Learning about the novel coronavirus outbreak

Singapore reported 4 cases of local transmission of the novel coronavirus yesterday. Hand sanitizers and masks are sold out islandwide. The death toll in China continues to rise. The news reports keep pouring in. Given the deluge of information and alarming reports, it is normal to feel anxious and worried. I think our kids are feeling it too, as they try to grapple with bits and pieces of information about the outbreak, while trying to follow instructions to wear masks and wash their hands.

As I chatted with the hubs over dinner about the situation a week ago, I realised that the kids were trying to understand what was happening, but were finding it hard because all they had were snippets from our conversations at dinner. That was when I decided I had to be intentional about discussing with them about the outbreak. I started sharing about the discussions we had with the kids, and the resources we used over on my IG account, and the response I received was overwhelming. Many wanted me to do a blog post, which makes for greater accessibility and easier reading, so here I am, writing in my almost extinct blog. 

Knowledge is power. In this case, a child that is armed with understanding would be better able to think through and process the news rationally, and manage their feelings of anxiety or stress about the situation. Here are some things you could discuss/do with your kids:

For the preschoolers:

- Explain to them (in simple terms) about the outbreak in China, and how it has spread to other countries. Borrow and read books on microbes (I especially like the book "Tiny" by Nicola Davies).

- Help them to understand that some germs cause disease, and that we can take steps to limit the spread of germs. You could download and print a pictorial guide to discuss with the kids, such as this really cute one on @dumo.art (this is in English and Chinese), or this one by local artist @weimankow. If your kids prefer an animated version, here's a pretty good video on how germs spread:

- You could also try demonstrating how germs spread, such as using glitter glue on hands as shared by IG mamas @2mamas4kids over in this post, to drive home the importance of regular hand washing.

- Have them look up affected countries on a world map/globe. (J3 and J4 learnt how China is the country that is shaped like a chicken, and they hunted for other countries on the map.)

- Give them time to process the information. They may even incorporate parts of what they have learnt into their play, as a way of trying to deal with all they have learnt, and that can be used as a springboard for further discussions with them. In our case, J3 and J4 spent time playacting being sick with the virus, and visiting the hospital. 

For more ideas, hop over to these IG mamas' posts:

- Sing Yun (@playfull.sg) shares her learning unit in this post.

- Joey (@playlexue) lists various useful bilingual terms relating to the virus here.

- Jasmine (@3mm.montessori) shares some activities to try for kids under and above 6 years old in this post.

For the primary schoolers:

Give the kids hard data and facts, and discuss the news with them (BBC has a pretty good visual summary here). I find that many kids would like to try to make sense of what is happening, but are not given the information or tools. My older boys especially jumped at the opportunity to wrestle with big numbers and ideas, and I learnt that kids are capable of thinking more deeply, if we are able to given them the info and guidance that they need. This in turn, helps them to think though the situation rationally, and deal with any anxiety or fears that they are feeling (in a sense, it's a little like shining a light to show them that the spooky shadow in their room is just some clothes hanging up on a hook). Here's some of the things we dived into:

Science: Understanding how things work in the outbreak

We read about microbes and watched this video to learn about germ theory. (More info and discussion questions on the topic can be found here.) Those in Primary school would also learn about microbes in their Science lessons, but not much is covered about infectious diseases, so reading up beyond the syllabus would be helpful in adding to their understanding. 

The older kids learnt about how the virus jumped from animals to infect humans (this video is great for explaining how that jump is made). We also looked at how the isolation rooms in the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) work, from the use of negative pressure, HEPA filters and ultraviolet rays, to the function of double doors and personal protection equipment (The Straits Times has an excellent graphic on this, which you can view here.). Learning about these things helped to reassure them that things were still under control.

Language: Finding meaning in reports and articles

Prior to this the kids had read very little news reports, so the different style of writing required me to do some explaining for more complex sentences. We looked up difficult words so they could understand better, such as "pandemic", "epidemic", and other scientific terms. 

