Top 10 Reasons Why I Homeschool

#1 - To instill my values and beliefs in my children

#2 - To meet my children's unique individual needs

#3 - To instill in my children a lifelong love for learning - learning is fun!

#4 - To build intimate and meaningful relationships with my children

#5 - Share with my children the common, everyday joys of life

#6 - Help my children wrestle with the hard questions they face

#7 - Show my children daily how much I love them

#8 - Be there when my children need me most

#9 - Be my children's mentor, spiritual leader, role model, friend and teacher

#10- Protect my children from the negative influences they may encounter outside the home

*These top 10 reasons convicted me when I read it from Sonlight's website.

The Butterfly Lodge

Recently discovered this wonderful place at Oh's Farm and have been wanting to bring the kids to have a first hand experience amidst fluttering butterflies (not just one or two butterflies... but hundreds of butterflies fluttering around)...it's a great place of learning for the little ones...
I have never been to a place where there are hundreds of butterflies surrounding me... but today, I've seen how beautiful these little creatures are... it's definitely different from those one or two fleeting butterflies we see in the parks/gardens where we could hardly take a good look at any of them before they take off...
My friend, Adeline, brought along a booklet describing the different species of butterflies, and we could identify a few of them... something the kids could learn too *smile*
I witnessed a butterfly "sipping" nectar from this flower... isn't it cool? A pity that the resolution of this picture has been reduced, otherwise you could also see the butterfly in action.
Each of us brought a few caterpillars home and to our surprise some of them have already turned upside down ready to become a chrysalis... Tim was so eager, kept asking why isn't the butterflies out yet... *LOL*

Isn't nature great? Isn't there lots to learn from nature? Isn't it fun that you don't have to think or create any lesson plans and the kids could still learn and experience what's before their eyes? *grin* Nature studies, way to go! I am loving it!

Sew-and-Sew

Little girls' jumper dress... it's so easy to sew... I've completed two in one day... *smile*
Little Missy can't resist putting them on when she saw it hung on the side *smile*
I've attached little pom-pom trimming at the bottom of the dress... it look absolutely cute
and the polka dot lining...oooh simply girly... this is by far one of my most satisfied work... *wink*
Here's the second jumper dress I've sewn... love the lime green fabric... got it from one of my fabric swap partners... it's just a fat quarter so just the ideal size for the bodice of this dress...

Instead of regular buttons on the shoulder strap I attached snaps and embellished it with fabric yo-yo in front... *grin*
Love love love the lace at the bottom of the lining... completed the dress with so much femininity *smile*

Smells Fishy...

Remember sometime ago I shared about my purchase of the Nordic Children's DHA? Well, recently, a friend asked me if the Nordic Children's DHA did work on my kids... to be honest, I can't really tell if it has worked or not on my kids... as I couldn't see the significance difference in my children...

I'd like to however, remember the benefits of fish oil that both hubby and I have taken time to check out on. I guess, as parents, we'd do anything for our children... that is for the benefit of them...not just the short term but the long term as well *smile*

1) Better Brain Function and Higher Intelligence. Pregnant and nursing mothers can have a great impact on the intelligence and happiness of their babies by supplementing with fish oil. For adults, omega 3 improves memory, recall, reasoning and focus. You'll swear you're getting younger and smarter.

2) Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders. Just to show how fish oil fatty acids leave nobody out, studies show that children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD experience a greatly improved quality of life. And those with dyslexia, dyspraxia and compulsive disorders have gotten a new lease on life thanks to omega 3 oils.

(excerpt from Ezine Articles)

Here's an article in the NY Times "Feeling Good About Fish Oil" you might like to check out on *smile*

The long and short of it, fish oil definitely has its merits but we'd have to ensure that what our kids consume is of the purest and least contaminated fish oil. As these days fishes are prone to toxic contaminants due to the pollution in the sea.

I've just placed my new order of Nordic Children's DHA over at iHerb. And am once again sharing the advantage of ordering your bottle of Nordic fish oil from iHerb. It's definitely going to save you at least 30-40% off the retail price that's sold in Singapore. Even with the shipping cost included there's still going to be a huge savings. The delivery through USPS takes only about a week to arrive. Easy and safe!

For first time customers of iHerb, you could place your order and enjoy a US$5 off your purchase by entering this code MAM357 before your check out.

Good things are always worth sharing!!! *smile*

Nursery University?

Is it crazy or is it necessary? *smile* check out the trailer of a documentary... who would have imagined in their wildest dreams that getting into nursery schools would have been more difficult than getting into Harvard...

