Still unschooling or not??

Whenever another homeschooling parent asked me if I have or am I using a particular school curriculum, my answer would always get a puzzling response.

What or how do I teach them? Do I follow the Singapore, British or the American syllabus? Occasionally, after answering all their queries, I look into the mirror and ask myself do I really know what I am doing at all? 8 months have past since April, the kids and I have made some headwind in our homeschooling journey.

Coupled with tremendous willpower, we decided to make changes in our studying habits and techniques. As a result, unnecessary study materials have been replaced with more suitable ones covering a wider variety of topics and musical activities, given more prominence in our daily routine. Unfortunately, the few tutors who did not share my sentiments have been given a sent off. I am grateful for their service but they are best suited for other children. Expertise and experience are not the only criteria for holistic imparting of knowledge.

So it's back to the drawing board to look for Mr, Mrs, Miss Right Teacher for these young minds. As the saying goes, ..."Seek and you shall find." It's definitely about finding the person who understands your perspective and appreciating that life is more than chasing for paper qualification but ultimately, nourishing the 'mind and spirit'.

Finally, progress ...

Both the kids were enrolled in the EDISON language program, ran by the delightful Miss Amy Delphino and her team of capable teachers. The results have been amazingly satisfying and we have already enrolled for the next level in January 2010.

In the meanwhile, I have started using websites such as the British Museum, Geography 4kids, Surfing the net with kids, which offer research materials and the all important games for free. These interactive games will guarantee to get kids thinking with lots of fun thrown in. So, check it out!

Aside from some serious studying, we have started some simple art and craft projects. The first was pebble/rock painting and next, we quickened the pace in our ongoing scrapbook project. For pebble painting, all we did was to purchase some inexpensive PLAKA acrylic paints, which by the way was on offer and cleaned up rocks from our garden. With some easy internet tutorials, the kids came up with some designs, creating their own masterpieces. Doing the scrapbook is a bit costly but we tried using scraps of paper from old stuffs we found around the house. But at the same time, found a bookstore in Taman Tun that has a nifty haberdashery section selling a wide range of trimmings/ribbons & lace, buttons, papers and knick-knacks.

All would not be possible without huge doses of imagination, creativity, passion which came from the magnificent organ, our BRAIN.


P.S. Remember those dictation days we had in school, it's a great way for mom to take a break while the kids teach themselves reading, spelling, handwriting and even drawing. Let them grade and comment on their own ability. Try this and watch them have fun!

The Internet - Super Highway

Yes, I am back again, after 2 month of absence. Certainly I have been spending the bulk of my time reading about Malaysia's latest political controversies on The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini more than anything else.

Hey, who can deny the intriguing 'sandiwara' currently on air and on the internet. Our politicians are now becoming well-known, aren't they? Their humour and comical antic can rival those of the Taiwan ministers during many of their infamous senate sittings. Of course many of us have are familiar with our very our own drama, " The Ripping of the Perak Speaker's Robe" for instance. In fact, our politicians could well audition for the adult version of 'Kids Say the Darnest Thing' for shooting their mouths off so very often. If that fails, they could try 'Mind Your Language', the good o'l British sitcom, at least everyone practice speaking English and get along jolly well with Mr Brown. It is all centered on this principle "don't engage mouth before brain is in gear"

As a result, I detoxed myself from Astro's 'Asian Food Channel', my lifeline (I am a food stylist!) and detached myself from my 'lifeguru' Miss Oprah Winfrey. I am now completely addicted and hooked onto this new 'drug', the internet news. Reading The Malaysian Insider has become my morning coffee and Malaysiakini my toast 'n' bacon. The family can wait! Or they can walk over to Lotus for their 'thosai' or 'roti canai'. The downside of being online this much has caused me to overuse my monthly internet package, ever since the 'All the President's Men' (MIC, MCA, DAP, PKR, UMNO, GERAKAN, MAKKALSAKTHI) series started.

Much of my time is spent searching for political videos of opposition member being punched, cow's head dragged on streets, protesters sprayed by water canons, 'beauty suing the beast', the deadly tsunamis and typhoons, all happening and vying for my attention, at the same time. In the meanwhile, our local bigshots continue to play the 'Deal or No Deal' game.

The INTERNET is a great force with immense resources. The SUPER ALL POWERFUL tool! It is two dimensional, the 'good and the dark side'. The good side, we can learn, read, view, hold a conference, chat, talk to our families, run a business, buy lipstick, email, chat mail, post home-made video all on the net. Practically everything, except eat the machine itself. But wait, didn't they invent the prototype that can send smells & scents over the net provided you buy a particular software? On the dark side, bad news of corrupt politicians whose scams can be read ahead of your daily morning paper. I'm afraid newspapers are soon to be redundant.

For us homeschoolers, it provides hours of fun 'n' games, history, science, geography materials and help us to connect to the rest of the homeschooling community.

In the meantime, life goes on as normal as we can. We will wait and see what happens next as all of us are tuned on the current episode of 'Deal or No Deal'. The suspense is going to kill all of us, while anticipating the risky outcome.