Mandarin Fun

I have no time to do any home activities, let alone teach mandarin. We've stopped reading our mandarin books because i got lazy, too tired- i needed to cut short our bedtime reading so i could have more sleep.

End of school term, the boy brought back all the materials they read and did. In it, were two chinese books with small flashcards each.

First, i had him read the books to me. He did so brilliantly well- except one book (i think this was due to him missing several lessons this term).

Then, i laid down all the cards randomly on the table. He would take out the cards, as i call out for them.

The boy had no problem forming this sentence for me as i dictated as so. Although he cannot compose sentences in mandarin on his own but i am happy (for now) that he is able to recognise quite a sizable number of mandarin characters- and still remembers them!

Plants & Flowers

We are now reading various books on plants and its life cycles. One of the things we learnt is that leaves come in various shapes. Just for fun, i printed some basic leaf shapes and we studied the terms of each shape.

I printed separately some leaves and sonshine boy had to match. It was abit challenging since the difference can be quite subtle to a toddler.

In line with the theme, i made some leaves and lady bugs. I used these to play multiplication game. First, i put 2 lady bugs in each leaf and i have N to tell me the multiplication equation in order to calculate the total number of bugs.

In another variation of the game, i placed 3 ladybugs on each of the four leaves and two similar equations i.e. 4X3 and 3X4. I asked N  which was the correct equation using this placement.

Every evening, papa & son will play one on one basketball. They've been tracking their scores for every game they play. Papa and son will also have a dual on the iPad, they'll compete with each other on the games and see who scores more.

Recently though, the son has been rather competitive. He seems to understand winning and losing. And of course, he wants to win. He gets really upset if daddy- which is most of the time, is winning. He would ask his big man to 'miss' a goal or two so that he can catch up. If daddy is on a winning streak, he'd start getting frantic and upset BUT still wants to play.

Its really easy to give in because we don't want the boy to get upset. But we decided against it and play fairly. We realized that if we give in to him, he might not accept being a loser later on in his life. We don't want to take the easy way out now but instead take this chance to teach him that its okay to lose a game or two. Although he still gets upset and cry, we consistently tell him that he can always try to win the next time. And when he wins, we rejoice with him and tell him that sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

I'm not telling my son not to aim low or be satisfied with being the loser. I want him to understand that sometimes in life we won't always win, sometimes we lose but it's okay. It does not mean he will lose forever. He can strive to do better the next time.

Teacher's day gift

This was a little something i bought for N's teach. At the same time, i made him practise his handwriting! LOL

Types of Animal

We read on Animal categories, we learnt what Amphibians, reptiles, mammals etc are.  Following which we did this activity. N had to read each description and match the label to the correct card. I didnt read out nor explain each card, i watched quietly as he read and matched. 100% accurate!

Matching the animal to the correct labels.

Noun or verb?

We have been reading up on what are nouns and verbs. Although i didn't think that the book was very clear in it's descriptions, somehow sonshine boy got it.

I made these cards to revise what we've read. First up, N had to match the the words 'noun' and 'verb' to the correct description.

Then he had to identify which words are nouns and which are verbs. He had most correct just needed some help with a few words. Well done my boy!

What's on the ships?

I bought a series of National Geographic books for kids. This was one of the books we read recently. Thanks to this book, Sonshine boy learnt about port, shipping goods from a country to another etc.

Just for fun, i prepared this little game for him. Since we don't have boat toys at home (how strange!), i used paper to fold make shift boats. I put some lego pieces in each boat. We pretended that the lego pieces were containers holding goods like toys, clothes etc. I took out our flag flashcard just to represent the country. We 'shipped

 the 'containers' (lego pieces) from USA to Malaysia etc.

The lego man was used to represent the people in a country receiving the goods. :)

Our Body

We've been reading Acorn books on Our body organs from hearts, lungs to stomach.

We are currently reading this book, Our hearts.

