Homeschoolling?

Yeah we are kinda doing that..because Eliza enjoys it, and it's mummy focused time with her. She loves the craft parts, the singing and the cards activities. I'm not sure about the rest but i try to make it as fun as possible. Some activities take like one minute to finish. (that fast?) yeah...writing the date on the calender is that fast. But we'll keep writing till we see the pattern.

There's reading to learn and i'm finding that although we read a lot of books that rhyme, i haven't really introduced rhymes to her yet. And i'm not sure if she has gotten the concept. One of the activities is to do rhyme match, and it is one of the foundations of reading, that they can grasp the sounds. We'll take it slow at the reading front even though she can read some words by memory, like the way we learn to read chinese, hopefully she'll get the hang of reading phonetically.

It's great that my mil is here and she's picking up her chinese much faster now although she'll always mix english & chinese together like "我love你" or “我read这个” etc. So it does help to repeat the sentence with all Chinese and she picks it up really fast from there. She also gets her practice reading Chinese with my mil cos she wasn't that keen previously, only wanting me to read/speak english with her. With my mil, she has no choice..hehe. Finally she more or less can finish reading the 8 chinese readers from her school, so that means she knows almost 100 chinese words? She loved her Chinese teacher in her nursery class and i think that helped her got so interested in reading her chinese readers too. She was reading her chinese readers to me every night and practicing till she could proudly read the whole book (albeit with quite a 标准 accent that i can't imitate especially the "明明", if you have seen that video on FB before :P ) 

Still all day at home is fun for her, making her lego cities to no end...only fear is that Emily comes and destroy it or i accidently knock it down (oops!). And then it's her own craft or her play with her stuffed toys, or her house/tent/tunnel etc. Amazing how busy they can get at this age! 

We need to go out more despite the crazy hot weather so it's time to change walks to mornings when it's not so hot. I am sorely missing my walks because i can drive now and will choose driving over walking! haha...

This was in March...she would want to read this book again and again and again...day and night..till she was so good at it

One of the activities was the weather graph....done in under 5 minutes! but it'll be fun to see how the weather is like over a month at the end of the month

Day 4 of creation...special activitiy for the week...here she's painting and later went on to do her other painting after all the paints have been taken out..why waste it. It will always have to end up with finger painting though.

 I got this from Homeschool Creations. It was a one off printable for gardening.Arranging numbers. Very easy to us..but this one really takes quite a while for her...not that she doesn't know but that it takes quite a bit to gather that concentration. And everytime she has to count from number 1 to know what's the next number. The difficult number is 15! She'll always say 'five-teen" and completely miss it and go from 14 to 16. So we'll need some more practice. This is a game actually...to hide a shovel under one of the numbers and guess where it is. It is something she'll take out on her own and do spontaneously, thankfully. :) 

Emily's 8 month schedule

Just so i remember...

530-7am - wake. yes half the time she wakes up that early. it's part sun rising and part lack of sleep as they say. (she averages 2hr or less naps in the day time)
7am - I wake up! Morning stuff, change Emily's diapers, breakfast, milk for emily, send clothes to wash. The best time of the day for Emily cos she's so eager to 'say' good morning to jiejie and my mil with super-squished-up-excited-face and vigorous kicking in excitement. Really fun to wake up to a happy gal, ready to conquer the day :P
830am - nap unwinding time in her cot
9am - hopefully asleep
930am - wake. If we are not going out, usually i'll attempt to get her to sleep longer. But there are times when she doesn't want to sleep! so it's up for the day
10am - brunch. (time to shift this up later and include breakfast for her soon)
11am - milk (or later if i forget..oops!)
12pm - settle for nap in cot
1230pm - hopefully asleep. she usually can sleep longer during this part of the nap and i'll use this time to do activities with Eliza
130/2pm - wake & play
230/3pm - milk
330/4pm - settle for nap
4+pm - wake
5pm - dinner and milk. Bath after dinner.
6pm - get ready to settle to sleep (usually 1.5 hrs from the time she woke) Bedtime routine = say good night to everyone, draw the blinds and curtains, milk & prayer, put in cot and play lullaby
7pm - asleep and hope she doesn't wake up too often
11pm - dream feed (after which she'll wake about 3am+ and that legendary 5+am)


I love what she wrote at the end of her blog (and all the tips she listed too..very useful)
"The early days are tough. Let no one fool you about that! No matter what the age gap, it is always an adjustment when you add a member to the family. But when you see them playing and smiling with each other, you will know that your struggles are worth it!"


