Learning At Home: Forest Animals

The months following June seemed to whiz past so fast with a new job, new adjustments, the Bees (and the whole family!) falling sick, myriad social activities and Big Bee's term 2 test and now final year exams. Hence, I did not have time to update what we had been doing for our homelearning activities, and I also found my creativity and energy levels a wee bit low!

We followed the multiple intelligences format for this theme, which is nothing new, just a re-categorisation of what we used to do with our usual thematic learning. Here were some of the activities we indulged in - most of them were done from late June to August.

1) Visual/spatial intelligence

(Painting, visual arts, arts and crafts)

We focused a lot on this, as this caters to Little Bee's learning style. She learns best when she is participating in an active craft or painting session.

Crafts

Ducks in a pond

We did a bit of collage art and created a little pond in the forest with wild ducks, since we had been seeing ducks and swans in Botanic Gardens so frequently! It was good to put into art what the Bees observed in nature. They both had a fantastic time working on this, finishing in one sitting! Took about 30 minutes to complete.

Big Bee's duck collage

Little Bee's duck collage where she wrote the word "duck"

Duck paper plate craft

I was trying to teach Little Bee the letter "d", and was focusing a lot on duck crafts! She made this paper plate duck with a little assistance from me, and wrote the words "duck" herself. For me, this was a good way to reinforce writing skills in Little Bee, as she is not one to work on those traditional writing worksheets, unlike Big Bee. I also wrote 鸭子 on the duck's body, so that she could identify the words with the duck. Hence, she can now read both 鸭子 and "duck". This duck is 3D, hence could stand on its own, so Little Bee played a fair bit with it thereafter.

Hands and feet deer

This was a superbly easy craft, which just took us about 20 minutes to complete, with minimal preparation work. It is also a perfect craft for much younger toddlers. I traced both my foot and Little Bee's foot on brown construction paper, just to illustrate the concept of different sizes. I also reinforced the letter "d" as she wrote the word "deer" and she drew the eyes and expressions on her 2 deers. Notice the different expressions? 

As she worked on the craft, I also spoke about what deers eat, where they live and what their antlers are for. From one single craft, it is amazing that we could impart the knowledge of language (the sound of "d", word recognition of "deer" and 鹿), Math (different sizes) and general knowledge.

Paper plate rabbit mask

We created a simple rabbit mask where Little Bee learned about wild rabbits in the forest (versus the usual caged-up tame rabbits she saw in pet shops). It was fun creating this and she wore the mask thereafter to hop about. She drew the face and ears herself.

Painting

Squirrel in a fruit tree fingerpaint

2) Verbal/linguistic intelligence (reading, writing)

Through the various activities, I introduced 6 forest-related words to Little Bee: duck, deer, bear, rabbit, fox, squirrel. Story books with these animals as well as flashcards were used to reinforce these words. 

We played a fun activity regularly where Little Bee was supposed to match the Chinese words to the English flashcards below, and she was able to do it independently after a few tries. She had difficulty in reading all the Chinese words, so I had to help her along, but she had no problems recognising the English words. 

Letter booklet

The Bees love creating minibooks, so we created this little booklet that we downloaded from the internet for Little Bee to identify letter "d" words. She had real fun pasting pictures and words with the beginning letter "d" into the book. She had been spelling and writing her name independently since June. 

3) Logical/mathematical intelligence (science and math concepts)

Math with squirrels

Numbers 11 to 20

We did a craft with an old CD and circles of different shapes and sizes where Little Bee arranged them into a bear's face. The craft is great to reinforce the concept of different shapes and sizes. Little Bee then counted the total number of circles on the bear and picked the number 17 from the number cards below. I also got her to identify the word "bear" from the 2 flashcards below. 

Chinese number recognition

Concentration game of forest animals

We played a memory game of different forest animals, which is great for sharpening Little Bee's concentration skills and also for me to explain more about what these forest animals are.

Pattern completion

While we were on the topic of bears, we read about the story of "Goldilocks and the 3 Bears", and played this pattern completion game with characters and icons from the story. 

She also played with icons of different sizes from the story and arranged them into small, medium and big formations. 

Teddy bear dice game

The Bees love this game where we throw dice and put our respective markers on the bears with the same number of dots as the number on the dice we threw. The first player with markers on all the bears wins. It was a really exciting game for the Bees, especially when the Bees were so frustrated if they could not get the number they wanted!

4) Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence (games, speech and drama, dancing) & 

5) Musical/rhythmic intelligence (music, songs)

I combined the 2 intelligences as I could not think of many activities in this arena (not my forte!). We sang the "Five Little Ducks" song, and Little Bee who loves to dance, merrily twirled to the tune of this song.  

We also used these card puppets to re-enact the characters in the song. We introduced the subtraction and addition concept as the five little ducks dwindled down to zero ducks and then back to five ducks again. Little Bee loves this game! 

6) Interpersonal intelligence (empathy, cooperation, trust, conflict resolution)

We read the Ugly Duckling story, which is wonderful for instilling strong empathy with the children. 

We also worked on this time-consuming forest diorama project that took up a lot of energy from me, but unfortunately, creative 3D modelling was not exactly my strength, so I think we can still improve on our diorama skills! 

Big Bee was a remarkable saving grace though - many of the ideas on constructing the diorama came from her, so this helped foster problem-solving skills in her. As the Bees worked on the dioramas together, cooperation, trust and teamwork were values that were augmented through this project. 

Painting tree trunks in the shoe boxes for the diorama setting

Big Bee's forest diorama

Little Bee's forest diorama

7) Intrapersonal intelligence (self-reflection and analysis)

With their interest in painting, I encouraged the Bees to use paintings to reflect what their ideal forest habitat would look like, and they produced a couple of works on this. 

From our numerous nature walks around our densely foliaged estate, Big Bee was also rattling on about imaginative scenes in the areas we ambled past, thus opening her imagination to us. I also motivated Little Bee to tell stories from her own perspectives, and she tended to always relate stories about the particular theme we were learning: Storytelling

Breakfast with the birds

Individual portraits of their ideal forests

Other forest paintings

Big Bee's forest - or rather, apple orchard!

