'First Language Lessons for the well trained mind'

I was looking for a grammar curriculum and decided to adopt 'First Language Lessons for the well trained mind, Level 1' by Jessie Wise. Here are my thoughts.

I would recommend it..NOT.

I was quite shocked by how slow the lesson plans are. Imagine it takes 41, a whopping FORTY-ONE (almost half the book), lessons just to teach about common & proper nouns. I was yawning my way through while reading the lesson plans. I took just 10 minutes to teach sonshine both concepts.

I picked up a locally written grammar book

In this book, it took about a 2-3 pages to explain the same things. This is right up my alley. I don't know. It could be the Singaporean in me that makes me want things to be quick, fast and good! Oh and cheap too! This local book was like $20 cheaper then Jessie Wise's book!

That said, there are some thing i like about the book:

1) I like it's usage of famous paintings for the narration exercises. Take a painting and ask the child questions relating to the picture. It helps in their oral skills and at the same time exposes the child to well-known art works.

2) Although i don't exactly follow the lessons but it did gives me alot of ideas on how i can conduct my lessons.

3) I like the idea of introducing poems to the child but i am undecided about the memorising bit.

Overall, i don't think it is worth to purchase this book. It is way too slow even for the average learner. Although, it is great that each lessons are very short (less than 10 minutes) and it's lessons are very clear & easy for a pre-schooler/kindergartener to understand.

Basic Chinese 500, the book & app

Since we started 四五快读 book 2, i found the words more and more difficult to teach sonshine. Some of the words have no specific meaning (think words like 'the') and it is really tough to explain to him how to use the words-especially when we don't speak Mandarin regularly.

I decided (again) that the best way to do it is to read Mandarin books.That's when i went on another hunt for Mandarin books. This time, i wasn't looking for a good story line just a book with huge fonts and simple words, preferably words that sonshine has just learnt from 四五快读. I wanted a book that sonshine can read aloud to me.

The book i found is the Basic Chinese 500. Actually, I bought our first book long ago, way before it was popular, when it just made its way to the book store. I didn't like it, though sonshine did, so i left it aside until recently.

The book is about right for the boy because the words are not only huge but they are simple enough for him to read & understand. He tends to get put off with too many and too small mandarin words in one page- i mean, who doesn't?

What is really great about this book is that it focuses on one new word in each chapter such that the reader gets to read & see that new word repeatedly. I use the book to compliment our 四五快读 lessons. For instance, now we are learning '还' which is not easy word to explain. So i took this book and turn to the chapter that feature the same word & have sonshine read out loud to me. Hopefully this way he learns how to read and use the new word.

But i really wish it would do away with the Hanyu Pinyin. Sonshine seems to be relying on it to read words that he has forgotten.

I also purchased the app on my ipad after reading a mom's review. But i am disappointed. I do not like the app, although it is much cheaper than the books itself. It is not design to be like a book. In fact, each page is like a new chapter. One word, one sentence is shown on a page. To move on, one would have to return to the main menu to select the next page or lesson. It disrupts the reading. I regret purchasing the app which is not cheap USD$2.99. I do not recommend it.

Lastly, before you scoot off to buy this book do be aware that it is not meant to be a story book. The chapters are not in relation to each other and sometimes the context can be quite silly. The idea of the book is not to give a beautiful story but to help kids to learn new words.

Assessment Books Galore

It has been really hard to do any home activity with the son and i blame it entirely on the school! I realised i have been busy preparing & sending the boy up & down, to & fro school that it disrupts any home learning- even for baby doll. In the morn, we rush to get his breakfast done, then off to school, i run errands in between school, off to pick the boy up, rush to have his snack & finally his nap. There's simply no breather in between for us to do any learning! What irony! I am in half a mind to pull him out of school and home school him entirely!

At times like this, i turn to assessment books! I used to shake my head at moms who purchase piles & piles of assessment books. Turns out, i am just like them! So don't you scorn at me! Nowadays, i turn to anything that is ready made so to save me time from all the planning and preparing.

Assessment books are my best friends-now. I use them mainly as a guide, it gives me a good idea which areas sonny needs to work on. I don't do the sit-down-for-an-hour-and-finish-5-pages thing. Instead, i pick a page, find an appropriate time, grab the boy and have him give me the answers verbally. We usually do a page or 2 and are done in 10 minutes. After which, i shoo him off to play while i make a mental note on what he needs to work on. I don't believe in making such a young child sit at the table and finish pages after pages of work. I think it is a sure way of killing any interest in learning.

Kumon books are my latest assessment craze. I used to wonder why Kumon books are so popular. I didn't get the cut & paste books and wonder why anyone would want to buy a book full of just addition sums when one can easily create that at home. Actually, i still don't get it. But i recently took a liking to Kumon Word Problems series because i was looking for an assessment book with just word problems, topic by topic. Strangely, this type of books are really a rare find in the book store. Also, i bought 3 books for sonny to work on his Writing and Comprehension. I felt Kumon Writing series is a great way to help sonshine start off simple writing (note not handwriting but writing in simple sentences).

On another note, i recently went on a frenzy, purchasing English assessment books! No thanks to a friend (a male) who casually told me that students in Primary 1 are expected to do Composition. It immediately set me on panic mode! Because sonshine's weakest area is composing sentences- let alone Composition! So, i went on to buy alot more than i should English assessment books., mostly on grammar & writing. Actually, no regrets, because it serves as a good guide for me on what & how i should teach the boy otherwise i would have no clue.

