the wonderful part of working half day is that i get to spend time doin stuff with my children in the mornings. We've decided to pull Jo out from kindy for a while and see how it goes. So far, i think she's quite a self-directed learner.

Yesterday for instance, we started off the day by reading from the Bible (NIV) about Joseph. Having finished, we had some delicous omelette for breakfast. Then she decided to draw some pics. Here's what she drew.

It's a pic of our house, surrounded by fruit trees. See the alphabets on her picture? she decided to label them all, and that in a way is a lesson in writing and phonetics.

The second one is about a little banana who decides to explore the world of trees and fruits. Something she's been interested in lately. He's standing amongst some pineapples while the other trees are smiling at him. there are also squirrel holes on all the trees. THe third tree from the left is a banana tree with smiling bananas! haha..

Then of course, she had to draw her usual Ariel the mermaid, something she's been crazy about for more than a year now!!

Later she told me she wanted to open a shop. So she made this sign, and drew a computer for her shop.

this is the computer which she drew. And she kinda "typed" on it everytime i purchased an item. And it would produce imaginary receipts. haha..

I asked her "what shop would you like to have Jo?" and she told me, "a jewelery shop."

She asked if she could sell some of mine, (haha) and I said "Jo, if you want to earn some money, then you've got to work hard for it. I'm afraid you'll have to make your own."

So we got some beads out, and she made these, a bracelet and a pair of earrings. I helped her knot it at the end. She told me it was hard work. haha....

Finally ready, she placed them between some pillows, which she called her treasure box. She charged me $2 for each item, and when i paid her, she even gave me change! I asked her why, and she said "mum, I'm the seller, so I can lower the price when I want coz I'm a kind seller." :)

Then we read some from Peter and Jane, did a little math. and she went off to play.

Night time, she and Nel requested to be read from the book "The Little Princess" by F. H. Burnett. I highly recommend it. Makes lovely reading and good material for discussion.

and she ended the day by coloring this. Yeah, a good day for a 4 1/2 year old i think.

refusal to go to school

i thought Jodie would fit right in school and have a fun-filled days. She seemed to make friends easily and is a keen learner. Alas...my thoughts were wrong. It's been 3 weeks now, and everyday has been a struggle.

out of 100 5 year olds in that school, my daughter is the only one who wails and clings tightly to me, refusing to let me go, and making me promise to get her early. Why is she the only one? It can't be the system if the other 99 fit in perfectly. I'm beginning to think it's seperation anxiety.... I checked a few links and most said children should settle within 2 weeks.

This week her crying has somewhat worsen. The thing is, when I pick her from school, she's perfectly happy. We go for lunch and then back home. Around 3pm, she starts worrying and asking if she has to go to school the next day, saying "mum...you must promise to pick me up early.." by nightfall, her panic increases... and she will say in between sobs "mum...I will miss you, mum, promise me to pick me early.... mum, the teacher is fierce...but mum, i will miss you, i will miss you, i will miss you......"

yesterday when evening came, she asked "mum, is it night already? why does it turn dark so early mum? mum, when I get up I will miss you...." I told her she had no school on sat. Yet she went to the door, praying aloud... "God, please please, make the day longer so the night won't come so soon. God, please because if night comes too early, I'll have to sleep and in the morning I will miss my mummy...please God..please..." followed by more crying.

what do I do from a psychological point of view? some of the pages say that I must allow my child to face her fears and her fear will reduce eventually. Yet some say it must be treated with care, or it would have a life time impact on her. how do I treat it? if i let her stay home...will I be helping her? or making it worse coz she will never deal with it? ........... does she have seperation anxiety disorder or is this normal?

3 years ago, I wrote about how Nel's crappy swimming teacher shouted at her when she refused to put her head in the water. She was just 5 then. it got to a point where the teacher shouted and shouted while Nel cried torrents of tears. It ended when I furiously marched to the pool side, angry with the teacher, frustrated with Nel.

Somebody wrote, "if an adult teacher cannot imagine how a child feels like when putting her head in the water for the first time, then he should stick his head in a bucket of oil/flour and know how terrifying it can be."

Anyway, when I first pulled her out from that crappy swimming class, several people told me I was being an over protective mother and must learn to toughen up, and let my child face tough moments. Some told me I was gonna create a sissy child and to stop spoiling my child.

I didn't listen to them. I listened to my motherly instincts.

I taught her myself for almost a year to help her overcome the fear of water. Finally when I felt she was ready, I enrolled her in another class with a diff teacher. At first it went ok. Then came time for her to swim a lap by herself. While swimming halfway, she choked and panicked. The teacher grabbed her but asked her to continue. She replied "I can't, i'm too tired, I can't go on."

The teacher insisted "I don't care! you swim to the end!!" Nel replied "I really cannot, please don't make me do it, I cannot."

Instead of being understanding, the teacher raised her voice and shouted "I don't care you swim, you swim, you swim!!!!!"

Nel started crying, and screaming. Then in anger, the teacher threw her into deeper water. I saw my daughter go under several times, gasping for breath. I ran to the pool and shouted for the teacher to stop! She stopped.

I lodged a complain against her, she resigned. Some people thought I was being soft again. but I think, when a child is young, it is a mother's right to protect her child against such mean teachers.

Nel switched teachers for the 3rd time. it's been several months now, and she enjoys it very much. She's done breast stroke and free style (in training now). Her teacher commented yesterday that she was doing very well. With this current teacher, she even overcame her fear of jumping into deep water.

So mothers....I don't think we should teach our children to be "tough" now. I think, when they are young, a teacher's personality matters. I'd prefer my child to enjoy what she's learning, rather than putting up with a mean teacher, just to learn to be tough.

nel swimming

helping out in the kitchen

last week Jojo started kindy. I registered her last Feb and had paid the deposit. It is the kindy that Nel went to, and she had so much fun there so I thought I'd let Jo experience a year or 2 there. Thought of withdrawing this year, but hubby said to give it a shot. So far it's been crying spells every morning! she will turn 5 in August, but everymorning she wakes and tells me "mummy, i'm only 3 years old. mum, i'm too young to go to school, I want to stay with mummy."
ahh...it melts my heart to hear that, and I so feel like withdrawing her immediately. but I guess, I'm gonna try to be strong on this one and wait it through a month and see how she does.

As for the home, my children have taken a greater interest in helping me prepare meals recently. Almost everytime I am in the kitchen, i'd hear Jo or Nel asking "mum, may I help?" So far here's how they've helped out:-

-making the spread for egg sandwich. (danelle knows the ingredients and mixes the whole thing by herself, and Jo is fast learning.)

-buttering the bread

-helping to marinade the chicken/beef before cooking (even Jo knows the ingredients now. :))

-using a butter knife to cut mushrooms, luncheon meat, baked potatoes, papaya, fish cake etc.

-plucking spinach leaves from stalk

- helping to pound garlic

- shredding seaweed

-baking cookies

- scooping food out from the wok after it's cooled down

-making own milo and ribena

I'm sure the list will grow longer as they grow. :)