Leafy Turkey

We went for a long walk in the late afternoon on Friday collecting leaves and pine cones for our project (though the pine cones were wet and small, not quite what I had in mind for the bird base).  We discovered an apple tree in the Mark Twain park so picked a few apples too.  Andy requested using the apple for the bird's head. Hmm, challenging but we made it work. As Andy was helping me taping down things, he stuck the roll of tape under the apple for the base -- the boy is more creative than me.

Orchestra Concert

We went to Everett Philharmonic's family concert of the year this afternoon: "Music for the Imagination featuring Peter & the Wolf". It was a whirlwind tour from Spanish, Beethoven, Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf", to the contemporary Star Wars Medley and Stars and Stripes. The music selection and the performance quality were both great. Afterwards, the kids got to visit each selection of the orchestra!

Meet the percussion section...

The Strings

The wood winds

And the conductor!  

The conductor gave everyone a candy cane and a lesson on conducting 2,3,4 beats. Andy said that his favorite instruments were the big drums and his favorite part was the candy cane :-) .

The Tree of Gratitude

In the spirit of Thanksgiving...  We started this project last night in the heavy rain.  We brought out flashlights and went on the hunt for our tree branch.  Afterwards, Andy insisted on working on the project first instead of dinner (close to 7pm and he's usually the foodie whining for food before meal time).  So I cut out leaves while Andy brainstormed what to write on them.  He had a lot gratitudes to give.  We addd a few more and taped it all up tonight.  One of the gratitudes Andy said was for doing this project.  I seconded that.

Yesterday was an action packed and heavy rainy day.  We went to the Little School for its open house.  I like their philosophy.  We then drove to Seattle to meet up with Sarah and her kids at the Frye Art museum.  Zoe the oldest (~9 years) was quite an artist, drew in a sketch book as we looked at the pieces.  Andy was all ready to go to our next "surprise" destination (I didn't tell him where or he would have insisted on going to the second place first) when we walked in the museum, so it was a short visit.  We then had yummy dim sum, and then went by a pastry shop and a grocery (stocked up on goodies for the road trip tomorrow) in China town.  It was mid-afternoon by the time we got home and by the time we finished a couple lessons and flashcard games, it was dark already. The day went by fast!

Beads and Pomegranate

I introduced Andy to beading by showing him my small bead collection and a trip to Ben Franklin craft store last night.  He was fascinated by all the colorful beads.  He even insisted on delaying dinner so we could finish our simple earrings project last night.

We tried out my experiment of using beads to learn simple addition this morning.  We made 3 paper boxes together: 2 for operands and 1 for sum.  He put his favorite beads in each operand box and wrote x + y on paper.  He then transfered beads one by one to the sum box and recorded the sum.  See picture captions in the album below.  He was really happy when he figured out 9+9 and told me to write "good job" on his line. I wrote "great job" with smiley.  This was a lot more fun than the conventional pictorial workbook version math intro and he got the conception of addition.

For his after-dinner "surprise" (Andy loves his "surprises" after almost every meal, usually some fruit), I said it's a food surprise and project surprise.  He got all excited.  I'd been studying this book on wire jewelry so thought to try it out on pomegranate first since I never done wire before and don't have all the stones in hand.  I cut up a bunch short links of wire, Andy stringed pomegranate seeds onto them, and then I hooked up the inks (it was a pain).  I told Andy to string on 2,3, or 4 seeds on each piece.  As I linked them up into some pattern, I asked Andy to pick the next link that would fit the pattern.  It was interesting to observe a 4-year old has no trouble recognizing 2-item pattern (e.g. ABABAB), but some difficulty with 3 (e.g. ABCABC).  It was also interesting to observe how a 4 year old observes pattern: instead of keeping track of the seed count of each link, Andy recounted every line every time (e.g. 12, 123, 1234).  So I asked him to write down the count on each link and then we just looked at the count to figure out the next one.  Then my computer mind jumped in and realized we were doing an optimization to trade space for processing time: save the results instead of repeating the counting loop.  Then my artistic mind jumped in and appreciated it as a beautiful necklace.  Thanks Ma Li for the beautiful and delicious (and so multipurpose-ful :-) pomegranate.  At the end of the day, when asked what's the funniest thing today, Andy said the eatable pomegranate necklace (I'm thinking art making and games tomorrow using the rest of the pomegranate already).  We then had a real dessert of homemade apple cake with ice cream.

