Science
It's been 2 months or so since into our homeschooling. There were ups and downs but overall, both Reese and I learned a lot. My son enjoys Science the most. So far we studied the different kinds of weather, floods, earthquakes and tsunami, volcanoes and air. All we did was read and discuss and did some worksheets. Reese can predict the weather by just looking at the types clouds, he can tell you how to make rain, how floods, earthquakes and etc happened. We did some simple experiments and they were fun.
Critical Thinking
I also did some critical thinking worksheets with him. He loves them. Currently we are working on analogies. He just can't have enough of them. In the exercise, you are expected to compare a pair of objects and its relationship and then you are given a different object and you are suppose to find another object to complement it with the same kind of relationship as the first pair. Reese got 100% right most of the time. I introduced the word relationship to him and was not sure whether he understand the word. Anyway, yesterday I just casually asked him to explain one of the answers and never expect much but he did surprise me!
Mummy: Reese, can you tell mummy what is the relationship between these two?
Reese: Sure, first this is a big circle and in it is a small square then it became like this (pointing to the next object) Circle became small and the square became big. That is the relation. (smiling away)
Mummy: Reese, can you tell mummy what is the relationship between these two?
Reese: First it was ABC and then it became CBA. ABC was forward and then it went backwards! That's the relation.
History and Geography
We did some history about the Egyptians, Greeks and now Romans. We talk about their food, homes, transportation, clothes and their daily life in the past. It's a simple introduction to these world cultures. At times, Reese wasn't that interested especially when we talk about the kind of clothes they wear! :)
Math
I started with addition facts and almost daily drilling of about 60 questions and 1 worksheet from Horizon math. Honestly I did not count the number of questions (addition facts) until last week and realized its way too much. Reese didn't like to do math! It's my fault really. At the beginning, he finds it fun doing the addition facts and he can finish them within 15 minutes for 70 questions. Usually I will repeat the questions until he is able to do them in less than 2 minutes for 35 questions (usually 2 repeated worksheets). As the facts gets harder, he started to dislike it. ( I should have reduced it to 35 questions instead of 70 when it gets harder!) The prints were really small and thus doesn't look like a lot (35 questions on one side of the paper). Bad mummy. So along the way, there were struggles to get him to do his Math. Somehow we got through it but with him not very happy and always finding excuses and it came to a point where he will yawn the moment he work on the 2nd question!
So after another episode of shouting and all last week, I decided I am at fault. I just have to find a way to correct it. So instead of 70 questions, I only ask him to do 35 questions and we abandon the old Horizon K worksheets and replace it with Horizon Grade 1 Math worksheets. We continued playing Teacher and Student Game. Reese became the teacher and he taught me how to do the Math. The last two days were a success. No tears, no tantrums and in fact he wanted to do more worksheets from the new Horizon book! I just have to go slow and keep reminding myself that he is only 4+!!! Really a bad mummy. I felt so guilty actually.... I am just another kiasu mother! Anyway... I am changing!!!!
We are almost done with our addition facts and soon we will work on subtraction facts. I must say, learning addition facts first is really an advantage. Reese never uses fingers to count, he does it mentally and also from memorization. Now, you can ask him any addition of 2 single digit number and he is able to tell you the answer. Example: 8+9, 7+6, 3+5.....
You can do it at home. No need to go to Enopi or Kumon! If you go and google up 'How to teach addtion/subtraction facts', you will find a lot of resources including worksheets. :)
It's been 2 months or so since into our homeschooling. There were ups and downs but overall, both Reese and I learned a lot. My son enjoys Science the most. So far we studied the different kinds of weather, floods, earthquakes and tsunami, volcanoes and air. All we did was read and discuss and did some worksheets. Reese can predict the weather by just looking at the types clouds, he can tell you how to make rain, how floods, earthquakes and etc happened. We did some simple experiments and they were fun.
Critical Thinking
I also did some critical thinking worksheets with him. He loves them. Currently we are working on analogies. He just can't have enough of them. In the exercise, you are expected to compare a pair of objects and its relationship and then you are given a different object and you are suppose to find another object to complement it with the same kind of relationship as the first pair. Reese got 100% right most of the time. I introduced the word relationship to him and was not sure whether he understand the word. Anyway, yesterday I just casually asked him to explain one of the answers and never expect much but he did surprise me!
Mummy: Reese, can you tell mummy what is the relationship between these two?
Reese: Sure, first this is a big circle and in it is a small square then it became like this (pointing to the next object) Circle became small and the square became big. That is the relation. (smiling away)
Mummy: Reese, can you tell mummy what is the relationship between these two?
Reese: First it was ABC and then it became CBA. ABC was forward and then it went backwards! That's the relation.
History and Geography
We did some history about the Egyptians, Greeks and now Romans. We talk about their food, homes, transportation, clothes and their daily life in the past. It's a simple introduction to these world cultures. At times, Reese wasn't that interested especially when we talk about the kind of clothes they wear! :)
Math
I started with addition facts and almost daily drilling of about 60 questions and 1 worksheet from Horizon math. Honestly I did not count the number of questions (addition facts) until last week and realized its way too much. Reese didn't like to do math! It's my fault really. At the beginning, he finds it fun doing the addition facts and he can finish them within 15 minutes for 70 questions. Usually I will repeat the questions until he is able to do them in less than 2 minutes for 35 questions (usually 2 repeated worksheets). As the facts gets harder, he started to dislike it. ( I should have reduced it to 35 questions instead of 70 when it gets harder!) The prints were really small and thus doesn't look like a lot (35 questions on one side of the paper). Bad mummy. So along the way, there were struggles to get him to do his Math. Somehow we got through it but with him not very happy and always finding excuses and it came to a point where he will yawn the moment he work on the 2nd question!
So after another episode of shouting and all last week, I decided I am at fault. I just have to find a way to correct it. So instead of 70 questions, I only ask him to do 35 questions and we abandon the old Horizon K worksheets and replace it with Horizon Grade 1 Math worksheets. We continued playing Teacher and Student Game. Reese became the teacher and he taught me how to do the Math. The last two days were a success. No tears, no tantrums and in fact he wanted to do more worksheets from the new Horizon book! I just have to go slow and keep reminding myself that he is only 4+!!! Really a bad mummy. I felt so guilty actually.... I am just another kiasu mother! Anyway... I am changing!!!!
We are almost done with our addition facts and soon we will work on subtraction facts. I must say, learning addition facts first is really an advantage. Reese never uses fingers to count, he does it mentally and also from memorization. Now, you can ask him any addition of 2 single digit number and he is able to tell you the answer. Example: 8+9, 7+6, 3+5.....
You can do it at home. No need to go to Enopi or Kumon! If you go and google up 'How to teach addtion/subtraction facts', you will find a lot of resources including worksheets. :)
Reading/ Read-Aloud
Reese is currently reading the beginner's bible. Usually he reads a chapter and we discuss the content. Read-aloud is fun too. We finished The Box Car Children, My Father's Dragon and now we started on The Hundred Dresses. We also do poems and rhythms using other books. It's really nice to just read and read and let our imagination soar!
English
We are working on sentence construction/ spelling and comprehension.
That's it for now. My not so little Reese will be 4 years and 6 months end of March. Time sure flies....
3 comments:
You are amazing!
yes u are amazing! i doubt that i could do half the things u do with reese. if u asked me, i honestly think that reese is gifted. plain and simple.
Thank you mummies,
It's not that difficult.. just follow the program and some consistency and determination...... after all, I kept telling myself... If I fail... Reese's education will be doomed...
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