The ONG family Homeschool

Young mom asks how we keep our kids interested in going to church

Hi Mrs Ong, i have been a silent reader of your blog. There's something i like to ask you, with so many kids, how do you and hub keep them interested in going to church?
Maybe a little bit of myself, i have a 4yr old boy and 9mths baby. Every Sun, it is a struggle to attend church service, coz the 4yr old will cry to say he did not want to go sun sch. And i have so many things to pack for baby, or last min baby want to nap. In the end, most of the sun, we did not go.
Hub and i were not believers from young, so it is also a struggle for us, my hub will grumble his tired or lazy to go. I believe one of the reason also becoz we are not able to find a church which we feel comfortable to stay and we do not koe other bros n sis. The current church we attended to 2yrs, elder boy also cry when go sun sch and 1 of us have to accompany him in the class. So in the end, both hub n me did not listen to the sermon, coz i be in the baby room busy with baby either eatnng or trying to keep her quiet and not disturb other parents. Too stress to listen and too huge logistics just for a church trip, since we take public transport too.
I koe that these are excuses, as parents we are not presenting a godly role model to our kids. Feel like giving up at times. But we koe we owed it to our kids to lead them the way in knowing Jesus.

....... I guess i like to koe how do u strive in motivating your kids to go to church? My hub accepted christ when he was 16, as for me in my early 20s. U koe, my kids does not have much patience n make noises. So we dropped out of CG. We were not able to commit to activities like outdoor spreading of gospel or serving in other areas in the CG. We could not cope, as i do not have a maid..."
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Hi J,
Thanks for writing to me. I appreciate that u are concerned about this and you want to find answers. Your Sunday struggles are not uncommon, I am in your situation like every other year or so with the birth of a new baby! There are many angles to consider in answering your question and I'll take some time in my response. Bear with me! :)

If you don't mind, I would like to post your letter (anonymously) and my reply on the blog to benefit others who might be in the same situation. Is that ok? (She replied it's ok. )

It is in fact a very important topic that you have brought up because I have seen young parents stop going to church when the new additions in the family come along: service time clashes with baby's nap time, service time clashes with child's lunch time, I can't even attend the service when my child comes, etc etc etc.

In my church right now there are 2 dear sisters (young moms) who are in the same shoes as you. They, too, bring lots of barang barang (cook porridge, change of clothes, nappy, toys, pram etc). Some Sundays, it's spending the whole time at church changing diapers, feeding, disciplining, putting on shoes, taking off shoes, persuading the older one (2 yrs old) to go to Sunday school but they want to cling to mama.... Certainly, it's not doing what all the other adults are doing- sitting (sanely) in the worship hall, singing and listening to the sermon. It's enough to ask yourself why you don't save yourself the trouble and just do all those same things at home???

As a guo4 lai2 ren2 (I've been there, done that, maybe still doing that but in a lesser degree as I have more helpers now) I can say, this will soon pass. The older clingy child will outgrow the separation anxiety soon (my eldest was about seven yrs old, yes, he wouldn't let me go till around that age), and the baby will also grow and need less contingencies when it comes to the equipment.

Question is, why do we go to church? Will our church attendance outlive this "troublesome" period when the kids are small?

The bigger question is: how is our love for God? Because that is the order that the Bible states- before we can impart to our children God's laws, we need to first love God.

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deuteronomy 6:5 KJV)
.......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. (Deuteronomy 6:7 KJV)

Our "philosophy" determines the outcomes.
"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.." (Proverbs 23:7 KJV)

Firstly, the most important thing is to be at a good bible believing church. The end times are characterized by churches that have fallen away from the true gospel.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. (2 Timothy 4:3, 4 KJV)

I will say this, Church attendance is important but not as important as having a real relationship with Christ. To walk and talk with Christ, to know you are truly His child, to want to joyfully walk in His ways and obey His commandments.
When one truly understands God's plan of salvation and repents and makes right with God, he will become God's child, he will love the things of God (attending, serving in church, spending time with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, growing in knowledge of the bible, shunning old sinful ways etc)

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

The New Creature loves the things of God! It can't be "worked up". It is intrinsic in the inherent new nature of a saved person.

