There and Back Again

Recently, Catholic High School sent a bunch of letters to some Primary One students inviting them to join Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs). Alas, my son was not invited. As a parent, I was in two minds on what to do. On one hand, I was disappointed that he was not 'talented' enough to be selected. Yet at the same time, I am not sure I want him to spend time on a CCA, especially when he basically needs to be chauffeured around.  When I asked him about it on our drive back, he told me that he was upset that he was left out. He had heard about CCAs and wanted to join. It did not help that some of his classmates were offered to join various CCAs like Chinese Orchestra and Basketball in front of the whole class (a teacher came to distribute the letters).  When I shared this news with my wife, she was also upset with the news. She felt that it was discriminatory and I agree with her. I know some people will say that we should not be overprotective, and it is true t...

This is actually a very late post. Sometime in March, all of us went to a farm, harvested some plants, and ate the plants we harvested. It was all good fun, the children enjoyed the trip even though it was really, really hot. My son (with cap) looking at the herbs while my wife seems to be smelling them? Firstly, we went to look at the farm itself and were introduced to the plants and herbs. I think the kids learnt quite a bit about farms, rural areas and agriculture. That is something very new for urban kids nowadays.  Then they were made to harvest certain herbs and plants, and after having harvested enough of them, the children (and adults) proceeded to cut them, grind them and basically prepare them for cooking. My son is grinding squeezing lemons or grinding something. Finally, we sat down to wait as the owner of the farm started to cook the food. The end result was a delicious Thai style vermicelli salad, egg omelette (with some vegetable we harvested) ...

I got this rather humourous title from an ex-colleague of mine - a Maths and Social Studies teacher. He posted a picture on my Face Book comment when I complained about number bonds. Interestingly, a Primary School teacher (my student) liked my rant as well. So maybe my thoughts about number bonds are widespread? At least I have proven that two other persons disliked this idea. First, what are number bonds? It is two numbers that make up bigger number.  For example, 6+4=10 or 7+10=17. Apparently, the word was first used in 1920s and it entered the Singapore curriculum in the 1970s. This is from Wikipedia - interestingly that that Singapore was specified. I know for sure that the American Common Core use number bonds as well.  It is pretty basic stuff. The complication, I believe, comes when it is used to add or subtract bigger numbers, like 13-7. One strategy, is called 'making 10'. This is when you break the bigger number into 10 & 3. Then, you use 1...

The message to mum. If you notice, he also randomly wished me Happy Birthday because my birthday is in a few day's time. The front of the card. He had to add a Diamond Sword to it - thanks to Minecraft. We had a simple celebration for Mother's Day. We did not want to clash with all the other people trying to do it in restaurants. We went to church, and then we went to Parkway Parade to buy my son's swim suit. We also bought some cakes from Chalk Farm, some which I sent to my mother. They were good. Later that night, we ate at my in-law's place as usual - the only difference was that my brother-in-law went to buy some zhi char instead of the usual home-cooked food. Everyday is Mother's Day for us. :D