Little Bee's, erm, forest! She always could not resist dotting all over her painting once she was done with it, hence distorting her original artwork! 

8) Naturalistic/environmental intelligence (awareness of nature, field trips)

With our family's love for nature, we spent an abundance of time immersing ourselves in nature walks and alfresco picnics, trying to identify all sorts of forest animals around us - squirrels, snakes (!!), monitor lizards, birds, wild ducks and swans, etc. This is always my favourite part of homelearning - outdoor field trips! 

The path less trodden

Home of the black swans

Breakfast with swans

...and many more!

Friday Humour

Last Sunday, as we were about to go out and Hubby was still on the sofa, Little Bee walked up to him:

Little Bee (thrusting her watch towards him): Papa, you know what time is it?
Hubby: What time?
Little Bee: It's waste time! (then proceeded to ask him to get up)

Hubby was absolutely flabbergasted!

Celebration of Effulgence

That magical time of the year is upon us again - where glowing beacons of enchantment were carried with pride by little children; where sweet delights of moist succulent mooncakes were nibbled by adults; where instruments of luminescence created a spellbinding ambience of festivity and felicity. 

Yes, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival again, when the moon dazzles with superlative brilliance and is at its largest and most spherical tonight. 

Our celebrations started last Friday evening with the annual Mid-Autumn bash held at my estate. The party usually comprised of games and prizes for the kids, an alfresco dinner and a walk around the entire estate in nocturnal darkness! The walk had always been a highlight every year - it was quite an astounding yet wondrous sight with more than 150 children and parents dangling cheery lanterns, walking in a never-ending, meandering single-filed formation!

This year, we invited hubby's good friends SB and SJ, together with their wives and children to the estate party, and we had a wonderful time chatting (for the adults) and playing (for the kids). There were 5 kids in all ages - 8, 6, 4, 3.8, 2 and another one in C's tummy! 

1. The Bees with Alexis ready to set forth on the half-hour lantern parade! 2. Big Bee, Alexis and Cherilyn challenging their balancing skills with an ice-cream toy at home. 3. Little Bee at the start of the festivities 4. Big Bee halfway through the lantern walk 5. The Bees with many other kids playing games with the party host.

It was really heartwarming to see the kids balancing their paper lanterns in deep concentration as part of the lantern-walk formation, and playing phosphorous strands of bangles whilst outdoors, and then interacting harmoniously with toys at home. With the kids entertaining each other, the mummies and daddies could all have a great chit-chat session, not to mention gorging on mooncakes! The kids enjoyed each other's company so much that the home party was only over at 10.15pm! 

And this evening, which was the actual night of Mid-Autumn Festival, we brought the Bees out for a cooling and refreshing drive, adjacent to the huge meadow behind our home, admiring the big luminous moon, listening to nothing but the crickets and toads creating an orchestra of beautiful sounds, and smelling the sweet crisp post-rain evening air by the forest with the wind caressing our faces. 

The Bees wondered what the fuss of this festival was all about, until we explained to them that the moon was supposed to be at its largest and brightest on this very day. It was priceless seeing those awe-struck expressions on their faces as they gazed at the moon in wonderment. 

Thereafter, we played with fizzling sparklers in the darkened courtyard with 2 of Big Bee's schoolmates living in the same estate. The girls had fun giggling at the sparkling mini fireworks, with Little Bee too timid to hold on to a sparkler by herself! 

Hubby also lit a candle for the girls to dip their sparklers in, so the night was bathed in mystical, candlelit glow, with sparklers contributing intermittent flashes of glimmers. The 4 girls enjoyed themselves so much that they played way past their bedtime, only retiring back home by 9.30pm! 

What marvelous celebrations to usher in the final (and most entrancing) quarter of the year!

Resplendent River

Last weekend was perfect. After spending many prior weekends in social settings with family and friends, we decided to spend some quiet quality time bonding as ourselves, with no one else but each other.

We descended to the Singapore River for an early dinner and a rejuvenating walk - imbuing ourselves with the gentle golden light of the setting sun, feeling the placid balmy breeze caressing our faces.

There is something very mesmerising and captivating about ambling beside the river - almost magical, somehow. The tranquillity, the stillness, the invisible presence of generations long before us, toiling on the same river. I stood beside it, indulging in a few moments of serenity and silence, marvelling at the surrounding peace and subtle contentment of others strolling alongside the river.

The Bees - hand in hand - sauntered vivaciously alongside the river, peering into its muddied depths and clambering up the colourful Alkaff Bridge in pure exhilaration.

The resplendent, shimmering light of the setting sun was breathtaking and bewitching, elevating our spirits to a higher plane. The ambience seemed more expansive, more enchanting with tangerine light that resonates through all our beings. Glorious.

Of Birds And Bees

With the growing proliferation of unwanted information on the mass media, combined with Big Bee's bombardment of questions every time she read certain things she could not comprehend in the newspapers, I decided to take out my trusty book on the origins of human life - Who Am I? Where Did I Come From?

I used to read this to Big Bee when she was only 4, but she had clean forgotten everything. The pages and words for a comprehensive sex education are excellent for little kids from 3 years old, complete with fun pop-up graphics (and some are very explicit indeed!) as well as flaps within the book.

Little Bee had a blast fiddling with these pop up pages, and Big Bee comprehended my simple explanation from the book. However, I must reinforce that it was pure treasure to glimpse that mixture of fascination and disgust when we came to the pages where the sperms met the egg (yes, this was illustrated in glorious pop up!). The distinct gulps of disbelief and undisguised looks of horror when the Bees realised how they were created and from where they were launched into harsh Earth was priceless indeed :) 

Birthdays Galore!

The past 2 months had been nothing short of spectacular - with our weekends packed with birthday parties and lots of other activities! We had nary a break till the next fortnight. But the Bees are enjoying themselves thoroughly, needless to say! 

Here are some highlights from the myriad parties we attended:

1) Chloe's 3rd birthday

My cousin Irene booked a wonderful bungalow at Tanah Merah to celebrate Chloe's birthday, and we had such great fun exploring and chilling in the house! There were lots of mesmerizing activities for the children - a kid's magician (where gutsy Little Bee volunteered herself to participate in some tricks!), balloon sculpting and face/body painting. The Bees participated in all the activities with glee and mirth! Chloe had 2 cakes, lucky her - a beautiful 3D number "3" cake with Pooh characters and a Buzz Lightyear agar agar "cake" which tasted divine! 

