How To Draw (for art idiots like me ;P)

I don’t have a natural talent for drawing, but as a homeschool teacher, even though I’m bad at it, I have to find ways to teach my children, by hook or crook!

Found this website really great for me!!!  It teaches how to draw all kinds of things!!! The best part is, IT IS FREE!!!!

How Stuff Works – Drawing (Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, and you will see a list of “How to Draw …”

Have fun and enjoy!

Let’s “Adopt” a Tree

Originally wanted to do what I used to do, ie, blog down everything we do for each week in an entry.  Sigh… too much work for that.  Think it will be easier for me to blog as and when.

Our theme this week for both children – tree.

Just like clouds, how can we learn about tree within the building right?

Before 

I love to start with a book.  It set the tone for what we want to do when outdoor.  After that, armed with crayons, sketch books, papers, binoculars, magnifying glass, and off we go.

During 

We strolled around our estate, rub differnt types of barks, look at the different types of leaves, the fruits, the tiny insects, birds that live on the trees, take pictures, etc.

Be ready to change the plan 

It was sunny and windy, perfect weather.  But both kiddos  got a little grouchy towards the end.  Originally wanted to rest on the grass patch to draw the trees, decided to change the plan and went back home instead.

After

Back home, after some snacks and water, we looked at the different tree rubbings we have done, and each of us decided on the tree we gonna ‘adopt’.

Adopt a tree – we are not going to give the trees money, and they certainly don’t need our watering. But, we will simply give it a little more love, a little more care, a little more time, to take note of its beauty and its seasons of change.

Sad thing is, I don’t know the actual names of these trees.  Will be great to know.

Science

For Ms Z, the experience itself, plus National Geo’s Windows on Literacy’s range of books, it was already a lesson on Science. 

Downloaded a book on Trees from Reading A-Z.  The book is quite a lengthy non-fiction book, but with the outdoor experience, Mr E enjoyed reading it tremendously.

Spelling 

Picked up 4 trees related words from the book, ie, trees, roots, seeds, leaves, flowers, and these will be the words Mr E has to learn to spell.

t for “tiger”, t for “tree”, and what’s the sound of “t”?

For Ms Z, we stand up tall, arms raise up wide, look into the mirror, and we have the alpha “t” for tree.

Top with a tree poem, link it to 3rd day of Creation, zoo phonics, some simple tracing and collage on the alpha “t”, we complete our introduction to the alpha “t”

Chinese

Well, Chinese reward system is still working very well.  Will take it really slowly, not much writing, just plain knowly the parts of the trees in Chinese.

Math

Nothing much to mention for Mr E since I’m using BJU’s Grade 1 curriculum.

For Ms Z, we are still on our 1 & 2.  From our calendar session, she is able to recognise both numeral well.

Simple game like “Spot the pair on our body”, “Socks matching”, re-inforce the quantity 2.

Clay numbers 

Shaped 1 and 2 using air-dry clay, painted them when dry. 1 – 1 color on it, 2 – 2 colors on it.  In the midst of doing that, little Z see the transformation in colors when she picked blue & yellow to be painted on her 2.

Mr E & myself joined in the fun.  And we have all kinds of 1s & 2s, fat, skinny, tall, short, poker dots, etc.

Wow!!!

I only wanted to write about our outdoor experience, and it turns out to be such a lengthy post.

And, my household is still one that lives in Singapore!  So, I still have to let my kiddos do some EPH assessment books to keep up with the system here.

*** I don’t receive any commission from any of the links you click here, but they are resources that I  personally find helpful, and wish to share with my readers. ***

Mr E::: Chinese and Art

After sulking and feeling quite down in my previous post, today, who else but my dear Mr E made me feel so motivated in this homeschool journey.

Chinese

Well, I have been struggling with this big time!  I can’t seem to get Mr E interested or motivated.  I visited another fellow homeschool mum a few weeks ago, and recall seeing a reward chart and asking her about it.  Well, I implemented this on Mr E. 

Every new Chinese term he knows earn him a stamp.  If he knows and can even write, that earns him 2 stamps.  Every 10 stamps earn him an ice-cream.  20 stamps earn him a simple gift of his choice (my budget.)

This works!!!  In just this last 2 weeks, he has collected 14 stamps (got his ice-cream today), and can even recognise Chinese numerals from 1 to 12!  He got so motivated that he kept memorising the Chinese terms for flower, trees and grass for the whole day long today so that he can get 3 stamps at 1 go!

Well, some may not agree with reward system.  I am one who is careful about it.  But for Chinese, I really come to the end, and have no other choice. It works! So, why not?!

Art

Was on our way home from in-law’s place, and talking about what we can bring tomorrow so that he can be kept occupied while I will be busy baking the cookies.  I suggested his Sketch book and said he can draw all the trees, flowers, grasses, etc.  His reply enthusiastically:

“Yes!! I love drawing.”

Erm, this is coming from a boy who wasn’t that interested in drawing previously.  Why the sudden change?  Hee hee… will give the answer in my next post soon.

“Mr E, thank you so much.  You have no idea how much you have done to lift up my spirit.  Today, you have made all the tiredness seem so worth it!”

(Having said that, I still do need to try to do less.)

Burn out?

I actually posted an entry, but don’t know what happened, it got lost… I must have clicked something wrong … That’s just how blur I am right now.

Basically, what I wrote was that I’m feeling really tired.  I think I spend too much time planning my children’s school.  Sometimes I really wish I can be like some other homeschool mums who are relax, not so control freak, less of a superwoman mentality, and just RELAX!

