Dear All,

Thanks to Kak Duh, we have our very own Scholastic Book Club (that’s usually available to ‘schools only’). To get the latest catalogue (2011, Issue 3), please email to mhomeschoolingnetwork@gmail.com your full name, address and which categories of books (Star or Wizard or Ace or all three). We will post/email the catalogues to you as soon as we can.

There are three categories of books:

1) Star – for age 6 years old and below

2) Wizard – for age 7 to 12 years old

3) Ace – for age 13 years old and above

To those who have the catalogues, if you want to buy the books, please email to nenot@hotmail.com the following details:

1. Book category (Star, Wizard, Ace)
2. Book titles, quantity, price and amount due (RM) – just like in the catalogue’s Order Form
3. Child/Student’s name
4. Parent’s name
5. Telephone number
6. Payment Mode – Cash or Credit Card or Cheque
7. Delivery options:-

i) Collect from us. Only within Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya area. Venue to be agreed by email once we have receive the books from Scholastic.

ii) By post. State you preference, whether normal post/registered post/poslaju courier service and give us your address. Once we received the books from Scholastic, we will email you the postage fee and our account details.

Note on payment method:

*We PREFER payment by CASH (through online bank transfer – the account details will be given to you by email).

*Credit Card is acceptable but we need to meet up because your signature is required on the Order Form.

*Cheque – Please make cheque payable to Grolier (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (Remember to write your name, child’s name and contact no at the back of the cheque)

GENERAL INFORMATION:

• The cut off date for order is on the 15th of every month (for example for March, last date to order is 15 March).
• Books may arrive about 4 weeks from the time Scholastic/Grolier receive our Order Form.
• All items in this offer are subject to availability. Should an item be unavailable, Scholastic reserves the right to replace it with a substitute of similar value. If you are not completely satisfied with any item, simply return it within 14 days for an exchange or a refund.

Thank you

Some great ideas for play (and more) given by our members

Joyce (commented on July 4, 2011) –  ”if you are in the kitchen and he’s (the child) ‘helping out’, I used to cut up a piece of celery for them to do pattern painting. Just give him some paints and a drawing block. Onions or whatever veg that he can hold wld do the job too. Another thing my boys love to do is ice cube painting. You freeze diluted food coloring in your ice tray and then let them hold the cubes and make patterns on the paper, because it’s ice and will eventually melt. I’ve found the Ikea paper roll does the trick coz it’s thick and the paper won’t tear. When the paper’s dry, you can recycle and use it as wrapping paper! My boys just love seeing their creation being used! We do that a lot year end-need wrapping paper for Christmas presents!! Another trick is I squeeze out some tempera paints on the paper, then they use thair cars and roll over the paints. The patterns the car tracks create are nice.”

Maria (commented on June 13, 2011) –  ”I think at age 5, lots and lots of creative stuff is good. So I’m not that worried about my daughter’s academic work. But we do do maths everyday – because she is interested in numbers, reading and Qur’an memorisation / recitation – that’s on a daily basis. What I try to do, is to get her to do the “academic” bit in the morning, while her brothers (she has 3 little brothers) are still in good spirits. Once she has completed the above, she’s free to do her artsy stuff. (That’s when I let the whole house go haywire for the rest of the day).

There are some ways we gel the two. For example, my girl loves drawing but not writing – so I get her to write and draw picture books for her brothers. So she gets to draw, but also needs to do a bit of writing (maybe just one line a page). And she loves making things for others, so that’s exciting for her. Sometimes we read poetry, then we draw out the picture of what is happening in the story. We use some Waldorf stories for that. Other things…. hmmm… oh yes, collages using shapes – cut out a few different shapes and make pictures / patterns (that’s maths). Making gingerbread men (art and home economics), making play doh (art and science lol). Doing origami together (we’re not very good at that). Making cards for others (practice writing). Using building blocks, gluing things together (like ice cream sticks, the insides of tissue rolls) to make airplanes (that’s science too). Playing with play doh (you can learn all sorts of things there). Making bead necklaces and bracelets (maths also). Oh yes, and they also (the 5yo and the 4yo) also use the computer to do art. They use paint, picnik.com, and some other sites that I don’t even know about – so they *know* how to use the pc too. Very resourceful ”

Zas (commented on June 6, 2011) – “‎15 mths old is a good time to start with playdoh. Just make them yourselves. 1 cup flour, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup salt, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar and about 1 big spoon of cooking oil – mix and cooked in pot over slow heat. Then knead the dough with any food colouring. Enjoy!”