Geography: Getting a sense of where and the range of the outbreak

We looked up countries and cities that were mentioned in newspaper articles. They noted countries linked to China by land, and how these borders were closed. The kids saw how air travel made the virus spread quickly all over the world. (A useful resource would be Channel News Asia's map that tracks the number of cases around the world.)

Math: Getting an idea of the size and the severity of the outbreak

The news kept reporting the number of cases and the death toll, but little was mentioned about the mortality rate and the trends observed. J1 worked on getting the data into a table, and learnt how to calculate the mortality rate, and then plotted the rate on a graph to see if there was a trend. We also compared it against SARS and MERS and discovered that nCoV was less lethal (with a mortality rate of approximately 2%, versus SARS 10% and MERS 34%). We referred to the graph of number of cases and deaths over on this Channel News Asia page (you need to scroll to the bottom to see it).  

J1 learnt so much along the way as we crunched numbers. He learnt how looking at overall numbers does not give a proper basis of comparison, how data can be represented in tables but are limited in their ability to show trends, how graphs can help one to pick up patterns, how different graphs are used to represent different types of data. He also felt less anxious after discovering that the mortality rate was much lower, and that the rate actually dropped after an initial spike.

This was the table and graph that J1 drew. We discussed the reasons for the spike in the earlier days:
Perhaps the virus  was more lethal when it was transmitted from the original source of infection, but became
less lethal with community spread, leading to a dip in the mortality rate. The rate has more or less
remained constant thereafter at around 2%. We also discussed why a less lethal virus might have
greater transmission rates, which results in a greater overall number of infected cases. 

For the tweens/teens:

- For the older kids, take the opportunity to talk about social issues. Discuss with them about how fear arises from a lack of understanding, and results in ugly behaviour such as racist acts. Read together about the wildlife trade in China and its challenges (this is a good read for starters). Showcase our heroes, from our SAF servicemen packing masks for distribution, to the doctors who worked through the SARS epidemic previously. 

- Discuss with the older ones about how we need to be discerning and evaluate the reliability of the news we read. For a good read on the misinformation being spread about the virus, please click here. What I am planning to do is to pull out some fake news articles, and teach the kids how to check the reliability of the information. Here's a good video on how to do so:

- Some kids may also be interested in researching about the history of infectious diseases, as well the advances made in medicine to combat them. This video on pandemics gives a good overview of pandemics across history, and is also accompanied by review questions and more information which you can access here. The research could be summarised into a timeline.

All in all, we need to be intentional about giving our kids the necessary skills and understanding to help them to process what has been happening, and I hope the resources above might be of help. That being said, we also need to remember that they are children, and not overburden them with too much information. Some kids may get more anxious when reading the news, while others relish the additional info, so it is up to us as parents to discern how much is beneficial for them, and shield them from the rest. For Christian parents, do also take time to pray with them about this, and commit their fears into His hands. May we have wisdom, and be able to act in love during this time of crisis!

PS: I will continue to share useful resources or activities in my IG stories over @justtey, so do hop over for more!

Making math fun

Hello March, I can't believe you are here! These days, life has been so full, and it's been hard to find time to do any writing. However, amidst the mess and mayhem of each day, we've been making slow, steady progress with regards to homeschooling, and these days both Junior J and Lil J do a certain amount of seat work on weekdays.

For those who have been reading this blog for awhile, you would know that we've been using Math U See for our main curriculum (you can click here to read more about the curriculum). Math U See has been great for helping them to get a good foundation in Math, but I admit it is pretty dry. Junior J more or less just bulldozes through his math work each day, and he's currently learning multiplication (we are at the Gamma level for Math U See now).

Learning multiplication can get pretty boring, and I felt like math these days was starting to feel like a chore. I really wanted to make math more interesting, so I went searching for ways to make multiplication more fun for Junior J. In my search, I came across the concept of multiplication circles (from this post), which lets kids make patterns based on the times tables, using yarn. It seemed like an interesting way to let the kids practice their skip counting and multiplication (the younger kids can just wrap the yarn by counting in 2s/3s/4s etc without having to memorize the actual numbers for skip counting), so I made our own circle using an IKEA cork coaster and small nails. Most DIY multiplication circles are made using a piece of wood or an embroidery hoop, but I thought a coaster would be easier, since this meant I could push the nails in without needing to hammer them. The older two had fun making the patterns, and I loved that it was a kinaesthetic way of learning how to skip count! (And in case someone asks, the multiplication target circle worksheets pictured above are from this site.)