Anyway, i later found out from a mother (the wife of the very same friend who told me about Primary 1 composition) that Primary 1 students are just starting to learn grammar and are being taught to write in sentences. Composition is just but a small part of the lesson and it is actually very simple sentence composition. In her view, if the child can read and knows phonics, he is more than prepared for Primary 1 English.

For a moment, I turned into a headless chicken, worrying for sonny especially since he's only got 1.5 years to go to Primary school. I even contemplated sending him to Creative writing class-yes me! Well, i am glad that he is not expected to write paragraphs after paragraphs in Primary 1 because i know for sure he needs more than 1.5 years to work on that (especially now that i have no time to teach). Till then, i'm still going to resist enrichment class. Instead i'll continue to read alot of books with him & use these assesment books as a guide to help sonshine in writing. Hope it is a good decision, hope i can do it, hope i won't be ruining his English! *cross Fingers*

四五快读

Oh yeah. I have jumped onto the band wagon, i have joined the ranks of many moms. I bought myself a set of 四五快读. I have heard of it long ago but i never thought of owning it. So i don't know what came over me when i decided to order it- without knowing exactly what it was! But, no regrets.

四五快读 comes with a series of 7 books. It is meant to be a guidance for parents/teachers who's interested in teaching their children mandarin. The author promises that by the end of the series, the child would be able to read a typical Mandarin article comfortably. I am not going to go into details of the book since the bloggers at My Playschool.net did a great job- especially at translating the first 30 instructional pages of the book. But, what i will share is my personal review.

1) Some parents insist that only those who are comfortable in reading Mandarin should get this book because all of the instructions and guidelines are in Mandarin. Well, i guess if you want to follow all the author's instructions then, yes, you must be somewhat well-versed in Mandarin. But, if you are like me, you prefer your own way of teaching your kids, then it is not necessary to be that proficient. I never follow the way the author taught her daughter, i created my own to suit my son's learning style. Moreover, i feel that the author's methodology suits children who have been conversing in Mandarin or raised in Mandarin-speaking environment. Her suggested method will never work on my sonny. Yet at the same time, you must be familiar with Chinese words otherwise, erm, how are you suppose to teach your child?

2) I like how each lesson is carefully planned such that by the next lesson, the child would be able to read in short phrases and sentences and later in paragraphs. Each lesson is built on the previous. This way, it builts the child's confidence (and mine too)!

3) If you are not sure, i suggest that you purchase one book at a time rather than the whole set at one go. Sure, it is more costly this way, but it's better than buying the whole set only to find out that you don't have enough stamina to complete it! I only found out that the books are separately sold at Popular bookshops after i purchased mine. Otherwise, i would've bought one book at a time.

4) Some say that it is a MUST to read the first 30 pages of the book. So i made myself read my longest ever Mandarin related article, hoping to find treasures but i emerged none the wiser. I find what she wrote is strangely similar to that of Glenn Doman and Montessori books- i secretly think she is a follower too! So what she said about teaching the child with games and through play, that its important to stop while the child is still interested etc were nothing new to me. I also think it is not necessary to read through the pages. But if you need to read up in English, my playschool.net did an awesome job.

Right now, i have completed the first book. Actually, sonshine recognises about 70% words in the first 2 books. But i am taking my time to make sure he knows the new words. I am taking a mighty long time because i want to be sure, doubly sure, triply sure and then sure that i am triply sure that he knows the words.

I don't use games to teach him the new words as the author suggested. I find it too consuming to create games after games so i take the easy way out. I usually select two words per day or per week, depending, and show sonshine the words first by reading it to him. I explain what the words mean. Then i get him to repeat after me and tell me the meaning of the words. Later in the day or the next day, i take the cards out again and ask him to read to me. I do this repeatedly until i am sure the words are well rooted in his memory! However, at the end of the book, i did create games for the boy just to revise the words. This- i will share in separate post.


I bought my copy from Happy Cottage if anyone's interested. 

Home school plan for 2012

Well, i won't really call it Curriculum since technically i am not homeshooling N because i am sending him to school. But here's my work plan for next year. 

I plan to do less of activity work and get into more serious stuff. Not that i haven't been serious, just that i think it's time for Sonshine boy to work more on workbooks at the same time helping him to get used to sitting down for a period of time & just do worksheets. Yep, i am going against the Montessori work flow next year. :I

So what will be our books?

I'll be using assessment books mostly as my guide. I want our work at home to be as close as that of our local school's curriculum so to ease him into school without a hitch. That explains why i've largely avoided buying curriculum written overseas. Also, as the name suggest, it would help me assess where he needs to work on.

In fact, we've already started and i've discovered some new areas he needs to brush up on.

Our books include:

 Math (Primary 1 level),

English (grammar, comprehension & composition or rather close passage-Kindergarten level) and

Mandarin (we'll also work on reciting rhymes to up his word recognition-Kindergarten level)

The other subject we will be working on is bible knowledge. At this age, i just want to expose him to bible stories. In fact, we've been reading every night and finished the Old testament. We are now reading the New testament and finishing it soon. At the same time, the boy has been listening and learning to Bible Songs as well as playing some simple games.

For science, we'll continue to read books. I realised we've read alot of books this year and it was mostly science related!

Lastly, for Geography, we'll be working on recognising the maps of different countries using materials i've prepared.

So, there- i've briefly summed up our curriculum for 2012.