The Journal homework

Sonshine brought back a blank jotter book from school. He had to write a journal as a holiday homework. Knowing that sonshine might have difficulty expressing his own thoughts and translating them into written words, i decided to incorporate Susan Wise's suggested activity in her book.

In the book, she suggested that the child read a passage  and have the child answer questions relating to the short story, in complete sentences. The parent/teacher then writes down his answers. The child copies what is written thereafter. I think it is a great way to give the child a visual on how his thoughts can be translated into words and then in writing.

So to guide him, I ask him simple questions, he answers in complete sentences and i write down his answers in full.

He copies his own verbal thoughts on his jotter book.

Example of questions that i ask;

me: What is today's day?

Sonshine: Today is Friday.

(i write down his answer)

me: What are you doing?

Sonshine: I am eating biscuits

(i write down his answer)

me: How are you feeling?

Sonshine: i am happy

(i write down his answer)

He copies his answers onto the book.

Questions i asked:

What is today's day?

Where did you go yesterday?

His answers:

Today is Sunday.

(Yesterday) I went to take the train.

He added on his own accord:

It was very fun.

I am happy.

I was pleasantly surprised that he added the last two sentences. More importantly, he actually used the correct tense i.e. 'went' without my prompting!

The teacher encouraged the children to draw pictures on the blank side of the book. I asked him to draw a happy face and this was his creation.

Mr Happy potato!

I love this homework! It not only helps to brush up his spoken grammar but also his writing. WOOT!

Mandarin reads this week

Here are 2 mandarin books that i (not sure about the boy) enjoy reading this week.

I S B N：9787533258160

This book is written by a Japanese author. It must be a very popular book since it is translated into 2 (maybe more) languages. We own the English version and i thought it would be nice to read it in Mandarin too. Strangely, the interpretation isn't exactly the same as the English? Still, it is quite an easy read.

ISBN: 9787543479487

Another relatively easy to read book. I suspect it also translated from an English book. I like the message in this story, it is about loving yourself no matter how you look. Great for kids!

Keeping it real & Plans for June

I haven't been feeling myself for the past weeks. There were alot of internal struggle, tempers raging and tears. I lost the purpose of all that i have been doing. So it has been weeks of hibernation, tuning out just to cut myself some slack. Unfortunately, it didn't help much since i got guilty for cutting myself mentally from the kids, leaving them to the television, iPad, aimlessly (or not) roaming & exploring on their own.

These days, i keep having uncontrollable anger toward my kids and sometimes the husband. I shan't say what was the result of the anger, it wasn't pleasant to say the least. The littlest of things would spark a typhoon of emotions, mostly anger. I don't like the 'new' me. More guilt. More anger. More impatience.

I think it is the taking care of 2 kids (OK OK some of you have 3 and are doing WAY better than me) all by myself. It is taking a toll on me- without my realisation. Babydoll is gaining her independence and asserting her demands. I can't do something without feeling rushed resulting in improper or incomplete task, which frustrates me to no end. On the other hand, i have the boy, who's fairly happy on his own. But i cannot help but feel guilt for not spending enough time with him, without any interruption from the girl. Instead of cuddling with him, i spend time barking, yelling and showing him my annoyance. To add to the stress, his speech and social skills are worrying me again. Then self condemnation for not putting more effort in helping him. It does not help either that everywhere i turn i see areas that i need to clean/tidy. There are dust, mess at every step. I make mental notes to clear it all, but when i finally have the time, all i want to do is shut out and tune in to the television or internet. Babydoll, isn't helping either, she is going around digging out stuff & adding on to the mess. Then, i feel bad that the husband has to clear out the chores, although he hasn't been complaining. All i want to do is tune out but when i do, i feel bad, i feel lousy for ignoring my children. Needless to say, homeschooling is non-existent at this moment.

I know, it is something most mothers go through. And i am no super woman. We all fall along the way.

Fortunately, my spirits are picking up- thank God for my mother. With her help these 2 days, i am able to tune out without feeling guilty- hence i am here typing post after post. So, i have time and energy to plan out the 'work' for sonshine this June. I will focus our activities on:

1) Spelling

2) Writing Chinese characters

3) Continuation of 四五快读

4) Writing (English)

5) Speech
6) Geography- Map of Europe
7) Exciting project which i took part in (more about this later!)