How do we keep our children's interest in church? Well, for our family, church service on Sunday is the icing on the cake. Our daily lives, Mondays to Fridays, are peppered with bible study, worship, singing as a family, talking about God, talking to God in prayer together, thinking about what the Bible says, trying to put into practice what we learn from the Word of God, fellowship with the brethren.... The families we hang out with are church families and we have wonderful outings together. Saturday afternoons, the whole family will be in church for orchestra practice, prayer meeting and choir. So you see, we can't quite compartmentalise "church" because the Christian life is so much a part of who we are and what we do.
My husband and I didn't grow up in Christian families.. However, having come to our church, Maranatha Baptist Church, we have grown so much in understanding God's will for His children and patterning our lives after His ways.

Blessings

How do you find the Time???

This is a hybrid question to the usual "How do you manage?" question. ;p

A friend on the Facebook page asks:

"Seriously... I've been wanting to ask, where do you find the time for all these + homeschooling + caring for baby?"

 Folks out there know that I've recently given birth to my sixth baby and somehow am still able to bake n decorate a three tier wedding cake. ;)

So... Where do I find the time... let's see...let me try to figure this one out too...

Well, we know that we all have the same 24 hours a day, right? So that's not it, I guess. :p Perhaps it's not so much about finding the time but how we juggle our resposiblities? I'll just try to identify certain factors or guiding principles of life that we live out. We try to live out our faith, be people of the Book. so to  speak. 

As I write, I find all these factors are interrelated, so forgive me if I don't rightly segment the thoughts.

Train the children To be independent. To extend themselves in service
I know why some people really wonder how I manage with 6 children. They don't have children who can "pull their own weight". Such children are constantly asking for attention, asking for help, asking for you to entertain them. More often than not, it was because the parents trained them that way, always jumping in to do things for them, always pulling out new tricks and ways to entertain the kids. The kids come to expect it from their parents.

Having children who can pull their own weight can help to spread out the work load, not everything falling on mommy's shoulders. It frees me up to do other things. ;)

I have this mindset when it comes to training independent children: child, you can find things to do (not turn on the tv!!). Child, you are able to help do this chore. It is a blessing to help!

Seriously, I do not spend every waking hour with my children, nor do I think that is healthy. After school work, my kids keep themselves occupied with the stacks of rough paper and scissors and sticky tape that are at their disposal. And the things they create are such a joy to behold!

Just Yesterday, while i was taking a nap, they came upon a rubber band rope and were happily launching their soft toys and whatnot into the deepest recesses of the room. It's madness and quite a bit of cleaning up and packing thereafter (which we sometimes do not get to doing till after a while..)

Oh yes, I guess it's essential to be comfortable with living with a mess. Not too big, but some mess has to be tolerated. I know some folks are such sticklers about keeping the place neat and tidy that it's just hard to live in that house!

I came across a funny post on FB the other day:
A messy house is a happy house.
This one's DELIRIOUS!

Lol. That's us alright. :p

So, readers of this blog will know my kids do all the household chores. These days, I help them (not them help me!) when I am free from baby. And then the older ones will help me with the baby when I need to cook dinner or decorate a three tier wedding cake, as the case may be!
They can help with everything except changing a poopy diaper!

MOMEE!!! Mei Mei pooped!!!

Not being so hung up on school work and academics
Asian societies, I believe are notorious for this. South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore. We worship education. Spend much time, effort and money to train our children from the earliest age to develop them so they can excel in this religion, the temple of which is school, the peak attainment- a high paying and respectable job.

Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; (Deuteronomy 11:16 KJV)

Becoming educated: having a good working knowledge in maths, science, history etc. is good. It has it's place. But we have determined not to sacrifice our children at the feet of the education god of this world. Life is not going to revolve around the children's classes and exams. It needs to be the other way around. Life is the to be the main classroom. The Bible, the main textbook. And maths, science and all other subjects are studied from a biblical starting point.

As an aside....It's funny how myopic we become, growing up in Singapore. Like when I got praised for having talent in doing cakes, it was somewhat a strange thought to me because we grew up thinking that to excel in maths and science exams was the only praise worthy thing. Woe to you if you are not academically inclined! I mean, seriously, it doesn't mean as much to ace the home econs exams, does it?

