School Field Trip and Skating...

Yesterday was the 1st International Mud Day. The school took the kids to Kiara Park to play in the 'mud' to celebrate it. Some of us mummies tagged along to help out. Before we left home to meet the kids at the park, it started to rain really heavily and Reese said in a very loud voice, "Oh mummy, I am SO DISAPPOINTED! Why must God sent rain???" He folded his hands (like Tinker Bell) and pouted his lips. So cute...hahaha...

Anyway, the rain slowed down and we went ahead. The kids had a lot of fun digging, splashing basically mucking around! I tried to catch a fish or two but failed and even got scared and shouted when some black creepy-crawly emerge from the sand...one of the teachers commented that I should not scared the kids and I told her I can't help it... I am a city girl! hahaha....

Busy digging sand

I am having fun!

The kids were really enjoying themselves

After wash up, they had snack

After the field trip, we went home to have lunch and then off we went to BSC for skating. Just two days ago, took Reese to buy a helmet. It's not cheap! RM139. Well, no choice as safety comes first eh? :) Reese spent about 2.5 hours on the roller ring. He didn't want to go home!

Reese and one of the supervisors. He is really nice with kids. Played with Reese a lot and taught him how to skate better

Stories through drawings...

Reese loves telling stories through his drawing. As he draws, he tells us the stories. He doesn't draw for beauty but rather drawing is a way for him to express his thoughts. He is back to drawing 5 to 6 sheets a day.

Mount Vesuvius in Italy and the city of Pompeii. It shows the eruption of the volcano.

Another picture of Vesuvius eruption with the slow flowing lava (the lines looking like veins) coming down towards the city.

In space. A rocket just landed. A few astronauts complete with space suit. An American flag. Can you see the craters?

An airplane collided with the cumulonimbus cloud or was it a house in mid air. A man escape using a parachute!

Reese's garden (inspired by FarmVille). He said he grew pumpkins, grapes, artichokes, beans and some other things.

God's temple. Flaming touches everywhere. See the sign that reads GOD?

The battle of Jericho. Check out the soldiers (stick men) armed with spears and some other weapons.

Heaven guarded by two angels holding flaming touches

Instructions for us to fix the 3D Statue of Liberty we bought. He was frustrated with my excuse of not having the instructions to fix it. So he drew this and said "Here mummy, I have the instructions for you. So fix the Statue of Liberty for me!" Hehehe...

In Japan. This is a game according to Reese. 'Chop Chop Ninja'

Another game. Tower Madness. Aliens and weapons.

Mr. F's house going pass a few landmarks and got bombed. Can you tell which landmarks Reese drew?

See the Ipad Advertisement? Behind the billboard you can see many landmarks.

This is New York City. It's close to the sea. Can you see some people near the fountain?

A movie.

A twister in New York

Reese can In-line skate!

Yesterday was a great day because Reese could skate! We went to BSC in Bangsar for lunch with 2 friends and their kids and then the kids went skating. This was Reese's second time skating. The first time was last week and he was struggling to stand and balance. Bump his butt a few times. At the end of that session, he was able to stand without help.

Yesterday, after a few falls he was able to skate unaided. I was so proud of him. He even asked me to go outside the ring and watch him skate! He didn't want my help. :)

Reese and his friend

Reese had home-made Mac and Cheese followed by free ice-cream with toppings at Stuff your Face (a very child friendly restaurant).

It was a fun outing and finally Reese can do a sport? Next up should be the bicycle! When my friends first told me that their kids taught themselves to stake after 2 times at the ring I was skeptical but seeing their kids skating like pro, I have to believe them. Reese also did it, so it is true! What I like about this place is that there are at least 2 guys to watch over the kids and they even help the kids to skate. So paying RM22(weekdays) to skate in the ring is not too bad. Don't need to pay for lessons. I heard skating lessons are quite expensive! There is one at Kiara Park conducted by Stakeline.