I've chosen the route less travelled... homeschool... *smile* to be away from the rat race is my choice!

Sew Much To Sew

Sew Red
Little Red Riding Hood cape completed! Love that the cape is reversible and the red polka dotted lining makes the cape sweet and cute! *smile*

Sew Casual
Visited the Jshoppers shopping site recently and was inspired to sew something cute and simple for Little Missy. She's growing so quickly that I need to sew more new clothes for her...

Really need to squeeze more time to sew for the kids... Tim has requested for a blanket to be sewn for him... another item in my to-do list now... *smile*

Messy Fun - 30 Day Challenge (Day 23-24)

Amidst my very busy schedule, I try to make time for messy fun challenge activities with the kids... the kids hardly ever reject such art time with me :)

Day 23 - Mosaic Art
Here's a mosaic art that we did using coloured paper...
Glue and mess is just what the children enjoyed most *smile*

Day 24 - Bubble Paint
What's more interesting than bubbles? Mix some detergent, food colouring (or you may use tempera paint) and water you're ready to have fun!

The two kids played with this art for over an hour... not a bad activity I feel...

I Found a Gem!!!

Was in the midst of researching for some materials for our homeschool base on the book "The Carrot Seed" and quite by accident I found myself a wonderful gem of all gems!!!
Just when hubby and I were discussing about playing audio books in the car during our travelling time on the road, I found this wonderful resource.

I heard "The Carrot Seed" on audio and it's so cute that I believe the kids would benefit from listening to it. Spare me from having to be the only one reading all the time, the kids could listen to other story tellers for a change... *smile*

I am a sucker for classic children's stories and the Kiddie Records Weekly is just the right place where I could uncover loads of stories that I like. Perfect way for making audio books cds for the kids to listen to as well...
We will be using the literature base approach in our homeschool journey and these audio books come in just right on time! In this site I've also found the audio version of the story "Madeline"... *sigh of contentment*

Hope you'd be able to find something suitable too through this website... the MP3 are completely free for download! ENJOY!!!

We Saw Dinosaurs!!!

Was at Plaza Singapura shopping earlier this week, and discovered that there's a fair on X-ploring Dino Trails going on. I knew Tim would be thrilled if he could have a "close encounter" with some live size dinos...

Brought the two kids to Plaza Singapura today, Tim was able to appreciate it better than Little Missy... great to take a look if you need some ideas of where to bring your kids to. The fair will end this weekend.

There are lots of activities for children age 5-12 to explore and learn from. One of them being this stall that sells "dino fossils" in clay where the kids could play pretend as a Paleontologist... I didn't get a set as I thought Tim was too young for this... he can't even handle the chisel and hammer well to get the fossil out teehehe...so playing with the demo set was good enough for the kid.
And here's a glimpse of how the dinos look like... very "realistic" complete with sound effects... Little Missy was scared to tears and have to be brought out of sight...

A New Journey has Begun...

We've started our homeschool curriculum planning this week. Here's a glimpse of the process and a little peek into what we might be doing... :)

The past two weeks, I've been rather busy preparing all the materials for our new journey... more updates about it later...

Homeschooling really keeps the parent/person delivering the curriculum very busy... but all for a good reason! *smile*

Little Red Riding Hood - in the making

Received an urgent order for a red cape... sounds like fun to me...

Hope to have it made within this week... *fingers crossed tight* stay tuned for the end product!

Simply Homecooked - Chicken Biriyani

Chicken Biriyani, one of my favourite Indian cuisine... something that I've been dying to learn how to make... *grin*...

Was at the wet market one morning and discovered a new Indian stall at the market selling the Garam Masala... that's when I jumped right at it to try making my very own Chicken Biriyani.

I had initially thought that the Garam Masala was a premix like Prima Taste... much to my dismay it wasn't... I still had to prepare the biriyani from scratch *fainted*

Googled for the Chicken Biriyani's recipe... and I used a combination of these two recipes - recipe 1 and recipe 2 (with modification made). I didn't put chicken meat into the rice while cooking, instead I prepared a separate curry chicken dish.

Do you think it turned out well? Not quite to be honest. The rice was too soggy, the curry chicken was too bland... eventhough the aroma of the spices filled the entire kitchen... it didn't taste as good.

I shall try it again in a few weeks' time... I'll make sure I add sufficient salt, and I shall use the rice cooker to cook the rice instead... *smile*