Tuesday 21 October 2014

A Week in October 2014


The last week had been one of our low-production weeks.
Mondays are usually no school days since I usually work till late.
Mid week, we were distracted by Dragon's Halloween costume.
Sneak preview of the back only :)
She loved it even though it was a tad tight around the belly.
 Tiger and I went to the toy store after his music class to buy the amulet and crown for her
and he conveniently bought two more Pixar cars, Bob Cutlass and Darrell Cartrip.
He chose Bob for completion of book 7A.
I hid Darell in my underwear drawer since he is refusing book 7B right now.
Everyday, he'll ask, "Mama, do you remember where u keep Darrell?"
Imagine if someone overheard..Is Darrell her stepson? Or goldfish? 

At the toy store, he was also asking for this 

which is a repackaged version of this.
*raise right eyebrow*
Sneaky toy makers, I know watcha trying to do.

 I said no to buying replicas and when we got home, 
I gave him this and it was the first time he moved on from C-V-C words!
I don't know about you but I've never studied phonics or silent Es in school.
I learnt it from Alphablocks...haha.
When he spelt ICE, the very intelligent toy dog named Scout said
I
sssssss
E is silent in ice
I was like, "WHOAAAA"
But I'm not very smart, so, you be the judge la.
Worthy investment, in my humble opinion. And you can skip the two toys above

We painted some plaster with the girl.
She is naturally comfortable with paint

The boy's all grown up.
The first time we painted plaster he was only 19 months old.
*Sniff*


Since they were in the mood for Halloween, I made some "blood" for pouring.
She poured non-stop for 30 minutes.
 

I made it more difficult for Tiger by asking him to pour an approximate amount
like 100 mls or a quarter.

We use this Spot-the-Difference book from popular fair for our right brain practice.
He will memorize the picture on his Left for 10 seconds.
Then I will fold the book ask him to circle the 10 differences on the page to the Right.
If he answers correctly, he gets to stamp "Good Job" on it :)

I also introduced some simple subtraction to him this week using
some free Halloween worksheets from Royal Baloo.
I think he was saying 'four' in this picture :)

We also did a lesson on odd-vs-even.
This time, I told him odd is one-syllable, hence the last cube has no partner
E-ven has two-syllable, therefore the last cubes are in pairs.
 Then, I pointed out the pattern to him on the 100 board.
One is odd, so all numbers ending with one are odd.
And I repeated with all the odd numbers.
Now, when I ask 97 or 67 or 34 is even or odd?, he could answer me very confidently.
Yay for homeschooling!

Just when I thought I was a good teacher..I have this monkey girl who teaches me humility.
"Cat, dog, cow, duck, horse, horse..."
"Ehhh, that's a goat"
"No, horse!"
"goat"
"horse!!"
"goat"
"HORSE!!!"
Okay...horse..

She was pissed with my behaviour and busied herself by spinning this hippo.
She loves these and many a time, goes to bed with one in her chubby palm. 

Sometimes, school is interrupted simply because they had better things to do.
Like riding Kater Katoo, the stuffed caterpillar

School was also cancelled again on Friday when we rotated his toys.
Despite the fact that I had to duct tape the tracks together, he was so happy :)

Princess is in a stack-everything-in-sight mood. 
She stacks literally everything...blocks, paints, shoes, stones. 
Here she was playing with hubby but I cropped him out for indecent dressing.
The blog is rated 13 PG.

A couple of her cute/funny expressions



She has shown some interest in golf.
I hope she chooses to excel in golf instead of say, carom :p
Low contact sports with proper,nice clothes AND big prizes...what's not to love?
If she becomes the next Michelle Wie, could you guys please note that her mother (me)
had nurtured her gift and she shall not place the mother (me) in an old folks home no matter how senile the woman becomes. Thank you.
 
If she chooses to be an artist...can also la...
My wallet was crying after I bought some charcoal and 
a huge bag of  Crayola art supplies from Art Friend in the Gardens.
Anywhere else selling Crayola with discount?

The kids spent Sunday at Ekids where a few hours of running around cost me rm 100 (wtf?)
But that meant dating and shopping time with hubby :)
He kept whining while we were at the Baby Fair, I ended up with nothing to buy.

The boys in the 3D ride before we went home, exhausted.