Protective gear is important. Reese was wearing pads for knees, elbows and palms but no helmet. He hit his head yesterday. I need to get him a helmet!! It can be quite rough in the ring, some of the kids couldn't stop in time and bump into each other constantly or falls and the impact was very strong.

Did I tell you that Reese went for a Taekwondo trial class? He just couldn't stand still and listen to instructions so can't take lessons. *sigh* Well, at least he can stake. Plan to take him staking every Wednesday and hopefully he will make some new friends too!

Skating on his own. Still wobbly but I think by next week he should stake better.

Gaming Addict at 4 years 8 months Old

My son is into gaming! He is hooked on a few games on the Ipad and even one Facebook game.

Day and night, my son thinks about his crops: plow, plant and harvest, earning coins, saving coins to buy decorations, building and decorating... given a choice, he can be with his Ipad the whole day!

I told hubby he may very well be a gaming addict and it's all our fault! His current favourite games are 'Smurfs', 'Bugs Village', 'Farm Ville', 'City Ville', 'Go Go Gadget', 'Tower Madness', 'Chop Chop Ninja'.

You people must be thinking what kind of parents we are....hehehhee..... Well, I do limit his play time. But on weekends, well, he gets to play many hours.

Reese did learn some basic concepts about buying and selling, the need to work to earn money and save up money for purchases... He learned about food. He knows many vegetable/flower/fruit names like brussels sprouts, artichokes, lavender, tulip, cranberries... He learned some basic strategies to defend and conquer and now comfortably uses terms like cannons, electrocute,bomb, shoot, blast, aliens...

So it's not so bad.... :) Hahahhaha....

Got lost but.....

Today we went to Popular bookstore to get some stationery. While browsing for some files, Reese decided to test his own bravery by walking away a short distance from me and hurried back to find me. I told him to stay close and was quite cautious making sure I knew where he went.

He was enjoying himself. After a couple of times of disappearing and appearing, I begin to relax and continue browsing for files and minutes later I realized that Reese did not appear and I thought he could be playing at the children's section. Another few minutes passed and I still did not see him, so I quickly went over to the kids area but couldn't find him. I started to panic... calling his name and the next thing I knew, I heard a kid crying and immediately knew it was Reese. I ran out of the children's corner and found Reese walking hand in hand with a security guard. He was crying and mumbling "I lost my mummy" repeatedly. Phew!

After Reese stopped crying I asked him what happened and he said:

"Mummy, I lost you and I went to a person who was not a bad man to help me find mummy!"

**At least he knew how to seek help! :)

Things He Said that Amazed Me....

Mummy: What happens when all the ice melt in the Arctic and Antarctic?

Reese: Oh.... it will be a world wide disaster! There will be floods everywhere just like in Noah's ark. People will die.

Reese: Never so feared and loved ..... (forgot part of his sentence but it was amazing...)

Reese: Ohhh.... I don't want to be near the river! It's so stinky and dirty.

Mummy: What happens when it's stinky and dirty?

Reese: It's pollution mummy. It's bad for us.

Reese: Mummy, do you know what is a greenhouse?

Mummy: Err... do you know?

Reese: Yes, it's a glass house. Plants can grow in it.

Mummy: Oh I see, do you know what is greenhouse gasses then?

Reese: Gasses that traps the heat and makes ice melt.

During the three days ban of Ipad:-

Reese: (Woke up) Mummy! my plants have wilted! I need to harvest the plants! Please help me harvest the plants otherwise they will wilt! Please... (He is into Smurf game where he builds and manages the Smurf's town)

Reese: Mummy, can you count snow?

Mummy: No. It's not countable.

Reese: Mummy but Popo said snowS!

Reading Pompeii buried alive:-

Mummy: What are these layers called? Do you remember we learnt it in Science?

Reese: (thinks hard) Sedimentary rocks!

Mummy: Reese, what is a hobo?

Reese: A person who has no home....