When I first thought of teaching Andy math a few weeks ago, I had no clue.  I soon discovered the Costco First Grade book had pictures of 1 ball, 3 balls,  and 4 balls for kids to fill in the numbers below. Andy could do it but not thrilled.  The lesson for me: be creative and use what's at hand to make subjects fun and engaging, and that should be a big criteria of teaching.

20111110BeadPomegranateMath

Kids Say the Darndest Things

The pictures below may look meaningless but are monumental to me.  I was really sleepy on Friday morning (11/04).  After I set out morning snack for Andy and went upstairs to nurse Daniel, I soon drifted off to a 20-minute nap.   40 minutes later Andy called from downstairs: "mama guess what I did?"  I smelt trouble.  I heard him running around downstairs and wondered before dozing off.  "Just a minute I'm changing Daniel."  "I'll just tell you what I did then.  I cleaned up the table and the play room!"  When I saw the cleaned-up areas I couldn't believe my eyes.  He really cleaned up.  The dining table was full of books, color pencils, and flashcards we made before (which he moved to a corner of the room neatly stacked) and the floor was full of this unfinished mosaic monkey project of hundreds of pieces (which he moved all the bits onto the couch).  I was completely surprised.  Not only for how nice of a job he did but more because I didn't say a thing about clean up!  Later in the evening when he showed Matthew all this, Matthew asked why he cleaned up.  Andy said because it was messy.  The boy is growing up faster than I know.

We made pancakes together on Sunday morning.  I was having fun with it so asked Andy to put 2 regular raisins for eyes and one golden raisin for nose declaring it a "piggy pancake" (I thought of the  "piggy sandwich" we made before).  I was munching on one while making more and a big raisin fell out of mine, so I gave it to Andy (he loves all kinds of fresh/dried fruits).  Andy looked puzzled "Do you not like raisins?"  I said I like it but I love you so I saved it for you.  A few minutes later, Andy came back to the stove and hold out one raisin and said it was for me.  Totally unexpected, I asked "what's the matter, don't you like raisins anymore?"  He answered "I like it but I love you."  I asked again "are you sure this is for me?"  He insisted.  I was touched.  Children learn compassion by example.

Fall Colors @UW Arboretum

A spare of the moment trip to see some beautiful colors on a cool crisp fall day.

Today is Daniel's last day of volunteering at the UW Speech & Hearing Lab infant study and Andy wanted to come too so we had a little outing on the west side of lake Washington. After the study we tried out this Tofu House in the U-district for Andy's first Korean dinning experience for lunch near our parking lot (good food bad service).  Andy loved all the side dishes that come with Korean meals, particularly the fish cake and green onion pancake.

I suggested walking around UW afterwards and Andy said no so we started driving back.  Just before getting on 520, I mentioned the arboretum in Chinese and Andy thought it sounded funny and so we went there instead.  Andy was excited about the many forks on the trails and the many things we saw.  It was a fun discovery of giant pine cones, big branches (he shouted out "oh this one looks like a ..." for each branch he picked up), squirrel, and lots of mushrooms which Andy insisted me taking a picture of each so I could ask Ann about what kind they were.  See pictures in the album below.

20111102Arboretum

It occurred to me that the sightseeing was analogous to life in some ways: having many forks on the road and sometimes it doesn't matter which path you take but how you walk it.  Keep a child like open and imaginative mind and notice things on the path, and it'd be a fun journey.  I must have been in my philosophical mood at the time :-)

Halloween

We went to Bellevue Art & Frames again this morning.  Andy had been eager to do this mask project since it was announced last Monday at BAF.  Unfortunately it was over by the time we got there because Daniel's 2 month checkup appointment.  Gretchen was so kind to let Andy do the project anyway.

