Our Homeschool lunches are usually hurried affairs. Hurried, but I try to make sure they are nutritious. Usually, I do clear soups with noodles.
Today, I had 1 kg of beef in the freezer so I decided to make hamburgers for a more special lunch.
So, I LOVE to put lots of seasoning and flavours in my food.
In today's beef patty, I mixed: soy sauce, some olive oil, salt and pepper, corriander powder (quite a bit of this), chopped garlic (lots of this too!) and roughly crushed cream crackers (saw dah biah!). 2 beaten eggs to hold it all together. Mix mix mix.
And then, make two flat patties and place some shredded cheese (I used cheddar) in between the patties. Mould the two patties together.
Fry on a medium flame.
The Ooze....
Meanwhile, earlier on, no. 3 (10 yrs) helped me make the bread dough and I had that made into hamburger buns.
The buns turned out ginormous.
Some homeschooling done in the kitchen while burgers are frying
Someone was *not happy*.
Slice up the fresh veges.... tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce and onions...
get the kids to make their own hambugers!
Baby had a vegan burger. She loves raw veges more than meat!
The burgers turned out too Man Sized and the kids were struggling to finish their portions. But they didn't want to waste the good food. It was hilarious. The boys psyching themselves with a Warcry to finish their food.
We were in stitches LOL-ing.
We kept away the half eaten burgers to eat later.
Anyway, I'm glad we are homeschooling. Our children get good meals at the correct time. I understand that morning session school kids eat breakfast at 6am, recess snack and lunch on the school bus at 1 plus?
Also our children sleep well. They get in more than 9 hours of sleep and wake at 8 am.
I know, "surviving" doesn't sound much like it was a stroll in the park or like I really enjoyed and thrived in our new homeschool arrangements. But, yeah, I think I'm blessed that due to certain saving graces provided by the Lord, I didn't go berserk from the maddness.
Our homeschool is constantly changing, year by year, even month by month, as the younger ones grow and develop new skills and the older ones explore new boundaries of learning.
In 2014, to date, our homeschool looks like this. We have:
- a highly motivated 14 year old high schooler who is recently freed from his PSLE obligations (end of 2013) and is now embracing his high school years with excitment, grabbing every opportunity to learn with gusto.
- a 12 year old who is preparing for PSLE. She's going slow and steady. She just completed her piano exam last wednesday too!
- a 10 year old (in his P5 year) who is transitioning from ACE to PSLE prep.
- an 8 yr old who is in ACE grade level and also doing SG maths and chinese
- an almost 5 yr old who is doing her reading readiness course with ACE. She can read simple words already!
and.....
- an 18 mth old who is constantly asking to be nursed.
I think I can only describe our school day as Intense. From the time the children wake up till the end of the day, it is a series of seemingly random events one after another and I just have to try to be on top of it all. Multi-tasking all the way. I can't seem to get even 10 minutes helping one child with his fractions without being interrupted three or four times.... the baby wants help in opening a toy, another child is asking where is the stapler, the washing machine is done with one cycle and needs to be reloaded with the next, baby comes again and announces she has a poopy diaper... Yes, it is a very different environment than school, but we have all learned to take it all in. Somehow, the children learn and get their school work done.
Having said that, No. 1 (14 yrs) will guard his school work time and not allow anyone to distract him and no. 3 has been getting up at 7 am before everyone else to get his work done in quietness, so that he can complete his work earlier in the day and play.
How are we going to survive this madness???? ponder ponder ponder
Well, to be brutally honest, I DON'T KNOW how it will all pan out. But I DO know....
GOD's grace will be sufficient for me and my family.
Saving Graces~ Quiet Time in Bible Reading and Prayer
I am sleep deprived. And I am one who doesn't function very well on little sleep. Yet, we have an 18 mth old who still stirs (for no particular reason other than habit) at least 3 times a night and pesters for some milk. As such, I take a mid-day nap while the children are in the thick of their seat work. Whatever questions they have, they can either ask each other or ask mama when she gets up. But meanwhile, if you see mama horizontal... DON'T BUG HER!!!! *grouchy sleep deprived mama bear*
Still, I have been making it a point to wake earlier in the morning, when the children havn't woken up yet, to do my personal Bible Time with the Lord. It has become a precious time of spending time with my Lord Jesus, re-aligning my thoughts, re-focusing my goals, but more importantly, it is knowing what God wants me to be, not in the doing but in the "being" - a living sacrifice for His service.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:1-2
Saving Graces~ Older Children who are Willing to Serve with Love
The number of students and the amount of "school" we have to tackle has increased over the years. Thank God the number of teachers in this homeschool has also increased! Last year, no. 2 was helping to teach no. 5 pre-school, teaching her the alphabet and phonics, with guidance by me on the side. She is a good and patient teacher!
This year, as no. 2 needs to focus on her PSLE prep, some of the teaching load has gone to no. 1. It's so nice to hear him reading the animal stories to his little sister and instructing her how to join the sounds of a small word or how to do her workbook.
I did hear that in some large homeschooling families, this kind of arrangment did work out very well (older ones teaching the younger). Either the older ones were resentful of giving up time for the younger ones, or the younger ones weren't being instructed well. So thankfully, we did talk to our older children and they have the heart to serve and help. And it springs from a love for the family and their younger siblings. I will tell no. 1 what are the lessons learning objectives and he will teach his sister. And I am always near by keeping half an eye on how the lesson is going.
