29 April 2009

For review & info of all the books I mention here, please goes to http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel


I thought I won't be blogging tonight. It was a lousy day. I'm half sick - sore throat, headache, fatigue; the weather is unbearable, despite the rain in the afternoon (thank God for the rain, though); the unit right beneath us is undergoing some major renovation, the noise makes normal conversation almost impossible (I almost can't hear my own thought); it was also a cleaning day.

I was stressed too. When I looked at my schedule last night, I realized I won't be able to achieve what I wanted to achieve this week both in homeschooling and in Sunday School planning.

I really want to sleep early tonight since I know I will be awakened by the noise at 9am tomorrow. 9am is really early for someone who sleeps ar 3-5am. But I can't sleep. So I get up, did my devotion, and started this blog post.

When I started to examine my days more closely, I realized, despite all the bad, there were some good too.

Good thing no #1:Den practiced her piano, and did 3 sheets of work (1 on telling time, 1 on addition, 1 on subtraction) all by herself while I vacuumed the house! Then she played with "Dr. Seuss's ABC" CDRom while I cooked noddle for lunch. She finished "J" today.

After that, we had a very quick lunch because I misread the clock and thought we were going to be late for her 3:30 ballet replacement class. I only found out my mistake after she finished eating, we still have one hour to spare (maybe I'm the one who needs to do more time-telling worksheets). So that is definitely a Good thing no #2. I thought I won't have any time to homeschooling Den today and I ended with one whole hour!!

We started off with a Bible verse. Since we already finished all the Bible stories for this week, we read a story from "The Children's Book of Virtues". Today's story is about George Washington cutting down his daddy's favorite Cherry tree. George told the truth when he was confronted by his dad.

Den asked me, "if I do something wrong, then when you ask me and I tell you the truth then you wouldn't be angry anymore?"

All the warning bulks lit up in my brain, and I knew I need to answer this carefully.

So I said, "Mommy will still be angry but I will be even angrier if you lie about it." Hope that was a good answer :) We ended the session with prayer.

After that, we read and finished "The Year At Maple Hill Farm". It kind of grew on us and we actually didn't want it to end...but I still think it is very pricey for such a thin book though. :)

Subsequently, we read one of our favorites "A child's book of ART". Today we looked at the classic painting of farm animals (what a good link with "The Year At Maple Hill Farm", thanks Sonlight!) and we also looked at the farm animals pictures and words from "A First Word Bank".

That's all we did today before we had to leave for Ballet. Only when we were about to leave the house, we realized it RAIN!!! All the clothes I hung on my balcony were soaked wet but what a small price to pay for RAIN!! Hahaha! That should really count as a Good thing no#3.

What was even more amazing, it stopped raining right before I have to step out of my car and buy the parking ticket. I didn't even need an umbrella. Good thing no #4.

After ballet, we went back to my parent's house to run some errands with them. We ate dinner and then my hubby, ST came and get us home. By that time, I was half dead. I thought I would never make it home (I know I'm dramatic, that's why I love Adam Lambert!). Blessedly ST took care of Den, play UNO with her, bathed her, changed her, and prepared her for sleep...definitely a Good thing no#5.

Den fell asleep really fast today. She was awakened by the noise this morning too therefore not enough sleep. ST & I actually get to spend some quality time talking, yes, Good thing no#6.

Just now, right before my devotion, I saw a picture of Den when she was 4 months old. I was suddenly struck by wonder. Did God actually entrust us - ST & I, such imperfect creatures to take care of one of His precious creations? It is amazing. Good thing no #7...also plus the fact that she is so much prettier now compared to when she was 4 months old... haha!

I'm feeling quite good now after counting my blessing. The day was not bad at all with so many good things happening. :)

More about books

For those of you who asked:

I'm sorry to tell you that most of the books I used are part of the Sonlight preK program that I order from the USA. Most of them cannot be found in Malaysia. You can check out if they carry the book through these online links:

a. http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/indexohb.cgi?AREA=05 Kinokuniya carries a lot of picture books. It is a bit pricey though.

b. http://www.mph.com.my/welcome/welcome.cfm it has a lot of listing here but most of it is not in stock.

c. http://www.popular.com.my/Home.aspx give you a list of all the discount book for the month and more. The search function is a joke.

d. http://www.borders.com/online/store/Home This is a USA site. They don't have a Malaysia site. I supposed if you find the book then you can ask them to order for you.

e. https://www.sonlight.com/ for those of you who are interested in browsing through Sonlight curriculum

I really need to learn how to add an Amazon function to my blog over here instead of keep asking people to link to the Squidoo site. Does anyone out there know how?