But the world needs bakers! The world needs carpenters or car mechanics! I know someone outside of Singapore reading this will be thinking I'm stating the obvious but here in Singapore, it seems all the jobs are heavily White collar biased. And we straight jacket fit our children into that mold, even if that's not their calling.



Being outward looking and look for opportunities to be a blessing to others
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10 KJV)

This is a principle of life hubby and I hold to. We encourage each other to serve. It is a big part of our family's life to be close to church and brethren (fellow believers). And to extend help to others who do not yet know Jesus, we do that too! Love is an action word. But we love, certainly not grudgingly! But because He first loved us.

And then, we have also often been at the receiving end of this from our church brethren who are always so loving and kind to pitch in and help whenever we have need too! I guess it's our church culture. And it's biblical!

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34, 35 KJV)

We firmly believe that if we want to grow children who love the Lord and want to serve Him (one of our parenting goals), we need to be seen doing it too.

The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways. (Proverbs 23:24-26 KJV)



Being diligent and having projects to do

I am the first to admit, I'm a lazy person! But I find energy to do things I love. ;P

Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men. (Proverbs 22:29 KJV)

He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. (Proverbs 10:4 KJV)

In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. (Proverbs 14:23 KJV)

I am coming to love that verse. Indeed, sometimes, when I get off into baking or sewing or something, it is not easy to see any profit coming out of it. Many times, I make mistakes and fail miserably. For me, I just keep trying, just learn from the mistake and grow from it. But the children are watching and internalizing how we handle mistakes and failure, and that is is far greater profit than just eating the cake that was baked!

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That's all for now. There's probably more. I might write a book one day and answer question....properly. ;)

Thank You emails....I'm encouraged!!

hello! One armed bandit typing here! (Other arm filled with cutie lil' milk monster.)

I do get emails from readers of this blog. queries regarding homeschooling, mostly. My pet peeve is when people mistake me for some kind of information kiosk and fail to enquire with courtesy. But thankfully, in all my years of blogging, I have not received even one nasty email or comment post.

On the contrary, I get emails now n then from readers who tell me they are encouraged by my writing and to thank me. I never fail to feel humbled and blessed to think that God can use me in this simple way to be an encouragement to people by sharing the way of life He has shown me and hubby to live. Yes, I am mostly stuck in the home (12 years now..) but through this blog, I can reach and minister to people outside. The blessings of the internet! :)

So I just thought I'd share snippets of some of the recent emails I have received. (Over the years I have received many.) Thank you so much for writing to tell me and I am so encouraged to keep blogging and just simply sharing my journey, how the Lord is leading me and my family. :)

"I am a stay at home mom of 3 kids, aged 4, 5 1/2 and 7. Thank you so much for your sharing. I feel so so encouraged!"

"It's been just so uplifting to hear your experiences with homeschooling in Singapore. Thank God for an wonderful example of a courageous sister in Christ!"

"i came across your blog while researching (again) on the possibility of homeschooling for my older boy (long story).........well, i just want to say thanks for blogging and i will continue to read your blog for inspiration. :)"

And this email really takes the cake. It was written by a young lady and it brought tears to my eyes....

"I dont know you personally, but I have been following your blog since i was 19 ( 2009) and i just want to say a big thank you to you.
Your blog or rather your life has been a great inspiration to me and i dare say some of my foundational values and mindsets. ........

so, aunty suwei, i just want to let you know, that you have a faithful reader of your blog, and young online friend that is so impacted and inspired by your life testimony, your stories and ultimately you and your husband love and fear for the Lord. I admire your courage, your determination to obey our Heavenly Father to homeschool your kids. and your blog has played a huge role in helping me with the many convictions in life, and obviously, one of it being homeschooling. "

A young life impacted for the Lord! For even one who will be turned to the Lord and His Word, it is worth it all....

Have a blessed weekend, folks!

Letters from Readers: Homeschooling beyond PSLE, feelings of inadequacy, and are some children more disposed to the homeschooling setting than others?