Reese: Mummy, I still don't want to go to heaven. I don't want to die yet. I don't want to grow old.

Mummy: What is another word for big?

Reese: Gigantic, huge, enormous!

It's amazing isn't it? His memory and vocabulary are incredible. He tends to correct our pronunciation and grammar too and he is not even 5 yet. Even a student (12 years old) of mine was amazed by him and commented, "Aunty Florence, for a 4+ year old child his vocabulary is impressive!".

Reading Progress at 4 years 8 months

It's the final week of the two weeks break. Glad to have a break from work. Reese is having fun playing at home minus the Ipad for a few days which is a good thing. He plays with his toys, reads, draws and watch some cartoons. He was ban from the Ipad for 3 days for misbehaving... hehehe....

Lately I realized that Reese will read anything that he picks up. Read as in really reading the words. Previously, he will only look at pictures and read when I asked him to. Reading is no longer a task but enjoyment for him. He reads very quickly and so fast that he will miss out words along the way or add in his own words! He is capable of reading chapter books but prefers books with lots of illustration. When we go out, he will read signs, prints and etc. and often asked the meanings of words, phases and sentences.

When we do out studies, Reese does the reading instead of me now. My role is to supervise and explain things to him. I am so pleased with his reading progress. With him reading willingly, he is learning more and more things from books. Whenever I pick him up from school, he is usually reading quietly at the reading corner. Reese loves science and he will tell us many things that he picked up from the 'I Wonder Why' series. I have about 5 of these books in the car for him to read and rotate the titles every now and then. We are reading 1 new story book a day for the past few days. He is currently obsessed with the book 'Pompeii Buried Alive' (Step into Reading series Step 4).

Tested his reading level a few weeks back and he is now reading at Grade 3 level.

Say what you want but I made the right choice!

I have been homeschooling Reese for over a year now and truely love it. It's so different from what I went through when I was his age. There may be alot of preparation work involved and definitely a very huge responsibility. I mean, my son's education is in my hands. There are still family members and friends who do not agree with our decision to homeschool Reese. To them, getting a proper education is only through school and some are skeptical about my ability to teach my own son, afraid that Reese may not socialize well and be weird when he grows up. :)

In the comfort of our home, doing some worksheets and admiring our little carrot top (part of an experiment)

Some people told me to slow down Reese's learning. Don't pressure him! He is still young. It makes me feel like a really bad mother! But honestly, they just do not understand that Reese is no ordinary child. He just 'gets it' the first/second time I teach him something. Just like that. No repetion is necessary. So how do I slow him down? I can't unless I do not teach him anything. :)

I don't do alot of work with Reese. Our typical day consist of 2-3 worksheets of a combination of the following - math, fun activities (searching for words in an alphabet box/ maze/connecting dots), English, analogies/critical thinking, science.

Usually takes about 30-45 minutes max and 4-5 times a week.

Then we read books to learn science, history, geography, poems, stories.

Usually 20 minutes and when something interest him, it can stretch up to an hour. We love sitting together with a bowl of fruits and read. Reese loves asking questions and I will try my level best to asnwer them and then we have discussion, singing/acting or just being silly. I always have my Macbook around so that I can show Reese more pictures or videos related to what we read. Can't do without the internet really! At times we do simple experiments which always excites Reese.

Our daily schooling is scattered throughout the day but all in all, it takes between 1 hour to 2 hours a day.

Reese checks on his carrot top everyday to see how much it has grown

At times I wonder, how will Reese fit in if he does go to a public school. He is going to be bored to death. At the rate he is learning, I think when he is 7, he would be doing Grade 3 (Standard 3-4) for all subjects. Is it fair to slow him down so that he can be 'normal' like others? It's not fair at all.

It says test! To Reese, it's just another worksheet. Well, Reese got a little reward (Banana Chocolate) for completing the test!

He learns at his own pace. I let him lead. At times we do nothing because he is not in the mood but somtimes we do math, science, history...etc all in one sitting!