I'm amazed at many mums who can thrive so well on the tough early days, on their own (aka without grandparents live-in help or day care or maids). Now i'm  a SAHM, i know jolly well i'm not that kind of mum. At least not with a sweet one who enjoys our company more than sleep ;)

I'm thankful that Eliza is enjoying Emily more and Emily obviously loves her jiejie. Sometimes Emily will call her, not exactly the word jiejie but you know she's calling Eliza anyway. Really fun watching this little tiger rabbit explore her world :)

first week of the year

It's the first week of the year! We didn't do anything spectacular during new year's eve (oh we wanted to watched the sydney fireworks but not with Ww in USA...spending the new year's eve at the airport waiting for his plane! hoho). So the girls went to sleep as usual, bedtime was as usual, everything quite as usual. I heard the sounds of fireworks but couldn't see any cos it was just too far away & probably blocked by mountains.

We started with new 'activites' for Eliza
- Bible : this week was on creation. memorized Gensis 1:1 (singing to the tune of "Here we go looby loo")
- Character: Orderliness. Sing the Orderly song & read 1 Cor 14:40, arrange ABC in order (oh how i realized that she isn't that aware of the order of "L, M, N, O" cos it's sung so quickly)
- Alphabet: "A"
- Reading: Sight words mini story book - We & Will. Rhyme games
- Calender : singing months of the year song, writing date, weather chart (mainly just sunny & cloudy)
- Writing: K, L, M. Chinese strokes book, Kid writing actitivty

Looks like a lot...but really it's done in 40minutes or less and some are just done sparodically in the day, like singing etc. Or if she does an activity that's painting or crafty, she gets inspired and goes on to do her stuff.
Once i got the hang of things, i can just pull out our activity basket and get on doing stuff. I just need to have the things i need printed or 'laminated' the night before.
Yah and she's still bugging me to make ornaments!!

Still it was a peaceful new year's eve night. Nice.
New year's eve in pictures.

Changing for the day while i plonk Emily in Eliza's bed..safe enough for her not to crawl into trouble

Pre-morning nap unwinding time. Put rabbit as her bed toy...she only likes its tag, else it's flung to some corner. 

Still don't wanna sleep...so happy

Preparing pizza for dinner! 

Good night and tata 2011! 

I got nothing done today

Not exactly today today...my mil's here, so it's very different when i'm home alone with the girls and having to get things accomplished.

this is inspired from here. She has more kids than i do and i can't imagine. I have only two and it does get insane..somehow.

Still, a thought came to me as i was praying with Emily while she was having her bedtime milk: we have come this far. Many things had happened, and it took as a while to get used to be on our own (after my mil went back to sg after 1.5months with us). Actually it took me a while...i had Eliza's bedtimes to be settled so that she learns to sleep in her own room, i had a baby who barely slept unless she's carried, i had meals to be done etc. There were the stressors, especially when Emily took hours to settle at bedtime and i couldn't prepare food for the next day, or when Eliza started to act out cos of the lack of attention or not wanting to be told off. Mostly it was Emily's sleep, day and night. While Emily's sleep didn't get dramatically better before my in-laws came again, we did settle into something that we ALL enjoyed. I worked around the sleepless baby's schedule, Eliza played happily independently and enjoyed my undivided attention when Emily's awake (cos that's when Emily's not screaming! ha!)

I don't quite get much done in the daytime...as in planning stuff or stuff done on the computer. But there were pocket of times that i enjoyed, that i did nothing much with the girls but just hung around in the room and be immersed in Eliza's imaginative play. I don't homeschool like the mum does so there isn't a lot of activities that i need to do with Eliza other than reading and yup...eventually her writing and devotion time in the morning.(which is over in less than half hour...really it's so fast..sometimes 10mins)

Still trying to get the hang of things so come 2011, we'll be starting some form of 'homeschooling' following Hubbard's Cupboard curriculum, I have planned only for the first week and still am trying to remember all the little parts and get used to it cos there're soo many parts! I'm not teacher though i have soooo many teacher friends (ok and Ww is a teacher too). I remember a mum friend (who was a teacher before she had 3 kids!) was enjoying doing her toddler lesson plans. I can't quite imagine what all the lesson planning is about. More on how our week went soon...:)

what should a 4 year old know?

