Learning

We don't let the kids have too much screen time. I was in Phnom Penh with them a month or so ago and was in a workshop so out of necessity allowed them unrestricted time on the computer for two days! They watched movies and played on Scratch. Scratch is a kids programming program allowing them to make up little moving pictures with sound etc. Amelie learned how to use this during her few months at the computer class at the local primary school.

Well Jarrah is always begging to be allowed to play on the computer. She usually wants to play Scratch. At home I prefer just to say no, so she knows it is not an option. It is just much simpler, as usually, when it comes time to end, or she gets frustrated - we end up in tears.

She still hasn't got it in her head that it is not an option. The latest ploy has been, "I just want to show you the picture that we did last time!" We had had a productive morning and the afternoon was spent making a kite and a wall chart for letters for Jarrah (sewing!). She was begging again. I said, "Scratch is too hard for you, you don't know how to use the program." She replied, "Well that is how I learn, I need to use it!" Good point. She is a good arguer. So, I gave in. 10 minutes. It always ends up with Jarrah asking Amelie something, "How do I get the background" or something like that. Amelie hops on and works on the project for the rest of the time. Time is up. Jarrah cries, "Amelie used up all my time!!" Today was no different.

Yesterday we started in on Jarrah's school. I think she has been feeling a little neglected with me spending a lot of time teaching Amelie and leaving her to play by herself. Her attention getter is "I'm hungry" every 20 minutes or less. So I got out some workbooks I have been keeping for her and asked her if she wanted to start school.

I had tried this a month earlier with another book - 100 easy lessons to reading or something. She wasn't impressed at all and not at all interested. But this latest workbook seems to have got her motivated. She was even asking to do more lessons this evening at 5:30pm. We'll see how long this keeps up for. Not trying to push her as i don't see any need for her to really start school, but mostly I want her to feel included and to have something constructive to do - if that is what she wants. It is quite cute seeing her sitting there, all excited about her book, asking for more!

Amelie's experiment for the day was kite making. I got home from my run (/walk!!) at 6:30 am and she was outside trying to cut up bamboo to make the frame for her kite. She had actually gotten dressed already (an aside - the other morning I slept in and when I woke up at 6.30am, she told me she had already been to the ball field by our place - in her night attire still (panties only! it is really hot right now)). So very surprising to see her dressed already! Anyway, this afternoon I got my sewing machine out and sewed up a kite. Tried to. Assembled it, and the two went to the ball field (both dressed this time, also something for Jarrah who has been spending her hot days in panties!) No luck with the kite flying. It is not windy season. But I should go out with them tomorrow to try again.

Last learning for the day. I have been doing this fairly intensive grammar program with Amelie. She gets it all and seems to be having no problems at all. It is kind of coming back for me too, although I don't think there is too much more that I know than what she is being taught right now. While teaching this, I am constantly wondering why, why, why do I need to teach grammar. Why did I choose to teach grammar. I am way too easily persuaded. I read one book and say, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Then I read another (contradictory) book and also agree. I talk to people who also easily persuade me this way or that. Grammar is one of those topics. This program was a recommendation from someone I talked to, once. Anyway, other things I have read is that kids don't need grammar if they are native English speakers and are exposed to good books and lots of reading.
Well, today, I learned something! There are three types of pronouns! Subject, Object and Possessive pronouns. Possessive is obvious. But it is important that the subject and object pronouns are used correctly! For example..

Me and Amelie went shopping today. (obviously wrong)
Amelie and I went shopping.

"I" being the object pronoun and "me" being a subject pronoun.

This is what has never really been clear to me - or I have never really thought about it, nor understood. Maybe I regularly make mistakes in my speech and writing, who knows!

Ben took a picture of me and Amelie.
Ben took a picture of Amelie and I.

I guess the latter really doesn't sound right. But now I know why!
And.. should it be "...me and Amelie" or "Amelie and me" ????

Well that is my learning for the day. I guess we'll keep on the grammar for this year and see how much more we need to do!
Signing off..

Poy (1998- ? )

We have a chicken who we call Poy.  We call her Poy because she was given to us by our friend Ming Poy when we first moved to our house in 2002.  When we got her, she was about 4 years old.  That puts her to the grand old age of 15.  I think that is pretty old for a chicken.  She was always a very good mother and looked after her chicks very well.  She’d take in other chicks whose mothers were not so good.  She is still alive and kind of wanders around under the house.  She is blind and so can’t see to peck very well so every day she gets placed in the rice barrel so she can eat as much as she can.  Also has to be placed right next to the water to be able to drink.  I came home from the market this morning to find her in the middle of the driveway.  Had to stop the car and move her.  She has the most horrid feet, rivalling Ben’s (by the way, Ben keeps telling me how nice his feet are compared to the villagers he is working with every day).  We have for these 11 years been calling her Poy when actually her owner’s name is “Bpo-ey.”  Subtle but definite difference in Khmer.  Ben called Ming Bpoey “Poy” the other day and everyone laughed. 

