Life of Fred: Fractions

After several years of using various math textbooks from the Philippines and Singapore, textbooks that emphasize drills and rote learning (she hated having to memorize the multiplication tables), my daughter has developed a dislike and fear of math.  So much so that, when we started doing unit studies for our homeschooling, math ended up taking a back seat.

I know that she still needs to learn her math skills.  So I scoured the Internet for a more child-friendly yet affordable and effective homeschool math program.  Thankfully, I found Life of Fred

Although my 11-year-old daughter has learned about multiplication, division, fractions, and decimals before, I want her to try “unlearning” them first, learn about them again in a more pleasant and effective way.  So after a few weeks of refreshing her memory of the (dreaded) multiplication tables, she recently started on Life of Fred: Fractions.  She’s been working on it independently, doing one to two chapters a day.

I’m happy to know that even though she sometimes finds the questions in the book to be tricky, she eventually figures them out and mostly gets them right too.  And thanks to Fred, she seems to actually be enjoying math now   I think that is the best thing that Fred has given my daughter (and me).  Hopefully, this is only the beginning of a beautiful learning journey.

Life of Fred: Fractions

Life of Fred: Apples

My 6-year-old son started Life of Fred: Apples last week.  He’s been doing one chapter a day for 3-4 days a week.  It’s great that he reads most of the text on his own (needed help with the word deciduous in Chapter 4), so doing Life of Fred helps him practice math AND reading at the same time

The chapters are short enough to manage within 15-20 minutes, including answering the 3-5 questions at the end (Your Turn to Play).  Short enough to not be tedious. He also likes checking his own work.

The story is engaging and entertaining for my son and even for myself.  My son loves role-playing and making up stories with his toys so he can appreciate Fred’s interaction with his doll Kingie.

The first 3 chapters talk about simple addition, e.g. 3 + 4 = 7.  My son went through these chapters smoothly.  What made me so happy though was how he really understood the concept and applied it spontaneously, outside of “doing schoolwork.”  When we were out a few days ago and I said, “There’s four of this and four of that.”  He quickly  and excitedly commented, “That’s eight, Mama!”  Talk about a proud and happy Mama

In Chapter 4, at first he couldn’t understand what counting forward by fives meant.  When I drew a number line on a white board and showed him how we skip numbers to count 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc., he immediately grasped the concept and was then able to continue skip counting by fives to 100 all by himself   We both had big smiles on our faces after that!

I’m so glad I discovered Life of Fred, thanks to the many homeschooling forums and reviews all over the Internet.  It’s an accessible, affordable and engaging way to learn math.  Looking forward to more chapters, more books and more learning with my son!

Life of Fred: Apples

Where’s Hanuman? A look and find book

Last Wednesday, 26 Oct 2011, Hindus here in Singapore celebrated Deepavali, or Diwali, the festival of lights.

“Diwali involves the lighting of small clay lamps (diyas or dīpas) in Sanskrit: दीप) filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil.^[8] These lamps are kept on during the night and one’s house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi feel welcome.^[9] Firecrackers are burst in order to drive away evil spirits.^[10][11][12] During Diwali, all the celebrants wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.” – Wikipedia

Last year, when we did a unit study on Deepavali, we read about the epic story Ramayana, and learned a bit about Hanuman, the Hindu Monkey God.  In line with this year’s celebration of Deepavali, my kids and I are going through this interesting take on Where’s Wally? –  a book called Where’s Hanuman? written by Alister Taylor and illustrated by Christopher Woods and Ben McClintic. We’ve only gone through the first two scenes, Sita’s Wedding and Rama’s Battle with Parasurama, so far.  My 11-year-old daughter quite easily found Hanuman and the other hidden characters and items.  My 6-year-old son, however, struggled with finding the tiny images amidst the crowded scenes.  So I teamed up with him and we eventually found Hanuman.

Where’s Hanuman? is a fun and easy way for my kids and I to remember and learn more about the epic story Ramayana.  If you enjoy look-and-find books and challenges and want to learn about Hanuman and the Ramayana story, this book is a great find.

Where's Hanuman?

Terracotta Warriors @ Asian Civilisations Museum

My kids and I were able to see the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the Asian Civilisations Museum a few days before it left Singapore.

This was the first time the exhibit was presented in Southeast Asia.

Here are photos of some of these well-detailed and well-preserved terracotta figures that were buried near the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, the First Emperor of China.

