Sunbird Spectacle Part Seven: Our Pet Bird

Sarah and Sammy's new pet bird

Sunbird Spectacle Part Five: Growing Up More

The grown up chickies with feathers and all:)

Sunbird Spectacle Part Five: Growing Up

Sammy is Growing Up

As our little boy gets ready to leave the house, he said [without any prompting], "Mommy, I will miss you.." I looked up to see a watery mist in his eyes. "I will miss you too", I replied softly. Then he turns to Sarah and gives her a big hug, "Bye Bye jie jie". Sarah reciprocates but with a bewildered look.

With clear resolution, he struggles to sling his heavy bag pack on his shoulders and walked out of the door.

That's our little boy off to spend a night at grandpa and grandma, simply because he wanted to.

Sigh...I started missing him the moment he turned his back and walk...

Our big little boy

Sunbird Spectacle Part Four: Happy birthday sunbird chickies:)

My jaw dropped open as I did my usual peek into the nest to discover an unusual sight. Two raw red looking round things in the nest. At the startle of noise and movement, the red looking circles explode into open beaks. It was a truly a moment! The eggs have finally hatched! and they thot I was mommy coming back with food.

Can you see it?!? The open beak? Awesome

This is a day of great rejoicing

To witness the newness of life

And to celebrate life and creation

....

Another hint from nature at a Great Creator God

Charging into 2012

Yup...we have been charging into the new year. And I very very thankful for breaks like CNY and March and June and ..... where I can catch a breather and do a quick reflection and stocktaking before charging again.

So what's keeping us busy in the new year?

Fitness and Gym
I jog at least 3-4 km a day [if I am not ill] - that's two rounds around my house and hit the gym at least three times a week and phew....it's really tiring. Fitness exercises, resistance exercises and some pilates are not optional for me but according to Dan, it's essential for me to keep my illness in check and more so as I am hitting my 36th year. Haha...where did all the years go?

Sarah and Sammy: Everyday Responsibilities

Before they head to proper school in 2013 [or later], I have launched them full gear into taking responsibility for themselves. Since we have the luxury [for the moment] of not rushing off to school and gobbling up their breakfast and leaving a trail of mess to be cleaned up by mommy or Auntie Rubi, for this year, the kids are expected to change out of their pjs, change their clothes, put their dirty clothes in the laundry, brush their teeth and head to the breakfast table where they will thank God for the morning and day and eat their own breakfast. The rest of the day would be packing up after themselves and eating on their own and bathing themselves.

The first week was really tough going but I think it is getting better every morning with a reminder or two [or ten]. The kids get up and change and brush their teeth and I can get some reading done while they drink their smoothie and eat their occasional eggs. 

Sarah and Sammy: Physical Discipline and Rigor
Based on mommy's intuition, I feel that my kiddos [especially Sarah] are ready to develop and train their muscles of discipline and rigor and begin the foundational piling works in both the physical and mental realm. I am convinced that this process is very essential at this stage in a couple of ways. Firstly, they are so excited to lap up everything now. So, why resist it? It makes the whole process less painful. And more importantly, these years would free them up to the endless opportunities of expression, creativity and innovation and usefulness in the future. But there is no shortcut to take, no hype to offer, no reward to bribe but just a grinding and tedious process that we need to plough through. The areas to concentrate on were easy because they were selected based on overwhelming request by Sarah and Sammy. And the other areas were based on Daddy and Mommy's better knowledge.


Gymnastics
At the perpetual request of Sammy boy, we have signed them up for gymnastics class. Found a class in the east that fits into our schedule and the kids love it. Mommy is pleased to see the kids' boundless energies channelled into meaningful activity and disciplined movements. Sarah takes to gymnastics like a fish to the water. Now I just need to keep an eye on them as they try out their potentially dangerous movements at home:)

Ballet

Through the discipline of ballet, we want Sarah to develop a healthy posture as well as poise and elegance that will see her through the rest of her life. This was an easy one because it was Sarah's top request. 

Sarah getting ready to head to her ballet class

Music Lessons

Found a great music school in the east that was able to customised a program for my kids - based on the fact that Sammy wanted to learn violin and Sarah wanted to continue her piano and that both of them love to sing like the boys in Libera. Mommy likes the teachers [who are both young and agile and able to catch my little totnadoes] because both are still heavily involved in the art scene and still actively practicing what they preach. Sarah is moving onto note identification and Samuel is currently working on his 'bow' muscles. The kids enjoy lessons with their teachers that they practically race along the corridor to their music class.

