Gardening & Concert 15 November 2011

Planting onions and all sorts of seeds.

Hui at work.

Story teller En told  'three little pigs' with props prepared by herself.

The older kids finally threw in a mini concert which they have been discussing for some time. I didn't take any photos of it.  

Kids' Spa and Making Sandwich 5 October 2011

After a long break, our Co op started again. The kids had a fun-filled day and great laugh, having their feet scrubed by natural homemade footscrub. Some older girls had face mask as well!

En had her turn at the foot massager, after a footscrub.

Natural footscrub ingredients with brown sugar, glycerin and ehmm I forgot again.

Home-made face mask made with chocolate powder, green tea powder and honey. :)

Sandwich making.

En told her 'Beauty and the Beast' story.

On the way home in the car ride, she talked about her experienced and feelings endlessly. The moment she arrived home, she went to work on her next story.

In the midst of cooking, she came to me "Mom, this is what I like. Story telling. I can make money by telling stories"

Caterpillar Craft, Balloon, Blood Mobile 21 June 2011

Our fifth learning co op.

The bright morning started with making an adorable caterpillar on cloth peg.

Such a sweet one with a pair of goggly eyes. :)

Hui chose only her favourite colours.

Then, we watched "Blood Mobile", Here Comes Science. One of EnHui's favourite from  "They Might Be Giants".

You can find it on You tube.

 Balloons that I used to play when I was little.  

Hui seated among the mothers, browsing books. Her immense love for book is indescribable. I have never read that many books when I was young. Unschooler Hui reminded me of my huge mistake in "teaching" En to read.

En could read at a young age of 2 years old through flashcards. Glenn Doman was one of very first children books I read. I used his method since En was a baby. When she was 4-5 months old, where she could sat upright on her own, she would read countless of books dailly and spent long hours immensed in it. By three, she has read more books than I have read  throughout my whole life.

This was good till I was overly ambitious and turned reading books into "teaching" and "testing" and reading became more of a chore than merely reading for the love of it and bonding between me and En. .At the age of 4+, her interest for book became lesser.

And I learnt about unschool, about uninvited teaching.

"Anytime that, without being invited, without being asked, we try to teach somebody else something, anytime we do that, we convey to that person, whether we know it or not, a double message. The first part of the message is: I am teaching you something important but you are not smart enough to see how important it is. Unless I teach it to you, you'd probably never bother to find out. The second message that uninvited teaching conveys to the other person is: What I 'm teaching you is so difficult that, if I didn't teach it to you, you couldn't learn it. 

This double message of distrust and contempt is very clearly understood by children, because they are extremely good at receiving emotional messages. It makes them furious. And why shouldn't it? All uninvited teaching contains the message of distrust and contempt. Once I realized this, I found that I had to catch myself all the time. I have to catch the words right on the edge of my tongue. The problem is that we human beings like teaching. We're a teaching animal, as well as a learning animal. We have to restrain that impulse, that habit, that need to explain things to everybody... unless we are asked " By John Holt. 

Thanks to unschool, En's interest on book returned.

Paper Scissor Stone, Bubble Art & Volcano Eruption @learning playgroup 7 June 2011

Tuesday.

This morning, we started with writing names on the name tags and put them all in a box. Children would take turn to take and pass the respective name tag to their friend. En whose head was full of ideas, scribbled on the tag instead. It was a secret code, she said.

Kids were divided into two groups and played a game of paper, scissors and stone. Score would be jotted down and calculated. En enjoyed it tremendously as always whereas Hui found cutting the toy vegetables into halves more important. :)

This is bubble art - detergent, water and food colouring. Blow into it.

En loves making bubbles. She makes bubbles all the time during her shower. She will create bubble with her hands, arms and body. Huge ones.

Press a piece of paper against the bowl of  bubbles.

ta da! bubble art. :)

Hui's bubble art.

En conducted the volcano eruption experiment but was surrounded by her friends who can't wait to try on. It ended up as a team experiment. :)

Volcano eruption - baking soda & vinegar and drops of detergent and colouring.

Toysmith Volcano Making Kit

Geography & Science group learning 24 May 2011

 Tuesday morning

Our first foray into Geography was by introducing Malaysia by showing it on the globe (at least we attempted to) and colouring on a printed flag of Malaysia. Hui did the two things she loves -puzzle (of a Malaysia map) and colouring.

Science experiment on water surface tension.

Find the hidden colour inside the ink

I found it fun, having an outdoor classroom and sitting down on the floor. Children did it freely without any restrictions.  

Discussion of the school play without adult interruption.

At home, En told me "I have a problem. H and I wants a different way of school play."

I replied "You need to discuss with her, combine both of your ideas and come out with a joint play. Some ideas of yours might be taken out or changed. If you can't come into a conclusion, maybe you can think of a separate school play with two different directors. Take turn to direct the play.  Just like Wayang is directed by Sabera Shaik only.

En gaily said  "Thanks!, Mom"

  

My intention of forming/joining this group learning is for the kids to experience working with others, expose them to the concept of teamwork and responsibility. En experienced her first taste of teamwork. 

BM learning through play 10 May 2011

Tuesday

Our second learning playgroup.

We had a short play session in BM. Some children was seen staring and waiting eagerly as aunty F unfolded each picture which came with a BM verb. When it was time to use a vehicle to roll over the picture that was called for, some children who were playing around came and had a turn.

Hui didn't bother about it and was watching it from afar.

  

Hui came forward when she saw scissors as cutting paper is one of her favourite activity. She loves cutting and can spend a long time cutting all sorts of things.

It's wonderful, children learn through play at their own pace and in their own way, which is the best way of all.

Our first Homeschooler Group Learning 29 April 2011

The homeschooling group at my area has moved up a notch. We began our first group learning today. Besides the usual free play, the mothers planned and facilitated activities which would create an environment for children to work in a group. Our next group of learning will be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia. Homeschooling can be tiring, having to take charge of our children's education but it's fulfilling and empowering being a mother who is able to witness every learning moment.