That aside, I introduced the concept of spirolaterals to Junior J (this is probably suitable for older kids from six and up). Spirolaterals basically are spiral patterns that are drawn using the times table, and different times tables yield different patterns (you can get a good guide to drawing them from this post). Junior J was fascinated, and couldn't wait to work out all his times tables so that he could see what kind of patterns would result! It was really interesting to see the different patterns slowly forming, and the boy really loved colouring them.

And since we were on the topic of spirals, I decided to introduce the concept of Fibonacci numbers for the fun of it. We mapped out the sequence on graph paper and I showed Junior J the spiral that resulted. He was intrigued and was really excited to see how this spiral is found in so many natural structures in nature, and how frequently Fibonacci numbers appear in nature (eg. the number of petals in a flower). (This is a good read if you would like to find out more.)

All in all, we (myself included) had quite a bit of fun working on these activities, and it made learning math pretty fun as well as more meaningful. I'm hoping to do more of such activities in the future!

PS: These activities aside, we've been supplementing our math learning with the Life of Fred books (you can read more here). Life of Fred has been great, since it introduces math through stories, but do note it cannot be a stand-alone curriculum for teaching math. 

Homeschool: The first month

The first month of 2016 is almost done, and we're two weeks away to Baby #4's EDD! I admit I don't feel ready for her arrival, even though this is our fourth child. Perhaps it's because we have so much going on right now at home: homeschool, the new house, decluttering, and dealing with all those heart issues for our little boys. It has been quite a tough month, with everyone falling sick, but I know God has been gently leading us through. 

I did mention we might be moving in a few months time, but didn't really elaborate since everything was still in the works. We're excited to share that we've sold off our place, and we managed to find a house that suits all our needs. We had to apply for approval to purchase the place, as hubby is only a permanent resident here, and after three over weeks of nail-biting waiting, we've received news that our application is successful. Thank God! It means the next few months will be a rather hectic period of more decluttering, packing and settling renovations, but I am so thankful that we will have a larger space for the kids to grow into. Homeschooling in our current place has been a tad challenging, since the boys sometimes are bouncing off the walls, and need space to spread out. That aside, the move would really force me to tidy and declutter, which is something we really need to do!

Homeschooling has been going on at a slow but steady pace. Most are surprised when they find out that Junior J only gets about one to two hours of sit-down lessons a day, and that the younger two don't really get lessons at all! However, that's all I think I can manage each day, since there's also the household chores and cooking to be done, and Junior J isn't able to sit down for so long. We aim for short lessons, and we've been working on Chinese, Math and Science. Chinese has been the biggest challenge, so right now it has just been a lot of reading aloud to him, and trying to get him conversant in the language. For Math, we've been using some of the MOE curricula as well as Math U See. Science has been a matter of winging it for now, and I hope to have something more structured planned soon. The younger two love sitting in for Junior J's lessons, and have been listening to the Chinese stories too! Sometimes, they disrupt our lessons, but these days I try to keep them busy with some simple activities too. Junior J usually spends most of his free time either playing with his brothers, working on one of his own projects (these days it's drawing all sorts of things), or reading. I love how homeschool gives him time and room to explore his own interests!

Home lessons aside, we are still attending a Chinese co-op as well swim class, and Junior J is currently learning how to play the cello. It's been getting harder to bring the kids out, since baby #4 is getting lower and heavier, but I'm taking it week by week. 

Lil J has been the one that has been surprising me these days. He is quite the independent learner, and hasn't been keen on anything structured. I've kept an eye out for sensitive periods, and lately he's been showing an interest in writing alphabets. However, worksheets and activities don't work, since I tried printing alphabet writing worksheets for him, only to have him draw monsters on them and then run away! While he doesn't seem to be getting any structured lessons, I know he's actively learning each day. I've been giving him lots of half-used papers to draw on and plenty of art material, and he busies himself with writing, drawing, and cutting, all on his own accord. It generates a mess most days, and some would tsk tsk at how he's not doing any "proper" work at all... but thus far it has been working for him, so I am happy to leave him to it. I've learnt that learning really takes place all the time, and sometimes we just need to provide them with the resources, and nudge them along when we spot sensitive periods when they seem ready to pick up a certain skill. 

