New Microscope

A few months back, I invested in an expensive microscope. Prior to this, we have a toy microscope and it was fun to use. Since Reese is already doing high school science, it is only appropriate we get a proper microscope for his studies. 

I have been super busy with the new house renovation and then the move. Finally settled down and yesterday we explored the new microscope. I can only say WOW! The images were so clear and beautiful. The details that we weren't able to see before were amazing. Having a mechanical stage on the microscope makes the whole experience of looking at slides a breeze. What you pay is what you get eh? :)

I managed to capture some of the images on my iPhone to share with you but the photos do not do justice to the actual images..... 

Vitamin and wing

Onion cell and fibre

Another fibre and leaf

Our Adventure in a Week

December is a fun month. I have almost no work and able to take Reese to different places for different activities. Below are some of the activities and places we visited recently.

Kidzania (RM55-Child, RM35- Adult: Max playtime 5 hours)

Finally after months of its opening, together with some friends we went to Kidzania. It was madness because it is the school holiday season. Reese only managed to do 4 jobs. He had a blast and I paid Rm50 for 3 nice photos of him. We spent 5 hours in there and yet it was not enough. We will be going again soon in January when school reopens. It should be less crowded.

Muzium & Galeri Bank Negara (Free)

We visited the Children's Gallery which was quite fun. They have some well thought out activities for children. One of Reese's favourite was printing money! Then we went to another gallery and saw a vault filled with real gold bars and stacks of money. Not sure how many millions in there. In order to view the inside of the vault, you have to key in a passcode. The date when Malaya formed Bank Negara I think(1959).There are 6 galleries in all but only 5 are open to public at the moment.

Reese's newly printed money!

Printing Money

Money tunnel

Planetarium (Show RM6-Adult, RM4-Child and free entry with show ticket)

After visiting the galleries in Bank Negara, we drove to the Planetarium to catch 2 shows. The Solar Storm and Journey to the Star. Very cheap. Rm6 for Adult and RM4 for Child per show. Each show is only 25+ minutes and they are projected on a dome shaped screen. Really cool. In between the show Reese happily played at the antigravity booth with other kids. 

Trying out the toilet in a space craft and playing in the antigravity booth

Waiting for the show to start

Science Centre (Free for members, public is RM5-Adult and RM3-Child above 7 I think)

One of our usual hang out. Spent sometime playing and then to the resource centre. We also went to the Star Trek exhibition. For RM20 per adult and RM10 per child.... it's not worth the money. We are no Star Trek fans by the way. :)

The Star Trek exhibition

Reading more Astronomy books

Since we have been zipping in and out of KL town, Reese had a chance to look closely at some of the old Malaysian architecture. He drew this after he saw the Abdul Samad Building in town.

Parenting a Gifted Child...

Sometimes I forgot that Reese is only 6. He finds so much pleasure in watching Mickey Mouse Club House cartoon or reading simple picture books and laughing his head off! Hearing such beautiful laughter always brings joy to me and yet, I felt bad sometimes because I treat him like an older child. It is so easy to just forget how young Reese is. One of my biggest issue with him is the way he behaves publicly especially during group activities. He just cannot sit still and take instructions from others. He wants to do things his way. I find it really hard to control him and most of the time I have to threaten him in order to get him to cooperate. It never last though. He is not naughty, he just cannot sit still and is always eager to get first hand experience with whatever that is on display. *sigh*

It is sometimes hard to juggle the older Reese and the younger Reese. One moment he talks about the composition of a Carbon -14 or a Nitrogen - 14 and the next, he whines and cries at the most unreasonable request..... It is tough dealing with a kid like him. He is very sensitive and cries easily. It breaks my heart seeing him sad and the guilt sets in. The real killer is when he expresses his sadness or disappointment to me verbally (Speaks like an adult) with big fat tears rolling down his cheeks.

Parenting is really guess work isn't it? No one child is the same. At the end of the day we have to do trial and error to parent our child to the best of our abilities! Parenting a highly gifted child is very challenging. I have to constantly think of ways to make sure he is given the appropriate intellectual stimulation so that he doesn't get bored and at the same time I do not want to over do it. A balance in everything he does is important. We want him to be happy and be as normal as possible. We want him to fit in well with his peers and lead a normal life.