Well, let's see if i can stick to the plan.

Recently, i have been reading some of the parents' views about our local education system as well as their stand (what's more important to them). It provoked me to re-think about this whole business of pursuing academics success.

First, there is the parents of Dr jiajia. They shared on facebook that although their dyslexic son failed 2 subjects, they took it in their stride. I quote "... (we are) not worried about his future at all. If he is happy, he will end up having higher resistance to handle setbacks. That is most important..."

Coincidentally, Of Kids and Education recently wrote this post with the same message. She shared: "To me, kids who have not tasted failure are in a much more vulnerable position. In an achievement-centric system like Singapore's, kids like Lesley-Anne tend to link their self-esteem with their accomplishments. This comes about because they are constantly praised by teachers and parents for their academic and other achievements, so that they internalise the message as, "I'm valued because of what I've achieved, not who I am.":

Words of wisdom.

Most of us would show our disappointment and even reprimand our children when they fail to achieve the desired academic results. We push them to aim for the As, we send them to top schools, the best enrichment classes in hope that they will score in their examination. We equate being top in the class to a successful future. When our children end up last, we panic, we get angry, we question why. We think the worst for our children, we think their future is doomed.

Many of us have forgotten that failure is a form of success. We missed the opportunity of teaching our children to handle setbacks, to be resilient,  how to pick themselves up and move on. Instead, when they fail (despite much effort sown), we give them hell. In truth, we are telling them that it is NOT ok to fail, that failure is the end of the world, that failing means that they are weak, they are no good. At worst, they grow up truly believing they are good for nothings and self fulling prophesy sets in.

These 2 parents did me a HUGE favor with their insights. It reminds me that there are equally important skills, values to adopt other than academic success. Someone said it is not the product that counts but the journey. I have to disagree. I think the product is important but it is the journey that determines the product. We may have the As during the journey, but if we are not taught the right attitudes, skills, we will still end up a wrong product. Many of us are too blinded by the desired end that we forgot about the importance of the journey.

Time to time we need such reminders to get ourselves back on track. With each failure, therein lies a life lesson to learn that will only make us tougher for the road ahead.

I just had a parents-teacher meet today. I left feeling not too good about the session.

We didn't talk about sonshine's academic progress. It was his social skills that dominated the entire session. He's teacher feedback that he doesn't interact with his classmates and while he does answer her questions but mostly keeps to himself. He also avoids eye contact with her. Still, she acknowledges that he is aware of the going-ons just that he refuses to converse with anyone.

Ironically, he is very noisy at home- talks and talks until we have to get him to stop because mummy & daddy need to talk to each other! He demands for our eye contact when we don't give him our attention.

Although, what's been said were nothing new to me, still, it left my inside crumbling.

Ever since sonshine was a young boy, i just find him different from most kids. For one, as I've shared here, his interest isn't that of a typical child. He is different but normal. Yet, i can't point a finger to in what ways he is different.

Still, i am certain sonshine is normal just that he prefers not to socialise with other beings. Although, i have resigned to the fact that it his personality, i would still try to encourage him to interact with others more.

His Mandarin teacher remarks left me puzzled. She said sonshine didn't know his work, doesn't understand Mandarin and is very slow. Her comments weren't in sync with his past and present teachers who told me that he can understand Mandarin well. I was also baffled since sonshine has been reading mandarin sentences at home and understand simple contexts.

Further into the session, i found out she just joined & hence taught N for a month only. Hence, I felt what she said was very unfair to sonshine. Just because he didn't answer her questions and doesn't raise hands in class she jumps to the conclusion that sonshine doesn't know any mandarin. I thought that was very assumptous of her. But i explained that it is in his character not to respond to someone he's not comfortable with. Moreover, not all kids would readily raise their hands even though they may know the answer.

But what really ticked me off was her reaction when i shared that we don't speak Mandarin with him at home. She immediately said agitatedly, in her native accent 'Why all the SINGAPOREAN parents don't converse with their children at home?!!'., her hands up in the air. I don't know why i got mad but it could have been the way she said it, the tone and her expression. I was offended for me and my fellow Singaporeans. I mean how she said it was really demeaning to us. I wasn't shy about showing it and i think she got it.

