The ONG family Homeschool

You Like the New Banner?

I sure do! That's no. 4 when he was 2. Our church brethren call it the smirk. I think he could be used for an advertising campaign and sell lots of ice kachang or something. heheh.

Thanks to my SIL who cleaned up the back ground for us. :O)

Vacation Bible School 2009: F.L.I.G.H.T.

F.L.I.G.H.T. very cleverly stands for Faithfully Living In God's Holy Truth. :O)
As promised, though some weeks late, some highlights of VBS.

VBS is organized by my church Maranatha Baptist Church every June (usually in the 2nd week of June.) This year's was from the 10th to the 13th of June. Oh yes, and we also have a MBC Kids website!

We've constantly received positive feedback from parents and the kids love to come back for it year after year. This year was special for the Ong kids (we call them "Ongsters" at church,) because their papa was acting in the pre-lesson skit. Pre-lesson time is to give the kids an introduction to the day's lessons and give them something to think about.

I only had a hand in writing the intial draft of the skit. It was about two pilots, one a Christian, and one non-believer, and what happens to them when they crash on a deserted island.

Papa was so enthusiastic about the skit that he designed and built a plane from scratch using pipes and joints. He worked the whole night through in the living room and didn't even sleep! This was the cockpit.

No. 1 and no. 2 had a part in dismantling and re-assembling it when we transported it to the VBS so I would think they learned something about joints and structures as well.

There they are, papa is in the back seat. ;O) They named the plane OOPS flight 25.

praying next to the plane wreck. ;O)

Some photos of the kids at VBS:

No. 3 was in the youngest class! Initially, he was apprehensive about going for VBS, not knowing what to expect or what was expected of him. He came home, all smiles, and excited about going the next day.

Did I mention the theme was Flight and the kids made some pretty cool paper aeroplanes:

Games time usually is the highlight of the VBS (kids being kids). And papa was the Games Master, so he thought up lots of flight related games for the kids to play. One was to design paper aeroplanes for different categories like "stunt plane" (most maneuvers), "top gun" (can reach the highest), etc.. No. 1's submission won the best Glider (can stay in the air the longest).







Water Bombs. Always the most anticipated game of any camp. But this being Flight, they became "Missiles". :O)







Oh... just take the whole pail.


Here's the entire VBS Campers and Helpers in their VBS t-shirts.



There's a VBS Reunion outing tomorrow (27th June, 3- 5pm) at the Upper Pierce Reservior. Everyone's invited so do come and join us!

Inspiration!

Homeschooling and the holidays... the learning doesn't stop. :)

This (from our visit to Hort Park):

Inspired this:

Mostly done by papa, made from extra plant pots, odds and ends and a pair of old sneakers.

And this (also found at Hort Park):

Inspired this:

No. 3's big hearted dinosaur.

No. 2's butterfly:

No. 1's A:

These were done with Sculpey, a polymer clay. Some of my (and sis Carol's) Sculpey projects.

I'm just really glad that this holidays has afforded us time as a family to go out and do things, even put up these projects together. We're thankful! :)

Field Trip: Jacob Ballas Gardens

We took a short trip to the Jacob Ballas Gardens last week. To get to it, you have to go inside the NUS Law Faculty compound at the Bukit Timah campus.

 This sculpture at the entrance is too cool.

It's a Children's Garden, more with an educational slant for children to get to know more about plants, herbs and trees. So they have handy signages to give visitors information about the plants and so on. It was nice, but somehow, I didn't think the plant displays were as nice as the ones at Hort Park.

Here's a wonder we came across.. have you ever seen so many baby bananas? I dubbed it the Diana of Ephesus banana. (If you get it, you get it. :P )

There is a small, simple wet play area as well as a sand play area. So, kids being kids, they were more drawn to these activities than the plants themselves. :O)

To make the trip more "educational" I got my kids to name me five plants they recognize from the herb and edible plants section. Not bad, they managed to name quite a few. They can identify basil, pandan, mint etc.  because we've been planting those in our garden as well. And they also know about roots of plants, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds by being in the garden while we are planting. There you go: Science taught "incidentally".