I love this post from Magical Childhood about what a 4 year old should know. Italics mine. Discovered it as i was searching for ideas for what 'homeschooling' stuff to do with Eliza. We haven't been doing any writing practices lately and i have started it again today. Thought i gotta do do something more structured to do in the day but then again... ;)

1. "She should know that she is loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time.  Eliza asks me now and then, "Do you love me?" to which i always answer "I will always love you, even when i am upset with you"
2. He should know that he is safe and he should know how to keep himself safe in public, with others, and in varied situations. He should know that he can trust his instincts about people and that he never has to do something that doesn't feel right, no matter who is asking. He should know his personal rights and that his family will back them up. Time to learn these...socializing, especially who to talk to and who not to cos people are quite friendly here. 
3. She should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use her imagination. She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky orange and give cats 6 legs. Eliza definitely does, she's the cheeky one, always trying to be funny. Though i think nursery school and people around do make her conform to how she should colour things. 
4. He should know his own interests and be encouraged to follow them. If he could care less about learning his numbers, his parents should realize he'll learn them accidentally soon enough and let him immerse himself instead in rocket ships, drawing, dinosaurs or playing in the mud. a 4 year old play is so spontaneous, she'll play and burst into song, hear a song and dance... we taught her numbers while she climbs up the steps at home and at the overhead bridge. 
5. She should know that the world is magical and that so is she. She should know that she's wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvelous. She should know that it's just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practice phonics. Scratch that-- way more worthy. She sure does have lots of time to do so! Not too much shopping and she wont be so dull. ;) Else she'll be making jumping parties for her stuffed friends, Lego cities, play house, cooking, playdoh food, sand food, water play. For one, she isn't the most outdoorsy-get-into-the-mud kinda kid. 

But more important, here's what parents need to know.

1. That every child learns to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks, reads or does algebra. This is really not easy especially when I compare the things some other kids Eliza's age can do. Ignorance is bliss eh? But i also know that she'll find her ways to do these things in her pace...mummy must encourage and yet let her find her pace. 
2. That the single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but mom or dad taking the time every day or night (or both!) to sit and read them wonderful books. I gave up on flash cards...too tedious and boring. But i want to read more to Eliza, more than i do now. We read every night and i want to read more books in the daytime too. I want to talk to her more, listen to her more. 
3. That being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children "advantages" that we're giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood. Somehow if Eliza was still in SG, she'll be learning in leaps and bounds with the other kids, stuff i won't be teaching her at home. I don't find that she's stressed by it in a way but she's a lot more carefree at home now though. Storytelling time at the library is an exciting time even though it's such a simple activity. 
4. That our children deserve to be surrounded by books, nature, art supplies and the freedom to explore them. Most of us could get rid of 90% of our children's toys and they wouldn't be missed, but some things are important-- building toys like legos and blocks, creative toys like all types of art materials (good stuff), musical instruments (real ones and multicultural ones), dress up clothes and books, books, books. (Incidentally, much of this can be picked up quite cheaply at thrift shops.) They need to have the freedom to explore with these things too-- to play with scoops of dried beans in the high chair (supervised, of course), to knead bread and make messes, to use paint and play dough and glitter at the kitchen table while we make supper even though it gets everywhere, to have a spot in the yard where it's absolutely fine to dig up all the grass and make a mud pit. I don't really like getting toys for Eliza unless it has 'expandable use' like the Lego. My in-laws buys lots more and particularly those electronic ones with sounds and music. I do find that it gets played a while and then no more...while some toys get 'transformed' by her into something else to play with. Oh..Eliza's craft? it's just too exciting and profound...i need her to explain it to me to understand what she's making! haha. She loves helping me pour flour/sugar etc, kneading bread (when i do make any dough!). But i can't stand the mess...she did have a phase of tearing papers into tiny pieces and throwing them happily like confetti or using them as pretend food or presents etc. Books are never enough! And different books have different seasons, she'll choose the same book for many nights till another better one comes along. 
5. That our children need more of us. We have become so good at saying that we need to take care of ourselves that some of us have used it as an excuse to have the rest of the world take care of our kids. Yes, we all need undisturbed baths, time with friends, sanity breaks and an occasional life outside of parenthood. But we live in a time when parenting magazines recommend trying to commit to 10 minutes a day with each child and scheduling one Saturday a month as family day. That's not okay! Our children don't need Nintendos, computers, after school activities, ballet lessons, play groups and soccer practice nearly as much as they need US. They do. I've always read that it's the quantity time and not the quality time that matters. Of course with two kids and a house to manage without help, it's not like you can spend 12hours with your 4yr old all the time. And Eliza will always welcome my participation in her imaginative play any day, cos i'll listen to her stories, and put new ideas about how her play can go. I love my bedtimes with her and i'm trying not to rush it; cos i'm afraid Emily will wake and i have to go settle her and leave Eliza or that she really needs to sleep cos she's tired, just a little more to chat is always nice. Today her stuffed tiger said its teeth hurt cos it bit me and i don't taste good. hahaa....
   