Wai Han (commented on June 6, 2011) – ” For 15 months old child. Sand & waterplay are the best. During bathtime, for example my girl can occupy herself with cloth & containers in her bathtub long enough for me to finish cooking. Since she’s soaking in the water, I like to add in a little apple cider vinegar for detox purposes. I have a sand pit in my garden but you can simply use a ‘sand tub’. Throw in some stainless steel spoon/ladle/cup/plate/etc to play masak-masak (pretend cooking). If add water, can turn into mud-play.

Walk, walk, walk. I do this with all my children when they were at this age. Exercise the will.”

Thank you Yu Ling for sharing this with us

Show Date & Time:10 – 15 May, 8pm14 – 15 May, 2pm, 5pm & 8 pmDuration: 1 hourVenue: PJ Live Arts Theatre, Jaya OneHow to get there? http://www.pjla.com.my/contact-usAdmission fee: RM60 per seatRM30 per seat for Students/Senior Citizen (must show identity card and student card)Family packageRM100 for 4 seats – for 10 May show onlyRM120 for 4 seats – for other dates (offer ends 10 May)RM150 for 4 seats – available 11 May onwardsContact: 03 – 7960 0439Link: http://www.pjla.com.my/event/sticks-stones-broken-bones

Date: 15-17 April 2011

Time:

10.30am – 8pm (Friday and Saturday)

10.30am – 7pm (Sunday)

Venue: PWTC

Admission: Free

Website: http://www.smartkids.com.my/2011/

Review from our homeschoolers about the fair in the past:

Kak Duh – “I’ve attended before and I loved the fact that there were so many educational stuffs being sold all at one place and usually sold at a cheaper price than usual. However the crowds are sheer madness. adults dah satu hal, kanak2 riang pun banyak!!! even if you go on FRIDAY!!! cuz, kindies tend to bring the children under their care for a visit as well?? i dunno. just think it’s better to chuck your kids off somewhere so you’re more mobile and can browse to your hearts content without worrying bout your kid getting trampled on or worse, lost in the crowd!!!”

Pat – “I went before, but skipped for 2 years, too commercialized ~ not really for education/kids stuff, more for business , but I will be there tomorrow about 1030am, be the early bird ~ ”

On Life Choices & Time Management

Most of have us felt it, how fast time fly by, how we try to juggle everything but something got to give. Lets face it, we only have 24 hours a day. Giving time to what matters most becomes a daily dilemma – Personal time for me or play time with children? Be employee and get stable income or stay home and manage family full time? Follow my heart or follow my mind? Can we have it all?

Here, I share some wisdoms from our homeschooling mothers:

Life Choices

Swee Bin’s comment to a post in our group – “Two options/choices – to continue working or to stop working. One way to start deciding to think through the things that matter to you and your hubby. Then, look at your finances. Then, decide together. This is not a decision to be made alone. Take it slow – this process of finding out about what matters to you and hubby. Note I am not mentioning your boy – cos for sure he’ll love you to be home with him!
Share one thing with you – when I quit work 15 years ago, we knew we’d be cutting the family income by (slightly more than) half. We decided we can do without many things – new bags, new shoes, fancy meals, etc, etc. I used to call it going into Deprivation Mode. That’s how it felt to me – depriving myself. No regrets though because I deprived myself of material things but I have gained and am still gaining things that no amount of money can buy!