Wow... I've all too quickly come to the last week of my second trimester! I shall miss you, second trimester.... First trimester is always about hormonal adjustments, third trimester is plain heavy, hot and achey. The backache already started a little last night after spending time in the kitchen cooking dinner, and that reminded me: third trimester is here.... horrors....

 Well, since the first 6 months have zipped by so quickly, I do earnestly pray that the last three will zoom by as quickly. :))

Funny thing, our Beijing chinese lao shi asked me the other day why I was sprouting so many pimples. I said must be all the chilli I've been eating. I bought a bag of chilli padi and have been eating it with my lunches. Then she said the Chinese have a saying that with boy pregnancies mothers like to eat sour and with girl pregnancies- spicy hot! haha... they were right (in this case.)

 

So anyway, lately, I've been getting several emails from folks who want to find out more about homeschooling, or they just want to talk to someone who is homeschooling. I'm publishing one such exchange (with permission from the asker) for other's benefit. This asker and her husband are praying for the Lord's will concerning their children who haven't gone to primary 1 yet. Maybe there are other folks out there who have similar questions and doubts. These answers from me are, of course, purely my opinion and are based on my experience thus far, so take it or leave it. :) But I do hope it will be helpful to you, dear reader.

 And thank you for writing me, J! :D

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 First, what are your thoughts on higher education? We were just thinking if we homeschool through primary school, what's going to happen after that? Unlike the US where there are plenty of options and more people homeschooling, I'm not sure about our local scene. Can we homeschool through secondary level? But that would be like 9 subjects, and I don't think we can handle that (horrifying thought!) Or what happens after that? Polytechnic probably? Is JC still an option? I do recognize that God makes every child different with different gifts, but I would like to know more about the options available.

 

Ans 1)  With homeschooling, the options for secondary school and beyond are wide open. Yes, JC is still in the cards for a homeschooler, poly too...... In fact, you don't have to think of how you are going to teach 9 subjects like the schools do. Your child doesn't need an O levels to enter university. (That's why the "through train" students in some schools skip O levels altogether and go straight to A levels in 6 years.)

You could use the homeschool curriculum certification and perhaps add an SAT or some other recognized certificate to apply for the institution of higher learning of your choice. For instance, there are ACE students in Singapore who have been admitted to certain faculties in NTU and the polys. And not just ACE of course. (I personally know such young ex-homeschoolers, btw.)

This is my take:
The beauty of homeschooling through the pre-college years is that you get to draw out the path together with your child, with God's guidance. Indeed, it is not a cookie cutter path that is predetermined by the school which just kinda pushes you on to the next level and the next, but it is a highly individualized, tailor-made education with an end goal in mind.

What I'm saying is that, for us as homeschooling parents who love our children and are so in tune with our children's talents, strengths and weaknesses, pray for God's will for the child's life work, and then chart out an education path to get them to that goal.

Like if you know your child is inclined to maths and engineering, you would want to help your child get all the prerequisite certification in order for him or her to enter in a course to get the relevant degree.

Sure, it sounds "if-fy". It is hard to know from the start what the child is inclined to do, or God's specific will. This is faith and trust and holding God's hand through the journey of growing the child God has given you. It is a way of choosing your child's education with God's will in the centre of it. Not just going with the tide of society and economic needs, or even what stream or class your child lands up in in Secondary School!!

Then there are also the arguments for homeschooling your child through the teen years. The teen years are the best years to really bring to fruition all the training you have been doing in the childhood years. Letting them go to be trained by peers and other folks who do not share your convictions is really such a waste of effort when you could be using the teen years to really dig deeper and bring out the best of character training.

For us, we are sharpening our arrows for the Masters use, where-ever that may be!

 

 

Second, do you struggle with feelings of inadequacy? I must confess I am not as patient as I ought to be :( And I find myself shouting at my children at times, and have to seek forgiveness. I get tired quite easily too, and at times wish that I could accomplish more. I suppose homeschooling parents would have to actively seek out opportunities for their children to make friends, or join some external activities or some field trips. Will that be overwhelming, on top of academia and the normal running of the house?

