Exploration - The great outdoor challenge

Day 8

Today was in the 50's so the water was "freezing" in the stream according to J. But W was esp. brave and was the first one to go into the stream and explored different entry points.
This will probably be my last post for a while since we are leaving for China so ready for some picture overload.

This is the beginning...
Getting braver... intently watching
the duck who was also in the streamCrossing... there were lots of mosquitoes but no stopping W
Made it!
I'm going to the other side...
After getting his sleeve wet and one slip, W tries to cross in different parts of the stream
coming back

Did it! This is so fun.Leading the way...

W stayed quite a bit longer than J and really explored.

J conquers her fears and finally goes to the big rock via the little rocks. That was her goal. Then she was off to the park to play.
Running/rolling on the hills up and down prior to all this was a great work out! W says his lungs was "bursting"!

Hopefully, I'll be able to upload some pic while in China. If not, I'll be back later to continue The Great Outdoor Challenge.

Combining classical education with discovery learning

I believe in discovery learning (Enki is a good example) and I also believe in classical education (Classical Conversations is a good example) and strive to combine them whenever possible. Here are a few recent examples.

This is a page from MEP 2nd yr and it asks the student to write a multiplication and division about the pictures.

When J attempted to do this by herself w/o the linking cubes, she didn't get it correct. So I asked her to go build the actual model and from there she was able to figure out the solution by herself. (She was always counting an extra one and thought the face in the front corner should be included in the # of times)

At this stage of the game in classical education for my children who are 7 and 6 y.o, the emphasis on memorization. This week in Classical Conversations, for math, the children are expected to memorize the distributive law of a*(b+c)= a*b+a*c. So what I did prior to class is give them each 2 blue and 3 orange m&m's and ask them to figure out how to figure out the total # of m&m's they have altogether. Both kids easily figured it out and proved the law for themselves. But substituting the a, b, c give both children a little trouble. But hopefully, they'll always remember the m&m's when it comes to the distributive law.

The founder of Classical Conversation, Leigh Bortins, wrote a book called "Echo in Celebration- A call to home-centered education" which I highly recommended. That was my first book on classical education and love it.

Again, in Classical Conversation, each week, the child is expected to memorize some geographical information. For last week, it was Canadian waters and they include "Great Bears Lake, Great Slave Lake, Hudson Bay, Labordor Sea and Baffin Bay." So I asked the children to find it for themselves on this inflatable globe. This is great exercise for W, esp. not too long ago, he gets little confused between what state we live and what country we live in. But doing this has greatly helped his geography knowledge.

We do the same for this week's geography- South America (west). I'm learning just as much as the kids do. :)
Of course, all work and no play would leave anyone pretty dull, so here is J playing with the linking cubes. She made a giraffe and is working on a baby giraffe right now.

Tag, you are it! : The great outdoor challenge

Day 7

I almost forgot, J just lost both of her top tooth within days of each other (Finally)

Star Lantern

Thanks to the wonderful tutorial of CHILDHOOD MAGIC, we made star lanterns today. I'm short on time but next time we'll use our watercolor paper and oil it so it will look even better. Other than the last part, where I had to help the kids with making the actual stars, they followed me well.

This is W wanting to experiment to see what happens if he puts another star lantern on top. Later, he wore the two other star lanterns as his ear ring. Of course, he won't let me take any pictures of it. LOL! They are also not using these as candle holders but as "boats" and "shelter". :) Good thing they are easy to make.

car wash- great outdoor challenge

Day 6

My two loves to wash cars and today was a nice day to do it.
The car sure needed one.

math links on mastery vs. spiral

This is for myself to but also for anyone interested in the topic of mastery vs. spiral discussion and also about MEP.

It all started with a post by A Peaceful day about Is MEP compatible with CM? I first read her first post on MEP when I joined the MEP yahoo group.

