Friday, June 26, 2009

26 June 2009

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Den stayed with her doting grandparents for the past few days. Finally home last night. She woke up around 930am after 12 hours of sleep.

We started our schooling at around 11am. We practiced last week's verse (she can say the whole verse, except Ephesians) and we also started a very easy new verse today -
"Children, obey your parents." ~Ephesians 6:1

Then we read about Esther. This is the first time she heard Esther's story and she was very excited because Esther is beautiful and brave and beautiful and smart and beautiful! haha! Ya, to her, beauty is very very important.

Then we practice phonics. We learned a new sound today - "CH". Her concentration was very good and finished it really fast.

After that, I decided to let her do some of the Sonlight worksheets - Developing the early learner book 2. 70% of the worksheet in there, she can do it herself. I just need to explain to her and then leave her alone. I will mark them when she is done and go through them with her if she makes any mistakes. However the other 30%, I need to accompany her when she is doing it. I have always delayed the 30% and only do them in one long session when I am free. :)

Today I decided we need to do the 30% because she finished the 70% in Book 2 already. :)

One of the things that I find the hardest to do is the training for auditory memory skills. It is designed to train kids to remember oral directions. In book 2, she usually has 4 pictures on her worksheet - today is a triangle, a circle, a star, and a box.

Then I gave her direction like this: Draw a line over the triangle, draw a nose in the circle, draw a line under the star, and draw a circle around the box! After that, she had to wait for 1 min before she started.

I find it hard because even I can't remember so many directions. She is very very good now with 3 directions but sometimes will fail with 4 directions. I don't know how to make her remember it better since I am sucked at this.

We also did 1 worksheet on visual memory and 1 on auditory similarity. Before we can do more, W&W were here. So we stop our schooling.

She was screaming when she heard the doorbell ring! W&W had not been here for a while.

They played for an hour before we had porridge for lunch. Den and WH finished real fast, but WE took quite some time to finish his...must be the veggie in his porridge. He doesn't like veggies and fruits. In the end, he still finished all his veggies though...and without complaining. :)

After lunch, we played playdoh. We make alphabets for about 45 min(read more on the 09 June 2009 posting). WH had some problems knowing some of the letters but she followed others' examples and enjoyed herself. Of all three, WE knew his letter the best.

After that, we also make silly things like bows, nests, cups, chairs, houses, etc. WH made a bird and a donkey! :)

They took bath together and played in the water for 30 min. Then they watched Chinese GoodTV cartoons together while I cooked dinner.

After that, they played UNO and Happy Family (following Den's rules, since I don't think she knew how to play herself!)

We had dinner at 7pm and W&W left around 8pm.

Sweden and I continued to work on her Sonlight worksheets. We almost finished book 2, all except for one. She claimed she was too tired to do that. So far, she scored a perfect points in Visual, Auditory, and Comprehension Skills. Her weakness- is motor skills. Her eye-hand coordination and left-right movement are a bit weak. Need more practice.

She also did 1 worksheet on math addition.

I'm contemplating teaching her money next week. Since she has pocket money -RM3 each week to buy things that I don't approve of but she likes - like toys (non-educative), princess on ice, play in MV Jaya Jasco kid corner, etc, she kind of understands the value of money already. She is still a bit confused about the coins and paper money though. Now that she knows addition, I think it is time to teach her more about money.

I realized some parents don't give any pocket money to their kids. Even some of the 7 & 8 years old students in Sunday School don't get any pocket money. Their parents prearranged meals with the school canteen and they basically just have to show up at the canteen and eat whatever they provide on that particular there.

Reason? Parents think it is safer this way, as in they won't be spending the money on junk food and they don't have to carry hot food themselves.

ST and I think it is better for kids to have money to spend at the early stage and make whatever mistakes they need to make when they are younger. When we first started to give Den money when she was only 3 plus, she was so happy and pretty much spend it all every week. But the phase is over now. She is very conscious of it now and keeps saving it for bigger things like Princess On Ice. She saved RM45 for that a few months ago. 

Another good reason to give pocket money is to teach kids the concept of offering. Getting money from parents for the offering is not an offering from the heart. The best offering is when they know the value of money and yet are willing to give it to God.

Every 3-4 weeks, when Den has about RM10, I will ask her to give RM1 for the offering. Tonight, I asked her to do that and she said she wanted to give more than RM1. She is offering RM2 this Sunday. I'm very proud of her and I'm sure God is too.

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