Also, I get quite a bit of help with household chores. Laundry duty is taken by the kids these days but on occassion, I help them. Packing the house, dishes, washing and cleaning, these are all divided up. We believe these are really good opportunities to teach the children good character and even team work.
Saving Graces~ Church Brethren who Help
We are truly truly blessed to be in a good Church (Maranatha Baptist Church, we are Independent, Fundamental Baptist, if anyone out there would like to know. ;) ) Our brethren are truly loving and sacrificial whenever there is a need that arises. With around 5 other homeschool families in our church, we have a wealth of information and helps to tap into. No. 1, particularly, is a direct beneficiary from brethren who would sacrifice time to teach him.
Since losing time having to prepare for the PSLE, no. 1 is now having to double up on his maths learning. I like to tell people in homeschooling, the student-teacher ratio is 2: 1. Two teachers is to one student. heehee
He is having weekly maths lessons with one brother, Uncle Jack. And his papa also takes him for maths on another day. They each cover different topics with him. What a privilege that he can learn from two engineers who love maths!
Another brother, Uncle Conrad, has taken no. 1 under his wing to be his assistant in a robotics club which Uncle Conrad runs. It's like an apprenticeship, giving no. 1 exposure to working life. As a reward, no. 1 even gets an allowance! (For no. 1, working with robots is reward enough!) We are thankful because Conrad is a trusted brother and we know he has our son's interests at heart. We certainly value these learning opportunities but we wouldn't be comfortable if he took a part-time job anywhere else.
I also want to acknowledge family like my sis and my mom who are an invaluable help to us where the children's education are concerned! My mom paid for no. 2's piano lessons for which she sat for her grade 5 exam recently. We are thankful for that opportunity to go for lessons. :)
So in our homeschooling journey, the Lord has provided us with brethren and family who join us and walk together with us, and offer a helping hand. We are so THANKFUL!!!
Saving Graces~ Using A Student Centred Curriculum- Accelerated Christian Education (ACE)
ACE is an instructional workbook, self-paced, student-centered curriculum. This is our core curriculum to which we add SG maths and chinese. ACE has been a real blessing to me, a homeschool mom to 6 kids (5 school aged kids), as each child can get schooled without me having to actually teach them. The workbook teaches them. I am there more as a guide and help. And that frees me up to do other things (like cook lunch) or help them individually with SG maths or Chinese.
ACE has also been instrumental in training our children to be self-directed and goal oriented. As such, I don't have to monitor the older ones too much as they know what they want to achieve every day. The younger ones are still learning but they are very clear what their daily workload looks like. (4 pages a day per subject.)
Saving Graces~ Time for PLAY
We are homeschoolers and we refuse to be tied too long to a desk!!! Being freed from homework (there is no such thing as homework for a homeschooler), our time after school is packed with doing their latest hobbies or going downstairs to rollerblade, bicycle or climb a tree. (no. 3 recently found a good climbing tree and is all excited about that. )
The two little boys' latest hobby... making their own stuffies out of socks!
We recently moved house in December and we are now nearer to a swimming complex and also several lovely parks and playgrounds. (It was a tactical move, by God's grace, He helped us!) It has really been a happy change for us to be so near to so many facilities and recreational spaces.
Our eldest has become quite a sports enthusiast with cycling, jogging, rollerblading, swimming on his ever growing list of sport interests. Seriously, he has been borrowing books on jogging techniques (one called Pose Running) and also he has been researching on Youtube for how to-s. He recently attained the level 1 certificate for Sport Climbing too.
Anyway, time to play is certainly a saving grace as it is a time to relax and un-wind from the stresses and strains of the busy school day.
That's no. 3 (10yrs) with his papa. It was only his second climb! This guy is taking to rock climbing like fish to water.
Saving Graces~ Date Night
To keep our marriage relationship strong, 2 years ago, we instituted a Date Night once a week. It is the children's TV night (they will watch a DVD) and so they are very happy for us to go on our Date Night. haha
My hubby and I look forward to Date Night. We get to have dinner together, find a spot to talk. There are many issues that will crop up over the week and it is always good to hear each other's view on the matter and communicate. I get to unload my day's burdens and hear his direction and guidance. Time spent alone with my husband is really a saving Grace that the Lord has extended to me in order to cope with the demands of the household. Of course, it is a great time for me when I get to shed the "mommy" persona and just be me with my beloved.
What a momentous start to 2014! So many new things are happening in our family and we are happy and excited and thankful for them. Firstly, we have moved house!!! After many years of waiting and praying, the Lord blessed us with a place of our own.
There's No Place like Home
We moved house, (officially on 11 12 13... 11th of Dec 2013) and are now in a 5 room HDB flat. There was a time when I was not happy to be paying so much money for just "a flat", but somehow, I am really happy and contented.... there's no better place to be. I know the Lord wants us to be here because He answered our prayer concerning the house. It had been a long wait but we wanted God's best for our family. Finally, here we are.
The kids were so helpful in the whole moving process. Here they are assembling the Ikea shelving. (Most of our home funiture is from there!) Urgh, I remember the terrible sneezing bout I had for days from cleaning up and living with the renovation dust. Thank God that is over!