Baby J has been quite happy to potter about, and joins his brothers for some of the activities that we try. These days the kids have been enjoying the stories by Julia Donaldson (we have been listening to her stories and songs in the car), and Baby J has been quite fascinated with the Gruffalo. The folks over at Kidsfest sent over these DIY Gruffalo puppets, and the three of them had so much fun making them! Now Junior J is asking if we can make more puppets for the rest of the characters in the Gruffalo, and is hoping that they can use the puppets to put up a Gruffalo show. I love the idea, and I think we'll be doing that soon! 

I think one of the areas we've not explored much is the aspect of drama and theatre, and I've noticed the boys love play-acting and putting up "shows" these days. I'm hoping to include this aspect more, and this current season of Kidsfest couldn't be more timely. This year, Kidsfest would be bringing to life six different children's stories (the Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, Snow Child, I Believe in Unicorns, Aliens Love Underpants and Little Red Riding Hood), and we're looking forward to watching Snow Child with the older two soon. (You can read more about the shows over at this post.) I am hoping that I don't pop before that!

I'm sort of glad to see the end of January... but now, time to prepare for Baby #4's arrival! 

2016: The first week of homeschool

We started off 2016 feeling rather weary. I was doing a fair bit of solo-parenting, as the hubby was on call on the last day of 2015, and just before that had driven up to KL at attend a relative's funeral. We were quite stressed regarding house hunting and all, and I really wanted to ease slowly into the new year. 

So we spent the first day of the year quietly, spending it running around in the park, letting the kids do what they love best: exploring and enjoying nature. I love times like this, when we don't have an agenda, when we don't have to rush to some appointment, when all we have is the company of loved ones.

I had such mixed feelings on the first day of school. My Facebook feed was flooded with photos of my friends' children, all dressed in new uniforms, ready for a new phase of life in Primary One. Everyone was talking about time: how they had to wake up at crazy early hours, how time flew past so quickly that now their babies are all grown up and are going to school. I wondered if my kids were missing out, because of our choice to homeschool. Reading "first day of school" posts in the homeschool group helped somewhat, since everyone was doing such different things, from waking up late, to puzzles or caring for febrile kids. I was reminded that while our journeys look very different from families who do not homeschool, we parents are all the same: wanting the best for our kids, excited about the opportunities ahead, yet worried about how things will turn out. I had that same sense of pride, as I looked at my scruffy-haired six year old (he was the only kid without a new haircut in his Sunday School class!) as he struggled through breakfast. They do grow up so fast.

We let Junior J choose where he wanted to go for his first day of school, and he chose the S.E.A. Aquarium. The hubby was off that day, so we made a trip down. Everyone was rather tired and grumpy initially (there were no happy first day of school smiles that morning!), and we were exhausted from caring for a feverish Baby J, who had a fever the night before due to his MMRV. But the kids did enjoy the trip, and I was reminded about why we homeschool.

The first week of homeschool has past, and I'm making it a point to ease ourselves slowly into a workable routine. Nothing ambitious, just short lessons, since we have to factor in a newborn in a couple of weeks time, followed by a possible move in a few months time. For now, we are just focusing on reading more Chinese, working on Math, and teaching Lil J to read. I know it doesn't sound very exciting, but I'm heartened by the fact that we've managed to keep this up for the past few days, and Junior J has said that he will read to Lil J in Chinese when he has learnt how to. This, coming from the boy who hasn't been keen on the language!

I've been reminded, after a few challenging days with the kids, that all I need to do is the next thing. I keep telling myself that we can't have it all, and I just need to focus on what is important. Let's see how next week goes! 