Blessings to you, hubby and child in this. If you do decide to continue working, then find pockets of time when you can spend with your child and feel satisfied about that. You mention that you are in charge of all the housework. Hmm, time to sit down with hubby and talk things through a bit? List down the chores and let him choose. Main thing is he can take over some la. You’d be surprised most men contribute to house-chores nowadays. Good for everyone, including your son who will be learning from observing. ”

Time Management

Jasmin – “It helps to get gadgets too. Robomop, dishwasher, crockpot, buy a cheap timer for the rice cooker. It will cook the rice at say 5.30pm so you will have hot piping rice at 6pm. And you know, hot rice taste super good with just simple fried egg and chopped spring onions and chopped big chili sprinkled on it. Maybe some pre fried salted fish.Before I stopped work, I used to have a big ass multi tiered steamer (no microwave for me). I’ll come back, put up pre cooked frozen food that I had put down into the fridge in the morning to defrost and let it steam in the steamer in the evening while I take a shower. Food ready when I’m ready. And I’m not embarrassed to tah pau when I’m short of time. We had pre-ordered tiffin food for a while.”

Thank you Shannon for sharing this info with us

Date: 31 Mar 2011 (Thursday) – 10 Apr 2011 (Sunday)

Time: 10am – 10pm

Venue: Atrium Lower Ground, SSTwo Mall

Offer: Up to 90% discount

More information: http://www.timesbookstores.com.my/events.aspx#

For enquiries, call 016 6714626

Review from our homeschoolers:

Siew Hoong (4/4/11) – “Came back with Su Ton’g Binu! Can’t wait to start reading it. Not as good a sale where children’s books are concerned, but you can get fiction (paperbacks) for less than RM10. Look out, though, for the Usborne Science series. Those are a good bargain! We went because it’s not far from where we are. But it’s not worth traveling 30-45 mins for the sale, I think.”

Lian Kong (3/4/11) – “just came back from book fair ,I prefer big bad wolf book fair.”

Thank you Prem for organising this tour )

BERYL’S CHOCOLATE WONDERLAND

VENUE:

Webpage: http://www.berylschocolate.com.my/eng/shops.html

DATE: 31 MARCH 2011 (Thursday)

TIME: 10am – 1 pm

How to get there?

Anyone wants to join, please email to mhomeschoolingnetwork@gmail.com:

1) Number of people, their names, age

2) Contact telephone number (preferably handphone/mobile)

Thank you Laura for sharing this information

ORGANIC DAY CETDEM

Date: 26 March 2011 (Saturday)

Time: 8.30am – 2pm

Venue: Taman Pusat Bandar SS2, Jalan SS2/63, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. (Beside the ‘Medan Selera’)

Website: http://cetdem.org.my/wordpress/

Thank you Selina for sharing this information with us

National Planetarium Open Day

and

Light Pollution Campaign

in conjunction with Earth Hour 2011

DATE: 26 March 2011 (Saturday)

TIME: 10am – 10pm

ENTRANCE: FREE

VENUE:

National Planetarium (Planetarium Negara)

53, Jalan Perdana, Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +603-22735484

Email: planetariumweb@angkasa.gov.my

Website: http://www.angkasa.gov.my/planetarium/

OPEN DAY PROGRAM

10am – General Lecture about Sun, Observe the Sun, Observatory visit, Quiz and Lucky Draw

11am – Premier show – ‘Solar Storm’

12pm-4pm – Free show (every hour)

LIGHT POLLUTION CAMPAIGN

7.15pm – ‘Earth Hour Lantern’ activity, ’Earth Hour Glow in the Dark’ design, ’Light Shield’ activity

8pm – School’s presentation

8.30pm – EARTH HOUR 2011 start

Night observation, ‘Earth Hour Glow in the Dark’ design competition

9pm – Lucky Draw

9.30pm – ‘Solar Storm’ show

For more information: http://www.angkasa.gov.my/attachment/hari_terbuka.pdf