The ONG family Homeschool

Our Fridge Magnet Collection

Click for a close up view.

My fridge magnet collection has been growing in the last couple of years. :) They are from our travels but lately, it's been supplied by friends who go on holidays and/ or business, work travels. Also, a couple are from my Baptist Board.com lady friends. :D

There's Kyoto Japan, Hong Kong Disneyland, Korea (the two dolls) and Vietnam (the two smaller pink dolls). Tuk tuks and elephants from Thailand. Dolphins and lighthouses from Australia, mostly the west coast (Cape Leeuwen, Busselton Jetty). The Taj Mahal India.

Melaka and Cameron Highlands, Malaysia was collected on our year end church camps.

A couple from England and Wales. There's the York Minster (we went 6 years ago) and the Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool.

The Americas are represented by North Carolina, Mississippi, San Francisco, Las Vegas and the most most recent addition, New York City! Thanks MM!!!  

Little House on the Prairie!

Quick post:

We were at Borders just the other day and got this book for $19.90!

Gonna enjoy reading it to the children. Yae!!!

The Singapore AirShow! 6 -7 Feb (for the public)

We love airshows. This one have to pay. :(

But just to let you know. Check out the website for more details. (Not too many details also. Blah.)

And this is the theatrette we've booked!

It doesn't look like a lot, but there are 100 seats here. And we're reaching the limit for the sharing session on the 30th Jan. Which is NEXT SATURDAY!!!! Scroll down previous posts for more details.

Baby's 9 mths assessment: mostly pass.

 

huh? I don't hear a thing! 

So we went to the poly clinic for baby no. 5's 9 mths developmental tests.

The nurse does the hearing test with a hand held device that makes little whirring noises. She frowns a little and notes that baby is not too attentive to the soft sounds, though she does respond to them, proving that she isn't deaf. Just that she's not so attuned to them.

Nurse asks how many children do you have? I answer, she's my fifth baby.

Then she goes ahhhh.... perhaps the environment at home is a little noisy so that's why baby is more accustomed to loud sounds.

Uh huh.
I'd probably put it down to that myself.

Noisy people. Many noisy people in this household. Sigh.

Kent Hovind: How to Make Money and Spend it God's Way

Really enjoyed this lesson by Dr Hovind that our Pastor shared with us during church camp last year. If you WILL want to get your kids to watch this. :)

Now, we tell our kids we're looking for Number One workers!!! ;)

Our Beloved HighChair....

This is something that I did with every baby since no. 1 (10 years ago). Place the little ball-ball biscuit on the eyes and coconuts of the wall paper that papa had stuck onto the table part so things don't slip.

10 years of using this highchair has really strained it somewhat. The seat is bursting and the sponge is showing. The table has gone brittle and recently it cracked after yet another fall. See, we've taped it with masking tape to cover the sharp edges. Even the wall paper with the elephant, giraffe, crocodile and coconut (a ready entertainment and learning opportunity for the baby) has become torn and worn.

I've grown attached to this highchair and all the happy mealtimes it has come to represent, year after year, baby after baby. In this highchair, we start feeding the 7 or 8 mth old rice porridge. Today's porridge was cod fish and corn. In this highchair, we shout "Champion!" when the baby has finished his or her meal. Raise arms high! Champion!!! :) In this highchair, we give the baby ice cubes to slide around the table and entertain themselves while we busy in the kitchen. 

One of my first blog posts was about highchair training! And when I mentioned our highchair, it'd be this one on my mind.  

Who would have thought that a highchair would become so difficult to throw away?

Sigh....

It all started with needing to find a pair of matching socks.

I'm taking a little break from printing out memory verses for the kids to stick up on their school desks. :)

I was hanging out the laundry one day when I came to a pair of socks. I thought about how the other night, my dear hubby was commenting with a resigned smile that he struggled in the morning to find a pair of matching socks and how in a rush, he will just grab a mis-matched pair and wear it to work! One foot blue, one foot brown! :P

Ok. That's quite sad, actually.