   They need fathers who sit and listen to their days, mothers who join in and make crafts with them, parents who take the time to read them stories and act like idiots with them. They need us to take walks with them and not mind the MPH pace of a toddler on a spring night. They deserve to help us make supper even though it takes twice as long and makes it twice as much work. They deserve to know that they're a priority for us and that we truly love to be with them. "

Talking about death

How do you talk about death with a 4 year old?

One of the night chit chats with Eliza, we talked about my maternal grandfather who took care of me till i was 10yrs old. I think we were talking about who took care of me when i was young. I don't have a photo of my grandfather with me as then, it was all printed photos not digital! And at some point i started to feel sad and cried (not bawl but tear), cos i thought about how my grandfather loved me so much and that he is no longer around anymore. He died of lung cancer and he was quite old also, about 80+. After that chit chat, Eliza kept asking me to talk about my grandfather...EVERY night she will ask "Where's your ah-gong?" and Ww's one too. so here goes the lengthy explaining about which grandprarent is which. And i dunno how but Ww talked about dying and that one day we will die etc etc. It came to some point that she started crying cos dying means no more mummy & daddy. Oops..had to stop Ww cos i didn't feel she was ready to understand the concept of death...somehow.

Nowadays, it's still ok, i guess she does understand a bit better to the extent that it gets a little too explicit cos she'll comment, "My ah-gong haven't die yet" -_-

Another change

5 weeks that my FIL has been here. Time flies! My first week has been crazy and then we got used to the changes. Thankfully I managed to pass the driving test! phews! It helps a lot that i can drive.

5 more weeks to Ww returning. I really wonder what will we do in this 5 weeks! It's also time to get back to 'school' for Eliza as I've been slacking on that part. Maybe it's also cos we have been doing the Advent ornaments till Christmas and going out at unscheduled times. The only thing that makes weekend a weekend is that we go to church on Sunday. Else, we can go out anytime, to shopping, to do groceries. Feels a little too free eh?

To some extent, i like the differentiation of the weekday and weekend. Gee...seems like ever since i have kids, i like routines. After all, i watch Emily's routine and think about it all day (ok i'm exaggerating but it's always at the back of my mind). I've gotta make sure she's not overtired, especially since she can't sleep more than 20minutes, and plan our day around it. I know 20 mins is REALLY not enough for her, and unless i hold her to sleep she won't sleep more than that. She did a 1hr in the car seat that day (super wow) and one hour in my arms yesterday (actually the other 40mins in my arms cos she was just too cranky to wake up). I haven't got to the stage of getting her to learn to do a sleep hour, but i should soon, really.

And 5 weeks of a little slacking on the proper habits part..it's more difficult to get Eliza to sit still and finish her meals while my in-laws are here. She'll be popping here and there, my mil will be spoon-feeding her (something which i got her to stop doing cos Eliza can very well feed herself), and she'll be playing toys and eating (which i gotta discourage that cos my in-laws will bring toys so she can entertain herself and eat). Argh..  and other small things which start to nag me. It's the simple things that i'm glad Eliza is learning to do like putting her bowl at the sink after she finishes her food, putting her clothes in the laundry, not leaving her scissors around and always put it back in the box after using it etc. Little things. To keep doing until it becomes a habit.

Gee..when will i be organized enough to start reading the CM principles again? This is the age when i can finally use the many things mentioned in the book, and i have forgotten much of them. I don't want to be so caught up in getting things done in the house or getting Emily to sleep/eat/changed that I neglect this part of Eliza's growth. Habits of attention and obedience, this is difficult because I do find myself very distracted. If i am so, how can i expect the attention from her?

Anyway, i've been settling my problem tooth, (and the rest of the teeth to do deep cleaning) and hopefully after spending a bomb (cos of the many different appointments, which really won't be any different if it did it in SG), this issue will be settled and i will guai guai go for cleaning every 6 months. argh. it's in the genes. cos Ww doesn't ever ever floss and how come he has no problems with his teeth? i have to floss every nook, brush accurately and if i lag in anyway (like i'm lazy to floss or miss a brushing) something will happen to my teeth.

Oh well...a wonderful time to enjoy my mil's food and time for more baking with my mil around though! Yumsss!