I love my three kids, yet I pay special attention to my middle child (4yo Jae) to avoid him feeling neglected. #1 Vee (now 7yo) was a high-needs baby and is still a high-needs sensitive child. Besides, I need to spend considerable time with him on reading and piano practice. #3 El (2y4m) is also […]
[Parenting] Loving the middle child Read More »
When I was showering the younger two kids in the late afternoon, I suggested to 7yo Vee that he finished his homework first. Instead he went to do his own copywork from the 笔顺 (Chinese strokes) book again. After a long day at Chinese school, he still wanted to write Chinese! These are moments when
7yo Vee has 3-4 spelling “tests” covering 3 languages every week. He’s attending a Chinese school in Malaysia. I usually try to make the revision sessions quick, fun and effective. I’ve covered some ideas in my Intermediate workshops. Today I added a new idea, inspired by Montessori’s Pink Secrets: copy the words onto (recycled) slips
[Language] Making spelling revision fun Read More »
One of the reasons I like homeschooling is the amount of time, space and freedom the child gets to solve his own problem creatively. Being given a problem to solve (often happening in traditional schools) is different from facing your own problem and trying to overcome it. The sense of ownership and motivation are much
[Creativity] Child’s initiative for problem-solving Read More »
We left for a family vacation to Bangkok, all excited to explore the city. On the first day, 7yo Vee complained on earache and headache while we were at Chatuchak market. He was one huge grumpy fellow. In the evening, we discovered he’d a high fever and immediately stocked up on a thermometer, masks and
[Adversity] Making the best of a holiday that went wrong Read More »
Yippee, it’s the school holidays! The older kids have been learning to pack their own travelling stuff. Last year, Vee forgot to pack his underwear for an entire trip. Good natural consequence — now he remembers it every. single. time. So for the upcoming trip, I just had to tell the older boys how many
[Montessori Practical Life] Packing luggage Read More »
Hubby made a day trip to Singapore and returned with a small box of 3D puzzle for Jae (4y4m). We got round to fixing it, amidst little El who was a handful. There were 80 pieces. We started with the single digits, so Jae had to fish for them, with a bit of my help.
[Math] Revising numbers with 3D puzzle Read More »
El (2y4m) wanted to work with playdough today, so we did some right brain math at the same time. We’ve a small mould that makes spiders. He wanted to use that. I rolled the dough into small balls while he printed them. As he completes a new one, I’d point to the total number of
Right brain math with playdough Read More »
While the older kids are at school, little El (2y4m) finally gets some one-to-one special time with Mummy. Here’s what he’s been up to: – morning sand play: finally brought this out after a long time – pouring water while mummy’s baking – cutting with scissors: he’s doing this almost every day Initially he held
Toddler sand play, cutting, etc. Read More »
Practice, practice, practice… This is what I remind my kids to do if they wish to get better at something. It’s about developing grit. Kids learn best from our actions (instead of words only), so I’ve been showing them through… Baking muffins! For the past 2 months, I’ve been baking healthy kids’ muffins nearly every
[Grit] Practice makes perfect Read More »