21 Jan 2010

We were good today, stayed at home and studied.

We started with singing the verse (finally memorized the song now). Then we read a chapter from I heard Good News Today (under Bible & Christian Books). It was about how the monks of Lindisfarne protected their beautiful handwritten Latin Bible (containing the four Gospel) from the Vikings.

I showed Den a book I bought last year from the Christian Book Fair called 我的第一本祈祷书(My first Prayer Book). Inside the book, there are many examples of handwritten Bible passages and prayers from the Middle Ages. Very beautifully done.

After that, we prayed together and gave thanks for the opportunity to read His words freely and also prayed for those who did not have the opportunity to do so.

Subsequently, we continued our history lesson on Vikings. We read about their food and also their ship - the longship. We also check out the internet link. If you want to find out more about Viking, check out this:


1. To build a long house and a longship -http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/education/sysm/vikings/flash/

2. Spot the out-of-place things in Roman & Viking villages (very fun! Den got 4/5, no bad. Meaning she has been paying attention to all the lessons we did)- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/walk/games_index.shtml

3. For the Viking coloring page and other info, check this http://www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk/vikings5.htm

After that, I need to go cook lunch. She works on math worksheets and Viking coloring.

After lunch, we practiced piano and songs from Yamaha. Then we started our Chinese Lesson - Hairdresser Party II (for info on Part I, click here).

We started with the song and I also printed out some flashcards for the new words we covered in Part I. Then I introduce a new word -名片（business card). I explain what is a business card and why we need that and what should be put on the card. I showed her some examples. Then we make our hairdresser business card.


I let Den choose the clip art she wanted and she came up with a name for her shop -- flower! We make up a mobile number and an address. Then we printed it out.

After that, we started our play. I played the customer first then was her turn. We had fun.

After that, she watched Chinese programs on GoodTV for about 30 min and jumped rope for 15 min before we eat dinner.

At night we read another chapter of The Apple & The Arrow (under Sonlight Read Aloud). We finished chapter 4. One more chapter to go.

After that, we watch one episode of Between the Lions (under CD/DVD). Recently we went crazy with this PBS production. It is a phonic program but it is soooooooooooo much fun! I actually watched it with Den because some of the content needs some explanation plus I really really enjoy it myself. I would recommend it for kids from 5-8 years old.

For review & info --For K books - http://www.squidoo.com/booksforK ;
Pre K books- http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel

19 Jan 2010

We have great fun using the Chinese Lesson Plan I did last night (uh...this morning).

First thing first, we sang the verse (using the sample from Sonlight, thank you!). It does make it much easier to remember the verse.

After that, we read a chapter from I Hear Good News Today (under Bible & Christian Book). It is a short story about John Mark (the one who wrote the Gospel of Mark). It actually belongs to week 4 but I decided to do it in Week 5.

After that, we started our Chinese Lesson. Den listening in Chinese has improved a lot since I started to let her watch the GoodTV children's program. She watches for around 2 hours or less per week. That really helps her listening. However, her speech is another matter altogether. She just does not have an environment to speak Mandarin.

So last night, I decided to plan my own lesson plan. I wanted it to be fun. I took out one of the books I bought some time ago called Literacy Play (under Language). I like the book because it uses pretend play (or dramatic play) to teach kids vocabulary. I think it is rather a fun way to learn.

I choose one of the themes included in the book -- hair salon. Ha! Rather ironic, since I tried to avoid hair salons in real life as much as possible. Hair salon pretty much equal to dentists to me. So then why do I choose this theme? I trimmed Den's hair on Mon and since the memory is still fresh, I think she would be interested in this hair-cutting business.

I make up a song for our play using the tune: Did you Ever See a Lassie?

你见过理发师吗？ (have you seen a hairdresser?)
理发师?理发师? (a hairdresser? a hairdresser?)
你见过理发师吗？(have you seen a hairdresser?)
他如何理头发？ (what does she do?)
他洗洗头，他剪头发， (she washes hair, she cuts hair)
他电头发，他染头发 (she perms hair, she colors hair)
你见过理发师吗？ (have you seen a hairdresser?)
他如何理头发？ (what does she do?)

Then I make a price list and an appointment timetable for her. I also downloaded some clip art from the net, so that we can make name cards.

Today, we started with the Song. I explained what is a hairdresser and what does she do, etc. After that, I took out the price list and we discussed how much we should charge for each item. Den wrote down the price. Then I introduced the appointment timetable. She wanted to open her shop from 10am-10pm because she has no husband and baby yet. :) I let her write down the time on the timetable.

After that, I left her alone to design her saloon while I prepared lunch. When I was ready, we started our play.

I was the customer and I called her to make an appointment for 11am. She wrote my name on the appointment timetable at the 11am slot.

Then I went into her "saloon". She "washed" my hair, toweled it dry, "cut" it to the length that I wanted (she let me choose the style I wanted from the magazine), and then she "perm" it.

After that, she used the calculator to calculate how much I need to pay (maybe next time we will use real money).

We played again and this time she was the customer. We used Mandarin as much as we can during discussion and play.

It was a great success! She wanted to do it again another 5 times tomorrow. If this work, I'm going to make it a regular thing. Each week one theme.

We don't have the time to make name cards yet. We will do it tomorrow or later. Let me sum up the lesson for today:

New Words:

• 理发师(hairdresser)，
• 理发店(saloon)，
• 电发(perm)，
• 染发(coloring)，
• 吹风筒(hair dryer)，
• 价格(price)，
• 预约(appointment)

Skills Learned:

1. Using calculator
2. Answering phone (customer call to make an appointment)
3. making a timetable

I am still contemplating whether I need to make flashcards for some of the words she learned today...

After that, she also worked on a math worksheet about adding with carrying. She has no problem completing the worksheet, just with some careless mistakes. I will let her work on a few more worksheets for the next few day and next week we can start minus with burrowing.

That's all we did today. After that were ballet and Yamaha. Another busy Tuesday.

For review & info --For K books - http://www.squidoo.com/booksforK (updated 19 Jan 2010);
Pre K books- http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel