Write with Primary Terms

Michael Clay Thompson is the author of a fabulous but unconventional Language Arts program. He made a few interesting points in this video on vocabulary and writing.

I have always taught my boys to add adjectives and adverbs to their sentences when writing. So what Thompson had to say about these was quite a revelation to me... Well, can you tell I am not a language expert at all?!

Here are some of his points I have extracted from this particular video.

1. Plan A to writing and editing is to choose precise NOUNS and VERBS.
Don't try to rescue weak nouns and verbs with adjectives and adverbs.
If you aren't happy with your nouns, change your nouns. Not add an adjective.

If you see an adjective, kill it.
- Mark Twain

The adverb is not your friend.
- Stephen King

2. Wordiness is usually a modifier problem.
Modifiers add syllable counts and noise to a sentence; diluting interest level.

This kind of succinct writing reminds me of that advocated by William Strunk in The Elements of Style.

The Classics

Have you ever thought about reading the classics (either yourself or to your children) but shoved the idea because of the possible encounters with "old" words or expressions? Here is a list of classical words that you may want to be familiar with before taking the plunge.

I hope to work through these... somehow... ... ...

History of China... Preliminary Plans

We visited the Asian Civilizations Museum three weekends ago to view the Kangxi Emperor Exhibition: Treasures from the Forbidden City. It was International Museum day and that meant the public could enter the museum for free!

My personal favourite object in the exhibition is a painting (on hand-scroll) that is 22 metres in length, depicting Kangxi emperor on his second inspection tour. We had fun studying the details of the painting and trying to spy where the emperor was. It's a pity we were not allowed to take pictures in the exhibition...

We spend some time musing at the not-so-ordinary family tree- what with 50 wives and 55 children!

Our interest in the History of China was sparked off and I am now researching to see how I can incorporate Chinese history into our History curriculum. That was my original plan anyway. I just haven't sat down to seriously do my research.

There is a spatter of Chinese history in Story of the World, but in my opinion, too superficial. Being Chinese, we ought to know more. It is a pity our command of the Chinese language isn't good enough for us to use Chinese history books (or any primary sources), we would have to resort to those in English instead.

Here are some things I've managed to find so far...

An Amazon Listmania provided me with a list of books I could use to explore deeper. Two books stood out from the rest; The Story of Ancient China (from Neolithic times through the Tang Dynasty) and its sequel China's Later Dynasties (mainly on China's last four dynasties - the Song, the Yuan, the Ming, and the Qing) both by Suzanne Strauss Art. They are written for middle school students (ages 10-14 yrs old) and look like wonderful spine books I could use for our study on the History of China!

Here are some websites with important information that is geared for children (I will add on to this list if I find more useful sites):

• History of China
• Timeline of Chinese History (with great links)
  
• Timeline of Chinese History (with short description of significant events)
  
• Dynasties in Chinese History
• Portraits of Chinese Emperors (possible cliparts we could use for timeline figures)
• Historical Maps of China: maps 1, maps 2, maps 3
• Ancient China unit study Squido page by Jimmie (I believe every possible related link is here!)
• Ancient China unit Study II by Easy Fun School (more links and suggestions)
  

Post update on 12 July:
I found a unit study called Ancient China: To the Great Wall and Beyond by Judy Wilcox. This is a twelve-week study that brings you through eleven key dynasties through reading and project work. One interesting point brought up in reviews (1 & 2) was the fact that the student is challenged to research and make biblical contrast. Efforts were even made to relate historical events in China to the biblical timeline for context. This looks really promising!

Post update on 14 July:
Here are 2 books available as etext on Chinese History:
1. China's History by William E. Griffis
2. The Story of China by R. Van Bergen

Art : Jan van Eyck : Read Aloud

We are currently reading through Looking at Pictures: An Introduction to Art for Young People by Joy Richardson . My plan is let the chapter on "Hidden Meanings" coincide with our picture study of Jan van Eyck's painting "The Arnolfini Portrait".

This particular painting is also featured in Art Fraud Detective by Anna Nilsen. This book will be next in line in my boys' assigned reading list to heighten interest. Readers are supposed to pretend to be detectives to find out who painted the fakes in a gallery of paintings and hopefully learn a thing or two. Looks like fun to me!


Visit Rumphius Webpage Art to find out about how we approach Art in our homeschool.

New Memorization Technique???

Memorizing anything has always been a challenged for me. It can be bible verses, bible references, poems, telephone numbers etc. I had always thought that is because I am a more visual rather than auditory person. For example, I cannot figure out how to pronounce a word if you were to just tell me how it's spelled. I need to write it out and look at the word. I don't know if this is an excuse and the fact is that my brains are just too lazy to process the audio information. Haha...

Anyway, I recently came across a new theory. Well, at least it is new to me!

It centers around the use of your dominant ear. The reasoning goes like this....

If you are right-handed, you should be right-eared. And if you are right-eared, you retain information better if you only listen with your right ear!!! This is because when you are listening with your dominant ear, you then process the information in your dominant side of the brain, which is supposed to be more efficient. The sub-dominant brain is seen to be "messing" up the information... at least that's how I understand it.

It carries on to say that memorization set to music, no doubt effective, actually forces you to use your sub-dominant brain. Have you ever memorized something with music and realized that you cannot recite that same information without the music? Well, the music is very much tagged along with the information whether you like it or not. So it appears that this is a rather "inefficient" method.

So what is the final take? Well, it basically recommends that you record information you want your child to memorize on tapes and just let them listen through one ear!! Sounds ridiculous isn't it?

I don't always agree with" right-brain/left-brain" type theory. However, I do see some truths in some of their reasoning. For example, I do see value in the exercises presented in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. I don't necessary think that different information is processed on different sides of the brain but I do think they could possibly be processed by different parts of the brain. If at all, we should be mindful to give equal training to all parts of our brains and aim to be an all-rounder!

But my curiosity is getting the better of me! I am off to do some experiments... ;-)

Tell me if this works for you.

You can read the full explanation here.

Non-Fiction Assigned Readings

I have started collecting good reference books on various subjects when I first decided on homeschooling. Some are encyclopedic or gives snippets of information as in Dorling Kindersley (DK) style and are not books that children will naturally pick up to browse. However, they do contain a lot of information and most have gorgeous pictures. All I need to do is tempt my boys with a few pages and that will normally set them reading through more pages.

I have recently started giving my boys assigned readings. This is partly to free up read aloud times. I am starting out with short reads of say a two pages spread of our Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (corresponding to the chapter of Story of the World we are reading) or DK Horse (in line with our Horse Unit study) book a day.

I use a lined index card to write down any assigned reading I want my boys to read. They initial next to the assignment when they have completed it. This card is displayed in a highly visible location. They have to complete this assignment within the day in their own free time. Ideally, I will ask for an oral narration after that but on some days, this gets slipped off.

Hippocrates and the Caduceus

At the moment, I am using Story of the World (SOTW) vol. 1 as my core text book for history. I also have in mind to cover some well-known people as listed and recommended in The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Buer Wise and Jessie Wise. So whenever those people are not mentioned in SOTW, I would have to research and find material to work on myself.

I found a new History curriculum called Mystery of History (MOH) by Linda Lacour Hobar. The first volume in this series is titled Creation to the Resurrection. I was attracted to this curriculum because it attempts to weave Bible History into World History. The sample pages showed a wide coverage. I know because I saw that MOH included many of the extras that I added into my History curriculum. I was thrilled so I went ahead to get MOH.

This is where I am now. Having already started on SOTW, with the boys enjoying it. Yet attracted to another curriculum that is sequenced quite differently. I am torn between the two!!

I haven't yet decided what to do. My plan for now is to continue with SOTW as my core and use only those lessons from MOH as and when I need them. This will give me some time to try MOH out and hopefully I will get a better idea of what I should do next.


The next Great Men of Greece that is on my list was Hippocrates. We learned about his contribution to society by first drafting out the Hippocratic oath that is now still taken by every practicing physician. I read the relevant lesson from MOH and let my boys narrate the passage. They begged to make the Caduceus, another craft project they saw in Spend the Day in Ancient Greece by Linda Honan. I was not too keen initially, but have not the heart to object especially since they were so eager. Because this was quite unplanned, I did not have much information about the Caduceus to share with my boys. My boys are now getting the hang of searching for information from the Internet, so that is what we did!


Visit Rumphius History Webpage to find out more about how we approach History in our homeschool.

My Blogging Secrets... ... ... Revealed

I haven't posted much in the last week. I feel sorry for not posting but in the overall picture of my life, this blog is not my top priority. Having said that, I am still committed to updating it. And it continues to serve as a record of what we have done for school. Most importantly, I enjoy blogging!

I noticed, since this is not a personal blog, few readers are actually concerned with the "newness" of my posts. Most are here purely to get information and it really doesn't matter to them whether what I wrote was done/happened yesterday or a month ago. So with this knowledge, I am not pressured to report our latest endeavours!

What a load off my shoulders! It is a good thing I didn't start out giving a weekly school report. I really take my hats off those who are doing that. For me, it will bring back those bad memories of my own teaching days in school... filling up the Teacher's Record Book for the Principal to check... Errrhh!! :-D

I thought I would share here how I approach blogging in general.

I write as and when ideas come to me. As such, I always have a few drafts going at any one time. I post when any of them is completed.

For example, at the moment, I am working on a post on our chapter on Stem/Trees for our Botany lessons. But it takes us more than 5 sessions to complete the topic. Every time we do something on this topic, I will record it in my draft for Stem/Trees. I am not posting yet because I have not found the time to put the pictures in... and I think I need one or two more sessions to wrap the chapter up...

There are also times when I have a few posts ready to be published. I don't like posting more than one post a day. So what I do is I schedule them to be published at a later date. Blogger automatically publishes these posts. So when you see a new post being published at a particular time, it really doesn't mean I am sitting at my computer blogging at that time!

There are times when I do post some more personal stuff and those are as recent as I can manage.

Ha!... I have just revealed some of my blogging secrets! I hope this will serve to encourage more homeschooling mothers to blog and share their homeschool days. It really isn't that tough!!! Own time own target... ... ... ;-)

Rethinking Nature Study

I was inspired to start Wild Days (nature study days) after reading the book Wild Days by Karen Skidmore Rackliffe some years back. However, with the demands of school; trying to keep our core subjects on track... we have been neglecting nature study.

For a long time, our occasional outings with our friends were passed off as our Wild Day. Deep inside me, I know I am deceiving myself! Worst still "cheating" my boys of the benefits of nature study.

After some evaluation, I decided to restart nature study by taking smaller steps. Scaling down our former Wild Day to a Wild Hour seems like a more realistic goal.

For sometime, I have been perusing this site by a homeschooling mother, Barb-Harmony Art Mom. She started this blog to challenge homeschoolers to start nature study, as described by Charlotte Mason, using the book Nature Study Handbook by Anna Botsford Comstork. (eText available here.)

I had this books for years. It is a thick book of about 2 and a half inches. It was written in the 1930s by the founder of the Department of Nature Studies at Cornell University. It aims to provide possible observational points for those who are attempting nature studies. One can tell by thumbing through that this can be a very useful book. But the big question, at least for me, is "HOW do I use it?". This is where Barb-Harmony Art Mom comes into the picture. She has kindly provided a framework to use this book. It is the kind of "guide you by the hand" help I need now.

Enough said. I will begin by following her weekly Outdoor Challenges starting from Outdoor Challenge #1 which was posted in February last year. (Her latest is #45!) I will try to follow through the challenges as closely as is possible. At least until I am comfortable enough to stray off and use HNS confidently on my own.

I like it that she even provided a way for people like us to blog about what we did for the respective Challenges and link it back on her site. This not only serves to make me accountable, but also gives me a chance to take a peek at what others are doing. She is simply ingenious! (We really need more of such helpful homeschooling mothers!)

I am so excited! Can't wait to start!!


Visit Rumphius Wild Days Webpage to get an idea of what my original plan for Wild Days was.

My Plan for Chinese

These are the two main branches of my plan for Chinese this year. After these are set on track, I may add other minor elements to the mix.


1. Local Curriculum

I plan to follow the local Chinese textbook for Chinese. Make sure my boys know the words they are to know how to recognize and write. Unlike English, sadly in the case of Chinese, copying the words (or terms or sentences) alone didn't guarantee retention. I have found that flash cards used in a variety of ways, allowed me to increase their encounters with these "must-know" words, thus increasing retention.


Here is D arranging and matching word cards to make meaningful terms. These are the ones listed in the hao peng you magazine. The example sentences in there are also useful. I intend to refer to the hao peng you magazine more closely this year in this respect. There are 38 copies of this in a year, so if I complete one copy a week, I should be on schedule.

When they have mastered the "must-know" words, they would complete the topical exercise from an assessment book I bought from the local bookshop.




2.Charlotte Mason Approach

I have found that the Charlotte Mason method works for Chinese too. We read from picture books. I require my boys to give a narration of what we have read. They are still not good at expressing themselves well in Chinese. So I have to provide them with a lot of help here. Sometimes these narration turn out to be more an oral comprehension, whereby I ask them questions and they answer. Progress is slow but observable. I believe if I stick on with this, their fluency will improve with time.

I also select a sentence or two for copywork. I make them recite those sentences so that they would be familiar with the various sentence structure. I found that recitation is very effective in empowering them in their spoken language; which is my main concern now.

There are times I would go one step further by making them learn to write these sentences. (I am monitoring this closely as I feel sometimes I may be pushing them a little too hard here:-b) I would make flash cards for the words in these sentences so as to help them learn to recognize these words before I give them a dictation.

English Vocabulary

Last week, being the first week of school, was a rather hectic week for us ; new routines, new schedules and even some new approaches. Lots of re-evaluation and re-adjustments and re- scheduling at the end of each day.

My reason for doing this is that I have learned not to over-plan (still not very good at that!) and not to plan too far ahead.

My aim last week was to concentrate on the core subjects; English, Chinese and Mathematics. Get these going, then start adding other subjects into our day gradually.

The new element we added into our English is a vocabulary component.

There are times when we read a book and some words just baffle us. It would be just such a waste if we pass them by and never really learn what they mean. Of course there are times when we could guess the meanings of words from contextual clues but it is always nice to know exactly what those words mean and how they else they can be used.

As such, I have decided to include a vocabulary section to our English "curriculum". If you have been reading my blog, you would have noticed I have already done that previously. Just that I wasn't very organized about it :-b

Last week, one of our read aloud chapters was a chapter on Hermes from D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. After an oral narration, a paragraph from page 54 was selected for copywork and dictation.

I selected this list for our Vocabulary List 1 :
wit
loft
lofty
precocious
toddle
grove
herald
glib
cairn
fond
(The following words were added into the list from our holiday readings!)
snug
schooner
scuttle
bunk
galley

I plan to continue to pick words from our read aloud chapters. 10 to 15 per week is nice to start with. I let my boys copy and paste from an online dictionary to a word document. I then print this sheet out for them to study from. I use the online matching game maker that I have found to create a matching game to test my boys after they have studied their words.

Here is our Vocabulary 1 Matching Game. This is a matching game for my boys' review. This is really easy to make since I just copy and paste from the word document that my boys have made.

This week, one of our read aloud chapter came from Skylar by Mary Cuffe-Perz.
Here is our Vocabulary List 2. Shorter this time ;-) :
preen
rouse
baffle
bray
ravenous
intimidate
reserve
rollicking
replenish
audible

This is their review game for this list:
Vocabulary 2 Matching Game

Note that this little vocabulary exercise is done on top of our usual read aloud, narration, copywork and dictation.

I have added all the online games I created in my link section on the side panel. In future, I will just add the links to new games there. This will makes it easier for me to just tell my boys to "Go play the vocab game!"


Visit Rumphius English Webpage to find out more about how we approach English in our homeschool.

Thanksgiving

I would want to devote my first post of the year to giving God the glory for the many blessings he has showered upon us last year. Here are some homeschool related ones:

• We were led to the joys of lapbooking in a talk by a fellow homeschooling mother at the Homeschool Curriculum Fair in February. Her passion and enthusiasm was infectious! I am very glad I plucked up enough courage to try it and am gradually feeling our way about this new and exciting approach.
• I also just discovered the effectiveness of the Charlotte Mason method for the learning of Chinese. I see improvement in my boys' speaking (at least they are less resistant to speaking Mandarin now) and am encouraged.
  
• My boys have started blogging and are now thoroughly enjoying it because their friends are blogging too! No need for me to worry about "composition" now.
  
• God has miraculously provided the funds for my boys' two "co-curriculum activities", music class at Yamaha and gymnastics class, for the pass 2 years. He opened up an opportunity for me to give private tuition to a student for that exact two years that was needed to complete the music course! Talk about perfect timing!
  
• The boys had the chance to participate in an inter-club gymnastics competition and even won some medals (that really came as a surprise for me but a pleasant one no doubt). A very eye-opening experience for them.
  
• I have been teaching my boys how to swim. And after much perseverance in this upriver task, they can finally swim! I specially want to thank God for this training in PATIENCE!
  
• There are two facilities that I would like to thank God for:- 1. A well stocked library just 10 min walk from home. (No way we can homeschool without a good library nearby) 2. A swimming pool complete with water playground, lazy river, slides, training pool and competition pool. All this just 10 min walk from home also. (I am beginning to sound like a property agent. lol... but I know I must not take these things for granted.)
• We were introduced to my current Friday homeschool playgroup in March last year and have faithfully attended most meetings. The friends we made here are priceless! And the time we spent together unforgettable.
• I am so thankful for friends who organized or told us of interesting enrichment activities that I would otherwise not initiate or know about. The activities include the Naturalist camp at Sungei Buloh, Forrest Adventure course, Robotics at Science Centre, Chinese Speech and Drama Camp, Mozart Exhibition at the museum and various other plays and concerts.
  

Although I have only just briefly listed my thanksgiving items here, each one has had a great impact on us. God is GOOD!!!

HTML : Happily Talking about My Learning

I am learning new things this week so I thought I'd better jot them down before I forget.

As you know I have started a blog for each of my two boys. Recently, I discovered a wonderful site that has great free blog templates. D was quick to pick one that he liked. But B was just super picky. He didn't like any of the 500 or so templates! He just is crazy about blue and wants something that is in line with his blog theme; which was sea, sky, bay or beach.

For a while, his blog was more plain as compared to his brother's. I decided to serve the net to find out if I could find something to spruce up his blog. I had in mind a water and sand background and I found the exact textures I wanted on this website that has an extremely wide range of textures.

I learnt how to create a background with pictures using the instructions from these site. (arranged in order of usefulness to me)

• http://pocket-templates.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-add-background-picture-in.html
• http://blogatech.blogspot.com/2007/04/adding-background-images-to-blogger.html
  
• http://www.quackit.com/html/codes/html_background_codes.cfm
• http://www.blogdoctor.me/2006/11/how-to-add-picture-to-background.html
  

I learnt how to meddle with transparency of backgrounds from this site.

• http://www.blogdoctor.me/2007/10/transparent-background-for-blogs.html

B is very happy with his water and sand background. So am I! I feel a tremendous sense of achievement to be able to create THAT from having no knowledge in html to begin with.

I am now in the process of figuring out how to add little ornaments (like some starfish or shells...) on the background. I have been running into problems with resizing when I upload my pictures and also with transparency/positioning.

If I can just figure ALL these out then maybe one day I might just start designing my own templates! Hahaha... Well, it is good to dream...

Creating My Own Interactive Matching Games

In my post, The Kumon Method: How I Can Use It, I shared that I would want to find a free online site that allows me to type in my own matching games. I want to use this to administer Kumon style tests for the vocabulary lists we have in our English book.

These are the criterion I had for the game maker:
1. Have a pair and match format
2. Timed quizzes (nice to have but ok without)
3. Provide feedback to the learner.
4. Scramble question AND answer order each time the learner takes the same test.
5. Web-based
6. FREE

I had just found a site that meets 5 out of 6 of my criterion! Hooray!!!

The site is called "Create Your Own Interactive Games". I like the user interface here. It is easy to use and visually attractive. I have already created a game based on the study lists I have assigned my boys. You can try my Synonyms-1 Matching Game and my Places-1 Matching Game. I chose to enter 15 matching pairs but each games will only randomly select 8 pairs to test. That means you can play the same game repeatedly and they will not be exactly the same.

However, there are limitations. The fonts used in this site are big and cannot be changed. Thus, I could not type in longer idioms and proverbs. It still has its usefulness though for synonyms, antonyms, similes, vocabulary etc.

I continued my search....

And found a free down loadable program that is called "Matching Game Maker"
This program solved the font size problem. So I can now add in tests for idioms and proverbs. Yeah!! The game is saved on my computer so unfortunately I wouldn't be able to share it with you!

This game is also easy to set up. Although it is not as attractive as the former, it has the advantage of more words in each option, even allows for audio matches, AND allows Chinese characters! I will surely be tinkering around with this more...

I am quite please with these 2 matching game makers and they should meet my needs for now.

School or No School?

Every other kid is having and enjoying their school holidays. So the most frequently asked question I get this month is, "Are you giving your boys a holiday?"

I really don't know how to answer that :-p

Are we doing any "schoolwork"? Sure we are. Like I have said in my sidepanel, it is my aim to make education a life, a discipline and an atmosphere. I actually borrowed this quote from Charlotte Mason. Learning has become very much a part and parcel of our life. It feels odd to not do our Miquon lab sheets for example. My boys will miss them and even BEG me to let them do it! And what about our reading of the Illiad, we HAVE to read-on because we just WANT to know what's going to happen next. And wouldn't it be fun to find out just one more thing about Alexander.

Are we doing "school"? You bet we are!

OK. Confession time. We have fewer hours of "structured" activity. More days out for our very own "Wild Days" at the zoo and parks. Why?

Because I haven't been doing enough nature study and feel a need to play catch-up.

Because holiday is IN THE AIR. We feel it tickle us; prodding us to just GET OUT THERE.

And well, also because we are just PLAIN CRAZY wanting to rush out together with the loads of other holidaying children! It is crowds, crowds and crowds of screaming children EVERYWHERE!! Madness really! lol

The next 2 weeks will be even less structured because Daddy will be home and how can we do ANY work when Daddy is home! My boys are "programmed" that way; Daddy at home is a clear indication of a holiday and most importantly PLAY! My plan during this 2 weeks is to catch up on my planning and preparation for the coming year and start (and hopefully complete) a much needed spring-cleaning at home.

So I foresee a slight slant in my next few posts... just thought I should sound you out :-)

The Kumon Method: How I Can Use It

I was browsing through the library shelves and came across this book "Every Child An Achiever: A Parent's Guide to the Kumon Method" by David W. Russell.

Reading this book has renewed my interest somewhat in the Kumon Method and its possibilities. It led me to rethink how I can use this method to my advantage.

Here's my plan to add a dash of Kumon in the 3 core subjects: Mathematics, English and Chinese. Essentially, I am looking at say 5 to 10 min a day per subject. This sessions will be perfect for much needed individual work during the times when I am busy preparing meals in the kitchen.

Mathematics

I am currently using a Math worksheet that already employs the Kumon method. Calculadders uses progressive math drill sheets that the learners have to complete. Each worksheet needs to be completed and their time taken to complete is jotted down. Learners can only move on to the next level when mastery has be attained. Mastery is indicated by completion of the worksheet in a specified time.

So far, I am quite happy with how the boys are progressing with Calculadders. I do find a big jump in some levels and intend to generate my own mid level worksheets to bridge the gaps. This, I felt were necessary to maintain high confidence levels.

My boys have reached the level of single digit multiplication (after completing 4 digit addition and subtraction). I have not really insisted on them memorizing their multiplication tables since I found that they can remember them just from repetition by attempting many of such sums. Skip counting has also eased the process.

Most of the multiplication sums goes like this (You can use the sums on this site if you do not have Calculadders.) :

3 x 5 =

3 x 8 =

I will want to add sums such as:

3 x ___ = 15

___ x 8 = 24

I know these are essentially using the concept of division. But I think it is important to make the link between the two right from the start.

I am encouraged that the founder of the Kumon method, Toru Kumon started out setting his own daily Mathematics sheets for his son. If he can do it, so can I! ;-) ... or anybody else for that matter!


English

At this lower primary level, I am mainly using the Charlotte Mason Method to teach English. However, I do see the need to supplement this method with more drills and even memorization. Let me explain.

[Be forewarned. If you are a Charlotte Mason purist. Don't read on! Because what I am about to describe would probably make you cringe.Hahaha...]

I was not an avid reader when I was in school. So, much of the vocabulary I learnt were learnt from lists that I was made to "study". (Did I hear you gasps?!... ) Do I believe in such an out-dated method? Well, the truth is that it has worked for me. I learnt the meaning of words (or idioms, proverbs etc. ) first, before I meet them in context when I did eventually pick up on my reading. I don't think my love for the English Language was smothered in any way.

I have an English grammar book published by Cosco. I like the lists of synonyms, antonyms, idiom, proverbs and such at the back of the book. I intend to let my boys systematically study these lists. I will attempt to make a series of worksheets that correspond to their assigned study list. They will have to score a perfect score on a worksheet (perhaps within in a specified time) before they move on to learn more.

I have been thinking how best I can administer these worksheets. I could do it the old-fashion pen and paper way. I found an online testmaker called Easy Test Maker that can help speed up my time in generating worksheets. There is a choice of multiple choice, fill in the blanks and matching.

I could also try to make Montessori 3-part cards. But this will be time consuming as well as of high material cost.

Alternatively, I could make online quizzes that can give instant feedback. I am now currently fiddling with a few websites that allow me to create my own test. ClassMaker is one that I have tried, but I am not fully satisfied. There is only multiple choice format. Thinking up plausible distracting choices is too much work for me on a regular basis. I was thinking a pair-and-match format would be more useful to me.

The ideal quiz maker would have these criterion:
1. Have a pair and match format
2. Timed quizzes (nice to have but ok without)
3. Provide feedback to the learner.
4. Scramble question AND answer order each time the learner takes the same test.
5. Web-based
6. FREE
I will post an update when I have found the perfect free online quiz maker. Please do drop me a note if you have one to recommend.


Chinese

I had a fellow homeschool mother who shared with me how her sons were fairing in a Kumon Chinese enrichment class. She patiently described how the class was run and this has helped give me some ideas to work on. (Thanks K!)

Repetition is one of the key to the success of the Kumon method. Say for reading and comprehension, Kumon students are given an audio recording of the passage they are to learn. Thereafter, they are expected to read the passage aloud. I guess (correct me if I am wrong) if the child cannot read fluently, he will listen to the audio recording again, repeating this process until he can master it.

Of course I could be the "recorder" to read to my boys. But recently, I found a resource that could help spare me that agony of repeated readings. ETutor, the people behind the popular hao peng you magazine, created a series of CD-roms. The plus point about this company is that their products always follows closely to the syllabus set out by MOE. Thus, the difficulty level is just right. One of the CD-roms focuses on comprehension. A reader with perfect diction reads a given passage. Passages are short and very manageable. (The text are highlighted like in kara-ok style.) Eureka! Problem solved!

(As a side note, I would also recommend their CD-rom on listening comprehension and composition. They are just what I need to expose my boys to more spoken Chinese.)

Another possibility is to use the readers that I have that comes with audio CDs!


My views on the Kumon method

I don't buy much into the idea put forth by David Russell that the Kumon method is a gentle, child-centered and child-respecting approach. His description even sounds vaguely as "noble" as the Montessori Method! I am not fully convinced.

I only agree that if the method is used with discretion, careful thought and sensitivity, it can instill a sense of "pride, satisfaction and confidence that comes with studying something difficult and then mastering it".

On the other hand, if it is administered thoughtlessly (and ruthlessly), it may backfire and lead to frustration, discouragement, low self-esteem and such negative effects.

Taking all these into account, I feel that the method does still have a role to play in my curriculum, albeit a minor one.


Visit Rumphius Mathematics Webpage , English Webpage or Chinese Webpage to find out more about how we approach Mathematics, English or Chinese in our homeschool.

Year-End Exam Fever

The time has come for me to administer our Semestral Examination for the purpose of updating the Ministry of Education on the progress of my boys. The grades of three subjects are to be submitted. They are English Language, Mathematics and Chinese Language.

I have decided to allocate 50% of their scores for each subject to Continual Assessment done under test conditions. These are either self-designed work that I set or exercises taken from store-bought assessment books.

The other 50% comes from the the boys' scores on the Semestral Examination papers of well-known local schools that I obtain from this site.

I spent a week to concentrate on drills, reviews and generally more seat-work assignments in preparation for the actual papers I intend to give them under test conditions. This is not exactly the most fun part of school but necessary nonetheless. Aren't we glad its over now?!

Preparation for Young Naturalist Camp

I registered my boys up for a Young Naturalist Camp at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve where they will get to earn badges after accomplishing specific tasks. In preparation for this camp, here are a few things I plan to do:

1. Read One Small Square: Swamp by Donald M. Silver (Pictures are very well-drawn. I am inspired to do the suggested activities!)

2. Read the mangrove chapter in our Chek Jawa Guidebook by Ria Tang and Alan Yeo. (Has detailed photographs with annotations.)

3. Read The Sea, the Storm and the Mangrove Tangle by Lynne Cherry. (Living picture book about the mangrove. We always read this book before we go Sungei Buloh. I am thankful it is always available at the library.)

4. Review the names of shore birds and other common birds that would possibly be seen at Sungei Buloh by matching our bird cards. Here is a file of the birds sighted at Sungei Buloh. We don't have all of these on our bird cards. I am in the process of making more to cover at least the common species found.

5. Browse through A Guide to the Mangrove of Singapore (published by the Singapore Science Centre).



Visit Rumphius Wild Days Webpage to learn more about how we approach Nature Study in our homeschool.

Inspirational Blogs

I have been drawing inspiration from a fellow homeschool mother who blogs about how she uses Charlotte Mason's methods in Art, Music and Nature Study. In her blog she gives practical tips, recommendations, reviews, weekly assignments and tutorials.

Visit her blog and be encouraged
http://harmonyartmom.blogspot.com

Her other blog has blessed me too. If you are like me, trying to figure out how to use The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Comstock, then you'll not want to miss out on gleaning from her experience.
http://handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com