So I looked at the sock situation and I determined that something needed to be fixed. We've got a little plastic drawer to hold our socks, individually but in the course of washing and sorting socks get mis-placed here and there.

So, at lunch time, I decided to tackle the sock drawer. In tackling the sock drawer, I had to look in and around the other shoes to see if there were any stray socks lying inside the shoes.

Then I found shoes that were not use-able anymore, either the child had out-grown them, or they were spoiled. So, I started sorting shoes (as well). One pile for discarding, one pile for giving to charity (we usually send them to mission work in the region), and one pile for cleaning up and storing away.

I call my eldest to help me clean up the shoes that are still good and nice and can be passed down.

I open up the cupboard that stores our "to be passed down" shoes. I find baby girl shoes from 6 years ago when my elder girl was a baby! And baby no. 5 can wear them! I'm thankful that some of the shoes we kept were still good, as in the glue and all that still holding out well. Not that she's walking or anything.

I am amazed that back then I was so in to dressing up baby that I bought a pair of shoes every few months when her feet grew, just so she could match her dresses! And she wasn't even walking till 12 mths! grief. Too free. 

I get no. 1 to clean up the girl girl shoes for his mei mei.
He does that (though not very well, I had to do a second take,) and then he asks if he can use the shoe polish on papa's leather shoes.

He has seen his papa polishing his shoes and I guess he thinks it's a really "soldier" looking thing to do. 

He polishes and polishes. Takes out my shoes to polish too. Polish ends up on the floor. I make him promise to wash it off with soap.

 I left my eldest to go to inside to do the sorting and throwing and bagging and sorting. When I came back, eldest had practically flooded the porch floor with soapy water. ARGHHHH....

I give him a good dressing down and hand him the proper tools to clean the mess, sweep the water out.

2 days later, the socks are languishing in a laundry basket. At least they're matched. The old ones and lonely partner-less ones consigned to "the land where all the good socks go". And the shoes situation never looked better! That doesn't say a lot. :p

And THIS is education....

Saw what my 6 yr old wrote on his school book (also known as a PACE) today and it had to make my heart glad. :)

And this is what the main focus of education ought to be: to know God, fear Him and keep His commandments. Keep the main thing the main thing, and all the other stuff will follow.

I've been talking to the kids about God's promises often being conditional. What, you mean God's promises aren't for all to freely claim? No, actually they aren't.  Often there are conditions involved.

If __________ , then ______________

-consider: God leading and directing us.

Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

If we will trust in God, lean not on our own understanding, acknowledge Him, then will He direct our paths.

- consider: Finding God.

Jeremiah 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

If we seek with all our heart, then will we find God.

- consider: promise of escaping hell.

Luke 13:3  I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

If we were to repent, then will we not perish in the lake of fire.

And to come back to my thought about education. Yes, maths and science and all that is important. But if we want to be successful in anything, what should we do first?

Joshua 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Your turn:

If _______________ then ____________ 

PSLE sharing session... some schedule adjustments...

The last post was supposed to be the last post regarding the sharing session. Hoping not to bother people with too many emails... BUT I had to re-think the schedule, and worry about starting on time.. So this is the latest:

There are minor changes  timing and the schedule... Just that the ladies doing the subject sharing commented that it is quite difficult to squeeze so much information into half an hour slots. So I'm allocating each subject 40 mins.

The survey also isn't coming along all too well. Still only 9 forms despite sending out and requesting help as much as we could. Ah well...

So, the new schedule is as follows:

2         PSLE homeschoolers survey findings

2: 10    Sharing by a homeschooling parent whose children sat for PSLE
2: 20    English
3         Maths
3: 40   Science
4: 20   Chinese
5         Refreshments

Please please please make it a point to come early so we can all settle down and start at 2pm sharp. I'm expecting 70 sign up-ers. That doesn't look right. How about attendees? Anyway, I'll be needing to clear payment and all that and it would really help if folks  COME EARLY!!! thanks... :)

Also do make plans to stay behind for refreshments and meeting up! :)
Anyone wants to share food their homeschooler made, do let me know! It'll be really nice. We're probably bringing cookies. :)

blessings,
Suwei