How many can you identify? :O)

Since we're talking about plants....here's some encouragement (and warning) from the Word of God regarding the principle of sowing and reaping! :

Galatians 6:7-10  Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Happy Fathers' Day!

We had a special family dinner tonight to celebrate Fathers' Day. Hubby's side of the family is very large and they love the cheese cake very much so I made two so no one needs to fight. :OP..
We decided to re-arrange them a little and so we ended up with something that looks like a cross between a sun and a flower.

The little girl (no, 2) and I went to get the ingredients for this cake yesterday night. We decided to stop by a gardening center in Thomson Rd, as hubby has recently developed a new love for plants and gardening. I tell you, practicality and pragmatism has killed the art of gift buying for me. I went through item after item, thinking this is too expensive, this we don't need, this he won't like, this we can borrow..etc. etc...

In the end, the little girl chose a cute-sie ornamental thing that I wouldn't have bought but, hey, I was even looking at the pesticides and fertilizer sections. *shakes head*

So, I told hubby to expect his present to be something from the heart of a little girl. :O)

 

My comment on Facebook goes like this:

God doesn't require that a man be of great talent, only that he be found faithful.

How wise is our God because with a faithful heart, a man will become great for God.

Matthew 25:23  His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

We Love and thank God for You!

OH YES! If you're on facebook, add me! Sue Ong. :)

Guilt Post

Heheh... I've been away longer than usual! I know good people out there are following this blog, so I felt I oughta post a "hi"...

HI!

We've been enjoying the school holidays, especially with papa with us too. With baby no/ 5 so small, we are not travelling overseas for a holiday this June. But looking at all we've been doing, it's really like we've made Singapore our holiday destination. :) (We're imagining home as the hotel. heehee.)

Last week, the older three were very happy to attend our church's Vacation Bible School. This year's theme was Flight. One of the highlights for the kids was watching their papa act in the pre-lesson skit as a pilot. ;) More about that later.

This week, we've been catching up on doing things we haven't been able to do for a while, like swimming. Papa brought four of them to the Choa Chu Kang pool yesterday and they had so much fun in the tube slide and the wave pool! We're so thankful that these facilities are available to us at such an affordable price! (Around $1 for each kid?) 

Today, we did loads as well! Dropped in at ICA to make a passport for baby. Her photo was ALL NATURAL. They didn't allow me to put her hairband on to keep her gravity defying hair down, so, .... well, it turned out really cute. :)

Next stop was Taka to shop for clothes. The Lord provides most of the children's clothes through church family and our own family's hand-me-downs. We were looking for a nice shirt for no. 1 to wear to church on Sundays. Thank God he found one he liked. (He can be quite particular about his clothes!)

Also went to Art Friend at Taka and got some art supplies. Have some fun art and craft planned for them. Yae!

Lastly, today, we went to the Jacob Ballas Gardens. More on that later too.

Then came home to cook battered sole fish filets for din din.

The Lord's been so good to us and we are thankful.
So much for now! :)

An OFH Interview with our Filipino homeschooled friend: John Mark

OFH stands for Ong Family Homeschool. heehee :O)

With our dear Filipino missionary friends on an outing around Singapore. This was at the Esplanade.

I wish I could tag faces. Blah.

Last month, we had the privilege of meeting the entire Sumatra Family, a faithful, Independent Fundamental Baptist, church planting family. Pastor and Mrs Sumatra (the lady at the right of the pic above, in dark blue) homeschooled their four children using ACE, and the oldest two are already in college. This was the first time we met the Sumatra kids. They were such a blessing! So polite and unassuming.