Lessons from an Autumn Leaf butterfly

Some time ago, the boys and I went down to the park to meet some co-op mates for lunch. On our way there, Lil J spotted a caterpillar wandering on the bicycle path, and scooped it to safety. We went to the nearby restaurant where we were supposed to have lunch, and asked if they could spare us a plastic container, and we ended up placing Mr Caterpillar into the box. 

The caterpillar generated a fair bit of excitement, and one of the mummies mentioned that she spotted a whole lot more of them. Turned out she was right: there was a caterpillar infestation on a stand of bushes, and there were probably a hundred of these black, wriggly fellows crawling everywhere! Many had actually wandered off (I've read that caterpillars sometimes start wandering and leave their host plant just before pupation, as they don't usually pupate on their host plant.), and a fair number of them had been run over on the bike path next to the bush. We figured it would be ok to catch another fellow, since there were so many and they had eaten the bush almost bare, and another (very brave) mum helped us to catch it. There were so many, that quite a few of the leaves that we plucked off the bush actually had small caterpillars on them! (That lead to a fair bit of screaming, but those caterpillars got returned back, and we only chose the large ones, since that would mean a shorter time for pupation.)

The boys were really excited about their caterpillars, and named them Wriggly and Squirmy. One mum managed to identify the caterpillars as those of the Autumn Leaf butterfly (this page was really informative). Both caterpillars seemed to be doing pretty well the first few days. However, we forgot to place branches inside our container, and poor Wriggly decided to pupate on the floor of the container, and only managed to pupate half-way before stopping. We hurriedly transferred Squirmy to a larger tank, gave him some branches, and he seemed quite happy for a few days. 

However, we ran out of food. I read that caterpillars can be really fussy about food, only choosing fresh leaves, and they may starve themselves rather than eat other types of leaves. Those leaves we had brought back from the park had already wilted, and we were unsuccessful in our hunt for suitable plants to feed them (as listed here), even though the boys went searching every day. 

It was a really busy period for us, so we didn't manage to make it back to the same park until a few days later. We decided to bring back two more caterpillars with us, along with fresh leaves for Squirmy, only to find Squirmy dead from hunger when we got back. 

The boys were upset. However, with those lessons learnt, we were able to better take care of the two new caterpillars, which they named Creepy and Crawly. We had brought back a whole lot more leaves this round, and kept some of the leaves separately with their stems in water, to ensure there was always a fresh supply of food. 

Creepy pupated about a week ago, and the boys were really excited to see him hanging upside down in preparation for the process. However, he didn't seem to finish the pupation process, and there was a section above the chrysalis that remained as a caterpillar. We were disappointed, as we thought he was a goner! However, we left him as he is, since Crawly was still in the tank. 

We continued feeding Crawly fresh leaves, and he pupated a few days back. This time, we finally had a complete chrysalis. We left the tank alone after that, since pupation takes approximately a week. Imagine our surprise when yesterday morning, I spotted some movement and discovered that Creepy had emerged from his chrysalis!

Everyone was really, really excited. I had tried researching on what happens if caterpillars do not seem to finish their pupation process, and had come up with nothing, so I didn't have much hope that Creepy would make it. But there he was, a perfect Autumn leaf butterfly, gingerly fanning his wings while clinging onto the tank. 

After about half a day, Creepy started flying around in the tank, so we brought him down to release him. I was so worried he would knock Crawly down!