 

Ans 2) Do I struggle with feelings of inadequacy? lol, constantly! (just read a couple of posts down and you will see, I mention it ALL the time.) Yes, I loose my temper too often and yes, I do have to ask my children for forgiveness. Nobody steps into this parenting job with all the answers and with a perfect record. I take it as myself learning together with my children at the feet of Jesus. I am learning about my sinful self and how I do need my Saviour to cleanse me and help me parent, not in the flesh, but depending on the Holy Spirit.

Field Trips and seeking out friends... yes, we do that. Mostly it is the ready community of brethren at church that our children play with. And then, there is quite a sizeable and active community of homeschoolers in Singapore and there's so much going on with these folks. Parent initiated activities, learning groups, Science days, geography days, history days, Sport's Day, museum trips, Open houses, etc etc....

As homeschoolers, we have the flexibility to work our daily schedules around field trips. Call a holiday when it's a birthday or something. :) It's only overwhelming if you are trying to accomplish too much. But if you can let the school work rest for a day, catch up on another day, it is really meaningful for the children to learn outside of the desk and books.

 

Third, I have heard of stories where homeschooled children grow up, not appreciating the parents' decision to homeschool them :(  That would be very sad. Have you encountered this, or what do you think could have caused this to happen? I have heard someone said before that children with certain characters are not very suitable to be homeschooled. For instance, children who are very outgoing, sociable, and love to make friends may find it stifling to be at home mostly (unless the family has many children). Do you think this is true?

 

Ans 3) Yes, I have heard of these accounts as well. Why not ask how many children who are sent to school end up rebelling against, ostracizing and disrespecting their parents? :)
 
Bottom line is, homeschooling can be seen as merely a vehicle of transferring family culture to the next generation, the academic part being a "by-the-way" thing.  Parents can be successful or unsuccessful in doing that.

For us, it is the biblical injuction to train up our children in the way they should go: according to the Bible, this responsibility is given primarily to the parents. So that's why we do it with confidence.

Having said that, I do recognize that not all families are suitable to take the homeschooling path. I've come across many parents who think homeschooling is a great idea but who are at the same time fearful, and not confident, (and are content to stay that way). And then there are some kids who need to be exposed to social interaction situations so they know how to respond (like kids who are autistic.) Pulling a child out of school, when the child has become very happy with being surrounded by peers day in and day out, might be one of the difficulties parents may face, But by and large, I believe the success of homeschooling rises and falls on the parents, not the temperament of the child.

There is an excellent book about this subject matter by Michael Pearl, it's called Jumping Ship. (See right hand column of the blog, it's there.) His observation is that parental hypocracy is the biggest reason why Christian homeschooling families do not produce offspring who keep the faith.

To buy Jumping Ship (and lots of other excellent Christian parenting and homeschooling books) in Singapore, please go to beiandkai.com

Blessings!

Suwei

These crazy, hectic, happy days

Ecclesiastes 9:10  Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

All too quickly we have reached the end of January. The time is really flying by because the days are so filled to the brim with activity. Activity or no, I do find time to zzzz in the middle of the day. lol

I found myself musing to my hubby one evening about our school time. You know, it's not that they each demand attention constantly. But five children each needing a little attention really makes it quite a non-stop kind of morning. I'm monitoring working done, answering questions, listening to someone reading, helping with P6 maths questions, speaking in Chinese, speaking in English, this (tying lil girl's hair into two pony tails), that (going to hang the laundry with my little helpers), everything else in between... It's really crazy at times, like when I have three or four children talking to me or some other at the same time. I had to scream "QUIET!!!!!!!!" if not I would have gone mad.

But you know, at the end of the day, I feel so accomplished that we have worked hard and done many things good. I always remember that God created work for Adam even before the fall in the garden of Eden because God knows that work makes Man happy and fulfilled. Notice how people who are not empoyed in a meaningful task from day to day become cranky, disheartened, grumpy, sick etc. etc. 

And I rejoice at the energy and ability to be up and about and doing things with the ones I love. I have ever spent weeks lying on the bed, sick, and that has taught me to cherish good health and the ability to serve my family. Really. So even if it gets crazily busy, I'm thankful.