I dug out the Glenn Doman cards on Different organs. I asked N to point out the various organs based on the books we read. I also introduced some other organs i.e. bladder and pointed to him where they are in his body.

Down under

I WON I WON!

I participated in my very first giveaway at About a girl and won!

What did i win?

A set of Montessori Nomenclature cards on Australia. It was perfectly prepared by her! It came just at the right time! I haven't had time to make or plan anything for the boy but these cards made it really easy for me! I just had to print, laminate and cut!

The boy was super elated to see new cards and was eager to play with them. It made me both happy- that he still enjoys learning and sad- it shows how much he yearns to learn but i just don't have the time! :(

We learnt the various landmarks, things & people we can find in Australia. From these cards, N has discovered that Sydney Opera house, great barrier reef, 12 apostles etc can be found in Australia!

We also learn which animals live in Australia

I made this set of cards, solely inspired by the cards i won. Its the map of Australia, divided into different states. N did it only once and could remember every state without checking the answers!

I also went on a hunt in my house to find things relating to Australia to show N. There's the flag, Kangaroo, cockatoo, sheep, koala bear, Sydney magnets, a didgeridoo (made by N during his Holiday art class) and my fav, a Qantas aeroplane model!

Sonshine boy had lots of fun exploring the cards and he's been asking to play with them over and over again. I've also summarized what we learn by asking him what are landmarks, things, animals we can find in Australia.

Help or not

Friends, family all advice me to engage a full time helper, now that i have 2 kids to take care of. Initially i was against the idea because im quite territorial and quite reluctant to share my space with a stranger- actually even my own parents!

However, babydoll is quite a demanding child. She needs attention whenever she's awake, she wants to carried when she wants to sleep, she basically wants someone by her side 24hours- well except when she is sleeping at night. So, you can imagine the time i have for sonshine boy- NONE! The good thing is the boy doesnt bear any grudge toward his sister and his mother! But nonetheless, this mama is feeling guilty.

Yet, i am hesitant to get a helper. While alot of my friends- with 2 kids, insist that it is impossible to care for 2 without help, i do have a handful of friends who has done so successfully. The rebel in me wants to prove to them that yes, it is possible to care for 2 by myself but when babydoll's demands become impossible- i just want to succumb to getting a helper. The good, i can direct part of my time and attention to N.

Right now, without a full time helper, chores & what nots can still be done. The only down side is i simply have no time for the boy. Although, we do get some time together at night where we would read books together. So, if i do hire a helper, it would only be for the boy.

Tell me, how do you manage without a helper? Or what is the good in having one? And if you're an overseas mama without help- tell me, is it a norm in your country to hire a maid? Somehow, i am under the impression that stay home mamas in US, Australia rarely have extra help..

Adding in multiples

The other day a friend teasingly asked his 2 year old daughter what 1+2+3 was and if she gave him the right answer, he would give in to her request. That prompted me to ask the same question to Sonshine boy. I wanted to see if he knew how to add this type of equation.

I was expecting him to say 'Don't know' since i haven't quite taught him how to do it. But he, quite quickly, answered, '6!'. No fingers, no calculator, no paper & pen, no nothing. All added in his brain. That spurred me on to whack him more equations, and he was equally quick to give me the right answers. I also tried giving him similar subtraction questions- no issues there either! The odd thing is, the boy enjoys these questions and kept asking for more. AH! My little maths whiz!

Quick post on division

Obviously, i barely have time to do any homeschooling with boy these days. If any, it'd be 2 minutes here, 3 minutes there...

Anyway, we've been TRYING to practise division whenever babydoll permits us to. I've also been throwing some division problem sum to Sonshine boy to 'test' if he knows solve it. For instance, i'd ask him, 'if there are 18 trains and 9 children in the room, how many trains would each child have?'. I first asked him what divide by what. He can instantly tell me 18 divide by 9 for instance and sometimes, in this case, he can even tell me the answer. :) WOOT!