2) Val's 3rd birthday

The following week, it was Val's birthday! We celebrated her birthday in a stunning function room complete with a colourful bouncer, see-saw and a gorgeous Mickey Mouse pinata with lots of sweets! It was really lovely to sit down, gorged on scrumptious food and looked at our children playing contentedly together. The 2nd generation cousins really played harmoniously together. Val looked so happy, especially when Big Bee arrived. Her cake was a breathtaking two-tiered cake in strawberry and chocolate flavours. Yum! 

3) Alecia's 4th birthday

Little Bee's best friend from school invited her to Build-A-Bear Workshop for an amazing party. Party hosts played games with the kids and there was a gigantic bunny mascot that fascinated all the little kids. Best of all, each of the kids could take home a bear that they built from scratch in the shop! What a wonderful memento! Little Bee truly enjoyed catching up with her school pals and choosing a bunny for herself. 

4) Kai's 1st birthday

Hubby's good friend celebrated his son's 1st birthday with a bash in Singtel's recreation club. The party area was so spacious, filled with comfortable big lounge chairs that the adults enjoyed more than the kids! Meanwhile, Little Bee snoozed through the entire party, waking up only after the cake cutting. Big Bee busied herself with the rest of the other kids, playing with balloons and the foosball machine. 

Can you see Little Bee (in a blue dress) snoozing peacefully on a sofa behind Big Bee? 

5) Desiree's 1st birthday

6) Brianna's 9th birthday

What a busy but fun-filled time the Bees had! 

Rejuvenation By The Sea

We spent the Hari Raya Puasa long weekend by the sea in Bintan with PF and her family. Being beach zealots, we were dazzled by the breathtaking expanse of emerald ocean, soft taupe sands on the capacious beach and resplendent sunset. Staying 2 nights at the sprawling Bintan Lagoon Resort was truly vivifying, as there were plenty of family activities for rainy days and early evenings.

The Bees enjoyed this short getaway tremendously, being in close proximity and joyous company of friends whom they had grown up with. Big Bee was giggling and chatting with Eugene and Claire, like they were little adults! Little Bee tried to tag along but felt a little left out at times with the big primary school kids, poor girl. However, she would learn fast from them, I am sure! 

Some salient highlights of the getaway:

1) Taking the Emerald Class in the ferry to and fro Bintan. This is highly recommended for sheer comfort and the opportunity to skip the long, bothersome queues at the immigration counter when checking in and out of the ferry terminal. We could even relax in a lounge at Bintan's ferry terminal on our way home, complete with coffee/tea and drinks, while their lounge staff settled the immigration check-in for us! Besides, the seats on Emerald Class were so luxurious, and drinks were served to everyone while we sat comfortably - we felt so pampered!

2) Luxuriating in the spacious, newly renovated hotel room with a large relaxation platform area that the Bees loved! The balcony chairs were wonderful for me to sink my tired body at night, after the Bees slept, listening to nothing but the orchestral music of myriad crickets and insects, perfected by the never-ending whispering of the ubiquitous trees and relentless rhythm of the sighing waves. Witnessing a blast of splendid fireworks from a distance, probably by Hari Raya merrymakers in Bintan. Bliss indeed! 

3) Watching Big Bee and Hubby engaging in a fearsome battle of Laser Quest with Eugene, Claire and their daddy, with timid Little Bee clinging on to me in the dark cavernous war space! The 3 kids and 2 daddies emerged out of the dark, cloaked in large beads of perspiration and pounding hearts after an adrenaline-racing shooting game!

4) Playing table tennis with Little Bee after the gang had expended a good 30 minutes of energy on table tennis tournaments of all kinds - between the fathers, between the big kids and between fathers and kids! Little Bee was happily picking up the ball constantly and my incessant encouragement was making her so motivated and happy! 

5) Seeing Big Bee tumbling and rolling around in a Zorb ball in the pool, feeling protective yet letting go mentally for her to explore on her own. It was also very liberating to just stay with Little Bee who was paddling happily in the baby pool, whilst witnessing how much fun Big Bee was having on her own with her 2 good buddies on the 2 pool slides. They had indeed grown up, freeing themselves from the restricting arms of us, their parents! 

6) Giggling at a laughing and exhilarated Little Bee who was bouncing up and down on a trampoline, falling and getting up, bouncing and falling again. This would be a perfect lesson for a little child like her to learn about the literal ups and downs of life! 

7) Enjoying the resplendent multi-hued sunset at the far-reaching beach at low-tide, watching the 4 kids digging around for tiny hermit crabs, loving the fact that they were truly enjoying nature and were close to creatures of nature, nurturing these creatures and not destroying their habitats. 

8) Getting back on the beach the next morning again, and seeing 2 groups of sandcastles - one under our pavilion by the kids, and another one right under the searing sun by the fathers. It pleased my heart immensely to see the kids indulging in perpetual chatting - not of the rigmarole type these days, but proper discussions about school and life in general, with Little Bee joining in from the side. Seeing the fathers build a gigantic sandcastle, only to be destroyed by the kids eventually. What a wonderful lesson in the transient nature of things on earth :) 

9) Bewitched by awe-inspiring weatherscapes of all kinds - from intense, tangerine hues of the sunset to the vivid sapphire skies dotted with white cotton-like fluffy clouds to apocalyptic, dark menacing clouds hovering like a giant monster over us! Fantastic! 

And finally, nothing beats having all the time in the world on a beach resort to spend time with the Bees - this would be something I will cherish as much as possible before they forge ahead with their own independent lives in future! 

Women's Soccer

* A page from Big Bee's diary*

On the 21st of August, Papa and me went to watch the YOG women's football match in the evening. The football match was held at the Kitchener Road stadium. Unfortunately, Little Bee was sick so Mummy had to stay at home and look after her.