 And greatest blessing was to see teenagers with the heart to serve the Lord. The eldest, John Mark (20 yrs old), serves in their church Youth ministry as well as the music ministry. The second eldest, the girl of the family, serves in the Children's ministry. 

I was so impressed hearing John Mark play the piano for his family's song special at our church the first sunday they were in Singapore. I was entirely taken aback to hear that he is a self-taught musician. He humbly and rather matter-of-factly stated that it took a lot of hard work.

As I chatted with him some more that night I recorded him playing, I was even more amazed at what this "hard work" entailed. He started teaching himself the piano at the age of 11. This young man sat himself down at the piano and figured out chords by himself: studying scores and noticing all the recurring patterns of notes on the page. Can you imagine the patience and perseverance? He said he used to practice up to 5 hours a day.

I guess he wasn't cursed with TV and PSPs like our kids are. It was like that in my parent's generation too, come to think of it. They accomplished so much with so little. My father was a self taught musician too. And he can play any brass or reed instrument but his favourite is his guitar. Where would our generation be without all the music appreciation classes, speech and drama classes, art classes, etc. etc. etc. ? Lost.   

Interestingly, he attributes his spirit of learning a musical instrument to what his ACE homeschool curriculum trained him to do. Wonderful, isn't it? A curriculum that trains people who are life long learners and are passionate to learn. Our school system by and large trains people who are happy to just get by. 

I thought I'd catch him and video him playing before they returned to the Philippines. He gladly agreed, saying it is a blessing. God deserves all the glory!

Here he is playing his own arrangement of the beautiful hymn, It is Well with My Soul.

 

OFH: Growing up in a pastor's family and as the eldest child of four kids can make one very well versed in doing all the "christian" things. At what point did you realize you were lost person who needed the Lord to save you?

John Mark: Beforehand, I truly believe that majority of Pastor's kids and also some of those who were born in a Christian family who grew up in the church have the struggle of knowing if they are saved or not. Hence, I share the same struggle. My testimony of how I got saved started when, at age of 6, my mother shared to me the Gospel while doing my homework in Math. I was having a hard time answering that I even cried to my Mom. She then asked me why I am having trouble answering when Jesus is there to help. She then added that Jesus won't help me unless I accept Him as my Lord and Savior. And without hesitation I accepted Him on June 11 1995. But as I grew up, I am always confused of whether I am saved or not because I always sin especially when being compared to other kids at sunday school who are more obedient than me. And so everytime I sin, I always ask the Lord to save me. This continued on until my teenage years but one day I finally understood about my eternal security in Christ through the preaching of God's Word in a Sunday Service.

OFH:  I understand that whilst Christian education is quite available in the Phillipines, homeschooled kids are not so common. What was your homeschooling experience like?

John Mark: Being used in the conventional system of learning, it was a big adjustment on my part because from a dependent learner, I must strive to work on my own. Personally though, it was an exciting experience at first but eventually I got tired of it becuase it was kinda boring doing it in the house. There were no social interaction and interactive activities and because I never understood the effectiveness of the ACE Curriculum. But now I'm in college, I now appreciate and am grateful that I am a product of ACE because of the principles and Christian Character that was implanted within me through the Curriculum.

OFH:  Now being in college, do you think you differ from your non-homeschooled peers, academically? socially?

John Mark: Partly, yes. Academically, there are students that are much more brilliant than me. Socially, I try my best to display and apply Christian character
amongst my peers but there is always pressure to stand for what is Biblically right. Though sometimes I am sidetracked in my actions, I always cry and confess to God to help me be more like Him
and that the Holy Spirit will continue to work within me all the time. The only difference that I can compare myself with my peers is that I have the fear of God and being independent in learning. All this I have thanks to homeschooling and ACE Curriculum.

OFH: You are an amazing pianist! How was it like teaching yourself to play the instrument?