I think the process of metamorphosis is such an amazing one: how a rather ugly-looking squirmy creature wraps himself up, then proceeds to turn into enzymatic mush, which then re-organizes itself into a delicate creature with wings. Seeing it happen before our very eyes made us appreciate it even better. Being surprised with the transformation, which we thought would never happen in Creepy's case was the best part though. It reminded me of how God works in all things. Even though sometimes we think things are hopeless, when we think that change is impossible... with Him all things are possible. It gave me hope, to keep trusting in Him. It reminded me that while sometimes bringing up our children with their quirks, tempers and bad habits can be challenging, we should keep hoping in God to bring about change, though we cannot see how change can happen. 

~~~~~~~

On a more practical note, here are some tips if you'd like to keep some caterpillars to observe their life-cycle:

1. Try to identify the caterpillars, and collect those that are larger, and at a more advanced larval stage. Those caterpillars we collected were at their 5th and final instar larval stage, and usually pupate in a few days. This means you'll have to feed them for a shorter period of time, and the larger ones tend to be hardier. 

2. Caterpillars may be wandering away from their host plant just prior to pupation, but it would be good to collect caterpillars which are still feeding, so that you can identify their host plants. Ensure you have a fresh supply of leaves. Collect some leaves that are still attached to their stems and keep those on water. Crawly ate almost one leaf a day, and rejected any that were wilted. 

3. Have branches for them to crawl on, and ensure that the container has sufficient space for the butterfly to emerge and spread its wings. 

4. If you're using a regular food container, ensure the holes you poke in the container do not have sharp edges, which can scratch the caterpillar. The best is to cut a hole in the cover and use a gauze to cover the hole. 

5. These were the resources we enjoyed while learning about the life-cycle of butterflies:

- Hurry and the Monarch (book)

- A Butterfly is Patient (book)

- A Monarch Butterfly's Life (book)

- Autumn Leaf Butterfly (Youtube video of the different stages of the Autumn leaf butterfly)

- Autumn Leaf Butterfly Eclosure (Youtube video of the emerging of the butterfly from it's chrysalis)

- Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly (Youtube video of the stages of the Monarch butterfly)

Hello December!

November has really whizzed by, since we spent the first part of it in Taiwan. We had a rough patch nursing the kids through coughs and colds, and also had our home visit, which is part of the application process for exemption from compulsory education. That visit, and the earlier bit of having to fill up forms and plan out Junior J's syllabus for homeschool, was really a good way of forcing me to sit down and sort through our plans for the next few years ahead. I was struck by the sheer amount that we needed to cover in the span of six years of Primary education. I admit, I started getting a little jittery about how we are going to cover it all, especially since 2016 is going to be a year of changes since baby #4 would be arriving in early February! 

However, thinking through all his curricula and trying to do some planning did get me quite excited too. Thus far, we've not been too structured with their learning, but I've been seeing the rewards of the flexibility of homeschool. Junior J does tend to move at a slower pace in general, so homeschool lets him have the breathing room to go at a pace comfortable to him. We've been using living books, such as those by Holling C. Holling, and we've learnt so much just by reading and discussing one section of a book each day.

The home visit turned out to be a lovely chat with the MOE officer, who helped to clarify various points about homeschooling. We're now waiting for approval from MOE, meanwhile, it does feel a little strange to be amidst all the mummies who are preparing their children for Primary 1, and not being able to join in their excitement about the usual things like buying uniforms, orientations and the like. 

Meanwhile, I'm entering December with the strong need to declutter and simplify for the year ahead. (Anyone wants to join me?) Perhaps it's the nesting instinct kicking in, but I really do hope to start the year with a more organized home. With all that in mind, I think this Christmas would be a much quieter one for us. Let's see what December brings!

Read: Learning math through stories

I've alway struggled with math, and didn't enjoyed learning it, since I didn't see how we could actually use most of the concepts taught in real life. Learning how to multiply and divide made sense, since you need that to calculate your grocery bills and figure out how to split your pizza between four people. But differentiation? Complicated formulas that were used, just to help you find that ever elusive x? All those didn't seem relevant or useful at all.

However, while I'm more or less done with my own math education, now I have to teach my own little boys the subject. Preschool math is still more or less straightforward, and still very useful in real life, so I have not found it hard to teach. After all, you can teach simple math anywhere: by counting leaves, during a trip to the supermarket, watching the numbers change as you go up and down in the lift.