So just wanted to remember this faithful chicken here in case anything happens to her in the next little while. 

Another exciting event with our poultry has been the hatching of 3 baby peacocks.  Actually I’m counting my eggs before they hatch.. I mean one.  One was piercing the egg this morning and hopefully the last will come soon.  We have a number of pecock eggs of various vintages under a number of hens.  Hopefully they will all survive.  We also have some non-fertile peahens laying eggs which is a shame since we only have one male and are worried he will do something bad to the other peahens if they are put together.  Ben just eats those eggs!   

Ben's Forest Project

Hi family, anyone out there reading this!  Obviously I haven't been keeping this updated.  I will try, maybe.  However in the meantime this little project over here has been keeping us busy and I have been trying to document the process.

again.. www.bensforestproject.blogspot.com

The Golden Age

It has always been a chore to get Amelie to do her writing assignments for me.  Well, I've been reading a new book on the classical model for education that says that from 1st to 4th Grade, creative writing IS difficult and that the process of formulating thoughts and getting them down on paper is separate, and something that only comes with time.  So, they stress that in the early grades, you can use the narration technique to teach kids how to think through what they want to say and the parent copies that out for them.

Well, I did that the other day, with this result.

I asked Amelie to read a chapter in her history book and summarise it, for me to write out.  This is the result.  Not bad in my opinion!

After the battle which the Persians and Greeks had made, that time was the most wonderful time in the history of Greece, perhaps Europe.  That time was called the Golden Age, from 480 to 430 BC.  The city of Athens had been burned down by Xerxes, king of Persia.  But the Athenians went back and built the city again, this time much more beautiful than the old one had been.  They built a temple in houour to the goddess Athenia.  In the middle of the temple there was a statue of the goddess Athenia made out of pure gold.  But a man named Phidiaz carved a picture of himself and one of his friends on the statue of Athenia.  When the Athenians found it, they were so mad that he had drawn a picture of a human being on a goddess, that they put him in prison, and there he died.

Pericles wrote the first history of the world; about faraway lands such as in Egypt and other lands in Africa.  There was a disease called a plague that killed people like poisoned flies.  That disease came upon Athens and the Athenians died by the thousands.  Pericles nursed the sick.  But he soon caught the plague and died. 

This happened at the end of the Golden Age, which has been called in honour of the greatest man, the Age of Pericles.

Another one

Jarrah:  sitting at the dinner table (without any attire - Ben has been looking after her this week and she had just had a bath - and greeted me at the door (sans clothes) - we then proceeded to dinner (sans clothes)... at the table she makes this statement:

"When God comes I'm going to be ready."
Then, a minute later, "I'm going to get dressed."

3 Year Olds

Jarrah was getting dressed yesterday.  She was going with Ben to Jombok Haos for the day.  We have a volunteer out there from the States named Phil.  Jarrah chooses a dress to wear.  She normally chooses to wear her old and very old favourite clothes but today she chose a dress.  She tells me, "I want to wear a dress so that when I see Phil, I look pretty."  What have I got growing in my house??!

Another thing happened that day at Jombok Hoas.  Ben related this story to me.  The kids and Ben and the staff were sitting down to lunch.  Jarrah is talking about bucks and does.   She asks Ben what a Buck is and Ben throws the question back to her.  She asks what a doe is and Ben throws the question back again. She knows all the answers.  She then asks Ben, "How do you mate?"  Ben gets embarrassed and asks again what her question was, thinking she would ask about the deer.  She repeats what she originally asked.  Ben doesn't answer straight away.  Amelie then whispers into Jarrah's ear, "that isn't a good question to ask."  hmmmmmm....

Amelie

I am trying to write up an Annual Plan for the new project I am working on.  It is a rather big document.  Amelie is getting the short end of the stick with us now being on homeschool "essentials" only.  We did have a pretty productive morning this morning despite this.  I didn't get too much work down though.  Amelie goes to the local school for one hour a day to attend computer class.  She went this afternoon and came home at about 3pm.  She lay down on my bed with her backpack still on and picked up a book of Greek Myths.  She loves this book.  And read it for the next two hours.  After I remembered she had some workbook work to finish off, I asked her to finish up.  She finished up (after asking if she could finish 3 more pages of the chapter).  She then ate three bananas (that takes a while - although they are very little bananas).  Then she had to find a very particular pencil.  She said she had given it to me before lunch to put away (I can't remember!?!).  I had to convince her she could use another pencil.  Eventually after a very long discussion about that, she goes to get another pencil.  She then sharpens the pencil (out the window - hey, pencil shavings are biodegradable!)  She drops the pencil sharpener out the window.  She goes to retrieve the pencil sharpener.  She comes back.  Forgets where she left her pencil.  Finally, finds her pencil and starts her work.  Is that procrastination or what!?