Home School

With the 3 hours spared from school in the morning, JS finds it a little bore at home. Everyday right after her breakfast, she would ask me what we shall do together. She needs a lot of my attention and wont play by herself. Many time I will suggest to her what to do like colouring, drawing, playing toys but she doesn’t seem to be interested unless it involve me. ( I have to be physically sitting right beside her)

Giving in to her demand, I have to forgo my time in front of the PC in the morning and do home schooling with her. Each morning after her breakfast, I will get her to clean up and change and start our home school session. These sessions is likely going to last for at least 2 months until the new school terms begin next year. (At the moment not able to sent her to the new school for trial class as they are currently busy with concert preparation and that the teachers said she might be neglected. She wanted very much to go to the new school, maybe will sent her there for holiday camp/playgroup in Dec) . During these sessions, she always think we are playing school and will call me “teacher” instead of mummy.

Home schooling… it’s not as easy as I thought. Curriculum planning is hard. It’s a skill to divide the time effeciently for all subjects that I want to cover and the “directress” have to be really self disciplined. There are so many topics in my mind that I want to cover from languages (Mandarin, BM, English) to Maths, Science and Art, but I dont really know where and how to start. What we are doing now is to revise all that she has learned in school (roughly know from her exam papers and now with her text books).

My plan is to strenghten her phonics and stroke writing in Chinese and also the suku kata in Malay. She knows a lot of things verbally and can recognize a handful of words, but I notice that her phonics and suku kata is poor and even the words she can recgonize, she cant spell, these are the area I’m going to work at. (For example she can spot the words in books and newspaper and can easily read out the flash card, but when I spell out the word she knows verbally, she cant figure it out what it is)

It might not be a very Montessori way of teaching her since I myself is still learning and have not fully comprehend it, but will incorporate my teaching to a more montessori style along the way. Currently I have yet to add in Practical Life and Sensorial Training in my curriculum with her.

The things we doing now.

English : Continue with her ladybird’s Peter and Jane reader which we have been doing all along. She’s doing book 3B now.

Revise the words she knows . Trying to get her fill in the blank out alphabets of the words. Main aim is to get her to understand the relation of words and alphabets and at the same time working out on her phonics.

Mandarin - Revision on the words she learn in school and enrichment class. Teaching her more new words in a thematic way. Stroke writing. I noticed that she has been taught to write a few simple words in school, but none were done in a correct stroke sequence. 

BM – Mainly revise the words she learn in school and emphasize on the suku kata.

Maths – simple addition (have yet to use the Montessori way, dont have material at home) . Spelling of words eleven to twenty. She has already known one to ten.

Science – Reading to her the ” I Wonder Why” series

Art & Crafts – sources from internet

owl hand puppet

 Birthday card for SIL#1

Computer – She will also gets to play with the computer a hour a day, mainly on educational site.

Music – Revise the music work book and home work from music class. Practise the piano.

With all these activities , I realize she is so occupied that she has requested less to TV.

 Moved the table and stool into the computer room. Steal some time in front of the PC after assigning some colouring tasks to the children.

What makes me so motivated and keep me going is the result. Through the revision and some worksheets that I have prepared for JS ( I wasn’t very confident with her knowledge though the worksheets I prepared were according to what she suppose to know), she surprise me with her capability. I have certainly underestimated her. Seeing the result, it prompted me more to be consistent.

I wish I can spent equally quality time like this with WH. Though he tags along with whatever I’m doing with JS, but I still feel guilty that I have not spent enough one to one time with him. Usually when JS’s at school, I would be sitting in front of the PC and let him play by himself. I have not done as much of nursery rhyme and reading to him as compared to when JS was at his age. 

Hard To Say Goodbye

Brought JS to her school on Monday to hand out the gifts to her teachers. Didnt manage to take back all her books as it was such a short notice that I gave the school. ( I have actually come out with some sort of nice excuse to pull her out early), they asked me to go back on Tuesday to collect the book. JS didn’t stay on in school, we left after handing out the gifts.

Off we went to the school again to take back all the books on Tuesday.

 all JS’s workbooks and text books with the present from the school. With all these books, it’s revision time (I have not seen these book and i don’t know what is taught in school)

A little farewell present was given to JS from the school. The teachers looked a little sad of her leaving. I hate parting. I hate to see the sadness look in others when comes to parting. All the little children came out to hug JS and shake her hands without the teacher’s prompting. They look a little sad too….

Hey..i didn’t know my girl was so popular in school. From my observation, she’s always just a loner and so anti social, but yesterday what I saw was that all her friends seems to like her and they all (including those 5 & 6 years old) came surrounding her.  (Maybe she shown her bubbly personality at school when she warms up in school)

Was my girl sad for leaving the school?? Not a single bit.