I've shared how we've been using Math U See as our main curriculum for math, and that has been serving us well (even Lil J has started, and is on the Primer level since he loves counting and dealing with numbers). However, while the Math U See curriculum is great for establishing a good foundation in math, and the manipulatives enable kids to really understand the concepts, I find it pretty dry. There is a fair bit of practice involved, which is inevitable since you really need to practise working out those concepts to master them, but that means kids can get a little bored after awhile. So to spice things up a little and to help them to retain their interest in math, we've been looking at stories to supplement their learning in this area. Here are some books that the boys particularly enjoyed:


:: Life of Fred Mathematics: This is a series of books, written novel-style, featuring five year old Fred Gauss, who is a math professor at Kittens University. The stories are funny, since poor Fred is constantly making unwise decisions that land him into trouble! Each book covers mathematical concepts in a way that is relevant to real life, and also introduces various nuggets of general knowledge too.

As these are chapter books with some black and white illustrations, this is probably suitable for slightly older preschoolers aged 5 and up. Junior J loves the stories, and we've learnt many concepts by just reading one chapter a day together. (Sometimes, Lil J wants to sit in too!) Each book has approximately 18-19 chapters and each chapter ends with a "Your Turn to Play" section that allows kids to practise what they've learnt, with the answers printed on the next page for further discussion.

We've already finished the first seven books in the Elementary Math series (there are ten books for the first series), and will continue to use Life of Fred to supplement our math learning. I find that while Life of Fred is a very interesting way to learn math (Junior J even learnt to add four digit numbers together through this book, and is learning multiplication now), it cannot be used as a stand-alone curriculum as it does not provide enough structure or practice. Because of that, it complements the Math U See curriculum perfectly, and I've heard of quite a few homeschoolers using these two hand in hand to teach math. One warning though: these books are rather pricey. However, they are of good quality, and we figured it'll be an investment since a few kids would get to use them.

Life of Fred is not available in the libraries here, and while I purchased our copies locally, the distributer here is not longer selling the books. As such, these can only be purchased in the US, either directly from the publisher, or through Educents. Educents is having a sale on the series right now which is ending soon, and the books are now cheaper than if you buy direct from the publisher. Do note that you will need to arrange for your own shipping back to Singapore if you do purchase the books.


:: Sir Cumference series: This series of books introduces geometry through adventure stories featuring knights! Kids get to learn concepts such as area, perimeter, circumference, pi and radius, while reading these books with full colored illustrations.  Again, these are more suitable for those five and up, but the younger kids might just enjoy hearing the stories being read to them.

Source: Amazon

We've borrowed some of the titles from this series from the library (see here for details), and have also chanced on one book when we were digging amidst the second-hand books at Evernew Bookstore. That aside, you can purchase the books from Amazon here.


:: Books by Loreen Leedy: Loreen Leedy has written several books dealing with math concepts. Her stories are mainly told through comic book form with full-colour illustrations, and I find these are simple enough for four year olds to understand. We particularly liked "Measuring Penny", which introduces the concepts of measurements, as well as "The Great Graph Contest" which teaches kids how to draw various types of graphs to represent information.

Source: Amazon

Loreen Leedy's books can be borrowed from the library, or purchased from Amazon.


:: MathStart Series: These books are simple stories that are accompanied with full colour illustrations, which introduce various math concepts to younger children. The series is split into three levels, with the first teaching concepts such as comparing sizes, shapes, matching and sorting, the second introducing topics such as addition, subtraction, tallying and symmetry, and the third teaching topics like division, fractions and angles. The first level books are probably simple enough for 3 year olds to understand, and Lil J enjoys flipping through these books.

Source: Amazon

You can borrow some of the titles from the library, or purchase them from Amazon or locally at The Learning Store (Note: These may be slightly cheaper at The Learning Store, but only when they have a good warehouse sale. Otherwise, the prices are better on Amazon.)

I hope these recommendations might come in useful, and we'll share more titles in time to come as we explore specific math topics. Meanwhile, do check out our list of book recommendations for Science, or our Rave Reads folder on the FB page. Happy reading!

PS: This is not a sponsored post, and we are sharing these titles because we love them! However, this post contains affiliate links to Amazon, but at no added cost to yourself.

Science: On learning and scoring (An interview with Jayce Or)

A few months back, I attended a Primary Math and Science seminar for homeschoolers, conducted by Jayce Or, a fellow homeschooling parent. The seminar helped me to get a better understanding of how Math and Science was taught and tested at the Primary level. While we hope to homeschool through the Primary years, our kids still have to sit for the PSLE, so getting a better understanding of how these subjects were taught and tested was useful. 