I thank God that I am still able to help him in his intellectual development but I think in two or three years I will seriously need to find him mentors! It is actually quite exhausting trying to catch up with him intellectually. I do not have the luxury of time and a sharp mind with superb memory and thus learning new things becomes a chore for me. I was never an A star student. Sometimes I think God is punishing me now for not studying hard in school! Ha!

Do you know it is expensive raising a highly gifted child? The exposure, the books and resources we give him... we rarely think twice when spending money on Reese! It is totally worth it when you see him smile from all the pleasure he gets when reading/playing or simply learning.

Reese's version of Sagrada Familia, Spain

Helicopter Parenting

Don't touch that, don't sit on the floor, don't do this/that, be careful! Parents watching his/her child's every move like a hawk and almost never letting his/her child out of sight unless at home. Sounds familiar? Any parent who tries to over-protect their children maybe doing their children a disservice without knowing it. 

What on earth is helicopter parenting?

Oops! I am a helicopter parent!!! Dear me, have to change...have to change..... :)

Do this instead: 

Loving parents will WANT their children to face, struggle with and ultimately overcome hard challenges in life, for that is how everybody grows and improves and becomes stronger.

Parents, be there to guide and direct your children when they come to you with their problems, but DON’T take away your children’s growth by solving their problems for them. Instead, TEACH your child to be a problem solver on their own; a self-starter and independent worker as it were in the game of life.

Remind your children that you as the parent will always be there for them, but that this is their life to live and grow and learn from, and that you cannot do any of that FOR THEM.

Whatever motivates Helicopter Parenting, be it extreme love or extreme guilt or a lack of faith in your child’s ability to face and overcome the normal obstacles of living, now more than ever all parents everywhere need to realize that our children can grow only if we allow them the opportunities to do so.

A few hard knocks is often a good thing in a person’s personal progression in life. As a loving parent you can be there for your child when they get a hard knock trying to figure out some aspect of life for themselves, but by all means don’t rob your child of the opportunity to grow by trying to clear away all the obstacles of life by which that growth is made possible.

Growth requires personal resistance to difficult circumstances, which creates in each of us the comforting knowledge that we can take what life has to offer, and that we are capable of getting back up even if we are occasionally knocked off our feet.

Your children can learn to be happy, healthy, strong and independent children in no other way.

Helicopter Parents everywhere, get out of your children’s way and allow them to grow and succeed.

(Preteen-Thru-Teenage-Parenting-Action Guide)

Science Fair was absolutely fun and educational!!

This the first science fair organized by some great homeschooling parents from MHsN. It was a great success. Children and parents alike had lots of fun. It was also a very educational event. Science explained in simple terms easy enough for young children to understand. The best part is most of the experiments and presentations were done by the children themselves. Parents carefully selected topics and experiments that their children understand and able to do it on their own. Laughter was everywhere and you can hear all the 'wooohhhh' and 'wahhhhh' through out the event. Participants were between the age of 3 and 10. We parents had fun too. The fair was held in a hall of an apartment. simple set up and the quality of the experiments and presentation can compete with school science fair! Can't wait for the next science fair. My dear Reese has already decided that he is going to do plant science. Why and how do plants rot! :)

Nice art work! All about Stealth and Survival

Crystal Ice and a few other interesting experiments

This was good stuff. It teaches you more about electricity

A child demonstrating how electricity works  

Reese love this. Magic Milk!

Eeerr.... forgot what this was... something to do with clean energy and how it can power homes

Magnetism 

Lovely.... great for younger kids to learn about matter.

A child demonstrating an experiment

The Solar System model

Terrarium

Reese and his work

Reese presenting to the judges

We had some really young admirers of Reese's work!

The science of baking! :)

Water tension

Underwater Volcano... Reese trying out the experiment

Having fun with dry ice!

Kids were all ohhhs and ahhhs with this dry ice demo

Magical bubble!

Reese was really proud of his achievement. Showing everyone back home! :)

We are ready for the Science Fair!

ALL DONE! :)

We started working on the project on Friday afternoon, took a break on Saturday, continue on Sunday and today. Reese did a presentation to us on Sunday night and again this evening. He even presented to one of my student's mom! 

Reese putting the final touches to his science project.

Reese's hard work all put together. We are all satisfied with the work.