Papa parked at the humongous carpark. There was also an enormous swimming pool in the stadium. We sat at the front row in the grandstand. The view was not really that wonderful because there was a speaker blocking the other side of the football field.

The first match was Turkey against Chile. When we arrived, they already finished the first half. The score was 2-2 so it was quite exciting. The second half finished but the score was still the same. The game continued. Chile shot a goal. Everyone screamed like mad. I did not know which team I liked most, so I supported "Turle". It was a mix of Turkey and Chile.

After that, Papa went to buy some snacks. Papa bought a hotdog and a bottle of orange juice. He let me eat some of his hotdog bread. After that, we went to watch the second match. It was Equatorial Guinea versus Iran. Surprisingly, everyone was cheering for Iran. They will hit their chairs three times and shout "Iran". Equatorial Guinea had shot 2 goals.

Soon, I wanted to go home. Papa did not want to. He said that if I stayed till 9.45pm, he would buy me something. I stayed till 9.45pm. We went out of the stadium. Papa asked a man where the shop with the YOG gifts was. The man said it was inside the stadium. We could not go in again so we went home. But I still think it was a fun night!

Homelearning For Working Mums

I don't profess to be a wonderful mum. To me, fantastic mothers are those without domestic helpers and yet ensuring that the house is spick and span, who homeschool their children and who are loving wives and devoted daughters, with warm delicious meals on the table as their husbands reach home from work and who gives a nice allowance to their parents from their husband's paycheck - and yet looking gorgeous without a hair out of place! Not me for sure!

For me, I hate housework, I cannot live without my helper who does all my yucky housework, and I need my mum to help care for the kids when I am at work.

However, I try my best to be a good mother in whatever little ways I can. Hence, I spend as much time with my children (and hubby, of course) and I prefer to teach my children myself (for now) without needing to bring them for enrichment or tuition classes, except for skills-based classes that I can't teach, like ballet, piano and tennis, etc.

Yet, I know in this harsh academic environment where meritocracy is paramount, it is rather hard for our children to enjoy learning in school. Hence, I started a homelearning programme early last year when Big Bee went to primary one - to plug in the gaps that the formal school system cannot fill.

As a working mother, I must profess that it is challenging to do structured activities in the evenings after work because 1) the kids are tired after a long day in school or even at home, and 2) I am tired after a long day at work. But as mothers - working or stay home mums - we know we are focused on one objective, that of ensuring a rich learning environment for our children. And we know we are resilient from all those nights of caring for our crying babies, breastfeeding them, changing them. So, focus and perseverence are my 2 mottos when coming to homelearning, especially for working mums, where we only have that pathetic 2 to 3 hours of time with our children after work.

I am no expert, but this is my personal survival kit for homelearning with my Bees as a working mum. I typically have only a sad 2.5 hours with the Bees every weekday evening, and I only use 1 hour or lesser every night on learning activities. The rest of time is spent on casual games and fun, which is just as important for bonding.

1) It is absolutely fundamental to have a lesson plan for the theme that I work on, so that I can refer to it and select the activity of the day almost immediately, as I do not have time to research on the homelearning activities on a daily basis. It also helps me to put into perspective a big picture of what the learning outcomes are.

I usually spend about a week structuring a lesson plan for the theme of the month, and I arrange activities according to the multiple intelligences format, ensuring that there are enough activities for each intelligence.

2) I will select the daily homelearning activity from work, or during dinner time. This may change depending on a) the Bees' and my energy levels b) our moods (whether we feel like crafting or writing, Chinese or math etc) and c) level of pre-preparation for that particular activity.

3) I try to include easy activities for weekday nights, meaning crafts or activities that need minimal pre-preparation work. In fact, most of our homelearning activities involve a lot of creation by the Bees, which makes things a lot easier for me and which help foster their innovative skills too.

4) I spend very little time on each activity, given the short attention of Little Bee and given the long day in primary 2 for Big Bee. Hence, it is usually 20 to 30 minutes for Little Bee, and another 20 to 30 minutes for Big Bee. On days where exams are nigh, I will go through Big Bee's academic schoolwork with her as she doesn't attend tuition yet, and she will grouch about how her mei mei can work on fun crafts whereas she has to do corrections, poor baby.

If it is a group activity, we will usually spend 30 to 40 minutes on it, and that's it!

There - seems very easy, isn't it? It is really effortless to do structured homelearning at home for working mums, so long we have a good lesson plan. On days when I am on leave, I can have the luxury of researching for activities on my whim and fancy, but on working days, I have absolutely no time to do such researching, so a lesson plan is truly helpful.

For activities that need some pre-preparations, like dioramas, I will work on these materials after the kids are asleep.

It just takes 20 to 30 minutes a day for homelearning. If done on a daily basis, this cumulative effort can be seen very evidently, compared to when we just chill the entire evening in front of a TV with our kids. On nights when I am really tired, I will just read more to them, or I let them doodle and paint. As mothers, I guess we know better than to give ourselves undue pressure, because if we feel stressed doing such activities with our children, it will never be fun nor effective for us nor the kids!

That being said, I still admire these stay-home mothers who do not have helpers at home, and yet had bravely started their own businesses fueled by their passion in early childhood development! These are Amazonian mothers indeed - Pauline and Rachel from My Playschool.net and Domestic Goddess. It is amazing how they are courageously living their dreams!

Homemade Cards

'Tis a season for parties in August, and the Bees had been really busy being socialites and decorating homemade cards. We had never needed to buy birthday cards, all thanks to my Bees' avid interests in creating their own cards for birthday friends and relatives. 

In this fortnight, we attended 3 fantastic parties: Little Bee's best friend Alecia's 4th birthday party as well as the Bees' cousins Chloe's and Val's 3rd birthday parties. It was immense fun, and they were wishing for more parties! Pictures of the parties will be posted in another entry. 

Meanwhile, the Bees had also been really busy preparing cards for their friends and cousins. Big Bee had been making cards for years, and I guess this bug caught on with Little Bee, who had started making cards with great interest for all kinds of occasions at home. Hence, she was elated when she could make her debut entries for these 3 parties officially! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of Chloe's card that Big Bee created, but I am sure I will be asking my cousin Irene for a photo soon! 