John Mark: Thank you very much for acknowledging my gift but I still have a long way to go to be leveled to those "Professional Pianist" Haha! :).
Well, it was not easy. Learning how to do things by yourself is not not an easy task especially when help is limited. It took me many years of patience and perseverance and a lot of hardwork to achieve my skill in playing the piano. There are many factors that motivated and inspired me to teach myself to play. Here are some:

1. Of course, God who gave me this gift in Music.
2. Meeting and seeing other better pianist than me.
(I always say to myself that someday I will be just like them.)
3. Concerts, Plays, and Musicals
4. Those who also taught themselves how to play and are better pianist than me.
5. My parents for their outstanding motivation.

Also, because I am a product of ACE curriculum, it taught me how to be an independent learner that has goals and that's why I am confident to do things by myself.
To God be the Glory!

________________________________________________

Here he is again, playing the winning arrangement of an ACE conference in the Philippines (not his own, but copied by ear) of What a Friend We Have in Jesus.

Thank you, bro. John Mark, for inspiring me to do more for my Lord Jesus because He has blessed me with so much, yet I do so little for Him.

Hebrews 10:22-25  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Field Trip: Hort Park

Fun, fun, fun! The Ong Family Homeschool took a trip to Hort Park today. It's at Hyderabad Road, Off Alexandra Road.

Without being too long-winded, here's a sign that says what this National Park is all about:

So basically, Hort Park is just supposed to inspire gardening in Singapore! I think they did a marvellous job! We want to do gardening! :)

Vertical wall gardening! I love it. Someone ought to make commercial DIY kits to do these walls at home. Maybe someone already has but I haven't found it? It's great for our small Singapore flats to bring some green into the house and still retain the balcony space.

Mr Pot-Man and Me. Ain't this cute?

 

Things that can be recycled for use in the garden:

 

 

 

 

Garden Swings! I love garden swings. I'm only worried about lizardy friends hiding in the foliage above ready to spring surprises on un-suspecting swingers.

 

They hung those air plants in the branches of this tree to eerie effect.

 

Did I mention there's a fantastic playground there too? Thankfully we went on a nice cloudy day.

 

 

 

No. 4 was calling himself Spiderman for this pose.

 

Signages:

 

Yes, here's evidence that I was there too. With baby. She's still a comfortable weight for me to use the sarong sling. (That and she doesn't like the moving stroller. Makes her feel insecure.)

Vegetable plots! Lovely! But how many in Singapore have land enough to dothis?

They are creeping on nylon net and watered through that black pipe.

 

Aren't the plant combinations here simply wonderful? Very pleasant to the eye. 

 

Marcotted Lantana! A surprise to see many different coloured lantana flowers growing on the same woody stem.

 

One thing I really fell in love with at Hort Park sadly wasn't a plant at all! It was the mosaic mural they had on the wall! I love it!

 

Well, Garden Tech is coming in August real soon, so stick it in your calendar!

2 months old: She's got gravity defying hair!

Papa managed to get some nice shots of baby mei mei on his phone camera. See her hair? It's crazy! Like mom like daughter. sigh.

That would be this emoticon: ;OP

 

You talkin' 'bout me?

It's just like her big jie jie (sister) when she was a baby! Thankfully, it tamed down at one year of age.
Here they are in their pretty Sunday dresses. :)

And I bought some pretty hairbands to keep her hair down! Girl babies are so fun for mommy to play dolly! :O)

Another adorable thing about this little baby (other than her hair) is she's a Sleep Chuckler. She's sleeping and a smile creeps across her lips and then she'll chuckle. It's so funny! None of my babies did that, especially not at this young age. When she's awake she's never laughed, though she is a very smiley baby. So cute. 

Ball and Chained to the House because of Baby? Not me!!