Our recent post about the issues of Primary Science education generated a fair bit of debate and feedback, so I thought it would be great to follow up with some posts to guide parents into helping their kids with regards to learning Science. So to start us off, I thought having a chat with Jayce would be ideal, since he is in a pretty good position to advise (you'll understand why, after you read his introduction!). 

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Hi Jayce! Thanks for agreeing to share on the blog. For starters, please tell us more about yourself.

I'm Jayce, a teacher and curriculum developer at Mind Stretcher Learning Centre. I just came back from my further studies (Master of Education) at University of Melbourne, Australia. Previously, I was teaching in two primary schools for about eight years. I have always been heavily involved in the school’s science department, especially in the setting and marking of exam papers, and teaching science in practical ways. I was the teacher-in-charge of one of the school’s Science Club and the other school’s Environment Club. I am also a father of four beautiful children, aged 3, 6, 9 and 11 years. My wife and I started home-schooling our kids since 2014, and we are still learning to teach them.  

What do you think are the key problems that contribute to students not faring well for Science?

There are two levels of problems that students face in the subject of Science. Students whose grades generally fall below 40 have weaknesses in the main concepts of the topics that they have learnt, and need to gain a stronger understanding of the key components required in order to improve. The next level of problems that students face are what most parents and even teachers find more difficult to overcome. This has to do with bridging the gap between knowing the scientific concepts, and applying what students know to answer exam questions. 

How would you suggest students approach the learning of Science? Should they use any tips or techniques when studying Science? 

My suggestion towards the learning of science is always to develop the love for science first. Getting kids to see, feel, smell, touch, hear and even taste begins a process of exploration for them to delve deeper into the details of what they are learning. One of the ways that many schools use to help students in learning science is to get them to draw the concept maps of the various topics to give a clearer picture of the main concepts they are required to know.  (Side point: Reading about Science can help too. Click here for a list of great reads on Science and nature!)

Could the questions that occur in a Science paper be sorted into categories requiring different skills? What are the skills required, and are there any points to note on how to approach these different kinds of questions?

A typical Science paper (including PSLE) will comprise of a complete set of questions to assess the concepts and skills required for a student who has been taught through the entire science syllabus. The skill set is listed in the MOE Science Syllabus 2015 and they are as follows: Observing, Comparing, Classifying, Using apparatus and equipment, Communicating, Inferring, Formulating hypothesis, Predicting, Analysing, Generating possibilities and Evaluating. (Side note: You can download a copy of the latest Primary Science syllabus here.)

Questions tested would include a combination of a few of these skills, in order to ensure that students have understood the fundamentals of science and know how to apply it. Approaching these questions would mean that the students have to be clear what types of questions are assessing on which skills. If not, the situation would become likely that the student could end up ‘using a hammer on a thumbtack’.

Is memorization of key words the only way to go, and how can we help students to identify key words in a topic? Do you think tuition classes or enrichment might help in this aspect?

Memorising of key words is not all there is to learning science. The crucial thing is still to understand the concepts, and apply it correctly to the question asked. Tuition classes or enrichment may help to a certain extent. Most of the time, they give more exposure to different questions with the intention to reinforce answering skills and techniques. I am currently planning a parents’ workshop on Science in September, to help parents to guide their kids in the answering of science questions. 

Source: Marshall Cavendish

Are there any good guidebooks/assessments you would recommend? 

If I had one book to recommend, it would be the Science PSLE Revision Guide by Marshall Cavendish (the orange book). The content of the science textbooks from P3 to P6 is contained in one book instead  of being spread across four to eight textbooks, and the key concepts are always in bold for easier reference. Studying the main concepts from this book would be sufficient to cover all the topics for PSLE. 

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Thank you so much, Jayce, for taking the time to share with us! Those tips were certainly helpful. 

We do need to focus on cultivating a love for Science in our kids, and then help them to grasp key concepts and attain the various skills required. There is also the need to guide them into learning how to identify the skills and concepts required in questions, so that they can bridge the gap between understanding the concepts and applying their knowledge. We hope to chat further with Jayce, so if you do have any questions on learning Science, please leave a comment!