I am learning to let go and let them learn at their own pace.
So, that's basically our week in pictures.
 Oh, we also spent a lot of time at the park but I never bring my phone anymore.
Must distance myself from Facebook when I am with the kids :)


Tuesday 14 October 2014

Halloween Trays 2014

We are all set for Halloween 2014!
Malaysians generally do not celebrate Halloween.
Unless you are a fun, crazy mom like me :p
If I were to celebrate the Hungry Ghost Festival, it would totally freak MIL out.
Since she thinks of Halloween as a costume party...it's A-okay.

FYI, my dear Little Dragon is Princess Sofia this year.
As I am typing this, the package arrived.
It looks small...
*gulp*
Hope it fits....fingers crossed. 


Tiger is going to be a pirate because he had refused it
and ended up wearing a friend's Batman suit last year
 =.="
He still doesn't want to be pirate this year. (God, grant me patience)
So, I bought a set of pirate toy from Daiso (sword, compass, eye patch, earring)
and I made this toy-based learning center with his pirate hat and a glow in the dark sword
FYI after one week, he still hasn't touch the books...

The kids like this Spooky center more.
His fav is The Haunted House by Kazuno Kohara
Dragon loves Witch's Kitchen with it's two-ways flaps

 Science
We learning about the human Skeleton
I printed the 3-parts cards from the Montessori Print Shop bundle
that came with Montessori At Home ebook.
I made a book for him, just for fun.

Fine Motor
 (Pincer grip)
Some bunny clips to match to bunny stickers

Tweezing orange pompoms.

Practical life
Sifting spiders from a tub of rice.
I didn't dye the rice so that they are still edible after washing.
GST coming, must be more money conscious :)
Added a long tong so that they learn to play peacefully.

Finger play
Some creepy crawlies rubber bands to put on the paper tube.

Patterning
Ice cube tray, round tablets from Froebel Gift 7

Math
Stole this idea from a friend.
One-to-one correspondence with the number chips and purple pumpkins
Then insert the correct number of googly eyes into each one.

Scissors skills
DIY some cutting strips with some Halloween stickers.
The pumpkin worksheet is from Kumon
Safety scissors from ELC

Our very popular sensory bin.
Any activity you can make a mess with, she's onzzzzzzz! 

Added some spiders to the spooky corner.
Dragon girl hates spider....
"Eeeeee...spy...spy"
Just like a real princess.

Happy Halloween!


Wednesday 8 October 2014

Froebel Gift 4: Forms of Life

Occasionally, I will sneak some Froebel's blocks into our study time.
Their favorite: still these yarn balls...
Printables from Confessions of A Homeschooler


 When I presented Gift 3 to him earlier on, he didn't know what to do with the 8 cubes.
I demonstrated a series of Form of Life to him, namely
a wall, two towers, chair, train, stairs, etc.
and Tiger just copied whatever I created for him using some purple blocks.

When I opened Gift 4, he said, 
"Come, I show YOU. Hmmmm.....what can we make."
I was cheering and skipping inside, finally, some creative initiative!
I could hear his brain working and he had his thinking face on :)

First, he created a domino effect.
Nothing spells fun like destruction.
He had to be delicate and continually adjust the distance between two blocks
to create the right distance.
We repeated this creation many times.

The next one, I didn't like.

Clearly, MIL has been too indulgent with his TV time.
He created a big TV.
=.="

Adjusting his big, comfy sofa.

This simple one blew my mind.
It was initially a table but he added a block below the table and said,
"This is papa barbeque one, the bottom one is kakoal for fire"
A BBQ Grill!
Creating without destroying :)

 A bed.
He asked for pillows and blanket.



Then he turned around and shouted, "Mama, don't look, don't look..I have a surprise for you."
I was anticipating a cake or some stupendous creation.
=.="
A wall
.
.
.
.
Oh well. I said, "Sturdy"


He redeemed himself with....Ze' Toilet.
Bwahahahahha...didn't expect that but it is my personal favorite.
He was telling me where the pooping action should take place.
Two side blocks are for resting your arms,
and ermmm, to put coffee/book while waiting.
Complete with a high back and soft pillow for comfort.
The flush button is also on the right hand side for convenience

Kids...and their crazy ideas.
.
.
.
.
Should I patent the toilet design?
No?
Perhaps I should throw in a coffee maker?
Coffee is good for pooping.
Let me discuss with hubs and see what he says.
Till then, do tell me some stuff your kids did/said :)

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