There and Back Again

This week is Catholic High School's English Language Arts Week. And the school has organised some activities for the children. The theme is 'Around the World in 80 days' - the classic book. It is indeed a classic book, just like what Mark Twain said, 'Classic - a book which people praise but don't read'. I have not read the book but roughly knew the storyline. So as to help him, we managed to borrow the book from the library even before the holidays. Anyway, on April 6, the kids were supposed to turn up in school in a costume, made up of recycled and scrap materials, based on the ethnic clothing of selected countries. We were quite undecided on what to make my son wear. He was also not very forthcoming with suggestions. This is very typical of him - he is indecisive when faced with almost unlimited choices. Eventually, we decided on a Chinese emperor's costume. To keep with the material requirements, we sacrificed a bed sheet and a Transformer toy box. But...

Thanks to my son, I nearly had a brain haemorrhage today. His library card - he gets a stamp for every four books It all started a couple of weeks ago when he went to the library during Chinese period. He borrowed four books and brought all of them home. I looked at the books and discovered that he had borrowed mostly Chinese manga. They were mostly too difficult for him - one of them was actually a comic version of the Analects. I actually attempted reading the book to him, but even I got confused by all the Confucian terms mentioned in the text. I mean I did study Confucian philosophy for 'O' levels. But I did it in English and it was a very unique version - you know, teachings that suited the government were included and those that did not... you get the idea. So, the books were mostly left at home except for one which ended up at my in-law's place and one that went to my parent's place. When it was time to return the books, Old Master Q went missing. M...

Boys Adrift by Dr. Leonard Sax. I listened to the book during my drives You must be wondering why a blog on my son and his educational journey is featuring a book review. It is very simple - I read the book because of my son. Boys Adrift is about the rise of the slacker culture in America. According to the author, Dr Leonard Sax, there is a growing number of boys who end up not doing well in school. Many of them end up as video games addicts that stay with their mothers, cannot get girlfriends and do not contribute at home. I must admit, I was a bit worried about my son. He was after all, an avid gamer. Even though we always set limits on his tablet time, at the back of my head, I was always worried if the limits set were not enough. Before giving a review of the book and how it relates to my son, let me give you a gist of the book. of how the author believes the boys drift away from being functional members of society. The book describes five factors that contribute to this ...

Bedtime Reading In previous posts, I had emphasised my son's iPad habits. I hope I did not give the impression that he gets uncontrolled time on handhelds. On the contrary, I am always displeased about the amount of time he spends on iPads, Xbox and phone. But considering the generation he is in, and the fact that I was a young gamer as well (I started when I was 11, in 1985), I doubt I can stop him. But as I say, controlled moderation is the best. Ever since school had started, he has his iPad time cut down. Now, he is turning increasing to reading. He is reading a kid's version of Hamlet He is the third generation of readers in my family. My father is an avid reader. Even now he reads a lot - which can be very stressful for more. He keeps passing these books to me expecting me to read them. But then, he's retired and u still have a full time job!  My son has proven to be an early reader. I read that this is because he's a late talker. I guess tha...