The ONG family Homeschool

Stupid in America

Oh dear, it sounds terrible but that's the title of 20/20's special report aired in 2006 about the education crisis in America.

It takes a while to load because it is 40 mins long but it is worth a watch. BE PATIENT!!!  don't be like me and click wildly all over the screen and hang the whole thing. :OP

20/20 Stupid in America

It covers the lack of choices parents have in terms of the schools they have to send their kids to, the monopoly that American schools have as service providers, and super triple reinforced iron rice bowl grip that the American teacher's union has that holds schools hostage into forcing them to continue employing incompetent and in some cases, criminal teachers.

All this for us to have a think about our current Singapore public education system and how it compares with the American one.

And btw, if you'd like a first hand look at what's happening in our schools currently, there are videos a plenty on youtube.com, uploaded by students. It brings you straight into the classroom and you get to see what they are really up to in school. Just type a school name (or initials even) in the search bar of youtube.

Any thoughts after watching? Do write! We could all benefit from your views!

The Great Catch Up Game

Teacher in school is setting a test. Tuition teacher must help the kid prepare. Force feed kid with more test questions.

Teacher in school is teaching a new topic. Tuition teacher must give kid more assessment work plus more so the kid can have an advantage when tests come.

Teacher in school is giving the class a project. Kids turn to parents, tuition teacher to feed info and make the project.

That's what i mean by the great catch up game. All the behind the scenes work outside of school hours. Assessment book after assessment book. Test paper after test paper. Chasing chasing chasing....

Chasing what? Everybody else's expectations and everybody else's reputations. The school's, teacher's, tuition teacher's, the parent's. It's not about the child really, but what the child can score in exams.

When do the children get to play, create things, read up on their interests and just be themselves? To many Singaporean children, this concept is unheard of.

What, with the endless cycle of school, remedial, afterschool care, tuition, homework, school, remedial, afterschool care, tuition...

I'm sure some readers out there think I exaggerating. Do go and ask around. Widespread child labour does exist in Singapore, you know. People just don't recognise it, that's all.

The Homeschool model to education is different.

All the learning and work is contained within the school hours. After that is done, it's done. No homework. Whatever was taught, concepts are checked on the spot, reinforcement of concepts follow, and that's that. No homework.

And actually, things move alot faster because we're not waiting on someone else's scheme of work.

I do not play catch up with anybody and what's most important to me is that my child has learnt the lesson, enjoyed the lesson, widened their knowledge and skills so that we can move on to more difficult stuff.

And my children have the time to PLAY and create things and do things and help out with the household chores...etc. Like be whole people and not just robots who answer questions.   

Needless to say, I enjoy homeschooling. :O) 

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Dear reader,

If you have any questions about homeschooling, or family and parenting, do email me!

And as an aside, my com screen is about to die...If I do not come online for awhile, you'll know why. :O)

Army Open House 2007

No. 1 has been counting the days to going for the Army Open House. He is all things army. He super admires our Ah Bing Kers. I know he will enjoy the demos very very much. 

So, the open house is actually over 5 days, from the 30th of Aug to the 3rd of Sept, 10 am - 8 pm daily. At the Pasir Laba Camp.  Well, you can get all the info here. There's suggested itineraries even.

The Ong Family is planning to be there on the 3rd of Sept. If you see us, do say hello!

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Dear readers,

I do hope that was helpful! If you have any lobangs or info that are of special interest to other homeschoolers, do feel free to share it here! Thanks!!!

Jesus Camp

I don't know if you read ST Youthlink writer Tessa Wong's reaction to the documentary Jesus Camp (Mon 27th Aug, 2007). She shares that she too grew up in a charismatic christian environment and can relate to the kids in the documentary who are mostly homeschooled and trained to be part of God's Army.

In the article entitled "When it comes to religion, give children some space", she writes, "It was like watching my whole childhood play out on the big sceen as I have a similar religious background. Speaking in tongues? Check. Fervant proselytising to strangers? Check. Emotional prayer sessions? Check."

And whilst she argues that it is not right to be drilling children with religious notions, hence depriving them of a freedom of choice what to believe, she found herself disagreeing with the things she had been taught as a child.

I am not particularly enamoured by Wong's writing contributions to the ST in general. But for this article, I will argee with her to a certain extent.

It is openly known in this blog that my husband and I do vigorously teach our children about God and the Bible. And we are commanded by the Bible to do so.

Deuteronomy 6:7  And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

And Paul in his letter to his disciple Timothy says that Timothy has benefited from his mother and grandmother's godly instruction since he was a child. 2 Timothy 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Note: The holy scriptures taught to the child makes him "wise unto salvation". No one is born a chrisitian and every child growing up in a christian environment still has to come to a decision of faith based on what he knows about God's plan of salvation extended to him and all mankind. 

And this is the attitude with which we carry out our Christian education of our children. We teach them the word of God but respect that they are individuals who have the God-given ability to choose. Of course we pray for them and encourage them that walking in God's ways will bring happiness and joy and peace. Not that circumstances and situations will necessarily be easy going. In fact, the christian can expect difficult and trying times. Jesus, the prophets and apostles hardly lived cushy lives themselves. But to be in God's will, we believe our children will have God's reassurance that He is helping and carrying them through the storms of life. They have to make that step of faith for themselves. We as parents must not and cannot do it for them.

I must categorically state here that we are opposed to using "emotional" tools (the right kind of music, the right kind of lighting and a powerfully emotional orator) to pull the right "strings" to get a desired "response". We believe that God encourages us to use our mental faculties and reason with Him.

Isaiah 1:18  Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

1 Peter 1:13-16  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

1 John 4:1  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

A Distwaction? You calling ME a Distwaction???