28 April 2009

Den woke up at NOON!! haha!! 13+i straight hours of sleep!!! :)

That did not leave us a lot of time to study since it was Tuesday. A busy day for us.

We practiced the Bible verse of the week (She can almost memorize the whole verse now) and read 2 Bible stories --

1. The Ark going back to Jerusalem
2. David fights with his son Absalom

Very interesting to find out that this Bible that we use, Taylor Family-Time Bible in the picture (for review & info: http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel), choose to omit the story of how David sinned against God and thus bore the consequences of his sin.

Hmm...I was debating with myself, should I or shouldn't I tell the story of David's transgression. I supposed the reason for not putting that particular story in is because David is like a hero that young kids can look up to, right? Like a role model.

On the other hand, shouldn't we educate them that even the saints are not perfect? Only Jesus is perfect. Or it is too much for a four years old to grasp?

What do you think?

After Bible reading and prayer, we continue our book on "The Year At Maple Hill Farm" (for review & info:http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel ) and we covered May-Aug, the hottest months. That sounds like here right now!!! Oh, Lord, please rain!

I started teaching her Subtraction today. At least formally. Using the counter and everything. Before this, sometimes we taught her verbally, saying things like "if you had 4 candies and you ate 1, how many do you have now?"

She did very well with subtraction. Finished 15 questions in less than 20 min. I'm impressed. I intend to let her do more questions for the next few days, if she can handle it, then I'm going to teach her double-digit addition next week.

After that, I let her play with her favorite "Dr. Seuss ABC" CD Rom (for review & info: http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel) while I cooked lunch. She was supposed to read until "G" this week but since she has always started from "A", it took her a long long time before she reached "G". She did not even make it to "G" today. She was stuck at "C", she just loves to make the baby "C"ry at "C". Tomorrow she can continue while I clean the house.

We had porridge today. She finished it in record time (in 30 min). We were actually early for the ballet class at 3:30. So I trimmed her hair. She refused to cut her hair because she wants to have hair as long as Rapunzel (!), so that she can let down her hair and let the prince climbs up. Hmmm, so am I the wicked witch that keeping her in the ivory tower?

This is the first time I trimmed her hair, just a tinny bit in front so that it won't be touching her eyes and a little bit at the back. Not bad, if I may say so. :)

Today her ballet teacher, Ms. Ng was not in a very good mood, blessedly Den was very well-behaved. Didn't chit-chat, didn't push, didn't run! Well done (haha! my standard is quite low!)

On our way home, Den told me she didn't want to learn ballet anymore (I was shocked! She was the one begging for ballet since 1.5 years old and we only started the class in Feb). Off cause, I didn't show any reactions (if I reacted, she might insist she wanted to quit).

I casually asked her what make her want to quit. She told me some of the exercises were getting too hard for her. So we get into a discussion of doing the hard thing and why it is worth it.

Come to think of it, Ms. Ng corrected one of her poses today, I wonder does it got to do with that. I'm going to ask her about it tomorrow. We have a replacement class tomorrow at the same hour.

After that was the mad rush-- bathing her, preparing dinner, getting her to finish dinner, and out of the house again for her piano lesson at Yamaha.

We didn't intentionally put 2 activities on the same day, it just happened.

We signed up for Yamaha first, then found this perfect Ballet class really near our house, great location with lots of car park, weekday, non-rush hour, cheaper than other centers, experienced teacher...except it is on Tuesday too!! We tried it out for a couple of weeks and think she can handle it so we decided to sign her up for both on the SAME DAY!

Every Tuesday, I have to get by with at least one coffee, sometimes even two.

After piano, she came home and play more UNO. Ended up crying again when we ended the game. She has a problem with transition. Haven't come up with any idea to solve that yet. Any idea?

UNO

Wow! Den can play UNO!

She learned to play at her best friend's house a week or two ago. She had been nagging us to buy her a Princess UNO card since. Since we already have a set of UNO cards at home, we refused. But we told her she can buy it with her allowance. She has RM3 per week for this kind of thing.

Last Sat, when we go to the cheap shop in Atria, she bought the Princess UNO at RM4.90. It is full color and really worth it for that price. Since she is obsessed with all the Disney princesses, I thought she only wanted the card because of the pictures. I didn't really believe that she can handle all the rules and play the card game, especially as it stated on the box cover, it is for age 7 and above.

Surprise! Surprise! We had some time tonight - after dinner, before sleep time. I let her worked on a few Sudoku and she finished 5 puzzles in less than 15 minutes. Then she suggested we played UNO. We played for one hour and she can really play!