Little Bee's card for Alecia, her best friend. She enjoys decorating her name with curly swirls to make it prettier, something she learned from her beloved jie jie. I wrote the words "Happy Birthday" and she decorated the entire card on her own. She drew Alecia in a long straw dress in a garden with a big flower and butterfly. 

This is a card for Little Bee's friend Hsin Yann, whose party she missed due to her flu a month ago. The letters "IUVL" actually meant "I LUV U". She knows the letters that made up this phrase but would always mix them up, hence "IUVL"!

Little Bee's card for Val - this time, she wanted to write Happy Birthday herself, so she copy wrote the phrase from me. Again, the curly letters for her name prevailed! 

Big Bee's card for Val - she is now very adept at creating cards with pop-up effects or flaps, enhancing the interactivity of the card for the little ones. 

Love, Forever

Last Saturday, we went to a lovely alfresco cafe at Vivocity for breakfast. The Bees loved the cafe with plush spacious swings and a stunning view of Sentosa's Universal Studios, the integrated resort and busy bay with incessantly moving boats.

I loved the large cup of latte and Hubby liked the bright, airy ambience. Their blueberry muffins were a tad too sweet though! 

August 2010

The girls were so happy fooling around that I could not resist snapping some jubilant photos of them, and then comparing these shots with a similar picture that I took of them at the beginning of 2009. 

January 2009

Oh, how they had grown since then, but one fact is constant - their profound love for each other will remain forever, despite all the little sibling squabbles. 

New Lesson Plan - Multiple Intelligences

I had researched a fair bit on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory, and recently developed a lesson plan for the Bees around each of these intelligences, and integrating the activities as best as I could, since I am not a professional educator. 

I firmly believe in a holistic, broad-based education for children from a young age, an education that empowers them, that enables them to think independently and creatively. Most importantly, I believe in an education that imbues our children with broad knowledge of the world, its people and nature, rather than using it as a tool for success. 

I want my Bees to have passionate empathy for issues and events in the world, versus cold apathy - an understanding of all religions, gender discrimination, global warming, extinction of nature, racial biases, poverty...the list goes on. It is not easy though, in cosy Singapore, where our children are so accustomed to a comfortable life. 

Despite the fact that top universities around the world are now focusing their brightest minds on interdisciplinary (versus multidisciplinary) learning, fusing together learning outcomes from different disciplines in a holistic, liberal-arts style, I am not convinced that we should wait for higher education institutions to impart such valuable life skills to our children. This is especially crucial in our local education system where the curriculum is a lot more fragmented, focusing on excellence in rigid vertical subject areas rather than integrating the core curriculum together. 

Alas, it is much easier said than done in the constant race for excellence and meritocracy starting from primary schools. I am guilty as charged - always coaching Big Bee on her subject areas during intensive term time, and only focusing on some feeble semblance of integrating the language arts, general knowledge, arithmetic and science during weekends or holidays. 

Of course, a thematic learning approach helps a lot, but I found that this thematic approach - combined with integrating Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences with a strong understanding of our child's learning style - is more effective for Little Bee who is still detached from the harsh primary school education system. 

Still, I try my best to foster general knowledge about the world, incorporating science and math concepts, to Big Bee. But I am finding it a challenge to balance my expectations of her academic performance (which parent would not have expectations?) and my desire for her to have a holistic, enjoyable education. 

Anyway, enough of my rambling! I just want to share the skeleton of our most recent homelearning theme on Forest Animals which was structured around a lesson plan incorporating Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences theory, and we try to work on activities that complement, rather than isolate, each other.

Brief peek at the lesson plan

Theme: Forest Animals

Visual/spatial intelligence (the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas) - crafts, visual arts, paintings, sketchings, dioramas

Linguistic intelligence (the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals) - writing of journals and stories (for Big Bee), reading, oral articulation of stories, understanding of new vocabulary, word recognition

Logical-mathematical intelligence (the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically) - math concepts, general knowledge, concentration/memory games, observation of patterns

Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements) - walks, dancing, sports, speech and drama, games

Musical intelligence (capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms) - music, songs (I am not that good at teaching this aspect!)

Interpersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others) - Activities that nurtures empathy, cooperation, trust and conflict resolution, eg working on dioramas as a pair of siblings, stories that foster empathy, etc

Intrapersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations) - activities that encourage self-reflection, eg drawings of individual perspectives, encouraging the Bees to talk about their feelings after stories, etc

Naturalistic intelligence (awareness of nature and the environment, and how one fits into the whole global ecosystem) - field trips, walks in parks, picnics, etc

There is one last intelligence that he developed more recently on existential intelligence (sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions about human existence, such as the meaning of life, why do we die, and how did we get here) and I try to incorporate questions and discussions on this aspect into our activities, more for Big Bee. 

I find that building a lesson plan based on these intelligences helps me to ensure that their homelearning will be as holistic as possible. There are also many activities that overlap between intelligences, hence stressing on the interdisciplinary aspect of this theory. I will share more on our specific activities, which are the usual homelearning ones, in another post!

Breakfast With Swans

Papa and his darling girls staring blissfully at the swan and pigeons

Last Sunday morning, we packed some simple sandwiches, aromatic coffee in a flask and 2 mats, and traipsed to Botanic Gardens for a breakfast picnic. We settled down in an enchanting spot right beside the serene placid lake, with the intimate company of 3 coy ducks perched at the perimeter of the lake, 1 hungry swan and countless ravenous and fluttering fat pigeons!

These ducks were so poised and well behaved! Quack!

The Bees had the time of their lives feeding these birds from their (limited) breakfast sandwiches, and these birds were so tame! They literally sauntered right to the edge of our picnic mats, with the swan nearly waddling right up to my nose, much to my alarm and Hubby's and the Bees' delight.

The birds turned quite wild with exuberance when we peppered the jade green grass with snow-white pieces of bread, and then settled down with their plump bodies, slowly munching on their breakfast. We even observed a few pigeons and one of the ducks spreading out their wings lazily and lying motionless on the ground, basking in the sun!

Big Bee was so impressed by our alfresco breakfast that she wrote a diary entry on this. In fact, we enjoyed our morning so much that we will be back frequently with our feathered friends.