We then went to Google afterwards since I volunteered to help out with the festivities.  Festivities began at 2pm and Andy worked on painting a pumpkin mainly (he said later tonight this was his favorite thing today).  He was a bit scared by the haunted hallway (which I thought was very nicely done).

We went on a nature walk (that turned into mostly an art gallery walk as I kept stopping in the galleries we pass by) around downtown Kirkland later in the afternoon.  Lots of kids trick&treated around the downtown business.  Andy got his chocolate fix.  We ended our walk on the peaceful marina (usually crowded, but people were gone to t&t or parties this evening).

After we got home, we did a craft project inspired by the pumpkin bean bags I saw at Sarah's (ours is not half as nice as Sarah's as I was making up stuff with materials we had).  We painted a couple of Andy's old socks that had big holes on the heels with watercolor.

  Cut off the top at the holes.  Blow dry.  Andy liked this part a lot.

Fill with rice.  Go out to collect leaves, and top off with strawberry leaves for the one didn't get enough green paint.

sock pumpkin and yellow squash

More pictures:

20111031Halloween

Second Day Homeschooling

We started out with another puzzle today.  My new concoction for morning snack (to get more fiber in, in a tasty way:) : nutty squashes topped with peanut butter and jam.  Except he ended up licking off pbj and left squashes in tact.  So I concocted another another dish in response: mushed up the squashes, added almond milk and a little crab apple jam, and heat it up to make it a dessert soup to go with meals.  This was well received :)

We did a few alphabet, logic and math games from a couple of English Kindergarden and first grade books I got from Costco today.  I let him drive mostly in terms of picking which ones to do and kept him interested by treating them as games instead of workbooks.  I was impressed by his analytical ability with logic pattern type of material.  I feel like I'm getting to know his developmental details better with this process.

We did a nature walk after lunch near home today.  We found lots of mushrooms!  I'm pretty excited about learning more about mushroom identification from my friend Ann.

Andy spent half the afternoon with his Dad while I went for an appointment for Daniel.  In the evening Andy decided to lay out all the homemade flashcards in a line and ended up with a longer sentence than mine (good way reviewing eh?).

I find the key in schooling is to keep agenda flexible and fun.  It goes a lot better when it's driven by the child's interest. The last couple days also have plenty of frustrations but when I look back the fun moments much outweighed the difficult ones (e.g. bathroom accidents, veggie eating bargaining).  I got my dose of patience training looking from the positive view :-).

Homeschooling at a Try and Observations on the 4 Year Old

I thought a lot about homeschooling recently.  I used to think homeschooling equates inflicting unnecessary pain on oneself (formed in the pre-kids era).  Learning about public school system from Ann and observing Sarah and her children made me realize good individualized instruction can bring out so much potential in the child and it can be fun not to mention rewarding.  The social aspect of homeschool is quite a misnomer (Sarah's kids are most well behaved and sharing I've seen).   Recognizing it's for a limited precious stage in a child life makes me want to take it on for a period of time.  But the selfish part of me and fear for the work and patience required make me not to.  In reality I probably won't.  But at least I'm gaining a lot more appreciation in the process of understanding and trying it out.  Even though I was with Andy everyday but today I learned so much more about him.  Another lesson for me today:  I get much more out of it when I'm fully present for whatever the limited time I have with the children (or anything else for that matter).

We experimented with homeschooling today as we got up late, Andy didn't want to go to school and that I was inspired by Sarah.  We started out with a new puzzle.  I gave some hints helping him getting started and he completed by himself.  He was a little surprised and quite excited when it all came together.

We then worked on making our own flashcards (out of vanilla folder) for new words occurred frequently in this Chinese game book we've been doing one game a day at bedtime reading time (which he does the reading nowadays).  I thought it'd be nice not to get stumbled on the same unknown characters all the time.  I asked him to pick the color and I wrote the words.  After enough characters we laid out the cards to make sentences.  I'm always amazed by how fast he learns words.  I realize one benefit of individualized schooling: you can go as fast as the child absorbs the material.