She gave me a blur look when i told her i HAVE been teaching sonshine to read & write and he CAN read in Mandarin  and all his past teachers said so too!   I also asked her what is the point in speaking in half mandarin and half English (since my own spoken mandarin is so poor) to him? How and what would he be learning? She quickly suggested that i should then read to him more mandarin books to help him converse in Mandarin. But i told her point blank that i HAVE been reading to him mandarin books- so what's next?!! Her response 'er, read more books?'. Duh. Thanks for the great tip! Like i didn't know that!

So I left the school with 2 thoughts:

1) That's the difference between a Montessori teacher and a 'normal' teacher. The former would be very clear about the child's academic level while the latter may be left clueless simply because she has too many children to mind. I don't know. I mean, if the teacher is misled in my child's academic standing, how can she teach my son properly? I am very tempted to pull him out and send him right back to Montessori school!

2) If i should take the teachers' feedback word for word or a pinch of salt. After all, i am the parent. I should know my son best. But what happens if their report doesn't align with mine?

Copywork

I have to admit. I am panicking a little bit because Sonshine's spoken and written English is still below average. It baffles me that he can read, understand the context, has a wide vocabulary but has problems composing a structurally correct sentence!

So, i am going do whatever i can to help him. I am using Susan Wise Bauer's Writing with Ease curriculum (I was introduced to this book while reading Adventures of bear). I am not following strictly just using it as a guideline. It's quite technical & involves alot of copywork and narration.

I used to think copywork is a boring way to teach a kid to write. But now i think otherwise! I realised while one can read it does not mean one can write. There are many writing rules that a reader tend to overlook. For instance, capital letters, punctuation marks etc. Copywork is one great way to highlight these writing rules to a young writer. Like most kids, sonshine missed out the capital letters & punctuation marks on his first copywork which affirms that reading and writing are not one and the same. I feel copywork helps to drill into the child the correct sentence structure more deeply than reading.

I also like the narration exercise recommended by the author. It involves reading a short passage or a book with the child and then have the child answer (verbal) in full to questions relating to the passage. I think this is a great activity to help Sonshine speak/answer in proper sentences which will eventually help him in his Comprehension work.

Overall, i like the curriculum because the suggested activities are very short and simple. It doesn't require an hour or even 30 minutes of the child's time, just 5-15 minutes will do. However, i choose to use my own choice of book titles rather than her recommended books. I am using mostly books that we borrow from the library. 

This week, i've had sonshine copy short sentences (no pictures, too lazy to take) from the kumon reading book and this book, Mouse was Mad (a book we adore!). I'm just grateful he didn't, hasn't resisted and has been quite receptive to copywork. As for narration, i use the library books we've been reading each night. After reading a page, i'd ask a simple question and have him answer me in complete, grammatically correct sentences.

How i interest my baby to read

This is the number of books babydoll reads in a sitting. I try to read to her 3 times a day and usually she would sit on my lap & look at the books attentively while i read this amount of books aloud to her. And then, after i am done reading with the stack of books, she would fuss for more books or insist i read some books again.

Of course, babydoll, like any other babies, started off with limited attention span. She would either look or crawl away.Same goes for sonshine. But i adhere to some tips and gradually both my kids developed the interest & (*had to scoot off halfway while typing this because the girl was yelling for me to read a book to her!*) longer attention span for books.

1) Choose books with one word or short phrases.

Babies have short attention span, hence it would be too ambitious to expect them to sit through a storybook.

 I usually start reading books with one word on a page.

Gradually choose books with more words, longer phrases as the baby's interest & attention grows longer.

2) When i first introduce reading books, I'll read very fast (that's another reason why i choose very short books) again due to their short attention span. Once she shows more interest, I'll read at a slower pace.

3) I'll start off with just one or two books then gradually increase according to her ability to focus.

4) Start reading at a very very young age, at best 6 months when the baby can sit up. The idea is to introduce this routine and make it the baby's habit to read daily. At this age, they are not so mobile, so you've got a captive audience. They have no choice but listen to you read! Make it a habit such that even when they grow independent, they will still accept reading as part of their daily routine. Also, be very consistent & do it at a regular time in the day so that the baby will grow to expect it (& enjoy).

5) Be a role model. Read in front of your kids. Be it the newspaper, a magazine etc. I like to read and sometimes have a book at hand that i would dive into. Whenever i can, i'd read in front of Sonshine who upon seeing me would then pick a book himself and read quietly next to me. AH, bliss!