Enjoy reading this unedited entry!

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A Page From Big Bee's Diary

Yesterday, we had a picnic at Botanic Gardens. The first bird that we saw was the Mandarin Duck. There were three of them. They looked as if they were doing their morning exercise! When I looked up at the sky, it was as blue as cornflowers! After Papa laid out the mat, we ate our bread. We fed the Mandarin Ducks the food that were left over. Soon, there was not only the three Mandarin Ducks, there was an elegant black swan, pigeons of all colours and a strange bird.

Papa called the strange bird "Walker Bird". He called it that because it liked to take some food or bread and run back to its nest, and run back again to take more food. Among the pigeons there were a few Mynah birds...(Mummy's note: she then went on to account for the rest of the Sunday)... It was a wonderful day!

Math With Fishes!

As we are currently in between themes, I thought of digging up some old learning aids for my evening sessions with Little Bee. So one evening after work, we used our old paper fishes - still in fairly good condition! - from a previous Fish theme, and indulged in 2 Math games. 

1) Numbers 11-20

I spread out the fishes numbered 11 to 20, and got her to identify the numbers whenever she caught a fish with her fishing rod. She managed fine, except for 13 and 20. 

2) Sorting 

Sorting games generally reinforce mathematical concepts and develop logical thinking skills. Little Bee was busy sorting out all the fishes into small, medium and big fish groups by herself. We also learned about small, medium and big concepts in Mandarin - 小，中，大. It was a good 10-minute reprieve which allowed me to oversee Big Bee's homework for a while! 

In all, we spent just 30 minutes on these activities, and Little Bee was fully energized and intrigued after these games. Short spurts of learning activities really complement Little Bee's learning style, given her shorter attention span. She was even telling me how fun these paper "toys" were!

Who says we need to buy toys when we can create homemade ones? :) 

Thematic Learning

I am a firm believer in a thematic learning approach for children, which is a way of integrating different areas of the curriculum within a common theme. Hence, I purposely selected a preschool for the Bees which utilises a thematic approach, and I also structure my homelearning activities within a theme. 

A thematic learning approach allows learning to be more holistic and intuitive, versus a fragmented subject area approach. I also find that it allows different concepts and thinking skills to be linked and thereby developed progressively, as the activities are reinforced within a singular theme. This interdisciplinary approach is highly critical in enabling our children to develop creative problem solving skills utilising multifarious approaches.

And if we allow our children to decide on the theme, it allows participative learning, thereby leading to more fun and engagement when learning. More importantly, it imbues empowerment in our children, motivating them to be proactive individuals. It is also very entertaining to see what fantastic ideas they dream of, and oftentimes, you will notice that most of their suggested themes are always closely linked to the previous theme, which indicates a strong correlated learning outcome. 

We are in between learning themes now, after indulging in our Forest Animals activities for 2 long months (and still pending a half-finished forest diorama!). This afternoon, the Bees and I just brainstormed for our next theme - they were suggesting all sorts of things that were related to our previous Forest Animals theme as well as older themes, and I am very pleased with that, as it indicates how indelible each theme was ingrained in their minds. 

Little Bee suggested "trees", "flying animals like birds", "safari animals".

Big Bee suggested "farm animals" which Little Bee immediately liked as she had been bugging me to do a certain pig craft for a long time.

Hence, with unanimous agreement all round (including mine, the ultimate lesson planner!), we arrived at our next theme: Farm Animals! 

Happiness Is...

1) Coming back home after a long, tiring day of work to hear the alluring and exquisite tunes of Big Bee playing on her piano. And then for me to curl up in the sofa beside her, watching her pleased expression and listening to her practice. And for her to intertwine her fingers eagerly alongside mine when trying to teach me to play a simple tune that I knew nought about (I am a musical idiot!). Ah, bliss!

2) Opening the door after another long, exhausting day of work to see Little Bee rushing to me excitedly with something in her hand and a zestful chattering of how she had toiled over this bookmark which she created as a gift for me. And then inserting this bookmark into the current book that I am reading right now. And in seeing Little Bee's delighted expression of widened eyes and a sunny grin, uttering "Mummy, this is my bookmark! This is my present to you!", when she opened my book and saw her precious handmade bookmark lying ensconced in my book. Ah, exuberance!

3) When Hubby encouraged me to go for a dreamy massage session in a nearby spa, just because I was fatigued from looking after an ill Little Bee for many nights. And assuring me that he would look after both the Bees, ensuring me that they would be in capable hands. And giving me a short but splendid shoulder rub just to imbue into me that I should be going for a real treat. Ah, paradise!

Despite the fear and trepidation I experienced when Hubby first proposed to me, when my first pregnancy indicator showed up positive with Big Bee in my tummy, when I had so much problems while pregnant with Little Bee....nothing prepares me for this happiness. 

Resilience - A Synonym For Parenthood

Just when I had barely recovered from a bad bout of nasty cough and mild asthma (I was a childhood asthma victim), my entire family - with the exception of Hubby who was away for work last week - came down with coughs of varying severity. From my Mum to the Bees to the helper! I could only attribute the blame to myself, despite all the days I dragged myself to work just to put some distance between my cough viruses and the family.

Unfortunately, Little Bee, with a lower immunity due to a bad flu virus early this month, came down with a high fever this afternoon again. The incessant sponging, temperature checks and midnight watches that were just over early this month will become an ordeal starting from tonight. 

Despite having had prior experience with Big Bee before, nothing can prepare a mother for the shockingly frequent bouts of illnesses that Little Bee came down with since she entered preschool. Unfortunately, I am working full time, otherwise, I will seriously consider homeschooling her completely until the kindergarten years! 

That being said, this childhood routine is the bane of all parents - which is why I strongly believe that parenthood is a powerful journey in strengthening all our resilience. By looking cheerfully at our darlings when experiencing a mental double take when the thermometer showed 39 degrees Celsius. By speaking to them in light chirpy and positive tones although our hearts are heavy with worry. By trying all optimistic means to make our children feel comfortable despite feeling dark despair at times. 