We then ran out of door for the 11am yoga class.  Andy followed the poses for the first 15minutes and then decided to just sit on his mat for the most part and observed with a big grin.  Others commented how lucky I was having two so well behaved boys at yoga (Daniel slept through the whole hour again).


We watched this 18 minute video by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor (and other silly videos) on my phone while he waited for me nursing.  It's about a nuroanatomist's personal experience of brain hemorrhage.  I find it fascinating.  Also amused that Andy watched the whole thing so intently (I explained some while watching).

After lunch we did a nature walk, which turned out to be longer as we decided to head to the library.  It was a lovely sunny day for it.  On the way back to the car, we both complained about tiring (1.5 miles as I looked on google maps afterwards, a bit heavy for carrying a 10 lb baby plus books in one hand and whining Andy in the other).

It was after 3 by the time we got home.  Andy agreed to some quiet time.  I was amazed he stayed in the room for a full hour (though not quiet).  I heard a lot of banning and learned later that he was playing hurricane in bed.  I also heard him reading (or making up stories) books a lot.  The rest of the afternoon went by quickly.  We reviewed the flashcards and did another game out of the Chinese book.  He did the Dr. Seuss puzzle again all by himself while I cooked.  He then suggested we do it together for another round and discovered half way "I don't need mama's help any more."  I like that smile.


After lights out, Andy told me his favorite thing of the day was yoga and that he was most grateful for  mama didn't send him to school.  I said I was also most grateful that we got to spend the day together and that there were lots of my favorites today: him completing the puzzle by himself, our walk, yoga, him figuring out one of the pattern games by himself, the brain video we watched together, etc.  I find I become happier and more grateful realizing there were so many good little moments in a day when I try to come up with such summary list.

I realize by the end of the day that instead of calling it formally "homeschooling" (which sounds a little daunting to me), it's just me spending quality time with Andy with some learning emphasis.  I'm still learning his interests at this 4 year old stage and how to engage him.  I continue to be amazed by his long attention span when observing new things and his much better developed logic reasoning now compared to a year ago (yes have to reason with him instead of giving instruction now).  I also realize I've always had this teaching opportunity in smaller doses on other days too. But often times I would either be busy showing him stuff (festivals, parties, hikes, etc) or not fully present (in a rush to make a reasonable bed time or worrying about splitting time for work or art).  Today it was all about having a few activities in mind and then just play by ear about what to do next, so I was able to appreciate the time together without the rush.

A Day With the Szymczaks

Today we hung out with the Szymczaks.  Sarah is a mom who I'm getting to know recently.  She home-schools 3 children wonderfully and does a ton of amazingly creative crafts (sewing, knitting, etc).  We went to her house mid morning and joined their natural walk.  Zoe is a future biologist: she got busy finding mushrooms and identifying plants.  We had a fun time exploring in the wood.  Andy got his first bee sting but he was a trooper.  Zoe found a plantain plant and helped putting the leave on Andy's stung finger to sooth the pain.  It was pretty effective.  I did not know about plantain leave's medicinal use before.

We then had snack and participated in the arts & crafts session.  The kids made lanterns out of canning glass jars and colorful tissue paper.

Lunch was a full spread of yummy homemade dishes.  They made a honey multigrain bread together the day before.  The pumpkin soup and squash carrot casserole were filled with the fall season flavor.  After lunch we headed to the Children's Museum in Everett.  The kids all loved that.  I enjoyed talking with Sarah learning about homeschooling and her teaching philosophy.

After we got home, Andy and I worked on the take-home halloween project form the museum.

Tonight I was inspired by Sarah: made bread with Andy and put some craft supplies on the shopping list :-) .  Spending time with them was not only fun but also left me feeling cozy, peaceful and inspired.

20111026WithSzymczaks

Plein Air at Night!