Of course, these are not fail proof tips. I think it is also very much dependent on the child's personality and every household have their own personal tips. If you are not successful when the baby is at 6 months, try again at 10 months, if not, try again at 12 months, try & try again. Vary your approach & keep trying. I believe the child will eventually pick up the love of reading.

Chinese readers

It was not until i was sourcing out for good Chinese readers for my nephew that i realised i actually bought quite a number myself. It occured to me that  we own more Chinese books than English! Goes to show how much importance i place on learning mandarin- i think. Nah, it's because it is really difficult to look for a Chinese book that suit our style at the local library that i figured it's better to buy, saves time!

Here is a list of the Chinese readers we have. We don't just have one book in a series, we have the entire set at home!

This was the first Mandarin book i bought for sonshine. I liked the big fonts, minimal words and that it is written in a nursery rhyme format. I read these books to sonshine when he was a toddler.

I think Pelangi Mandarin books get too little exposure, considering that they are really, really good books. I love that the words are simple, fonts are relatively big and there's only one sentence per page. It makes reading (aloud) very easy, the illustrations are attractive too! Plus, the story is usually very short so for those kids who get impatient with Mandarin books, this should fit into their short attention span. Sonshine loved these books when he was a toddler but i am going to pull them out of the shelf again. I think these books are also great to use for teaching the child simple sentence structures.

I think every Singaporean household has a set of Scroll readers! I bought 60 scroll books in a breath! Again, words are huge, story is short. But unlike the Pelangi books, the stories are usually shorter. The purpose of these books is to teach the child new words not so much of giving a great storyline.

I bought a set of this because...you guessed it! The words are simple and fonts are big! LOL. But the great thing about these books is that the sentences get repeated throughout the book. It is so repetitive that it is impossible for the child not know how to read the words! LOL

I love Beany's Mandarin books! I was a tad dissapointed that it comes in only 4-5 (?) books. I wish they published more books! I love that these books are localised. Sonshine loves our transportation system so the above book which shows all our local transport, are right up his alley!

And this is our latest addition! I shunned from this series during sonny's time because i felt it was way too costly. Moreover, sonshine was learning mandarin very well through our flashcards session that i didn't see the need to purchase them.

But i felt the need to get it for babydoll this time round. She prefers to read than to look at the flashcards. She is especially receptive to books that show a word on one page and picture on the other- which is exactly how this book is designed.

Apart from these books, there are also other books that i bought still sitting very nicely on our shelf. I bought a stack of storyline based and small fonts type of Mandarin books. Unfortunately, sonshine is not liking them. He much prefers simple readers like those books above. He's one of 'em kids who has very short patience for Mandarin books!

And not forgetting the other supplementary tools that i bought such as 四五快读 and other learning materials (which i'll share in later posts).

To prepare or not to prepare?

Kei's Bay posted a question on her blog about whether it is necessary to send our preschoolers for preparatory classes and why we can't just rely on the kindergartens to transit them into Primary school. Although, it was a general question, i took it upon myself and asked myself if it was needful for me to prepare Sonshine for Primary school and why couldn't i just let him learn at his preschool's pace? Wow, did i think hard, i even re-evaluated the objectives of my home teaching.

So is it necessary? After much thought and a chat with a mom who has a Primary school going kid, i think it's necessary and unnecessary- classic answer ain't it?

I think necessary because there are certain skill set & knowledge the child must posses before entering Primary school. That friend said it is a must for the child to know how to read- at the very least. She pointed out that everything, except for Mandarin of course, is taught in English. If the kid can't read, it is virtually impossible for him to keep up. I reckon this applies to Mandarin as well. Looking at the current curriculum,  the child must already know how to read in Mandarin. Otherwise, there is no way he can survive even the first lesson. I concluded, it IS necessary to send the preschooler for preparatory classes if he does not have those (& some others like hand-writing etc) basic skills.

I think not necessary because there's really no need for the child to be ahead of the school's syllabus. It doesn't mean that the child would not be able to keep up if he follows the class syllabus. A child with a head start may not necessarily mean he will do very well in school. That said, some say it is necessary (and even a MUST) for students attending 'top' schools to attend tuition classes. Apparently, such schools EXPECT the students to be ahead of the school's curriculum. Boy, am i glad that i am NOT sending my children to any of these schools. I will run to the far end, far far away from these schools.