Babies need sleep, I certainly can understand.  It's terrible when the baby doesn't get enough sleep and gets all sorts of cranky from over-stimulation. However, I'm coming to know of more and more parents of babies (some are not so baby anymore, like a 3 year old I know), mostly first time parents, who sacrifice so much of their time out of the house for the sake of their child's sleep. For instance, they can't go out after 7 pm because baby has to sleep (in his cot). Heaven forbid that there be interruption of their child's all important time for physical growth and development! :OP 

Why am I writing this post? I'm thinking about last night. The Ong Family was at the airport last night sending off our dear Filipino missionary friends off. We all had a good time of fellowship and catching up with dear brethren, some we haven't been able to sit down and chat with in a while.

We were out the whole evening and got back at mid-night. Baby no. 5 (2mths old) naturally came with us! When we reached the airport at about 8:30pm, she was sleeping. So I put her into the stroller and there she stayed sleeping till we left the airport at 11:30pm. And she slept all the way home in the car seat and when we reached home, she fed a while and went back to sleep again.

Although we are not full-time in the ministry (as in, employed by the church), the Lord's work and His ministry are a very important aspect of our lives as individuals (hubby and I), and now, spilling into our family life.

As a "lifestyle choice", our children and babies go with us when we need to go. We have interesting photographs of our baby no. 3 sleeping in my cello case during our orchestra practice on Saturday years back. No. 4  was barely weeks old when I lugged him and no. 3 along to Bishan for no. 1 and 2's gymnastics class three years back. Our babies sleep anywhere! They have to! They grew up happy too! :) And I can also look back on my life, year after year, baby after baby, of happy memories of times serving God in the family as well as in church work with my dear brethren.

So, a lot of it, I attribute to a matter of training. Train the child to sleep anywhere, not only at home and in the cot. Then the child will be able to get rested even when the parent needs to go out. If the parent trains the child to fall asleep only in his cot, he's forever going to be worrying about making it home to the cot whenever sleep time comes.

And the other is, it comes down to priorities.. Is meeting all the (perceived) needs of the child more important than, say, serving God in His house? Using your talents for Him in various ministries of the church? Going door knocking to pass out tracts? Being in church on time on Sunday?

It is one of the "difficult to understand until you test it" truths from the Bible. Matthew 6:33 says But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

First serve God, mind His things and He will take care of our things. He has proven His Word true in our family! All praise and glory to God.

Too many parents work on the assumption of one. One child. The parent wants to do everything and make sure everything is perfect for their one child. Throw one more into the mix, all these "luxuries" have to go. Unless, perhaps, they get one more adult to serve the other child. Imagine then, with my family, throwing 2, 3, 4 more children in to the mix, how can we possibly only centre on the needs of the baby?

Other than sleep, the other thing I've noticed that keeps concerned parents at home is food. This is for those who have 6 month and above babies. The un-initiated (eg those with no children), may be thinking, what's the problem? Well, for some parents it is of utmost importance that their baby eats healthily. So, no salt, no preservatives diet. Us asians raise our babies on rice porridge with veges and fish or pork mince thrown in. To get this, it pretty much means you have to cook it at home. 

Okay, it's not hard to cook the porridge, pack it in a thermos and go out, right? The tricky bit is what happens when you go travelling?

It's pretty amazing that my family has traveled out of the country every year despite having a baby every other year for nine years. Every other year, with a toddler, we've flown somewhere (like Perth, Bangkok, Shanghai, even UK). Every year, we spend a week in Malaysia with our brethren for church family camp. (No. 3 was 1 mth old when he attended church camp.)

It certainly takes a bit more planning and effort. I've found a way to cook porridge "on the go"! My wonderful vacuum pot. My only regret is that I only found this pot from 4th baby onwards. But again, my babies turned out okay eating some "outside food", albeit very meshed. :)

It comes down to: if there's a will, there's a way. We love to be at church camps to be fellowshipping with the brethren and listening to the Word of God and growing as a family together. And the fact that we have a baby won't stop us from going. By the grace of God, we have always been blessed all round, in every aspect.  

After coming back from the airport last night, I've got the itch to fly off to somewhere again! ;) Come little baby, and fly with me.