As crazy as this may sound, Andy has been painting out in the porch light for like 45minutes (it's 7:30pm and dark out).  He made one painting for me, and said he's working on one for Daniel and one for Matthew.  He instructed me to go out paint the trees across the street.  I thought it was crazy but followed his instruction anyways.  Inspiration stroke -- I found a scenery of beautifully back-lit fall colors!  I drew in excitement.  When Matthew came home, he was called to participate too as I wanted some reference photo of the colors (and then he got into shooting Andy painting).

We had talked about painting outside this afternoon on our morning walk to school.  It ended up late as usual (Andy wanted dinner first), so I thought we were going to skip it.  I'm so glad we didn't because now I got another painting idea in my head (so many ideas so little time).  At bed time, I have this ritual with Andy talking about most/least favorite/most grateful things/etc of the day.  I said I was most grateful that he got me out painting tonight.  And he said he's most grateful that Matthew took pictures of him painting.

See the "M" on the lower right corner?  Andy says this one is for mama. 

Masterpiece Mondays at Bellevue Art & Frame shop And Toy Place

 I've been taking advantage of the leave to do projects with Andy (when I have the spare energy).  I take him to Bellevue Art & Frame shop's "Master Piece Mondays" sometimes and have been completely fascinated by children's imagination and creativity.   Gertrude, the lady who runs the program is also incredibly patient and nurturing in leading children to try out new things and getting them to talk about their ideas.  I also have to highly recommend the shop as it has very thoughtful toys at reasonable price.
I first took both kids there when Daniel was 2 weeks.  We did acrylic painting.  I was so happy getting my painting fix too (been suffering from painting withdraw) and so impressed to see children's paintings so much more wildly creative than mine.  I love listening to them talking about their works.  This is one of Andy's paintings.

It didn't mean anything until Gertrude got Andy talk about what it was about -- Seahorse eating watermelon!
Today we did collage.  One girl said she was doing a monster in the garden and that might have influenced Andy's work: he said he was going to do a ghost.  Gertrude brought out some "plastic eyes" and Andy completed his work of "3 eyed ghost".

More of his works are here (will add more pictures as we go to more sessions).

Master Piece Mondays at BAF & Toy Place

Andy Turns 4

20111009Andy4thBday

Andy had multiple birthday cakes starting the celebration early since Friday's treat time at his preschool.  We went to Whidbey island for Whidbey Annual Artists Open Studio tour on Saturday, and then the kids birthday party in the evening.  Joe took him to a farm on Sunday and Andy enjoyed the pony ride.

The Little Photographer

Andy took a lot pictures (some turned out nicely) when we had Mary and Tao over for maternity shots.
He likes taking pictures and has gotten good at getting sharp images.  We are often intrigued by his angle of views -- it's truly seeing the world from a child's eyes.

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Yoga

Andy showed Guoguo yoga and the two did a good long Iyengar power session following TV. 

Pig Jam Sandwich

A story book we read recently had a simple recipe for making a pig shaped sandwich using jam and raisin (we substituted blackberries for bigger eyes).

Guoguo sleep over

We skipped out of school in the middle of the day to go to the Great Play of Redmond for a free play class offer.  They had a great time.  Guoguo liked it so much that the next morning he said "I want to go to the new school".

Guoguo brought his pillow and the two finally made the sleepover happening tonight (last time when they tried, Guoguo cried for home when it came to lights out time).  They had fig infused spinach cucumber salad, salmon buckwheat pancake, noodle, and bao zi for dinner.  The two ate really well so they got to have kiwi blackberry popsicle (made by themselves) for dessert.  We did some flashcards afterwards and it was time for bed already.  They talked long after lights out...

The next morning they played quietly for close to an hour in the room and built a sophisticated fortress.

Moses Lake Camping

Andy's first camping experience... And he wants to do it again tonight!
We took yesterday (Friday) off and drove 3 hours east of the cascades to this little town called Moses Lake. We had a late start and got there in the afternoon. We checked out the nice "Surf 'n Slide Water Park" and then walked around the downtown a little bit. We then drove half hour to this Pothole state park, next to a beautiful shoreline. Very gorgeous scenery and not crowded like Seattle beaches.