We met our church friends on one of our many trips to Ikea. They are moving house too! :)
Our eldest just turned 14 and it is so handy to have a big boy around the house! He has taken over mommy's place, helping with all the lifting and carrying of heavy stuff when we were moving house. He has become papa's right arm. What a blessing!
I had been busy with unpacking, placing things on one shelf, then finding a better spot and moving them over. I was busy trying to make the house look more homely. Out came my sewing machine!
We bought some pretty rose patterned quilt covers from Ikea and turned them into curtains. It saved us some money but mostly, it was a joy to put a personal touch to our nest. Papa does all the hard jobs (power drilling) and mama does all the soft jobs (pretty stuff!)
The top row used to be the pillowcases! lol
Oh yes, the shelf covering was some pretty kitchen cloths from... where else, Ikea.
Our Wifi-less Existence
Yes, took a while to get our wifi connected and we realized that we managed very well without it! In fact, I loved it! I took note of some the things we did *because* we were without wifi. Here's the list.
-Make believe/ play acting
The two middle boys, no. 3 and 4. (especially no. 3 the 10 yr old) are our family's slapstick comedians. They love to act and sometimes they rope in their sisters too. (Big brother does join in the buffoonery too..)
One afternoon, they were acting out Abraham sacrificing Isaac on mt Moriah. (Yes, imagine that.) And they had their 4 yr old mei mei to say at the appropriate time (in her most judicious, thunderous voice), "Behold, the Ram!"
-Talking more, communicating with each other.
You know, we really do feel for the families we see at food courts, every member of the family seated at the table from oldest to the pre-schooler, all immersed in their own gadgets. We just had a very good church camp in December and the theme of the camp was about time. we only have such few precious years with our children to train them for the Lord. Every mealtime is a wonderful time to talk and grow them for Him!
No wifi = more communication and face time! REAL face time! haha
-Enjoying Silly Antics
Oh yes, we had so much fun laughing at no. 3's jokes. He has such a knack for picking up accents and he can do it so naturally. One day, when he is less camera shy, we will get a video of him doing his jokes. Since one of no. 1's goals is to make videos, I believe this will be in the pipeline soon!
(What fun, this blog will become more lively, not just me writing but the children will be posting too. :D )
-Getting housework done
And we have a lot of housework to do.
-Picking up new interests
Again, it is the two middle boys who have in during this wifi-less one month, picked up sewing stuffed toys. So wonderful. I started sewing stuffed toys last year. (I even sold two already!) One day, I got down to tackling the sock pile and I found many partnerless socks. I gave them to no. 4 who had been pestering me for socks to make puppets. So now he had a WHOLE BAG of socks. He started snipping and sewing. His older brother joined in. And all of a sudden, we had a whole toy collection. They are very proud that they don't buy toys but make their own. :D I call it the Trickle Down Effect. *Parents, go and get busy with a hobby or something. You will ignite an interest in the kids and you have no telling where it will lead them. :)
The Eaglet and the I Love U pillow made by no. 3 for his papa's birthday that was just past.
No. 4 (8 yrs) made a whale and a Haffalump (from Pooh bear stories). He sewed little black beads for the eyes. So cute. I'm really proud of both of them! These are entirely their own projects, I didn't do anything in the process except praise them at the end. :D
And because they took up the needle and thread, I couldn't help but join in! ;)
These remind me of the cottage we stayed at in Albany, Australia. The landlady made her place so homely by hanging these little stitched hearts all over the cottage. <3
-Sports and swimming
We have moved close to Safra Yishun and it was a strategic move in that we intend for our young homeschoolers to have these wonderful facilities accessible to us. They have been swimming, rollerblading, jogging, cycling. Soon, no. 1 is organizing a rock-climbing level one course too. One more thing to do!
One weekday afternoon (nice and quiet!) swimming at the gorgeous Yishun Safra pool with our other homeschooled friends.
We really enjoy the company of brethren. :)
With that I'll end off this post. Unfortunately, wifi is up and running again but I wanted to record our happy wifi-less days. Hopefully we won't let wifi get the better of our time again. And hopefully I'll find some time to blog about what the kids are doing academically this year. Soon.
Happy CNY, folks! I'll be busy baking. Busy but happy. God bless you all :D
As the title this post goes, we made it past the benchmark this second time around! No. 1 was so relieved (as were we, his parents) he told the MOE officer "thank God!!" to which the MOE officer replied smiling "yes, thank God." (How many of us have mentioned our relationship with God to a government official we have only just met? :) Proud of him!)
So, to bring us back to the start of this year, I had decided that we were not going to waste his secondary 1 year doing primary six stuff. We had already done one and a half years of PSLE prep (2011- 2012) and we sure was burnt out from trying. I felt no. 1 was already more or less there and......I have a secret belief that our PSLE is more suitable for 13 year olds (more mature) and just by growing one year, they will be more ready to tackle PSLE type questions.
So, we spent January to June this year doing high school level PACEs (ACE) and we got back on our Christian curriculum (a breath of fresh air!) Life of Christ, Science (general Science, that is), Geography, Literature... All written from a Christian, Biblical perspective. How wonderful!