Sammy and his very own violin

Sarah and Sammy: Lessons with Mommy

Days, Months, Years and Date

Nothing ambitious but quite certain that if I keep up with this consistently throughout the year [with just abt 10 mins a day], they will implicitly learn about months, days, years and date. Grabbed the most attractive calendars from Daiso at the end of 2011 and gave it to them as a Christmas present. Haha. So we have been doing this faithfully every morning. 

Reading and Writing

Sarah is so ready to start her writing but I discovered that Sammy isn't [after some tussle with mommy]. So I will leave these writing sessions for Sarah when she wakes up earlier from her nap.

Chinese Lessons

The kids still go for their Chinese Classes and they are enjoying it more and more each lesson and having fun with their teachers and friends. This year, we have decided to do a little more at home. Found a couple of books that teaches Chinese characters from a pictorial point of view and we do a little each week.

Sammy writing 'Ren' and drawing a head:)

Science Lessons using R.E.A.L Science [Life] from Pandia Press 

Continuing on developing the muscles of enquiry and exploration and observation, I was keen to start on a science program with the kids as we have been dabbling with various experiments and observing nature all around us but without a proper scaffolding. I wanted something to help place our little pegs of observation onto a large mental map. So, I was glad to find this curriculum while reading around and bought it during a offer. The book is downloadable and printable and after reading the introduction, I was very impressed and inspired because the scaffolding is logical and expansive.  It did look daunting as the chapters progressed but I am quite certain that if minds are tickled the right direction, the possibilities for enquiry and exploration are endless. 

The first lesson teaches about life, living things and that they are all made of cells. The second lesson went through the characteristics of living things and it allowed the kids to compare what was a living and a non living thing. They were introduced to charts and more importantly, detailing their findings and observation. The third lesson was an observation of wild life using plot studies. So here you see a section of our garden cordoned for observation.

Lessons turned out just fine and kids are slowly adjusting to more prolonged periods of observation. But it was not without a fight. Haha. With the characteristics they learnt, they were many opportunities which I could ask them to discern if one object was a living thing or not. I was heartened the last lesson when Sammy was able to remember the shape of plant cells and shout out the word 'chloroplast' when I asked them what is the cell that is responsible for the 'green' in plants.

Art History Lessons: Meet the Masters

Heading to the National Art Gallery in London was inspiring and introducing the kids to art through History was one direction I wanted the kids to move towards. They may not understand it all now...but through the study of the master artists and observing what makes an artist's work distinctive, I hope they would be able pick up the hooks and to eventually piece it all together as they consider how art, literature and civilization are a reflection of human evolution with the times and how man try to make sense of their world and the notion of God. 

I was ready to try this online program Meet the Masters as it looks easy enough for the kids to begin. Its really meant for 5-7 years but I thought why not. 

Our first master is Vincent Van Gogh. 
The program comes with ready slides and handouts where I can guide my kids. And they were especially enthralled with the life of Vincent Van Gogh. Sammy was especially pensive because he thought Vincent Van Gogh had a sad life. As we went from Van Gogh's early works the 'Potato Eaters' to the brighter words of 'Sunflowers', it is truly educational. The lesson goes on with the kids drawing spirals and playing with dots and dashes.

practicing swirls

Globe Time: He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

We try to do a globe time regularly every week. Our earlier lapbook times and the kids' trips overseas have fuelled their interest in geography, particularly in seeing how far one country is away from Singapore. Sarah and Sammy love to play 'Find the Country', especially locating London, Paris and Switzerland. I hope to develop their love for maps into understanding their world, its people and their  dynamics. But we are taking it a step at a time....

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It does seems like a mouthful...but we don't do everything every week. Sometimes, we touch one once a week or even once a fortnight. Things are pretty easy going so mommy can catch her breath in preparation as well as in her exercises. So while mommy takes a breather....these are our evening fun activities:

Chalk Drawing

This random time is great for harnessing their creativity and it keeps them busy while mommy jogs around the neighbourhood. 

Sammy's art - Untitled 'Unknown'

Sarah's art

Science Experiments for Fun

This Science book of experiments is a great time filler. Grandma has great time with the kids as she gamely tries the experiments. 

We did this the other day after lunch using marshmallows and raw spaghetti strands. Sarah was pretty keen in building her structure but alas our usual budding scientist, Sammy just decided to turn into a marshmallow monster and keep eating away. Haha...

Swimming Time

Now that CNY is over, we ready to charge again and look forward to our next break in March.