She didn't much strategies but she knew all the rules and she can play accordingly. In fact, she won a few rounds, when she got a really good hand and mine was sucked!

Maybe I underestimated her and should start playing more games with her. I wonder when is her daddy going to teach her to play chess.

Update (2023): From UNO we progressed to Monopoly, Cluedo, Ticket to Ride, and many many more boardgames and card games. By 10 yo she played decently well with adults. She also learned to play chess but it has never been her thing. She prefers boardgames especially social deduction games like Avalon. 

List of some of the memorable games we played through out the years: 

Cluedo

Monopoly Deal

Ticket to Ride

I'm the Boss

Saboteur

Acquire

7 wonders

Le Havre

Survive

Sushi Go

Quacks

The Mind

Pandemic

Catan

Carcassonne

Watson & Holmes

Loot

Too Many Cinderellas

Unstable Unicorns

Wingspan

Avalon

For awhile she was into D&D and make daddy and me played with her. 

27 April 2009

Den woke up at 1130. Still not enough sleep since she slept at 3am!

We started off today with a new verse:

"A father punishes a son he delights in, to make him better." Proverbs 3:12

It was very appropriate since I had to hit her butt last night. I know there is an ongoing argument about physical punishment. I am pro-physical punishment but agree that you should only punish when you are in control of your anger and not in a rage. I also strongly believe that if you can't control your anger then you are better off staying away from physical punishment.

I always hit with my hand. I know some say the hand is only for love, so you should never hit with the hand. I say, let her learn that hand can love and punish. Since I punish out of love.

Having said all that, I don't usually punish her physically. I save it for the really BIG thing. :) Or for things that I repeatedly told her not to do and yet she purposely disobey.

Today's verse came in handy and we talked about why we need to discipline the one that we delight in - to make him/her better. She agreed that sometimes kids need to be punished physically.

After that, we read 2 bible stories (she would never satisfied with just one) - Saul consulted the witch and the death of Saul.

Subsequently, Phonic practice. She learned the "H" sound last lesson but she was having a hard time using it today in combination with another sound to form words like Him, Hug, Hit, etc. She keeps saying "Hat" for everything. We practiced and practiced and I think she get it in the end. In part of the lesson, she has to read a short paragraph each time. She is getting really good at it.

Then our lesson was interrupted, and a friend came by to deliver something for me - Noco ACT. Den has been taking it since she was 1 year old. She used to get flu and phlegm buildup all the time. For a while, Doc was worried she might get bronchitis. So she starts taking Noco ACT. She is getting much better nowadays, not sure is because of the supplements or age. :) I cut down the number of times she takes them but recently the weather has been really bad, so I'm back to the normal dosage again. Noco ACT is getting really costly. Lets hope she won't need it soon.

Den practiced her piano while I talked to my friend.

After my friend left, we ate lunch. Today we have fried eggs with bread, carrot sticks, and cold milk. No long conversation.

After that, we read a new book called "The Year At Maple Hill Farm". It is a book about farm animals and what happens during one year on a farm. It is a very lovely book and very short. We will finish it this week. Today we read the month of Jan-April and now we really really wish we stay in a place that SNOW!!! Since we cant, we want to go ice skating in Pyramid when Dad is not working.

To see a picture of the book and Amazon link please click here:

http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel

Thereafter, we practiced Chinese flash cards. I did not give her new words today since she still has problems with the previous one.

We read two Chinese books - "公主王子成长绘本"系列 "我不要睡觉" (I don't want to sleep alone). It tells the story about a little boy who gets over his fear of sleeping alone. Den claimed she is not ready to get over her fear yet!!

2nd book is "每一刻都美丽" (Every moment is beautiful), it talks about how in God's timing He makes all things beautiful. The bad, and the goods are all part of His plan.

After that, we did 2 pages of Phonic First Book 2 together. Then I gave her 3 homework today -
1. one worksheet on reading time (we learned how to read the time on the clock a few weeks ago);
2. Chinese worksheet (fill in the blank);
3. 10 multiple choices (I came out of the questions myself, using words that she learned for the past few weeks.)

She finished her homework in about 40min and is now happily watching Chinese cartoons.

Sweden is still sleeping at 11am

Hmm...Den hates to sleep.

It has always been a struggle for me to get her to nap. We cut down to only 1-afternoon nap before she was 1 year old. I pretty much stop forcing her to nap before she was 2. It was not worth the trouble and the fight. Plus, I'm worried that if I continue to force her to nap I might psychologically damage her to hate sleeping forever (that's what happen to me! )

Nowadays, she never naps. Even on Tuesday when she has ballet class in the afternoon and Yamaha at night. She will sleep around 10-12 hours every night though and I think that is good enough.