See Aug 20

Who's NOT in the co-operating mood?

How to creatively solve a problem...

Yes, it is true. With Homeschooling, we can't compete with the Government to provide the best facilities for our children. We cannot buy all the best exercise equipment in the market, or have a science lab with all the chemicals needed for experiments.

We, homeschooling parents, find creative solutions to overcome these so-called "dis-advantages"! :O)

The other day, no. 4's itchy fingers went and shredded our very nice little globe that's been with us a year or two now.

Thankfully, we still have a larger one sitting out of his reach.

But I decided that I would turn it into a little geography lesson and get the children to mend the globe pieces back with glue. In the end, it was no. 2 (5 yrs) who took up the task. I placed a poster of the world for her to refer and off she went. Her strategy was to start with the south pole and then work in the missing pieces after that. Along the way, she learnt that there's a big ocean called the Pacific that seperates America from Asia. And other details like New Zealand is very near to Australia.

It was a good and fun learning time and we've got our globe back. (Except for perhaps major plate techtonic shifts which completely submerged whole eastern european countries.)

SO.. here's a salute to other problem tackling Homeschooling parents out there! :O)

Oh yes! If there are problems that you're encountering with HSing and need help and advice, go ahead and ask! (email me..) Maybe we can help or post it up for someone else who has experience to help. :O)   

When I think about the heavens...

Photo credited to echwelmichel.

There was one night when we were in Perth in June, when the children were all sleeping. D and I snuck out into the garden extra dressed in our coats because it was about 7 degrees outside. We dragged the garden chairs to the middle of the garden and sat back to back looking up, gawking.

What were we doing in the freezing cold?..... Star gazing.

Oh... it was beautiful!!! It was magical and the more you looked, the more you realised there were stars.. more stars. Awesome. Breath-taking. It will be a night I won't forget. Me, my loved one, and God's grand creation for us to enjoy. And just imagine that with instruments, we could see even more stars!

It's really so sad that in Singapore, the electric lights are so bright that it prevents us from seeing God's magnificent creation in the skies.

You know what this tells me? That our God is a God of beauty, of perfection, of absolute control, of order, of unfathomable wisdom and power... just looking at the night sky, you will know there is a God.

Romans 1:19-20  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

This Speck of Dust Must Praise God!!!

No. 1 and I entered into a discussion this morning before we went for breakfast about the stars, the galaxies and the universe because he asked where heaven is and God is. (I believe God is omnipresent, He is everywhere. But I believe the Bible talks of a third heaven, also called paradise in 1 Corinthians 12:2, 4, where God resides.)

We had been surfing the net for information about Saturn's Rings (no. 1 was interested to learn more) and we came across University of Tennessee's Astrophysics website.   

And under "Astronomy 616: The Solar System", we came to "A Sense of Time and Scale in the Universe".

Here are but 3 mind-boggling facts for us to chew on:

- The Sun would hold 1.3 billion earths.

- There are 200 billion Suns like our own in a galaxy like the Milky Way.

- Astronomers can see millions of galaxies.

We couldn't help but be in awe our creator God!

No. 1 remembered about God's promise to Abraham that he would have descendants as many as the stars in the sky and the sand upon the shore.

Genesis 22:17-18  That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;  And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

And our God knows ALL the stars by name:

Psalms 147:4-5  He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

Oh yes,... and this is how we learn science at home. God is in the centre of the whole picture. Unlike the way we are taught in school... God is no where to be seen! :O( 

My thoughts turned to how tiny tiny tiny we are and yet we think a universe of ourselves. Who are we that God should remember us, and be concerned for us and love us???

Psalms 8:3-4  When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrendered....

What can our response be but to Praise Him?

I need some help in teaching spelling...

What do you use to teach your kids spelling?  Do you have a spelling list or test every week like school?  Do you use phonics or alphabets? 

Thank you so much for this question, dear reader! :O)

The Accelerated Christian Education program that we are using is a preschool to pre-university curriculum. Currently, my older two are doing the lower grades already. The reading and writing in ACE is a phonic based program. The children are taught individual sounds and then they move on to reading simple words in the subject called Word Building. The texts are very co-ordinated and structured and seamless. The children are not made to read words they have not yet been taught.

We benefit also from the Christ Centred Curriculum's flashcards. Excellent for consonant blends and dipthongs and trickier stuff like that.

There are spelling tests in the ACE program. These are not theme based but phonics based. Recently, my no. 1 just had to do the "ou"/ "ow" sound for spelling. The test is at the end of the PACE (workbook) that focused on teaching this sound. Words in the list included: house, about, cloud, loud, out, down, brown, town. They all sound /au/ but the child needs to know when to apply which.

I don't know if all schools practice this, but I took a look at my niece's primary 1 English book. And the spelling list was theme based. Like Birthday Party: Balloons, Cake, Jelly, Decorations, Friends, Presents... etc. I remember my SIL telling me that in kindie, the child was taught using phonics but in P1, it wasn't. The reason for this is, the Singapore system's early introduction of composition writing. And in order to "help" the students write compositions, they are given these lists to memorize so that they can use for their compos.

I remember vividly that when I was still teaching in a sec school, I had a boy in sec 2 who spelt "true" as "ture". This was not a typo, mind you. It was a written compo. And his writing was littered with these kinds of errors. :O( This was a serious case of un-addressed phonics problems.

With the strategy of the American ACE program is to ground the child in phonics and spelling, vocabulary, grammar, writing phrases, writing sentences, etc. Step by step. No short cuts, somewhat tedious, but a very firm foundation for the young learner.

As for writing compos, for now, I sometimes do story writing together with the children. They come up with the text (with my help) and I write it down on our story exercise book. Always very fun to do. :O)