Then there is discussion of spiral vs. mastery by Silvia in Homeschooling in a Bilingual Home which I was really intrigued.
part I
part II
part III

which led me to Living Math! and

more about literature based math books and mathemagic

and to Susan Lemon's book on Homepreschool and Beyond

and to the post of "Math, MEP Charlotte Mason and Mastery"on Science of Relations

and to Liping Ma's book of Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers' Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States (studies in Mathematical Thinking and Learning Series)
(It's interesting since she also have a Chinese language study program for children which J used in her Chinese school)
*Silvia summarized the chapter in Ma's about regarding teaching to mastery in China in part II of her post on mastery vs spiral.

Sand Play: The great outdoor challenge

Day 5

Through J's Lense: The great outdoor challenge

I was too busy to go outside with the kids today so I asked J's to take pictures of their adventure outside.

But they did get their dose of exercise through an almost 2 hour indoor soccer play through "days of health" sponsored by our local community in lieu of their usual Friday free swim days. I was surprised the kiddos had such good energy, running non-stop for that long.

Day 4

J's photos of their adventure outdoor.

Others that are participating The Great Outdoor Challenge:

lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey

{this moment}

From SouleMama

"{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. "

Wishing you a lovely weekend!

*** *** ***

Night Walk: The great outdoor challenge

Day 3


We like taking lantern walks in the night, esp. in the early fall or summer. Usually we like to gaze at the stars, talk about the moon and even get out daddy's telescope. But today it was freezing (low 40s) , esp. compared to days previously in the 80s but we still managed a short walk in the night when most children are already in dream land. I had to coax J out since she already walked with daddy and W while I was getting my hair done in the evening.

But with the lure of some new beeswax candle I brought recently, she walked with me and agreed to 1 picture. BTW, I don't find the beeswax candles smelling different and this is suppose to be 100% pure beeswax. At least it kept J's hand warm and the walk certainly refreshed me. :)

Others that are playing:

lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, renee, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c

p.s It took me a little while to figure out I can copy and link all the participants. LOL

Getting ready for China

We have been busy shopping, cleaning and getting ready for our China trip.

Today, we watched "Kai-Lan's great trip to China" where she visits "gu nai-nai"(great aunt) and a baby panda in China. I know it's for little kids but it was good to give my kids few more vocabulary words like, "kai-xin = happy", "gen wo lai= follow me","hu tou xie= tiger shoe", etc. The show also emphasized "trying some new, because you might like it" which I know will be important for the kids when going to any new places, esp. a new country. So it was worth watching it for us.


We have also been looking at the tours we'll be taking for our China trip and learning the Chinese names as well as the English names and learning a little history about the various places we'll be visiting provided in the travel guide.

The children also love to play "shopping" in which they buy/sell stuff using "yuan" (Chinese currency) and practices bargaining in Chinese. A favorite phrase, "tai gui le!" (too expensive) :)

icon of China: Chairman Mao

I also did a key word "China" search in our library system for children's books (that's also how I found Kai-Lan) a while ago so they have been reading and listening to a lot of books to learn more about China culturally.

A few of the books we like that come to mind include,

1. The Long-haired girl by Doreen Rappaport
2. Liu and the Bird (A journey in Chinese calligraphy) by Catherine Louis
3. The Travel game by John Grandits (this is a book about a boy who plays imaginary "travel game" with his aunt and in the book, they travel to HongKong) W really wants to play the travel game; think that will have wait until we come back from China.

Rain and New Life: The great outdoor challenge:

Day 2

W notices the many worms that are coming out. J finally says, STOP! :)

( To learn more about the Great Outdoor Challenge, click on icon on the left side bar)

Digging: The great outdoor challenge

This is challenge from Lisa and I'm playing along. The challenge is in honor of Children and Nature Awareness Month and asks us to "go outside everyday, rain or shine; then take a picture each day, for the rest of April, of your children outdoors and post it. Just a single picture will do (HA!I will have problem with this one); words aren’t even necessary. Lets spread the word and go outdoors!". To learn more, click here.

Everyday, I will share a picture until we leave for China 4/14. When I come back, I'll share the pictures of us in China for the rest of April. I have been told by relatives in China that they are blocked from viewing blogs, at least the ones hosted by blogger. So I will check to see if its really true when I'm there and if not, maybe I can post the pictures while in China.

Day 1