For MATHS, however, we went with local maths, focussing especially on Algebra. Algebra is a good tool to tackling all those PSLE problem sums, yet, it is hardly covered (just one chapter) in the primary six textbooks. He enjoys Algebra and maths very much!
CHINESE was the only subject he revised all through the year. But our beijing lao shi (teacher) noted that he wasn't really improving, despite working very hard. I think it's my genes. I am really really bad at Chinese too. :p
We only restarted our PSLE gears turning after we returned from our family holiday in Perth in June. To be honest, that caused some anxiety because we realized that there were still some things no. 1 wasn't confident at doing- especially Maths paper 2 (problem sums). I remember, even right up to the last weekend before the start of the exam proper, he was fretting and I was doing my motivational pep talk. (Moms, you know those, right? ;) )
I told him, son, just try not to "de-prove" for Chinese, and I'm pretty sure, the other three subjects will show and improvement- we'll be able to make the benchmark. Last year, we passed the PSLE but missed the benchmark by just a little. So an overall improvement, with Chinese maintaining at 'C' should see us passing the benchmark. Thank God, indeed, he got a C for Chinese again. Who knew, this year's benchmark jumped UP by 10 aggregate points!!! Thank God no. 1 still managed to clear it. Phew.
For the definition of "Benchmark" see end of post. :)
Maths Problem Sums Rescue effort: At the last minute, I found a really helpful assessment book for Maths problem sums. It's called Process Skills in Problem Solving, published by FAN-Math, available at Popular bookshop. There's a green cartoon alien in a spaceship on the cover. lol. It covers the Model approach and Heuritistic approach systematically and I really like the exercise questions that enable the student (and me) to practice that question type over and over. SO that book really helped ME get a handle on PSLE maths. Too bad I found it so late. Ah well. Now I'm more prepared to help the younger children. :)
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure they moderated the maths grades UP this year as it was an easy paper. I already had my doubts when he came out of this year's maths exam saying it was easy and he could answer most of the questions. Same account with others who took the paper as well. I was sure the ministry will be moderating the marks!! no. 1 managed a B, though I believe by his marks, he was probably better than that.
For Science, it was a long, hard slog to the A he got. We had no help (chose not to send him for tuition), and so, we figured how to answer the science questions the way they want it answered by doing school exam papers, and looking at their answer keys after. It's a really befuddling and often frustrating process but in the end (after about 2 years of working at it), we *may* have figured some things out. :p
As for English, most homeschoolers have no problem with English. :) No. 1 says his english grade improved probably because his composition has improved. We don't do much composition writing at home, actually. It's something I need to get them to do more of. Oh the irony.... I'm an English lit and lang major. haha.
Well, that's our story for this year. Your child's PSLE journey will be different. But it'll be good to keep our eyes focussed on the big picture, keeping the priorities right.
___________________________________________
What is the Benchmark?
In Singapore, it is the law for our children to attend primary school under the Compulsory Education Act. In order to homeschool, we need to seek permission from the ministry of Education (MOE) to be exempted from this Act. However, our homeschoolers will need to sit for the PSLE the year they turn 12.
For Singaporean homeschoolers, there are two critical aggregate scores we need to clear. One is the benchmark which is set at the lower 33rd percentile of that year's cohort scoring. Failing to meet the benchmark will see the homeschooler re-sit the exam in the following year/s until he or she passes the benchmark OR turns 15 yrs of age, which ever comes first.
The other critical score would be the fail aggregate. (I don't even know what that score is...) If the homeschooler outright fails the PSLE, the MOE will revoke the permission to homeschool and the child will be placed in a public school to prepare for the PSLE.
Thanks Melanie! I hope the toys I made did your patterns some justice! ;)
Sometimes, things have a way of happening, and without knowing it, it was a special memory in the making.
We are a homeschooling family, so the public library is a really fantastic resource for us. Just a few weeks ago, as we were about to check out our books, I spied an interesting looking book on the "New Books" shelf: Sewn Toy Tales by Melanie Hurlston. Gave a flip through, didn't think too much about it and borrowed it.
When the children and I had a proper look through back home, the children and I thought it would be interesting to try making one. When I said I was game to try making a toy (I have never made stuffed toys before and I didn't know if it would be successful) all my children started choosing which design they wanted! Worse, they began naming their special toy.. and you know when a kid does that, you just got yourself into a promise you can't back out of. ;P
If you follow this blog, you will know I'm a Learner, and I want to impart that love for learning to my dear children too. I started learning to sew around 3 years ago when my fifth baby girl was about 1 years old. See the little pinafore I made here. Baby no. 6 can wear it now! :) And from there, I went on to skirts, culottes, dresses because I want my girls to dress modestly and it's really hard to find modest clothes these days.
So, from sewing clothes, march 2013, I took the plunge with stuffed toys. :)
From all my sewing projects, I have accumulated quite a sizeable cloth stash. It was wonderful that I could use these (some are scrappy cloths). The children had a really fun time choosing which cloth combination they wanted for their toy. It was a very "by the way" art lesson. I think they didn't even think they were doing any thing "schoolish" but I had the chance to guide them and show them some finer points of design and stuff like that.