This brings me to my next question (to myself). Why am i home teaching my son, and teaching him in advance? To answer this, i had to back track to the beginning of my homeschooling with sonny.

I remember my primary objective was to teach him to read, that was all. I never started out with an elaborate plan for him to learn Primary 1 syllabus by the age of 5. It was never my intention. In fact, i thought i would be back to the workforce by the time he's 5! 

I recall when he showed signs that he could read, i was motivated to teach him to read more words. So i kept teaching him words from across subjects, Food, transportation, animals, geography and i inevitably was led to numbers. To my delight, he learnt numbers and counting very well too. I then accidentally found out he could add & subtract simple sums. And then, i thought, hey maybe he could also multiply- & he could! So, i figured, i might as well teach him division- which he learnt quite quickly too! Then i thought, alright, since we have come this far, let's just move on to problem sums. And all of a sudden, i look back and wonder how on earth did we come this far, this fast?

What i am trying to say is, it was never my purpose to teach sonshine so that he gets a head start in Primary school- although that is the result of my home teaching (but I'm not complaining). I was led entirely by his interest and willingness to learn. He learns very well at home neither does he resist my teaching (i like to think he enjoys it too), so i just kept moving forward based on HIS own learning pace not my own, not our local school's, just his own unique schedule. Yes, i do teach so to prepare him for Primary school but that's not my primary (ha! what a PUN!) reason for teaching- it is a by result of my teaching- if that makes any sense. It's like, since i am teaching him, i might as well teach to prepare him for Primary school right?

I teach because i enjoy, because sonshine enjoys. I am quite certain that i would have given up long ago if he had showed resistance or no interest. So for me, it is not so much of whether it is important to give him a headstart for Primary school. It's more of how fast he wants to and can learn. At one point, i did feel that he was learning way too fast and wondered if i should slow down. But i decided that i will be short changing him if i insist to impose on him what i think is the 'right' pace instead of following his lead. I do not want to short change him in this aspect, i want to respect his learning style and pace. So, while i am fine with him learning at the preschool's pace but it might be too slow for him & i much prefer that we match up to his own rhythm.

But to each their own. I think it is a personal question and very much depends on the individual parents goals & values. So what's yours? Do you think its necessary to send YOUR kids for preparatory classes? Why? A food for thought!

字写

Since sonshine is comfortable with writing English letters, i thought i should move on to teaching him to write in Mandarin.

But i discovered that he already knew how to write a few mandarin characters, some learnt from school and some he was able to write out by recalling the words i taught him. He could recite the strokes as he wrote and could accurately count the strokes of each word. All credit to the school! I'm so relieved that he seems to enjoy writing and reciting the chinese strokes. PHEW!

But since i already bought a book for him to practise his writing, i decided to teach him alongside with the school.

I started with the simplest of words thinking he would be averse to writing Mandarin!

But since he didn't resist, i got him to write words involving more strokes.

When i don't have the time, i would just ask him to raise his fingers in the air & we would practise writing a few words. Just this morning, i taught him to write ‘头’ by writing it 'in the air' with our fingers. Fun stuff!

Simply writing

I'm getting sonshine to practise lots on his handwriting (he's improved much-whoop!) and writing in short phrases/sentences.

He wrote 'Small dog' and 'big dog'. This is adapted from the Kumon Sentences book i purchased. I made my own because i didn't like the writting space given on the book. Still, i'm using the Kumon book as my guide to teach sonshine writing. I felt that this was a good way to teach him on adjectives.

He copied two sentences using the short phrases he worked on previously.

In line with the copy work he did, i also taught him Simple Present Tense using one of the assesment books i bought.

More practice

A simple work combining what he learnt on adjectives and simple present tense, applying them in a sentence form. He had to copy the sentence and choose the correct tense applicable to the statement.

Revising Mandarin words

When it comes to Mandarin, i prefer sonshine to not just recognise the words but also know how to pair the individual words. I think it is fundamental to composing simple sentences.

That's why i did this activity with sonny. To revise the words sonshine learn from 四五快读, i took out some word cards and lay them randomly on the mat.

Sonshine had to pair the individual cards to make up meaningful words. It was a quick activity, i mean we had to, babydoll was crawling all over ready to destroy the cards- you can see her skinny fingers in the photo above!