Homeschool: How we use Young Scientists

Was pleasantly surprised that my kiddos like reading Young Scientists magazines. And even more so when I realised that the contents were actually quite good.

So we've been going through article by article. One issue can actually last us 1-2 weeks. Apart from science knowledge, the benefits are multi-faceted.

• We read through the articles/comics — covers reading and vocabulary. 
• Boy writes down what he has learnt — covers writing
• Sometimes we do a related activity to the lesson of the day — can be anything from drawing to science experiments.

Toys: Traditional Spinning Tops

Kiddos got a cool souvenir from Jakarta — personalised traditional wooden tops. Made from bamboo, there's a cut-out slot on one side of the top that gives off a whistling sound when the top spins.

After the Beyblade craze, it's nice to get back to the original versions :-)

 

Homeschooling: Journey of Discovery

Since Boy graduated from kindergarten a year early, he was too young to enter Standard 1 in a government Chinese school.

So we decided to take a year off formal schooling — a gap year of sorts — and see where that road leads. Yes, Mummy, who has sworn never, ever to homeschool her kiddos coz she can be such as a Mother Guppy, was going to what seemed impossible. Lord, help me!

So we started on Jan 2, when the other 2 kiddos started their school year. We don't follow any set syllabus, but here are some of the books that we do use daily:

Kumon workbooks for some drilling in math

School: First Day!

Baby started kindergarten on Jan 2. He's the youngest in his class, but the biggest in size.

The first day, he was brave and strong in the midst of many crying kids. Proud Mummy!

Then reality set in that he would have to be brave and strong and attend kindy every weekday for the  rest of the year! That was when the waterworks began, as did the bribes and persuasions and every other psychology method out there.

Garden: Starting our Composting Journey

In an attempt to be more environmentally conscious, we decided to jump onto the composting bandwagon.

Having no green thumb and very little patience can be a bit of a challenge. However, I figured, no better way to learn than to jump straight in and work things out as we go along.

We decided to use the empty flower beds behind the house — about time we put them to good use, I thought.

Eggshells decompose faster if finely ground, but we just crushed them

First off, we started sorting out our kitchen wastes. We don't cook much, but we like fruits, so all the peels went into one segment. Egg shells too. And coffee grounds.

 

Kitchen: Make a Cake

The kiddos enjoy helping out when it comes to making cakes, under Kakak's supervision.

Mille Crepe Cakes are the flavour of the season for now.


Mummy says, "Yum!"

Measuring the ingredients

Pouring the cream in carefully

Layer by layer

Arranging the peaches before they all get eaten up by the little helpers!

Living Skills: This is the way we wash the dishes

We've started letting the kiddos do some basic household chores, beginning with washing their breakfast dishes every weekend.

Baby thinks it's the funnest things in the world, which is great.

He'd carry a chair to the kitchen sink, squeeze his way between his siblings, and wash his plate and utensils.

Kakak usually gives its another quick wash after that. But I don't really think it's necessary because he seems quite thorough :-)