Preparing for PSLE

Yes, no. 1 is preparing for PSLE. We are still at the revising the content stage for Science. Lo and behold, we come to the topic of human s-xual reproduction. Wow. I learned that in sec 3 for biology. Our kids need to know this at primary 6?

You know, I do regret that we have had to put our Christian curriculum on hold for more than six months now in order to prepare for the PSLE. But, there's nothing stopping me from injecting God's word and a biblical worldview into what my son is learning with his PSLE stuff.

It's not so hard talking about s-x with my 12 year old when armed with God's word. It's really not. :) I had the joy of telling him that God intended for s-x to be the most intense and beautiful feeling that is shared between a man and a woman, only to be experienced within the context of marriage, one man, one woman for life. It was Satan who corrupted it and debased what was intended to be holy and sanctified by God. 

It was so good to be the one to talk to my son that morning about this topic through testing him his PSLE science! :) (Hubby talks to him too.)

We are struggling with Chinese but we have not thrown in the towel. :)

Maths, he quite enjoys. I have prepared so many exam questions and past year papers... I have no idea if we will get through even three quarters of the stack. Urgh.

English, I am glad to say, we are going to officially start working on Composition writing this week. :D

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No. 2 is keeping up with the usual ACE and singapore math, Chinese quota.

No. 3 as well.

No. 4 is becoming a more proficient reader with the help of ACE.

No. 5 is enjoying picture books, iPad, and scribbling. And being distracting. :)

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Meeting up with blog friends from across the globe!

I posted this on the Facebook site recently:

Been so blessed by the friends I've made through this humble lil' blog! Really, I have been soooo blessed. If I were to count my blessings, I'm sure I couldn't stop. Thank You Lord for showering Your blessings to me and my family through these dear folks. ♥

 

 Chinese New Year brings so many of our people (Singaporeans) back from far flung corners of the world where they have chosen to reside... the number of people on this tiny little island swells in these festive months, what with their kids in tow....

My family and I had such a wonderful time meeting up with this dear blog friend and catching up with her lovely children. She speaks Mandarin to them even though they live in an English speaking country and both the parents are fluent English speakers. I was so impressed that the little one's vocubulary was so wide! It really spurred me to speak more to my children. (But my vocabulary is very very limited. :p )

I also received a bottle honey among other stuff all the way from NZ from another blog friend who is back for CNY.

I really felt to blessed.

January birthdays Part 2

My girl turns TEN!!! wow... where did the years fly???

So wonderful to see her grow and develop and especially being her mama to guide her into young womanhood. Sigh. <3

She is very different from her kor kor. (They are ALL different and unique, actually...) It affects the way we parent her and communicate with her. She has been such a blessing, especially her diligence and her caring for her little sister. And of course, just for being her, she is a blessing already. :)

Chinese New Year!!

The lil ones were so cute. They went digging around their toys to find all the animals of the Chinese zodiac. (Disclaimer: we do not believe our fates are governed by the stars but the kids know the zodiac as a matter of cultural knowledge.)

They managed to find just every animal but they had to substitute the Dragon with a Stagosaurus. LOL!!!

They are so cute.

Happy New Year and may it be a fruitful one in the Lord! :))

 

 

 

Follow up Post: Peek into Our Grocery Cart

Since I did this post on a Peek into Our Grocery Cart, a reader and friend was kind enough to share with me a lobang to buy fish! :D (She empathized, having many mouths in her family to feed too, that fish can be very dear to buy...) Thank you so much A.! So touched you took the time to care and share!

It's at a wholesaler in Jurong called Song Fish Dealer.  I haven't gone before but I'll take her word for it and will be visiting soon! yay!

She writes:

You may wish to buy salmon from the wholesalers...we get ours from Song Fish. The last time I bought salmon, it cost $18/kg and with 6 to 7 pieces prepacked, it only cost less than $40. They sell a whole lot of other stuff too...including frozen food. Opposite them is Ben Foods, also sell wholesale...they are the ones who bring in Farmland Meat Patties. Only thing is Ben Foods open to public only on Saturdays, starting at 10am. Song Fish opens at 8am I think. If you do go, bring cooler bags or a big styrofoam box filled with ice to store the chilled purchases.

