God...

God is not irrational,

He only works in ways 

we humans don’t understand

But some of His ways 

are so very very tough 

Latest Update: Phase 2C

Samuel doesn’t have a place and so we are school-less after Phase 2C. Thank you all who love Sammy …now mommy must do some reading up. 

George Lakoff and a 6 year old

Bantering with my faithful companion after dropping Sarah off at school.

Me: Ok, so we are going to swing by the library and if we need to, we will hang around till our next appointment. 

Sammy: Mommy, why do you use monkey terms?

Me: huh?

Sammy: You said “swing by” and “hang around”. They sound ..so …so monkey.

Me: huh? Oh….those are expressions. Hahaha...Come to think of it, you are right. These are monkey terms. 

I was quickly brought back in time to my days in Uni where we grew white hairs over Halliday and Chomsky. Maybe it would be different if I did it again.

 But George Lakoff and his theory of metaphors was what I based my honors thesis on. That was real and practical. That we use metaphors everyday - sometimes unconsciously. 

So here I was using perhaps a playground metaphor in describing my movements or in Sammy's terms - monkey words. And he detected it. 

Me: Stop clowning around. Where do you think that metaphor is taken from?

Sammy: The circus! 

That’s my linguistic professor in the making -very acutely aware of the nuances of language and its play. Well, his dream job is to be a Language Professor - inspired by the Professor from Leapfrog Letter Factory hahaha. Fancy that.

Phase 2C

Sammy is registered for Phase 2C because we had no affiliation, no free labor offered by mommy or daddy, no religious connection and well you get the point. 

Officer: Which kindergarten did your son attend?

Me: He didn’t attend any. 

Officer: Oh…then can he catch up?

My eyes widen and what I really wanted to blurt out….

Me: He is well beyond any of his peers. He is a very ferocious reader and counts Narnia by CS Lewis as one of his favorite books. He enjoys reading and can spend two hours reading and giggling to himself. Yes, he loves reading because he understands what he reads.

As for Chinese, I am surprised. For the lack of things I do with him, he is able to recognize words which he has been introduced quite quickly.

He knows his grammar and even the names of the parts of speech from conjunctions, to pronouns, to adjectives etc. And as for his spelling, his automacity allows him to spell metamorphosis without assistance. 

He is great in his Math and completes Maths tests as time fillers because mommy doesn’t really know what to do with him during his free time. Money, time and times tables, he has learnt it all. 

What he really enjoys is Science - from experiments to cells, to learning about invertebrate  - cnidarians and mollusks. But more, he seems to like chemistry - to see what effects and provoke a reaction.

Others we have dabbled are lives of artists and ancient history. And most recently, we have signed up for an online programming course. 

He has travelled to at least 10 countries and understood how different cultures merge and coexist. While aware of the differences, he doesn’t discriminate and has learnt to negotiate in the playgrounds of these countries with much success.

So yes, I think he can definitely catch up ….and perhaps teach his teacher a thing or two.

But of course, what I did really give was a muted response because I figured they are not really interested in the progress of my child.

Me: He was home schooled. 

There is a high chance that my dear son would be displaced after phase 2C. But if so, then so.