The only exception is on Sunday. We leave the house before 730am. She usually sleeps around 10pm or later on Saturday. Which means she only has 8 or so hours of sleep. So we always want her to take nap on Sunday afternoon.

She did that yesterday, slept for 3 hours (3-6pm), and couldn't sleep at night!! I get her to bed at 1230am and she rolled and turned and couldn't sleep at all. Finally, I gave up and we went to the study room together. She read books and I planned her lesson for this week. We went back to sleep at 3am!!!!

So she is still sleeping now even though someone (no idea who) is renovating his/her apartment and kind of noisy!

Books

For those who are interested in the books that I used:

1. Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons

2. Nick Jr. Dora the Explorer Easy Sudoku Puzzles #1

3. The Berenstain Bears' Big Book of Science and Nature

Please follow the link http://www.squidoo.com/ahomeschoolingmomjornel and go to another site that I created because I have no idea how to link up to Amazon in Blogspot. So until I figure it out, I will put all my book recommendations on the Squidoo site. Heard that it is a bit slow, but it has the picture of the books and an Amazon link!

Updated: Squidoo is no longer in service and I have since then learned how to add a link to Amazon :)

26 April 2009

When I reviewed the homeschooling progress for the past one week, I was pleasantly surprised. We finished the whole week of the Sonlight program, 2 phonic lessons, 2 Chinese lessons, 2 math lessons, and 2 piano practice. Not bad for a busy week. :)

We bought a sudoku board for Den on Sat. I am very happy. It comes with 100 4 boxes of puzzles. Den finished 13 puzzles (the higher you go, the harder it gets) in one afternoon. What is more amazing is it only cost RM$13.90. :)

We got it from one of those "Make in China" cheap shops. We used to go to the one in Amcop Mall (Lower Ground) and now we go to their branch in Atria.

24 Arpil 2009

We went out this morning. Helped my mom to mail some boxes of books to my brother in Australia. One thing led to another and we only came home at 1230pm.

Today we didn't read any Bible stories. Finished all the stories for the week (we had been reading 2 or more stories per day. :0), so we read William Bennett's "The Children's Book of Virtues" instead. It is a highly recommended book but I find it a bit boring. Even the beautiful pictures in it are boring. Den is Ok with it though. She doesn't love it but Ok. The only good thing about it is some of the prayers and rhymes are in the King James language. Den gets to hear words like "Thou", "dost", etc. That is part of the good thing about using Sonlight. We get to read a variety of books, including books that I won't normally buy or choose or Den to read.

After that, we read another 2 stories from the "Little Golden Books". Another book I would not have to buy it on my own. It was a bit of a struggle at first but Den and I grew to enjoy this one very much. It is a collection of stories from the 1920-40 era. We learned a lot of words that we don't usually use nowadays.

Subsequently, we did phonic. Today we learned a new sound "K".

We finished off first half of today's lesson with one of our favorites - The Berenstain Bear's Big Book of Science and Nature. It is a great book that covers all the things preschoolers (and their mommies) need to know about science -- season, weather, month, year, animal, plant, the earth itself, machines, matter, energy, etc. It was the last lesson today. We were kind of sad. I think we will read this again, maybe in the 2nd half of the year.

Anyway, in today's lesson, papa bear did a fun experiment and we did the same too. We made a paper airplane, then blowed a balloon and sticked it to the airplane (just use your hand to hold the air not tighten it). Then let go of the balloon, and the air would fly the paper plane. Our balloon was a bit too small so it did not work well but now at least I know how to make a good paper airplane!!! It can fly really well!!! :)

After that, we had lunch (store brought). This time our conversation was about which princesses is the dumbest. The conclusion: Little Mermaid is the dumbest of all princesses since she chooses to leave her family for a prince. She doesn't even know the prince (only knows he has a pretty face!!!); the second dumbest is Snow White - accepting food from a stranger; last but not least, Sleeping Beauty who disobeys her parents and touches the spinning wheel. :)

After lunch, we did phonic worksheets from Phonics First Book 2 (from popular, RM8.50 ). I think it is a good book to practice isolating the sound. It is using pictures instead of words (for example, do these two pictures -"Bat" & "Bed" begin with the same sound?) so it is good for pre-schooler who haven't mastered reading. Den is quite good in identify the beginning sound but has some problems with the ending sound. We did 3 pages today.