By the way, they do sell fresh batang fish, salmon, pomfret, prawns, squid etc. And they will scale, clean, cut and pack it to your specifications. The downside is, they only accept NETS or cash....

A Pleasant Surprise!

Now, this is something that I certainly never imagined when I started this family and homeschooling blog 3 yrs ago: Many have written to tell me that this blog has been an encouragement to them and for that I am so glad and grateful that God can use this blog! It had only been my purpose to let folks out there know what (Christian) homeschooling in Singapore is like for this family, it never crossed my mind that I might be so blessed in return!

But the Lord is so good! Through this blog, I have come to know dear people and this month, I was even materially blessed by one such reader turned friend!

My dear bloggy friend came across this Little House on the Prairie series and she remembered that we had been reading the book. Indeed, we thoroughly enjoyed it. (And yes, sometimes, through the course of the day, online friends also pop into my head and I often turn these thoughts into prayers for them.) She was so generous to acquire the whole set and send it to us! and.... she's in California!!!

!!!

So you can imagine my great surprise when I returned home from church camp last week to see a box sitting on the table waiting for me? I was close to tears. I ask myself, what did I ever do to have such lovely people shower us with such kindnesses?

Thank you so much!

Oh, and here are the children enjoying their other gifts also from the box....

John 13:34-35  A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

I do not wish for more such gifts, that is not the reason for my posting this, but I just want to thank the Lord for all He has done and blessed us with (material but more so spiritual encouragement). May the Lord richly bless you YW (and all my other blog friends!) as only He can for the love you have shown to us.

Question on our typical homeschool day...

I LOVE getting email from readers! When I receive the "Okay" to go ahead and post, I do publish the QnA for the benefit of other readers. So do write it if you have any questions on homeschooling or (Christian) parenting!  Or just to say a "hi". That's always very nice.

Hi Sue,

........(I'm) curious on yr typical home school day - may I know who prepares breakfast, lunch, dinner and does the groceries which I'm sure is a lot. I have a 4 yr old and 16 month old myself :). And doesn't yr 17 month old keep clambering for yr personal attention all the time? I know at their age they could play around you while doing yr chores but their attention span is short,  they don't stay occupied long.

Best regards,

__________________________________________

thanks for emailing and thanks for reading. May I have your permission to post your question and my answer on the blog anonymously? It is for others' benefit should they have the same thoughts and questions as you.

who prepares breakfast: Typically, no one. They prepare their own. It's usually homebaked bread with ham or jam or peanut butter. Or cereal with milk. Sometimes the eldest who is 10 yrs does his scrambled eggs with cheese. But I try to keep breakfast simple so we can move on with the laundry and start the school day.

Lunch is cooked by my mother which is a blessing coz we're busy with school to bother about lunch. But I imagine that if I had to prepare lunch, it'll be sandwiches or re-heated left overs. I'm not fussy about this but I do love good, yummy food that is nutritious. Maybe in time to come when my children are older and able, they can take turns cooking lunch and dinner! Wheee!!! :D

Dinner I cook or we eat out. Thankfully, in Singapore, eating out is still relatively affordable to do several times a week. At the moment, when we eat at a coffeeshop, we order 4 portions and split among everyone. That's 7 mouths! :) My children cannot finish a whole portion on their own yet. (I'm always amazed when I spy on some other families I see at coffeeshops and they order a whole portion each for their small children. I'm sure there's a lot of food wastage.)

Groceries: Typically, we do groceries on one day of the week. We'll eat dinner out, children will go to the library, I'll go to NTUC. It is usually a whole trolley load. The bill typically comes to (plus/ minus) $110. I do do groceries elsewhere also to save costs like getting frozen food or going to a wholesale place to stock up the freezer. But this is more like once a month.

Distractions (of the baby kind): Babies have their own unique personalities. :) Some seem to what more attention, some less. Some are more clingy, some are perfectly comfortable away from mommy. Happens that no. 5 (17 mths) is quite independent. She has little or no separation anxiety. Which might or might not be a good thing. Depends. haha.