And parenthood is also about choices, especially for parents who are working professionals. In the event of a looming work deadline tomorrow, I had made the conspicuous choice to abandon work timelines for a trip to the pediatrician tomorrow. The roles we play as mothers are multifarious: to be wonderful, nurturing mothers; filial, caring daughters; charming, loving wives; gregarious and concerned friends; and for working mothers - to be dedicated, committed professionals; intelligent employees; enriching mentors; capable team-players. 

And for me: there is clearly a choice for me tonight - to spend time working through the night to head towards that looming deadline, or to take my book and nestle beside Little Bee, bracing myself for a fever night watch. For me, I am taking the latter tonight - and every night, whenever my family needs me. As I told Hubby, when we pass on from this earthly world, no one will care how dedicated a professional I am. But my closest family in the world will take heart that I had always been there for them, with all-embracing love, as best as I could. 

A Thousand Splendid Fruits

We did a whole lot of paintings and drawings in the Forest Animals theme. One evening, as we learned about squirrels, I motivated the 2 Bees to paint a colourful fruit tree using fingerpainting. They loved the activity, and it gave me a good 30 minutes of peace and tranquillity as they focused on their jobs! 

I traced both their forearms and hands on a piece of drawing paper, and got them to paint it brown for the tree trunk. Then I encouraged them to use as much colours as possible to create a resplendent fruit tree. Big Bee, being the typical perfectionist, was very conscientious in ensuring that all her fruit dots were of similar sizes. Little Bee, more impatient and bohemian, simply hurried along when dotting the different colours. 2 very different personalities. 

After the dazzling tree came into fruition, I got them to paint bright green grass and finally, they used their little fingers to fingerpaint a squirrel on each painting (can you spot the squirrels?). Little Bee still needed a lot of guidance from me when painting the squirrel, of course. I then explained that most squirrels have bushy tails, hence the Bees' squirrels have beautifully smudged bushy tails!

Big Bee's fruit tree with the squirrel getting ready to scamper up the tree

Little Bee's fruit tree with the squirrel already up in the tree, munching on the fruits!

Depending on your child's learning style, painting a particular subject theme is a wonderful way for younger children like Little Bee, who is clearly a kinesthetic and visual learner, to absorb information and knowledge in a thematic learning activity. 

Portrait Of A Forest

We are enjoying the homelearning theme of Forest Animals so much that we devoted 2 whole months to this theme! Partly because I had been down and out by a nasty flu virus that is still wreaking havoc with my lungs now. Hence, I have not much energy left to start planning for a new theme! And also partly because Big Bee had just completed her CA2 tests, where I had to spend a fair amount of time coaching her academically. 

But advantages abound from a 2-month homelearning theme - impressions are deeper in their little minds. Little Bee can tell me that she is learning about forest animals and would exclaim with delight ("Mummy! Forest animal!") whenever she saw a forest animal on TV, in books or in our frequent saunters around nearby parks. Big Bee would also be on the look out for forest-related activities to do. So, I firmly believe in a child-centric learning environment at home where they recommend and brainstorm together on learning activities, rather than a top-down approach that is prevalent in their schools anyway. 

One afternoon, in one of my flu-infested stupors, the Bees decided that it was an apt time for some sketching and drawing. Since I lacked the energy to even take out their painting tools, I suggested for them to draw their impressions of a forest on pieces of recycled paper. This activity occupied them for about 30 minutes in which I could quietly rest, and got both of them very engaged as they were the ones who initiated this activity. 

These are their respective perspectives of a forest: 

Big Bee's forest with her dream kampong house and a little farm plot. This clearly demonstrates her rustic preference.

Little Bee's forest on a sunny day with birds in the sky and squirrel holes in the trees.

Little Bee's fenced up country house 

Little Bee trying to write "forest" with a tiny "t" due to lack of space on the paper!

Celebrations

Birthday wishes from the Bees. They were very excited throughout the whole weekend, and watched the entire 2.5 hours of the National Day Parade with rapt fascination!

We love National Day. Every year when the nation's birthday approaches, I will mentally appreciate and remember how our little country had grown so remarkably in these short 45 years. 

At this juncture, I would like to highly recommend this book that I had been reading early this year - which captivated me to no end. It is a whopping 663 pages, and took me a while to complete. I do wish for a concise or abridged version just for children, so that I can open up my Bees' eyes to a time when affluence and modernity were unheard of in Singapore. Two sentences that haunted me at the end of the book: "The (Singapore) people shared our feelings and were prepared to do whatever was needed to make an independent Singapore work. I did not know I was to spend the rest of my life getting Singapore not just to work but to prosper and flourish." 

True, the modern Singapore (the quest for our true identity) and him do have myriad naysayers. But for Hubby and me, who had been to so many parts of the world for work and not for leisure travel (we do have the ironical privileges of seeing many ugly sides of people from all nationalities through work!), we fall deeper in love with our country, our ethos and our special culture the more we travel. And we do hope to inspire our own Bees with this somewhat soppy patriotism too! And to imbue in them the fundamental drive for our fragile nation's continued survival.

Which is why it had always been a National Day family tradition not to travel out of the country, and we always make it a point to watch the National Day Parade together - as a family. So that we can remind ourselves that it is no easy feat for us to be sitting comfortably and safely at home, with nothing but our everyday life to worry about. There are many countries who would love to be in our position, but sadly, I know many cynics may not agree. That is just another aspect of our "unique" culture, isn't it? The culture of complaining :)

To commemorate this day in school, Big Bee was tasked to create a mural of her vision of National Day - and this was what she created all by herself :) I thought it is a colourful piece of work! 

Big Bee created a mural of herself watching fireworks at night, with helicoptors holding our flag up high. 

Throughout this long weekend, we stayed home and spent plenty of time with our loved ones. Dinners with grandparents on 2 separate occasions. Gatherings with close friends. And merely ambling around town to appreciate all of what we have. 

I hope your National Day had been blissful too.

Home Of The Black Swans

The long weekend was such a luxury - we spent long, languid days lingering in each other's presence at home, or out at uncrowded places to immerse in the pure indulgence of doing absolutely nothing.