At the entrance to the exhibit, there was a beautiful installation called Life After Death by Singaporean artist Justin Lee.

Terracotta Warriors exhibit

ceremonial dagger

Emperor’s chariot

Emperor’s chariot with driver

Emperor’s ceremonial helmet and armour

terracotta warriors and horses

terracotta archer

modern and stylish terracotta warriors (Justin Lee)

modern and stylish terracotta warriors (Justin Lee)

Chinese maiden with laptop (Justin Lee)

Chinese maidens with modern fashion accessories (Justin Lee)

It was a fairly small (manageable in 2 hours) exhibit.  A good see if you’re at least 8 years old and are interested in Chinese history and/or ancient Chinese sculpture/art.  It was a shame though that there was a school field trip when we came, so it was too crowded for us.

A nice bonus for the kids was the free trivia “worksheet” that they filled in just by going to 6 stamping stations scattered around the exhibit and having your sheet of bookmarks embossed with different images related to the exhibit   I think that was the part my kids enjoyed most.

There was also a cool free interactive Terracotta Warriors exhibit iPhone app that you can download right there in the museum (using wireless@SG).  Unfortunately for people like me who don’t have the latest iPhone models, the app only works for iPhone 3GS or newer.  So we didn’t get to see the dancing terracotta warriors

 

Treasures of San Francisco

One beautiful afternoon during our recent family holiday in California, my husband and I were happily walking around downtown San Francisco. We were slowly making our way from the gorgeous Ferry Building to Union Square.

After husband got his cheese at Cowgirl Creamery and I got my chocolates from See’s Candy, we headed to indie bookstore Alexander Book Co. Husband saw some good book titles he hasn’t seen anywhere else and I picked up a cool California trivia book for a steal.

Outside the bookstore, we stopped to look at our map, get our bearings and figure out where to go next. While my husband and I were talking, a very nice couple (who I assume were San Francisco locals) approached us to offer their help. They asked if we were looking for a particular place. Unfortunately, they didn’t know where the Cartoon Art Museum was (the man remarked that that probably wasn’t a good sign ). Still, they offered to help us find any other place and even suggested that we might want to visit Chinatown – which is probably a typical tourist must-see. Since we live in Singapore where most places are “Chinatown,” we said we’d rather visit a good local coffee shop. They did recommend Blue Bottle Coffee but we missed it at the Ferry Building and they didn’t know any other nearby location. They advised us to walk along Sutter and Pine Streets and around Chinatown, saying we may find some small cafes there. We bid each other goodbye and went our ways.

Of my many brief but precious memories of San Francisco, that very kind and helpful couple who took time out to stop and offer us help is one of my favorites. People in San Francisco seemed so nice and relaxed. I’m guessing that people fall in love with San Francisco because of the beauty of the place and the warmth of its people. I know I have

Baking Lapbook and Unit Study

After about 5 weeks, we finally finished our baking unit study. We baked at least one dish per week. Some came out better than others, but for beginners, I think our baking attempts came out pretty well

We took recipes from various books, websites and product packaging (for La Brioche):
Shortbread cookies and bread - The Baking Book
Candy Bar Pie – Keebler Ready Crust
La Brioche – saf-instant Dry Baker’s Yeast (back of packaging)
Cinnamon Rolls – The Usborne Children’s Book of Baking
Cream Cheese Frosting (for the cinnamon rolls) – simplyrecipes.com
Vanilla Cupcakes (our best output so far, thanks to the simple, easy-to-follow recipe) – cupcake-creations.com

After learning about the various baking tools, how to measure ingredients, how to mix, whisk, knead, etc., my children have been bitten by the baking bug (seeing parts of Junior Masterchef Australia has also added to the spark ).

They want to keep baking, and now my kids know they can bake some really nice tasting and looking cupcakes and breads from scratch (no more baking from a box). Great!

Lapbooks are done But the baking will continue…

Rafa’s baking lapbook-front

Rafa’s baking lapbook-inside

Rafa’s baking lapbook-open

Rafa’s baking lapbook-back

Kylie’s baking lapbook-front

Kylie’s baking lapbook-inside

Kylie’s baking lapbook-open

Kylie’s baking lapbook-back

The Oddity of Homeschoolers

Yes, My Grown Homeschooled Children Are Odd And Yours Will Be Too!.

 
Whether homeschooling, unschooling or attending school, we are always making choices to fit in or stand out, to go with the flow or to go against it. What matters is if the outcome of our choices brings us closer to our better selves, contributing to a better world.