HOMESCHOOLING 101: 2015

Sunday, November 8, 2015

I can read! I can read!

If you read my blog, you'll know that I read to my kids regularly before bedtime. Well, I think the first kid got a lot of bedtime stories because he was the ONLY kid then.

The second child? I did try but with work + cooking + picking up after them + homework + exam revisions, I have to admit that I probably read to her about 1/3 of the frequency I read to her older brother.

Furthermore, when her older brother started learning Mandarin, I realized that hanyu pinyin hampered his recognition of hanzi (Chinese characters), which was what happened to me when I learned Mandarin at 9 years old ;-)

Thus, I've not been too anxious about my daughter's proficiency in English last year when she was 5 i.e. phonics reading and spelling. Will you believe that she scored 0 for all her spelling tests last year?
Why did I not panic?

Firstly, I wanted her to learn as many Chinese characters as possible - if she learned the English alphabet, she'd be able to read the pinyin and then, she'd just read the pinyin.

Secondly, since her brother reads a lot of English books and I can ONLY read English books - what are the odds of her not picking up English, right? Lastly, I always believe in nature running its course and also, the wise old Dr. Maria Montessori had always believed in a child's self-motivated learning.

Remember: "You can drag a horse to water but you can't make it drink it."

On top of that, her father, brother or I will read to her when we can. Anyway, I was kind of "forced" to teach her English this year because her kindergarten teacher spoke to me, expressing utmost concern about her "failing" English.

Actually, my little dolly's sad face and sighing about scoring 0 for spelling that prompted me to spend time on English. Thus began our private English tutoring on Tuesday/Thursday nights, which she loves!

A few nights ago, she requested for me to read her a book but I was dead tired that she offered me a great deal - I would read half the book and she would read the other half LOL I agreed but I "pretended" to read slowly that she'd have to read and she ended up reading most of the book ;-)

This is one of her favourite books - It's too noisy! by Joanna Cole. She was soooo proud of herself but I think I was prouder then her!!!

I didn't realize that she had picked up so many English words - guess her Dad has been reading this book to her regularly. Just now, she'd ran out of the room to tell me excitedly that she could read "Ten Timid Ghosts" too. I gave her a big hug and many, many kisses LOL

This happy milestone reminds that I've yet to get my hands on a copy of her brother's FIRST book: "Preschool to the Rescue"

I wonder if he even remembers this book???

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Dollars and Sense - The Berenstain Bears

Both of our kids are Generation Z and I am guilty of preparing lavish kiddy parties.

Birthday cake, party deco, party packs albeit from cheapest deals I can find from eBay, wholesale shops etc. from the time they were born till kindergarten.

Now that both of them are in school and are still tempted by the treasures in Toys R Us, I decided to start them on some financial management.

First of all, I am not the best in finances but I grew up in a humble household where all money available was spent on food, household expenses and school supplies.

Clothes? I grew up with A LOT of hand-me-downs.

"Dollars and Sense" is a great book to get kids started on financial planning and financial management.

Anyway, I don't go around telling my kids that "money don't grow on trees" or that "I am made of money" thus the kids laughed in glee when they see Papa Berenstain saying that ;-) when the kids go up to him asking for money to buy baseball cards and a wedding dress for a doll.

I thought that the introduction of the concept of "playing with money" was great since most kids did start off with flipping, rolling and stacking coins.

Weekly allowance

The plot got intense when the kids were given a PILE of dollars for their weekly allowance - I could see the kids getting interested since they are now sort of on a dollar-a-day allowance hahaha.

They loved it when they saw the Berenstain Bears speed out off the house the minute they grabbed their allowance! Kids are kids...

Despite this being an old book, childish (nor adult) behaviours do not change much through time and thus, the Berenstain Bears soon got bored of the candy and toys they'd bought in a hurry. Sound familiar?

One thing I didn't like about the book is the stereotypical angry, shouting Papa Bear archetype when he's asked for money with Mama Bear coming in all calm and sensible - most of the men I grew up were rather good financiers. In reality, the women were always shopping, shopping, shopping...

Banker and borrowers

Thus, the kids were puzzled as to why Papa Bear was getting all hot and bothered but then we got to the part of the kids writing a cheque in exchange for cash with Mama Bear playing the role of a banker.

I thought that this was a brilliant because the kids could see how dollars and cents added up to something. I've since started a sort of checking account at home for #1 because he had been buying a lot of books using "cash advances". I'm still figuring out something for #2 though.

#2 loves it as a bedtime story and I like it that she's learning basic financial planning because she could articulate that the girly bear saved her $10 allowance from one week and spent the following week's allowance to buy the doll's wedding dress.