Chinese New Year Freebie

Chinese New Year is one of my favourite worldwide celebrations.

Its so colourful, magical even.

We are not Chinese but we tempt to celebrate this amazing festival.

This Year is a Rooster Year and we have created this free resource for you to download for your classroom / homeschool .

Enjoy it!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chinese-New-Year-Freebie-2986032

Why I don't torture my kids with Times Tables

Why I don't torture my kids with Times Tables

When I was a child there was this fashion for parents to teach their children times tables no matter what.

Times Tables = Smart kids = Some sort of approval in the Society

My mother would wake me up at night asking me Times Tables. Until now I remember crying my eyes out because I couldn't remember them all and I was "tortured" even more to learn them. 

I would be denied access to friends and TV, until I knew my numbers. 

It was like a torture, but the "fashion" was to know the times tables by heart. Make no mistake, it was a deal breaker for many parents. 

When I became a mother, alongside many "DO NOT" promises , one of them was to NEVER torture my kids with learning the times tables by heart.

One day my then schooled child ( yay for homeschooling now) came home from school. Tears, denial, anger. He failed his timetables, the teacher made him as an example for the entire class, he failed they all failed. You work as one organism talk..blah blah blah. And as much as I encourage team work I was furious. 

Stock image by PEXELS

I believe in children learning by doing. By experimenting, by touching, by seeing. They learn by making errors. 

And before anyone give me a critique about my methods I will point this out again. It works for us. 

By letting my kids use the calculus, abacus or a even a calculator I'm educating them about being resourceful, about following technology, I'm exposing them to visual aids which will eventually embed in their little minds and they will memorise the calculations. 

There is nothing wrong with letting your child to used aids. They are there to be used. Don't get caught in the " My Kids are the smartest" race. Let your children be they way they are. And not the way everyone wants to see them. 

Your child will benefit from the stress free task, they will learn that asking for help is ok and one they they will thank you for being the greatest mother. 

Peace and light..

HQ

FREEBIE

I have been working hard on the clipart collection.


If you like it download it here

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Homeschool or not to homeschool?

THE biggest question we ask ourselves...

I have struggles this week with getting back to our routine after the Christmas break...I'm pretty sure all normal people had the same problem.

I have been busy trying to get my portfolio going...but as always life gets in a way of things.

Mostly laundry, yes there is Always Laundry in our house. My children and my husband produce endless amount of washing. It's like the washing basket begs them to throw the dirty clothes in.

When we hit the rock bottom with the Homeschooling we usually do one thing... we stop schooling.
We take a day of ... we hit that day today...but I felt that we had a lot of "days out" during the festive period and I was determined to stick to the schedule.

It all end up with tears.

It all end up with two very miserable human beings.

It all end up with no achievements at all.


I had to remind myself why we started homeschooling in the first place. It wasn't because of the overpriced school fees in the "good schools" . It wasn't because of the other "unworthy" children , the bullies or the "lame " teachers. It wasn't because we had a problem with the school.

It was because it worked for US better than a conventional school.

We believed in hands on learning, we believed in Montessori method of letting the child to take ownership of their learning journey. We believed that unstopping would be the best way for our kids.

So there he was, a little human, who completely lost his faith in me today. And it really bothered me.

We paused, we watched a movie, we made a cake, we crafted, we went for a bike ride. We did what we meant to do. We let the experiences guide and educate us, we observed and we used practical skills to introduce learning back into our daily routine.

Within 1 hour he was on the floor doing fraction puzzles, no nagging, no shouting and no pressure.

Sometimes we forget why we homeschool. Its never too late to remind ourselves of our reasons.

Love and light

HQ