I'm glad I started with the Triceratops! The frills were tricky, and sewing the toy into a "bag" was tricky but I'm glad they turned out ok! Turns out, the dinos were the easiest of the animals my children picked. Actually only one child wanted the Triceratops but since I was cutting cloth, I decided to cut cloth for two toys.(Yes, that's why there are 7 toys in total!)
Meet Trixie and Derrick!
Trixie: The Close Up.
Next came the Giraffes! For my two sweetie little girls. The all pink loving no. 5 (4 yrs old) decided to go with the pink cloth, the moment I showed it to her. (For no. 5, I shortlisted the choices for her. ;) )
I happen to have matching scrap cloth that's the blue version of the pink cloth so that was the natural choice for the sister giraffe.
These sister Giraffes are Sally and Sarah. :)
no. 1 son loves Cordouroy, like me! So he choose lots of Cordouroy for his toy. Honestly, I was surprised that my no. 1 (now the macho 13 year old who is totally in to cycling now) even wanted a toy. haha. Turns out it's more for sentimental reasons: he wanted to receive something that mama made specially for him. Awww....
my no. 4 (7 yrs old, pictured below) said something similar to that effect too. He said that mama always sews for the girls. The toy will be the first thing I sew for him. He absolutely loves his mouse and has been thanking me profusely for making it . Awwww.....
Three sets of mousey arms and feet. (Mice that have long arms and short feet. yeah.)
Yes, as I was sewing the arms and legs, no. 4 was sitting by me, watching. He began singing a Character First! song that he had learned about Thoroughness which has a line that goes "pay attention to the details, details." Looks like he was thinking about that lesson when he saw me working. :)
I have learned this from my many cake decorating adventures (and many times, mis-adventures, heehee) that baking the cakes can be rather dreary but putting the whole project together and seeing it take shape and when the final product is out.....oh it really gives me a rush. :) A happy sense of accomplishment.
So it is the same with making the toys. The cutting of cloth is painful and tedious. Sewing many arms, legs, hooves, ears, whatever body part.... it can be quite tedious.
But when it's the time to start assembling them together and it starts to look so nice, it's totally exciting! :)
Tummys with arms and legs.
The Three Mouses! "It", Andy (no. 4's all natural coloured mouse) and Angelina. Aren't their noses too cute?
And the whole funny farm together!
The friends on Facebook love how the toys turned out and I have received many requests to make more to sell. haha...I am absolutely happy that they have been so well received and I know I am sitting on a lot of undeserved good will from kind folks out there. We have as a family been looking out for home business opportunities but this toy "potential" business is really quite time consuming. My first priority is still to the children. We are looking for things we can do that can be a blessing to folks but also be able to fit our homeschool schedule, not take too much time away.
However, after talking to dear hubby, we decided that the toys might be possible during the off peak periods of our school cycle. Yaay! I am thinking of setting up another FB page to put up stuff that we make to sell, as and when we make them. If people were to be so kind as to buy them, just know that all proceeds go into funding our homeschool endeavours. (A child's piano lesson, a new pair of shoes, a new set of school books,... )
Here they are with their respective owners! <3
Lots of love from mama to her precious arrows.
I had to include this pic too. Baby and her two cutie little teeth!
The family is all gathered in the room for family night devotion.
It is a time of togetherness around God's word and we have such a wonderful time.
The activities and conversations ebb and flow but the mainstay is when papa opens the Bible and teaches us God's word.
Last night, I was just enjoying the love and laughter all around me and I just had to think, this must be a slice of heaven on earth. :)
8 pm, we opened our Majesty Hymnals (we each have one) and we took turns to choose a hymn each. We sang about Heaven, we sang about this sweet walk with Jesus. It is such a joy that the children can break into parts (some sight read the hymnal, some by ear) so that even when we don't have instrumental accompaniment, we can enjoy singing acapella. I pray God enjoys our singing too! :)
We will spend sometime talking about the song we just sang. Tonight, the conversation drifted to how God created the earth so marvelously. We talked about why the earth axis has a tilt to bring about the seasons. How giant Jupiter is out there protecting the earth from meteorite hits. When we think of all these being intentionally brought about by an all powerful God, how small and finite we become and how thankful and privileged we are to know Him and to call Him our Father!
Then the children requested a game of "Sword Drill". The bible is the Sword (as mentioned as part of the armour of God in Ephesians). So the game is to see who can can flip to a called out verse the fastest. This way our children familiarize themselves with their sword and it's really fun. Haha! It's a game we play in church.
However, no. 4 is an early reader and he cannot flip and find the verse as fast as his older siblings. No.2 suggests that he gets a 10 second head start. And they count slowly. :) no. 1 also tries to help him by giving clues. They all patiently encourage him as they know he is easily discouraged when he doesn't win at least once. :) In the end, we just had to encourage him to keep practicing and one day, he will be faster too.
Amid all the chatter and laughter, baby (7mths old) is crawling around and she finds her way to me for a little suckle and she falls asleep. It's noisy but she is all tuckered out.
We open our bibles to 2nd Corinthians and chapter 9. We have been reading through the New Testament and delving into it, gleaning many practical truths. It has been such a joy to read the bible together, re-enforcing what they already know, learning new things we have missed.. It is important that they know that what they are commanded to do (love your enemies, be patient, show kindness etc) comes from the bible and not just "papa said so".
