and cold-sweat.
Here's some examples of our work
Kai was instructed to underline and change all the Proper Nouns into Subjective Pronouns.
Sean loves to daydream and look out of the window.
He loves to daydream and look out the window.
Alan and Linda cycle to school everyday. Alan and Linda park their bicycle in behind the canteen.
They cycle to school everyday. They park their bicycle behind the canteen.
Mrs Tan exercises daily at the gym. Mrs Tan encourages her friends to join her at the gym. Mrs Tan and her friends love to have coffee and toast at the coffeeshop after their exercise.
She exercises daily at the gym. She encourages her friends to join her at the gym. They love to have coffee and toast at the coffeeshop after their exercise.
We worked on a couple more of these exercises and we hoped to write another story soon.
Note: Kai came out with the story, I was helping him to write out his story and he came up with all the ideas for the story as well and my job was to get him to think about how he phrases his sentences and we wrote out the different sentences he formed and picked out the best one.
Kai understood that he and she is used for different genders and the rest is neutral and he knew that some are used for plural subjects and other singular. I told him that I is used for first person, you is used for second person and the rest are for third persons.
Subjective Pronouns | ||
Singular | Plural | |
1st person | I | we |
2nd person | you | you |
3rd person | he | they |
We talked about how the first and second person subjective pronouns are used and how Kai has been using them in his daily conversations, in writing letters to his friends and then we moved on to the 3rd person subjective pronouns.
And Kai decided that we should tried to continue to write his story on "Edward, The Very Impatient MRT Train." In this story, we used the first and 2nd person subjective pronouns most of the time.
This is how Kai's story goes (Using first person account and subjective pronouns.),
Hi! I'm Edward, the sleek and shiny MRT train.
I am very busy everyday. I pick up passengers - young and old from the different MRT stations daily and I send them to different places. I send the students to schools, commuters to work. I also help to bring families to the park, shopping centres and banks.
I hate the morning and evening peak period where the passengers are rushing everywhere. I get frustrated when they tried to squeeze into my carriage when the doors are closing. And more a time, I could not follow my schedule and I become impatient as I want to be on the dot and meet my schedule.
Due to my impatience, I have the tendency to go at a higher speed so that I will not lost out to my friends working in the different lines.
I love to work on the east-west line and enjoy the view on top of the train-track.
One day, I was fetching passengers at the Boon Lay MRT Station and the sky suddenly became overcast. Finally, I was filled with commuters going to work and students going to schools. Just when my doors were closing, a couple of youth tried to sneak and squeeze in, forcing the door to be opened again.
It took a couple of minutes before the doors could be shut and I was late due to the delay. Being impatient, I refused to follow the instructions given by my train-conductor. I went at full speed in the heavy thunderstorm despite knowing that it was dangerous.
I was so impatient and eager to get to the next stop on time that I missed the warning red signal to stop as a train was changing lane. I was getting into a head to head collision with the approaching train if not for the alertness and skillfulness of my train-conductor who pulled the hand-brake and stepped on the foot-brake on time to prevent a serious collision from taking place.
It was a close shave for me and I was in shock. I have learnt to be more patient now after this incident and the thought of it still makes me feel shaky and cold-sweat.
Here's some examples of our work
Kai was instructed to underline and change all the Proper Nouns into Subjective Pronouns.
Sean loves to daydream and look out of the window.
He loves to daydream and look out the window.
Alan and Linda cycle to school everyday. Alan and Linda park their bicycle in behind the canteen.
They cycle to school everyday. They park their bicycle behind the canteen.
Mrs Tan exercises daily at the gym. Mrs Tan encourages her friends to join her at the gym. Mrs Tan and her friends love to have coffee and toast at the coffeeshop after their exercise.
She exercises daily at the gym. She encourages her friends to join her at the gym. They love to have coffee and toast at the coffeeshop after their exercise.
We worked on a couple more of these exercises and we hoped to write another story soon.
Note: Kai came out with the story, I was helping him to write out his story and he came up with all the ideas for the story as well and my job was to get him to think about how he phrases his sentences and we wrote out the different sentences he formed and picked out the best one.
Tuesday, 14 October 2008
Pronouns
We are focusing on "Pronouns" this week. Kai has been using pronouns such as he, she, I, you, they, we, it and he has no problem with them. My job here was to make sure he understand what they are and how they operate in the sentences.
I explained to Kai, "What are pronouns?" and how they worked in a sentence.
Pronouns are words that we used to replace a noun or nouns. Common pronouns include he, her, him, I, it, me, she, them, they, us, and we.
And I told him that for the time being, we are going to focus on subjective pronouns such as he, she, I, you, they, we and it.
Subjective pronouns acts as the subjects in the sentences and they perform the action of the verb.
Kai would use the pronouns to form sentences for me. And he asked me a really interesting question for his age, "Mummy, there is pronouns for girls and pronouns for boys, right?"
I thought he was really observant and I explained to him that,
He, we basically use for the male and she, we use for the female. And after`that he was happily forming sentences.
