Lego & a book

A year ago, the boy was barely pretend playing. I was worried and tried many ways to get him to do it but he wasn't interested. These days, it's a different story. He is SO into pretend play that sometimes it annoys me to no end, ironic isn't it?

One of his pretend plays involve books that we read. He would sometimes pretend to be a character in a book we read & recite the entire book.

This is one of the books we brought to live today. It's about a weird looking boy and his car,  how his car went out of gas and he'd to pump more into it to make it go.

We used our lego, built a petrol station & car and recited the entire book. It was pretty fun!

Memory Verse

Here's another memory verse we've learnt! I am so glad he still remembers the other verses! :) I believe it isn't too young to let the child memorize God's word. I know these verses will help him when his older and wiser.

Multiplication Problem Sums

In order to assess N's understanding of multiplication, i wrote a few simple problem sums to see if he is able to solve it using multiplication. At first he used addition to solve, because of the way i phrased my questions. But after probing him to use multiplication, he was able to correctly tell me the equation and answer. I am convince the boy has fully understood the concept of multiplication. Woot!

Writing Letters

Okay, my patience is running short. Sonshine boy still has no interest in holding a pen & writing letters. I've decided to heck it and let him do tracing.

I made my own alphabet and numeral tracing set. It's not repeated tracing so that i won't bore him. My objective is to let him practise his strokes.

I've so far successfully used it to teach the boy how to write h & s. Whoo hoo, that adds to his small list of letters he can write. I shall continue with this mission till he can write all letters!

Multiply with thy fingers

The boy is showing that he understands multiplication concept and can skip count with ease. Hence i decided to move on to teach him how to multiply just using his fingers.

I would call out an equation that he is familiar with say i.e. 4X2 and ask him what it means. He'd be able to tell me that it means he has to count in twos. I then stick out 4 fingers and count in 2s as i point to each finger to get the answer 8.

Now and then we would play this game with various times table. He would calculate the answer himself using his own fingers. I'm hoping as we play this game more often he'd gradually remember the equations and need not use his fingers to calculate. Practice makes it perfect!

The boy declares 'multiplication is easy! I like!'

Moving on...to 6 times table

I am pleased that my multiplication cards have proven effective with Sonshine boy!

I have been trying to get him recite the 6 times table by adding but its a little challenging for him as the number gets bigger. I tried several methods but none worked until we played with the multiplication cards.

After doing the 6 times table a couple of rounds after, he can now recite the 6 times table with ease. As he 'played' and counted each multiplication equation card, he has gradually remembered the 6 times table. Whoo hoo! :)

Playing Opposites- mandarin

We've been reading a couple of mandarin books on opposites and just to revise i created this simple game. I would write- in my limited memory, a chinese character on the doodle board. Instead of getting sonshine boy read out the word, i have him shout out the opposite word. It was fun and a good way to 'test' the kid's understanding of the words and his ability to read them.

Blog Award

WOW another blog award! I am so honored indeed! Thank you Leptir and Karen for remembering me!

I am suppose to in turn list down the blogs that inspire me:

1. Leptir- Of course! I am not just returning the award for fun but im truly inspired by this Montessori teacher's devotion to her students. I think someone should give her the 'best teacher' award! If not, then please transport her over to Singapore so that my son can be taught by her (and i can stop homeschooling-ha!).

2. Mi Escuelita Montessori- again i am not returning the favor but am honestly inspired by her! Her dedication to her daughter is awesome- despite having a young child to mind. I love reading her blog because one can feel her joy bursting through my computer screen! It's contagious!

3. The Pig and Rabbit- a newly set up blog, i'm inspired by this mama! Despite her heavy work commitments she still takes time to prepare her lessons and spends time teaching her daughter after work! Her lessons are something new to me and has given me a new perspective to homeschooling.

4. My Little Sprouts- this is not exactly a homeschooling blog- abit of a mix. BUt i simply love how this mama brings in the element of fun, fun and more fun into her household- especially her baking 'lessons' with her kids.

You are all an inspiration to me- thank you!

Multiply them!

The next step to my multiplication lesson is to teach him to understand the equation. I want him to know what does say 2 X 7 or 7 X 2 means. After a few 'lessons' here & there, he now knows the difference i.e. he's to count by 7s twice for the former and count by 2s seven times for the latter. (Special Thanks to ING for sorting out my confusion earlier on!)

We 'played' this game today. I made 3 sets of seven timetable cards- as you can see from the picture. I got sonshine boy to count and match the cards.

Here's one of the ways we played the cards.

Each picture card has 7 bumblebees (7 times table) on them. I would lay say, 3 picture cards on the table and ask him what was the multiplication equation. He has to find the correct equation card, here it's the '3X7' card. We did this for the entire 7 times table.

I've also made printables for the 6 times table

The 4 (and 5-no picture) times table

Here's another variation of the game we played. This time, i lay down the multiplication card, say 6 X 6 and he has to determine the answer. For this example, he has to take 6 cards of 6 bees and he'd count them to get the answer.