Baby no. 5  does cry for attention sometimes. Like when I want to teach the others, she'd be fussing away. For a while, I used the pacifier to stopper her mouth until I decided that it was not a healthy habit to encourage. Sooooo we bit the bullet and suffered a couple of days and made her go cold turkey. Now she's free from her pacifier dependency. :)

Yes, at this age, they don't stay occupied long. But I guess that is part and parcel of working with a toddler. (As is messy bits of food all over the floor, just accept that it's part of the deal. Sigh.)  Be prepared to be interrupted in anything you're doing living with little people!

Sometimes, I stop what I'm doing to entertain her, give a book, a toy, anything.....well, things that are non-combustible, and won't cause her to loose a finger or poke out an eye...

More often than not, I ask her to wait, be patient, while I finish doing what I'm doing.

It is hard to understand how the other children can learn with such distractions going on. But they do! It challenges our understanding of what a "conducive" learning environment is, because our own preconceived notions of that is, naturally, a "classroom" setting. Homeschooling families have been doing that through the ages and have produced some of the brightest minds history has known. I'm sure their mommies had to change a diaper while the older ones continued with their school work. ;)

Please also read this post from 3 years ago about managing distractions. And thoughts about food here.

Not sure if that answered your question but I do hope it helped some. Feel free to ask some more or clarify other doubts!
 
blessings,    
Suwei

Mom in Singapore Denied Permission to Homeschool

A mom whom I've been helping to get through all the submissions to the government calls me up to tell me that she was not granted permission to take her 7 yr old out of primary 1.

She tells me her child is not coping well at school. The pace is too fast and the child's classmates make fun of her for not being able to keep up. These make the child very discouraged. (I think many Singaporeans parents can associate with this.)

This mother is concerned enough about her child's future to want to take over educating her child at her child's pace. She told me she doesn't want to wait and see her child's future get ruined.

She says that the officers at MOE are not satisfied that her reasons are justified. They feel that she ought to give her child more time to adapt. And they are requesting that she produce a letter from the school to say the child can't cope and that the mother herself prove more sufficiently that she is committed to her child's education.

The mother is at her wit's end because she feels she has done all she could to prove to the MOE that she IS fully aware of the implications and responsibilities of taking her child out of school but the MOE is not convinced.

Some thoughts and questions:

1) What rights does a parent actually have over the well being, welfare, education of his/her child in Singapore? If you think you are doing the best for your child but the State disagrees with you, who gets the right over the child?

2) I'm speculating that more Singaporean parents are not happy with how their children are struggling in the Singapore public school system and are not coping well. More are asking to take their children out of school.

I suspect also that there are parents who after being granted permission to homeschool, realize after a while that they were not able to successfully homeschool and request to put their child back in the system.

Hence MOE is becoming more stringent about granting permission for exemption. 

3) This mother said that the teacher wasn't very willing to help to write the letter, saying she has to go through the Principal and all that. I told the mom to maybe wait until it's after the exams and the report books are in, when the teachers are not so stressed and then ask again for help.

Any thoughts or advice? Post here or on the Facebook discussions here.

TIA (on behlaf of this mom as well.)

Is it ok for my homeschooled child to have tuition as well?

I've had some homeschooling parents here in Singapore ask me if it was ok for their kids to have tuition. Will the MOE allow that?

Answer: Yes and no.

Here's the clause they put on the Acknowledgment Slip (to say you've received the COE):

I understand that the Exemption shall lapse if your child receives primary education from:

a) any organisation for the provision of education to 10 or more persons, or

b) in any place where 10 or more persons are being ot are habitually taught, whether in one or more classes.

Everytime I submit my certificates to the MOE to scrutinize when I'm applying for my child to homeschool (3 times already), the good officers at MOE will call back and ask, erm your chinese I see is really lousy. Your children, how?

Of course, they don't say that. They say that couched in nicer phrasing.

We dutifully report that we have a Chinese tutor who comes to our house to teach the children twice a week. And we got the COE! Yae!

I guess that still falls within MOE guidlines of what "homeschooling" is. Basically, they don't want "private" primary "schools" to spring up all over the island because kids can be exempted from the MOE primary schools. To do that and still send your kids to school, you have to go to Australia or something like that. :O)