I have this grand plan to do lots of outdoor experiential learning when I stay home with the kids next year. I intend to bring them out to breathe lots of fresh air and get in touch with nature A LOT, and if we do serendipitously get caught in the rain, eat some mud and fall asleep on rolling hills, yea! – that will be perfect.

So item #5 on my to-do list is to schedule plenty of field trips for exploration and discovery. Here’s what I plan to do:

1) Explore nature with the kids (Ideas adapted from parentmap.com)

• Seeing the world through a magnifying glass: Get the kids to look at everything in the park up close with a magnifying glass
• Catching bugs: Make simple plastic boxes with removable lids for crawly critters, and try to catch some of our common city bugs like shiny black beetles, grubs and caterpillars.
• Drawing what you see: Bring drawing paper and crayons and have the kids draw/colour whatever they see at the park; this will be followed by a conversation to have them share their favourite part of the park and why they’ve decided to draw what they drew.

2) Go to the wet market

• Yes, shopping for fresh food will be a field trip in itself. Kids will get to learn the parts of the fish – gills, scales, gut, whatever – and get to touch their cold dead bodies. (Reminder to self: must bring sanitiser and wet wipes.) Kids will also learn to count by helping Mom take the required number of carrots, potatoes and onions, and how to manage simple accounting by holding the grocery purse.

3) Visit the zoo to learn about the animals, one animal at a time

• Since we have the zoo membership, we’ll make good use of it next year by going there as often as we can. Children can take turns to choose an exhibit/enclosure and we will only head to the selected one for each trip. We’ll learn all we can about that particular animal. Follow-up activity includes going to the library for the rest of the week to read up about the animal (non-fiction) and find stories featuring the animal (fiction).

4) Take a bus / MRT / LRT  to any destination and people-watch

• Perfect lesson to teach modes of transportation, occupations and parts of a vehicle / transportation system.

5) Build sandcastles on the beach

• This is to make sure kids can walk on sand barefoot without going “eewww”. Kids can also learn to mould things with their imagination.

6) Play at the various kid-friendly parks, pay money to go longkang fishing (again and again) to train dexterity and go to the Animal Resort near our place before it relocates. Also visit the new Gallop Stable at Punggol when it opens.

• Learn about small animals, horses and pets. Play and expend energy!

We’re Friends of the Zoo and the kids love to go there!

We all know there are countless benefits to early musical training. I recently read a very good article on the benefits of music education for children. I didn’t need any convincing, by the way; the article spelled out 12 reasons why a child should learn music at an early age. I was doing more of a mental checklist to see if I displayed any of those traits mentioned (spatial intelligence, reasoning ability, language proficiency, creativity, teamwork skills and discipline, just to name a few), since my parents also put me through some form of a music education when I was four. After reading that list, I didn’t feel that I was a good representation of someone having been put through classical piano training, because, seriously – spatial intelligence? creativity? logical reasoning ability – are you kiddin’ me? me? But that will be for another post another time.

Nevertheless, research has shown that a little music training, even if it’s for a few years, goes a long way in improving the adult brain when it comes to listening and processing complex sounds. According to a study, short-term music lessons may enhance lifelong listening and learning. Other studies also prove that listening and playing music benefits many areas of the brain at the same time. Music is able to activate the cerebellum, a brain area traditionally thought to coordinate only fine movement or motor behavior, in a very powerful way. Learning music has also been proven to help children mathematically and linguistically.

So we’re going to try to teach Ben and Becks some basics in understanding notation, scales, chords and keys since fatherkao can play the guitar and the organ, and I can still recall some things I learned from classical piano training. A good friend of ours recently picked up the ukelele and bought Ben one for his third birthday and now fatherkao is frantically learning how to play some simple tunes from Youtube to teach Ben. I recently chanced upon this website that provides free resources for teaching simple notation using worksheets and games. Let’s see if we can get a simple tune out on the keyboard and ukelele by Christmas next year.

The plan is to teach Ben the ukelele and get Becks to hold the case and send them busking away!

As Ben is fast approaching four and as I’m preparing myself to stay home, I can’t help but start making plans for the things I want to do with the kids, and what I want them to learn. I guess it’s a really good thing to have made the decision to stay home and homeschool them next year, because all of a sudden, I’m thinking, breathing and taking full responsibility and accountability for what will fill their waking hours and how they can develop and grow. I mean, if I’d continue down the full-time working path, I’d just leave them in the care of their teachers and hope that they’ll do a good job training them and developing their potential. Mentally, I’d probably not feel the urgency to fully take charge of their learning. I’d also probably not feel so panicky as I do now. I’m not panicking because I’m a kiasu mom; I just feel the heavy weight on my shoulders to start making good decisions and plan meticulously for these early childhood years, which I’ll have the privilege to spend with them.

So on my to-do list to ensure that we make good these three to four years together, I intend to:

1) Properly plan the homeschooling curriculum, teach good learning habits and impart godly values

2) Hunt for a good kindergarten programme which would support my homeschooling curriculum (I do not intend for it to be the other way round – it’s going to be homeschooling first and kindergarten learning as enrichment, particulary for Chinese)

3) Sign the kids up for sports education

4) Introduce music education and have them learn a musical instrument

5) Schedule field trips of discovery and exploration (which should include taking public transport, going to the zoo to study one animal at a time, playing barefooted at parks and making sandcastles at beaches)

With that, I’ve started my research and reading up so I can be more ready to stay home next year. I’m starting a series of learning more about each item on my to-do list this November. We’ll start with item #4 tomorrow. Join me as I discover the homeschooling momma in me.