Tonight, we talked about sowing and reaping and giving to God. What a reminder to us to be trusting in God to provide for our needs even as we give to provide for other's needs and the work of the ministry.
"But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:" (2 Corinthians 9:6-8 KJV)
We do not give to get rich or get a promotion in our jobs. We give because we are but stewards of God's things and like the master to the faithful servant, God will see fit to entrust more to the servant who can correctly dispose or redistribute His things.
We pray that the children will learn this young. More so, because they have witnessed how God has always provided for us even when we provide for others, truths come alive in practical living. Talking to them about answered prayer shows them God is real as much as we are real to them.
We end with a word of prayer, remembering those who are sick, those who need The Lord.
Everyone gives mama and papa a kiss goodnight and they are off to bed.
I picture in years to come, when my children are all grown with children of their own, how one day they will sit around a table and reminisce about the times when they were children and they sang together at home and had bible time with papa and mama. We have good memories in the making and I am so thankful to God for that.
Another day of great joy for us! Our second born, the eldest girl (11yrs) was baptised today!
I still need to pinch myself sometimes. I can't believe this young lady standing before me is my little girl!! She is truly blossoming as a beautiful young lady who has a sweet spirit and a love for godly things. Surely it is by the grace of God because I can only think of how I should have done better to be a better mother to her. I'm not being pious.
We encouraged her to serve The Lord in whatever capacity she can now and in time, God will give her bigger things to do.
For independent baptists, we believe in believer's baptism, by water immersion. (No infants and no sprinkling)
As such, we have the candidates to say their testimony of how they got saved and the church, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, will vote to accept (or reject) the testimony and thereby joyfully add a new member into the church through baptism.
Here is our no. 2's salvation testimony. For His mercy and grace to save our dear child, to God be all glory! We are so thankful for this day!!!
*glad tears of joy*
---------------------------------
I was born in a Christian homeschooling family and have been taught about God since young.
8 years old:
On an ordinary night, when I was 8 yrs old, my family was having bible time. My father was talking about where we would be going when we die. He said that if we were not saved, we would be going to hell. That really struck me a lot as I was really scared about going to hell!!! This is because I knew I had sin. One of my sins that I can remember was telling lies. I told lies because I didn't want to be punished. And for that I got more punishment. I knew that for my sin I would not be able to go to heaven because my sins were against God who lives in heaven.
That night, my father also said something that comforted me! He said all I needed to do to be saved was to ask God for forgiveness for my sins and believing that Jesus has already died to pay for our sins.
One of the verses that I remembered my father read was 1john 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness."
9 years old:
The part of 'asking for forgiveness' sounded very simple to me. But yet I still didn't really understand the part of 'believing'. It was one year later when I was 9 years old that I understood what believing was. Believing is having faith and trust in the invisible God. The bible says that God is invisible in 1Timothy 1:17 'Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever'.
And Hebrews 11:1 says 'Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.'
At 9 years old, I believed the invisible God and I prayed together with my father to receive Jesus' gift of salvation.
10 years old (last year)
Sometime last year when I was 10 years old, I wasn't sure of my salvation because of my impatience with somethings and my siblings. That made me think back to my salvation experience at 9 years old and I wondered if I were saved. So, one evening, I prayed by myself in my bedroom and asked God to come into my heart once again and I asked God to help me to be more patient. I am now more patient with things and my siblings.
Baptism:
Last year after Dr Terri Coomer came to Singapore and MBC to speak and challenge young people, my father encouraged me to be baptised. I understand that baptism is the first steps of obedience to God and that it is one's public testimony to identify with Christ.
I want to be baptised because I want to serve and please God by serving in the orchestra and other church ministries. I also want to be an encouragement not only to the young ones but also to the older ones: to be saved, to be baptised and also stand for Christ.
Tonight, we just completed a haircut session. I've been having the joy of doing the boys' haircuts for about a year or so now.
So sad for our Malay barber. We were his regular customers for years and years. He knew the boys' names by heart.
But I just decided that I:
1) wanted to learn a new skill
2) wanted to do something for my boys
3) wanted to save some money
1) learning a new skill. You see, all my working peers are off doing masters degrees and doing professional development courses and all that. Since mothering *is* my career, I need to improve my skill set too. Not that I need I do this to stay employable though. This job is mine for life! Heehee
2) doing something for my boys. My boys always complained that I'm always sewing for the girls and I don't sew anything for them. I explain that it is not easy to find modest clothing for girls whereas it is not hard to find modest clothes for boys. Hence I have to sew skirts and dresses for the girls. (On the aside, are there immodest clothing for men? Yes. Cycling attire. Seriously.)
So, cutting hair for my boys is my way of doing something special for them too. And I love it! Running my fingers through their hair makes me feel happy.
3) wanting to save some money. Well, I do suppose we have saved a bit but we probably spent more than what we saved on.... Food! :p...
We went to Mustafah to buy the clippers more than a year ago. They have like a kazillion to choose from. So after staring hard for 10 minutes, I asked the sales person about a light weight looking one. He told me, dead panned, "that one is for dog's hair."
Er. Ok.
I remember we bought ours for $60. Which I thought was quite dear, but hubby said that we would have "paid it off" in 2 or 3 hair cycles. And it has lasted this long, so it was a good buy. :)
Who taught me how to cut boy's hair? Some nice folks on YouTube. :) I have very trusting victims, er, customers too.