We met PF and family for a relaxing Saturday evening at the Botanic Gardens, at our favourite haunt in the same old comfortable spot - on a little grassy slope, facing the soothing, placid waters of the lake, fraternizing with the 2 resident black swans and in the company of emerald hardwood giants.

We loved to just lie on our mats, engaging in relaxed, laid-back chatter and watching our kids creating amusing games of their own - no doubt disturbing the quiet, serene peace and disrupting the romancing couples around us!

Top left: The kids looking on as PF and A dished out their frisbee with a makeshift long branch from the bottom of the lake! Top right: The kids playing all sorts of innovative games that they improvised on the spot.

Lying on our backs provided us with new perspectives - of teal skies smudged with fluffy periwinkle clouds. These are moments when we feel life is truly beautiful and enrapturing - where time slows down, and we are eons away from the dire stress of work and everyday life in this material world.

We packed up as the day drew to a lavender close, sauntering to our cars, before adjourning to our place for dinner and more chatter.

The kids were wild with excitement, perspiration pouring out of their heads as they dashed about. Big Bee is fast friends with Eugene and Claire, having played with them since they were babies. However, Little Bee was rather intimidated by the rough play of these big kids, and I could see much hesitation from her who would prefer to stick by me. In time to come, she would soon join them, I am sure, abandoning the safe shelter of Mummy's arms for fun and adventure, just like Big Bee now.

Pentago

Other than her favourite word games of Scrabble, Hangman and Boggle, Big Bee also loves to play board games like Blokus, which is an amazingly fun game for the entire family, and most recently, Pentago.

Pentago is a brilliant mind-boggling game that nurtures the logical and creative problem-solving skills in children by encouraging them to open their minds to different possibilities and to strategise through forward planning.



I am still grasping with the intricacies of the game, as it involves a lot of twisting and bending of our mental concepts as well as comfort zones. Last night, Big Bee and I spent a quiet evening before bedtime playing this game. I am not sure if it is the late hour (it was 11pm, a treat for Big Bee as today is a school holiday), or if Mummy's poor old rigid mind is just too inflexible - but Big Bee beat me hands down 3 out of 4 games *utterly ashamed*. Big Bee was elated though, and went to bed with a sunny smile on her face.

A Homely Weekend

Last weekend was supposed to be a party weekend for the Bees. However, with Little Bee down with a high fever and cough that rendered me with a mere few hours of sleep each day, she had to miss all her parties! Needless to say, the party princess wasn't too pleased to miss her little Aunt Brianna's birthday party as well as her good friend from school, HY's birthday bash in a wonderful party venue. 

In the end, Big Bee and Hubby went alone to Brianna's 9th birthday party, and I heard from Hubby that Big Bee had a fantastic time. She barbequed satays for everyone, diligently fanning the satays over a broiling barbeque pit with a paper plate. 

She bonded with Brianna with games like water bombs, sparklers and catching, and she helped Brianna decorate her divine princess cake with candles. Eventually, Hubby and Big Bee came back really late - almost 11pm! The delight of a fun night radiated from Big Bee's greasy but glowing face after a sweltering night outside, and my heart warmed at how she is getting closer to all her relatives from both sides of our families. Family ties are meant to last a lifetime. 

On the other hand, Little Bee and I also had a ball of a time spending true blue quality time with each other - reading story books, squishing playdoh, taking short walks around our estate and generally chilling out so that she had plenty of time to recuperate and recover! 

Although it was a homely weekend for me, with sleepless nights as Little Bee's fever inched close to 40 degrees, I never felt more rejuvenated because those 2 full days at home certainly made my weekend seemed so long! I am sure Hubby and Big Bee also had a very memorable time going out as a couple :) 

Storytelling

When Big Bee was 4, she used to tell me all kinds of stories, and then Hubby and I would write down some of these stories in a little book. She used to be so tickled when she saw these stories written down. That exercise had since helped hone an avid reader now, through harnessing her passion in the beauty of the written language. We never needed to teach her to read. We just ignited her imagination and let her creativity pave the way. Sadly, many of these stories were now lost as I could not seem to find that wee little book! 

Little Bee is now approaching her big 4 in 4 months' time, and she has the luxury of being exposed to a wider range of literature during our read-aloud sessions because we try to read a more versatile variety of stories to appeal to both Big Bee and her. 

The night before, we were just fooling around before bedtime when I suddenly jested with her to tell Mummy a bedtime story instead. Drama-mama her was more than happy to do so, and without much encouragement, she quickly launched into this story, in her still struggling and limited vocabulary, no doubt! I am writing the remnants down from what I can remember - which was not much! And oh, please ignore all grammar mistakes - what does a 3.5 year old know about grammar!?

"One day, we are walking in a forest. There are many trees in the forest. The trees are very tall. It is very dark in the forest. Then suddenly, there are 4 bad people who appear. *at this part, jie jie was very excited and started prompting her, asking "Who are these bad people!? What are they doing in the forest!?", which probably explained this particular part of the story. She thought she could impress her jie jie because she took a cheeky look at her and continued with...* Then, the 4 bad people saw jie jie in the forest and catch her! Then they kill her!"

At this juncture, Big Bee was so infuriated at Little Bee's story plot that I must halt the entire storytelling immediately - to manage yet another sibling cat fight, sigh. 

I am always amazed by Little Bee's wide spectrum of affection for Big Bee - it can range from dazzling adoration to covert tale-telling about Big Bee which angered jie jie to no end. But what made me warm and fuzzy is how she would always think of her big jie jie everytime she gets a sweet from her school bus aunty or from the doctor's. She would always request for another sweet for her jie jie - "Can I have another sweet for my jie jie, please?" 

She also loves to create impromptu handmade presents for jie jie, like this little packet of gift that she gave jie jie this evening, with a little picture note inside and a pencil, much to jie jie's delight. I love how Little Bee would gaze at jie jie, with her signature sunshine grin, as jie jie opened her "present", revelling in jie jie's happiness. 

I hope both their love for each other will shine brighter every year, like a beacon of light in a dark, vast ocean. 

Handmade present from Little Bee to Big Bee. I helped to make the envelope while she wrote down both their names. She can now spell and write her own name unassisted since a few months back, and can spell "NICLE" for jie jie, always missing out the "o"!