After that, she did 1 Chinese worksheet and 10 math questions (using a counter) while I write this. Instead of 2+2=? Today we did 2+?=4. She has no problem with that. So I think I will start teaching her subtraction next week.

She just finished her homework and it is 5pm now. She is going for her Chinese lesson -- Chinese cartoon on Goodtv!!! haha! Ok, going to cook now.

23 April 2009

It has been such a busy week.

We did not study on Monday because ST and I went and renewed our passports. Blessedly the machine didn't break down this time and we get our new passports on the same day. The last time when we apply for Sweden's passport, it took us more than a week with numerous trips.

We only have time to read Bible and practice phonics on Tuesday. The verse for this week is: Proverbs 15:8: The Lord delights in the prayer of His people. Delights is a new word for Den. We covered David and king Saul's stories this week -- how David was not willing to harm King Saul even though he has been trying to kill him.

For phonic we use "Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons". It is a wonderful book and I will write a review later.

I worked on Sunday School things on Wednesday. Den went to Mary's house and learned the following:

1. Practice piano

2. Bible story - King Josiah Reads God's words

3. Science - Machines & gadgets at home - washing machine, vacuum, food processor, can opener.

Plus lots of playtime with Eleanor. :)

Today, we spent almost 3 hours studying and doing projects.

We started off with Bible verses, Bible reading, and prayer. Den can memorize the whole verse.

Except for the book.

Then we read about "family" from "A child's book of Art" and "A first word Bank". The first book is all the classic painting (mainly) and the 2nd one is more cartoonish.

Then we make a family tree.

It took me almost the whole night (I slept at 530am) to edit and print out the photo. Plus planning on the layout. I think it turns up well. We talked about our family members and Den pasted the photo on the tree.

When we were doing the project, I realize Den actually doesn't know which children go to which parents. Interesting! Anyway, she was more impressed with the coloring (we did it together) than all the pictures. :)

While I prepared lunch, she wrote the Chinese word "几" and worked on 10 math questions (addition, using a counter). She also helped me to make coleslaw for dinner (she stirred and poured them into containers).

During lunch, we talked about the 4 seasons, the importance of saving, and scholarships. Don't ask me how we ended up talking about all these. It was a very long lunch. The topics just pop-uped.

After that, We read stories from:

1. The Lion storyteller Bedtime book

2. Eric Carles's Animals Animals

3. Things people do (I love this book!)

All of them are part of the Sonlight program that we use.

After that, we practices the Chinese flesh card. I'm now using "High-Frequency Chinese Words" (最常用的华文字). I like it because it comes with a flesh card and worksheet that are quite interesting. It covers the most frequently use 128 words.

We also read 2 Chinese books. Just brought this series of picture books from popular. I like it because it is colorful and the stories are interesting - 童悦坊 "公主王子成长绘本"系列. Plus the stories are about the little princess and little prince (in the eyes of their parents), so Den likes it too. It is kind of expensive though. RM9.90 for each book (10% discount.)

We also did something new today. Since I joint a US-based homeschooling group a few weeks ago, I have found a lot of good and free websites through it. Today we tried on one of the reading websites at http://www.starfall.com/ Den enjoyed playing it.

Tomorrow we are going to do a science project.

18 April 2009

It has been a very busy week. It is going to be worst next week. So I decided to homeschool Den today. Even though it is a Sat. We are usually off on Sat. Family day since ST is not working on Sat.

I designed a new sudoku for Den today. Before this, she was using "Nick Jr. Dora the explorer Easy Sudoku Puzzles #1". It is a very good book to start kids on sudoku. It uses colorful Dora pictures instead of numbers. That takes the pressure off writing numbers and kids can concentrate on the game itself. Besides that, the sudoku in the book is a simplified version. With 4 boxes in each sudoku instead of 9 boxes. There are always extra stickers left and that can be a reward for finishing each puzzle. Den loves the book but it takes a lot of concentration for her to do the puzzle. At least at the beginning (we started this when she is 3 years old). It is also a great book to carry when we travel.

She finished the whole book 2 weeks ago. I was looking for a step 2 sudoku but could not find it in any bookstore. I think the next step should be doing sudoku with numbers instead of stickers. But 8 boxes is too hard for her, so I'm looking for one that has 4 boxes or 6 boxes. I can't find any.

Finally, I gave up and designed my own. Use the Dora book as a guide and just change the puzzles to numbers. Den loves it. She finished 3 puzzles while we were waiting for our dinner. It takes too much time to draw up boxes. So I used words and designed a few of them. I'm going to let her do maybe a few more than will ease her into the 6 boxes.