When I first started, I would warm up by cutting the little boy's hair first and work my way up to hubby. Haha. He always reminded me he needed to face the people at work the next day. But he trusted me anyway! Practice makes perfect. I'm getting much better these days. ;)
Our hair cycles used to be 1 month long when we were visiting our Malay barber. Really wait until so long, cannot tahan, then go and cut.
These days, it's about 3 weeks because it's mama cutting their hair for them in the toilet!! But when I cut, I cut all four because I can't have staggered hair cycles. Get messy and wash up at one go to minimize hairy mess. Lol
Memories of KL....that's one of my fav pics from our recent family holiday to KL this December. :) my boys look so Kampong.
Hope we are all having a good break and looking forward to the new year. I have no idea how we are going to pull off next year's schedule for the homeschool but I KNOW that come next year end, I WILL be thanking God for His goodness to see us through, despite our insufficiency. God is our all sufficiency! :)
I've got nothing "seasonal" to post about. Nothing Christmassy or New Year-ish. Maybe when inspiration hits, who knows?
But I have been thinking about this thing about "keeping short accounts" with God and, as importantly, with each other.
Hubby and I recently shared with our church folks (those with young children) our bible philosophy and principles and how to's of child training. It has become a burden of ours to be a practical help to strengthen families around us. If we can be used of The Lord in this way, we would be so glad!
During the sharing session, we touched on this thing about asking for forgiveness from each other. Sadly, we know that this is not consistently practiced by many families.
We are all sinners and in the flesh, we will offend each other. We may have disagreements with our spouses, or maybe we made a wrong judgement call on the discipline of a child. Among the children through the course of the day, they will infringe on each other's "space".
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8, 9 KJV)
We will sin and offend God and each other. We break the good relationship and fellowship because of sin. God's way for his children is to admit, confess our faults and ask for forgiveness.
This is the way to repair the broken fellowship.
Do it quickly: That is keeping short accounts. It is good to settle disagreements or faults so that anger and bitterness has no chance to take root and we can be happy and free.
We ought to not only practice this ourselves but we ought to teach our children to practice it too. When siblings fight, we make it a point for them to make up and reconcile with each other. We do not believe in "sweeping it under rug".
I know, it seems unnecessary sometimes. Sometimes, the one who was offended doesn't seem to mind the offense. It's easy at that point to just ignore the whole matter and carry on with whatever we were doing.
But no, we go through the action of getting the offending child to seek forgiveness from his or her sibling anyway. It brings closure for both parties.
Make right, move on. This makes for strong family relationships. :)
Like most homeschool parents of young kids I've observed, I used to be very confident of how our homeschoolers will fare for the PSLE exam. Like, what's the problem, right? It's *only* primary school stuff. And homeschoolers statistically do better than average compared to school going peers, so American research shows.
Homeschoolers receive a highly tailored education that take into consideration their strengths, weaknesses and special abilities, so why shouldn't they do well for PSLE? Or so I used to think....
And so I communicated to my children along that vein. Our main curriculum is ACE but we do keep up with Singapore math and Chinese through the years. July of my son's p5 year, we left our ACE behind to completely concentrate on learning the PSLE material and practice exam techniques (how to answer the way they want.) At that point, his marks averaged in the 60s.
However, I started to take a second look in the earlier part of this year. I started to "re-calibrate" my expectations when I saw the odds stacking up against my son.
1) he was our first PSLE taker in the family (I shouldn't say guinea pig). Me, his main trainer, was still navigating her way through the system, much less him!
2) we are outside of the system and it is certainly not easy to crack the system on your own.
The PSLE is such that despite having worked on a topic for a while, there is no sense of having a good firm grasp of the content and application (especially maths) because they keep asking what I call "curve ball" questions. We did get some help from his 14 yr old homeschooled cousin who is a Singapore maths expert, and a good teacher!
3) Me, his main trainer, by the second half of the year would be needing to care for a new born, and I can't neglect the other children's needs as well.
I talked to other homeschool moms who despite having put in good effort, their children didn't make it through the benchmark either. I asked them what was the cause of it, how did they feel and what should my thought sand attitudes be.
One mom said in the gentlest voice, "Don't worry, if you are planning to continue homeschooling, it's only the PSLE." This coming from a mom whose son sat and re-sat the exam three times and still did not manage to clear the benchmark! (I can testify they really did put in effort. But in the third year, they moved on with the secondary school work instead of spend time preparing for the PSLE.)
Not to belittle the national exam or anything, we just need to put it in perspective. Ten years from now, who would care how our children fared for their PSLE? This mom's son is presently happily pursuing an IB in an international school. He enjoys the project work and the PSLE has no bearing on his progress!
After hearing her experience, (and the son's as well) I began to think, if my son doesn't make the benchmark, I don't want it to be a dent in his esteem. (As a preacher I know would say, a negative defining moment.) I don't want him to have an exam phobia which will cost him when the real big and important exams come up in future! I want him to face those exams with confidence!
It is really how we frame the situation and how we point our children to God and help them navigate the way, isn't it? It is how we "pitch it" to them, guide their thinking. Looking back, I know it was God who guided in this, because if I was to continue expecting good marks from my son, it would only have meant needless stress, pressure and tension, disappointment and maybe bitterness!