Click to see Kai's sentences
1. She is Connie. She is my Sunday School Teacher.
2. He is cycling the bicycle.
3. I am forming sentences.
4. You are recording my sentences.
5. They are playing in the rain.
6. We are doing work.
7. It is falling asleep. (Our neighbour's dog.)
Kai was able to use the subjective pronouns correctly. I told him that tomorrow, we would be looking at replacing noun or nouns in sentences with pronouns. And it would be fun to work out paragraphs.
I explained to Kai, "What are pronouns?" and how they worked in a sentence.
Pronouns are words that we used to replace a noun or nouns. Common pronouns include he, her, him, I, it, me, she, them, they, us, and we.
And I told him that for the time being, we are going to focus on subjective pronouns such as he, she, I, you, they, we and it.
Subjective pronouns acts as the subjects in the sentences and they perform the action of the verb.
Kai would use the pronouns to form sentences for me. And he asked me a really interesting question for his age, "Mummy, there is pronouns for girls and pronouns for boys, right?"
I thought he was really observant and I explained to him that,
He, we basically use for the male and she, we use for the female. And after`that he was happily forming sentences.
Click to see Kai's sentences
1. She is Connie. She is my Sunday School Teacher.
2. He is cycling the bicycle.
3. I am forming sentences.
4. You are recording my sentences.
5. They are playing in the rain.
6. We are doing work.
7. It is falling asleep. (Our neighbour's dog.)
Kai was able to use the subjective pronouns correctly. I told him that tomorrow, we would be looking at replacing noun or nouns in sentences with pronouns. And it would be fun to work out paragraphs.
Monday, 13 October 2008
Three Character Classics (三字经）
This week, we are focusing on the three paragraph of the Three Character Classics and it is rather timely as we have just completed our bible-study about "Parental Discipline" and now working on "Diligence" and this paragraph complement the bible-studies and our learning.
It is not easy for a 5years old to understand why we are really strict with him and why he needs to study and work on his practice books daily. But as parents, we have to instill in him self-discipline and good habits that will follow him the rest of his life. We make it a point to explain to him and also the Three Character Classics is a good source to use to teach him besides the bible.
And so far, we have seen him following his schedule for learning even though we still provide him alot of them out in the yard and also to play. We have shared with him that there is a time for everything and that we agreed that he needs time to play, relax and he also needs time to learn to enrich himself. And for a boy, he also has his share of being mischievous and playfulness. We have to remind ourselves that our job as parents is to instill in him the self-discipline and motivation to learn and at the same time provide him opportunity for growth in different areas.
We are taking time this week to focus on this paragraph and explaining and making sure that Kai understand the implication of this passage.
Click to see English Translation
It is not enough for the father to feed the family, he must also teach his children.
(It is not only the father's job to provide food, shelter and material needs for his family, it is more importantly for him to teach his children, it is the father's fault if they do not learnt.)
A teacher who does not teach severely and strictly is being lazy.
(A teacher has to instill discipline in the child and to teach with seriousness making sure the children learn, if he is laxed and the child does not learn, it is his laziness.)
It is not right and improper for a child not to learn and study.
(Opportunities must be given the child to learn and provide aid and help along the way to help the child in his learning journey. It is not right to let the child choose what he desires without proper instructions and training.)
If a child does not learn when he is young, what will become of him when he is old?
(Not teaching and training the child from young, the child will not be able to achieve his potentials and talents, he will not be useful to the society.)
It is not easy for a 5years old to understand why we are really strict with him and why he needs to study and work on his practice books daily. But as parents, we have to instill in him self-discipline and good habits that will follow him the rest of his life. We make it a point to explain to him and also the Three Character Classics is a good source to use to teach him besides the bible.
And so far, we have seen him following his schedule for learning even though we still provide him alot of them out in the yard and also to play. We have shared with him that there is a time for everything and that we agreed that he needs time to play, relax and he also needs time to learn to enrich himself. And for a boy, he also has his share of being mischievous and playfulness. We have to remind ourselves that our job as parents is to instill in him the self-discipline and motivation to learn and at the same time provide him opportunity for growth in different areas.
We are taking time this week to focus on this paragraph and explaining and making sure that Kai understand the implication of this passage.
Click to see English Translation
It is not enough for the father to feed the family, he must also teach his children.
(It is not only the father's job to provide food, shelter and material needs for his family, it is more importantly for him to teach his children, it is the father's fault if they do not learnt.)
A teacher who does not teach severely and strictly is being lazy.
(A teacher has to instill discipline in the child and to teach with seriousness making sure the children learn, if he is laxed and the child does not learn, it is his laziness.)
It is not right and improper for a child not to learn and study.
(Opportunities must be given the child to learn and provide aid and help along the way to help the child in his learning journey. It is not right to let the child choose what he desires without proper instructions and training.)
If a child does not learn when he is young, what will become of him when he is old?
(Not teaching and training the child from young, the child will not be able to achieve his potentials and talents, he will not be useful to the society.)
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It is the !
Book we are referring to:
1. The Gould League Book of Australian Birds