With Primary 1 approaching in less than a year’s time, I’m starting to worry if my son is well prepared for the formal school, especially his Chinese.

Sigh… a stressed and tired me talking here…

Homeschool 2008 – Reviewed

After just 2 weeks of schooling, I already have a review!!  Well, afterall, this is my first time trying to homeschool 2 children.  For other experienced homeschooler, its a piece of cake, for me, I’m still learning and struggling along the way.

What are the changes now…

I take away all the afternoon homeschool sessions, and replace it with cards, board games, chess, game time, etc with Mr E instead. Anyway he loves such games, so why not!

This is made possible because of the new children’s devotion guide that I have been using with Mr E since beginning of the year. The quiet time in the morning become the Bible part of our homeschool.  This saves me lots of time on lesson plan preparation, and gives me more time on other subjects, without sacrificing spiritual teaching.  I also do not want to overwhelm the children with too much Bible studies, so I thought the devotion is really sufficient.

We now have more time outdoor too!  Our outdoor cloud time left such a deep impression upon the children’s minds that they are consistently observing the clouds when we are out, especially my little Ms Z, who in turn, influence Mr E.

Basically, the changes mean the children, especially Mr E, has more learn through game time, as well as learn at the great outdoor time.  Something that I very much prefer too.

Adam & Eve sinned – Feelings

Sometimes I think I’m crazy!  I actually try to link up my son’s lessons to each other.  The bible theme link with Chinese, with FIAR, Science, etc… this makes me really really very busy when doing the lesson plans…

Anyway, in relation to the Bible theme: Adam & Eve sinned, i tied it up with Chinese – Feelings.

To help my son remember the Chinese terms for some basic feelings, here’s a chinese song that I came up with

Mandarin Song –心 情 歌

Melody from : If You’re Happy And You Know It 

当 你 快  乐 你 就 会 笑 嘻 嘻 

当 你 快  乐 你 就 会 _____ 

当 你 快  乐 你 就 会 让 大 家 都 知 道 

当 你 快  乐 你 就 会_____ 

(伤 心  - 哭 呼 呼)

(害 怕 – 要 抱 抱 )

(生 气 – 脸 臭 臭)

Clouds

Homeschool today started with me reading Little Cloud by Eric Carle to Ms Z.  Originally only planned to go nearby playground to observe the clouds.  But, it just didn’t seemed enough.  Decided to zoom down to the East Coast Park beach.

Without me prompting much, Ms Z kept looking up the sky.  And her favorite cloud is Mr Dinosaur!

“Mum, look, this is baby dinosaur.”

“Mum, that’s the scary dinosaur who eat the sheep.”

“I see a whale.”

My heart smiles hearing all these.  It felt so great showing the children the world that God has made.   For me, this is what schooling is about, and this is the beauty of homeschooling.

Homeschool Schedule 2008

While the church’s theme this year is “Year of Sabbath”, I’m finding my homeschool schedule so packed!!! Still working very hard to cut something… Meanwhile, this is what I have planned.

Ethan has officially dropped his nap, so besides the morning 1 hour schooling, I’m doing a 1 hour session with him in the afternoon.  I’m trying very hard to make sure he has time to play, afterall, this will probably be his last year before he starts his public schooling in 2009.

Zoe’s homeschool is only in the morning.

* Playdates are either on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.

Monday *

• Playdate

Tuesday

• am – EZ homeschool (Since E has a piano class, I’m trying to arrange something for Z too.)
• pm – Tuition my niece & nephew.  Opportunity for EZ to socialize with their cousins.

Wednesday

• am – EZ homeschool
• pm – E homeschool

Thursday

• am – EZ homeschool
• pm – E homeschool

Friday *

• am – EZ homeschool
• pm – E homeschool

Saturday

• am – E piano class
• pm – Tuition niece & nephew. Opportunity for EZ to socialize with their cousins.

Sunday

• Church
• Grandparents

Beginning of homeschool 2008

Officially our school term started on Monday.  But it happens to be a playdate.

Tuesday, ie, today, we are starting homeschool, as in proper schooling, not playdate.  Its gonna be Zoe’s official homeschool too .

Probably we have stopped for too long, which is why Ethan been looking forward to it.  For me, I am also looking forward cause I be approaching this coming term a little differently from usual.

Bible and moral gonna take priority over everything else.  Which is why for Ethan, we have morning focusing on Bible and Chinese, while Zoe, I have replaced the stories used in Oak Meadow with bible stories instead.

Will write more on the curriculums we will be using.  I’m just so excited over the start of a new school term that I simply have to blog it down

My BJU Math Curriculm Arrived + something on shipping!

I finally gave up on all the research and decided to get the BJU Math 1 curriculum. 

I have been worried that it will not arrive in time for my school term to start. Phew! It arrived today!

Just happened that there was a Christmas promotion where shipping was free within USA. Thought I could give VPOST a try and save more on shipping.

This saving was quite a fair bit. Without the free shipping promo, I would have paid about US$35 = S$49.35 for it to be airmailed direct from BJU press to my home. With the free shipping and vpost, my final shipping charge with vpost was S$33.39, a saving of about S$15. Although from Vpost to Singapore is pretty fast, US-to-US was slow since it was via ground service (free mah!!!).

Actually according to my calculation for shipping 2 books via vpost, the cost is <S$30. I did email vpost about it, but I was in a hurry to get the curriculum since term is starting, so I didn’t bother and just paid the amount they quoted.

Just a note, always check out the price different between direct shipping and using Vpost, cause it is not necessarily cheaper using vpost, and sometimes, the saving is negligible, so I rather ship direct since it can be faster.