So I sat him down and slowly explained to him the way things looked at that point. I made it clear to him that although the odds were stacking against him, I was not going to go easy on standards but we would expect him to try his best and give it his best shot with a good attitude.
I told him his best is his best already, he can't do any better. He would be able to say with a clear conscience before God that he has done his best effort and he has no regrets.
He told me that he wanted to do well and clear the benchmark at least. But I am glad that he set aside his personal ambitions to embrace what God has for us as a family. He wasn't angry and bitter that baby sister had to come at the "wrong" time. On the contrary, she was her stress relief and he loves her to bits!
Was I wrecked with self doubt and wondering if I was hindering his progress by withholding tuition? Yes!
So folks out there must really be scratching their heads, pulling their hair wondering WHY didn't we just PAY tutors for him so he can pass the exam?
After all this is the path many homeschoolers take?
Sticking to principles and not caving in to pressure.
There are a variety of reasons why families choose to homeschool. For us, we desire to have the Bible as the core curriculum and the Christian way of life to be our family standard. Homeschooling enables my family to move in the same direction. If the children all went to school, my family would literally be pulled in all directions, each having their own life, things to occupy themselves with, their own set of friends, etc. This is not how family is for us nor do we believe this God's will for family or raising the children! Not that we are against any of those things, but in proper moderation.
So we guard such decisions which see a child potentially spending a lot of time away from us very seriously. Even computer time is subject to scrutiny. Finding a nanny for new baby no. 6 so I can be freed up? Sorry, out of the question too. We move together, baby included.
I was already not happy that we left off our Christian curriculum which teaches our children from a Christian world view, to using completely Singapore stuff. (we did continue with family bible time in the morning and night, though.) But please don't think we are raising Christian jihadists either. Haha
I know some may not understand and think we are selfish parents. It's ok. Most likely, we have different goals.
We value our children's character and walk with the Lord more highly than doing well for PSLE.
We are setting our sights much further than PSLE (we are aiming for successful adults who are independent and grounded in their faith in God) and we are not willing to sacrifice family and what God has for us, for this (comparatively) small hurdle.
Still, we went ahead and set targets for PSLE and planned how to revise to try to meet those targets. My son was the one who mapped out his schedule and goals. He was in charge of his own revision and I was the one asking him what he was doing that day. By the end of the day, he would have one or two school exam papers for me to mark. We would go through the corrections together, me learning along side him.
There were evenings when his siblings were out playing and he was still at his desk, I had to chase him out to play as well. He needed the fresh air and exercise!
Character wise, no. 1 son has more than passed the test and for that, the whole family and friends as well rejoice! We believe his godly character will be the thing that will be a major lynchpin to success in life. And most importantly, a real and close walk with Jesus.
By the month before the exam, he was scoring 70s and occasionally 80s. His biggest nemesis, Chinese, was still our main headache.
Praise God he managed a C grade for it! Kudos to our beijing lao shi. she really worked very hard. And he managed better than that for his other three subjects!! He didn't make the benchmark, but he is ok! He certainly has nothing to be ashamed of and he stands tall with no regrets! Only by the grace of God, we navigated this PSLE journey and his heart and spirit is still intact, loving God and his family.
From all the encouraging Facebook comments, emails from friends and readers, (thank you all so much for your affirmations!) no. 1 is greatly encouraged and glad that although we don't have any A stars to boast of, God can still have the glory for what He has done in his life.
And he STILL enjoys doing Singapore math!! Compare that with one who has been grilled to death on Singapore math, got that coveted "A Star" and can't wait to run a mile away from it?
:)
Christopher Klicka: Homeschooling: The Right Choice An Academic, Historical, Practical, and Legal Perspective. Written from the American perspective. Klicka builds a solid case for homeschooling. Great for winning over skeptics.
For the Love of the Family Ministries As a pastor for many years I have become greatly concerned and greatly burdened over the number of children who grow up not to serve the Saviour from Christian homes. There seems to be a real lack of practical, spiritual, biblical training going on in this apostate hour. I am also greatly concerned about the number of Christian families that are blowing apart and the tragedy that results from these lives. It is the desire of this ministry to help, encourage, and to provide training and biblical help to families to not lose their children and for parents to know what it means to be godly parents, husbands, and wives. Please feel free to contact us for more information. Contributions and support are appreciated to provide for the work of the ministry.
Dr. Terry Coomer
BABYGEARZ Durable Baby Carriers and Slings with warm climate in mind.
IFBaptist Churches
Maranatha Baptist Church - Baptist
- Fundamental
- Premillennial
- Missionary and
- Independent
my home church! We sing hymns!
Pro-homeschooling Pastor
Macedonia Independent Baptist Church Sound, Bible preaching Independent Fundamental Baptist church, located presently in Choa Chu Kang. Pro-homeschooling pastor
These are beautifully hand-sewn bible covers made by less privileged Christian brethren from a country/ tribe in our region. All proceeds go to them.
Do take a look at their cross stitch work in their beautiful ethnic designs.
The Bible Covers from this album are done by the same brethren as the previous alum. This set of bible covers, more suitable for children, depict scenes from the bible, all beautifully stitched on. Great for gifts as well!
Recent Comments