Here's our homeschooling highlights from May.

Half the month was business as usual and the other half was in Covid restrictions which continue. MsC got half way through a set of 4 Claymation classes before they were cancelled due to Covid cases. She created animations on an iPad using the "Stopmotion Studio" App. This included exploring the "persistence of vision"; how to animate different types of real materials; how to animate multiple objects at once; creating storyboards.

She missed out on the Claymation classes for adding sound and editing effects with iMovie and Garage Band. Fingers crossed - maybe restrictions will lift and the studio will be able to offer them late next month. It's a super cool art studio.

MsE had finally agreed to try out an instructor led class this month for the first time since Covid. It was cancelled a few days before she got to give it a try. One of MsE's at home art projects instead was a playdough turtle cave. She also played around with salt and watercolours; beads; loose parts; lots of colouring.

The girls have been playing a lot of games this months.

MsC and MsE have been playing cribbage with Mom or Dad. MsC even taught her friend how to play. MsC also pulled out Clue. Did you know this game is called Cluedo in Asia and Europe? I had no idea until this month. We've played Clue/Cluedo enough that we're actually doing some strategizing for the win.

MsC always beats me at chess! We joined a What's App Chess Group of kids in our condo so she could play with kids more at her level. MsC got in a number of games before the restrictions came into effect. Sometimes I got invited along and got to have tea with the hosting mom. Sadly, we've chosen not to do in-house play dates now until Covid cases go down, so chess with others is out  currently.

This does mean that MsE, became a more of interest opponent. MsE learned the rules of chess this month, and really figured it out in just a few games. She knows how all the pieces move and thinks 2 moves at a time right now. MsE keeps telling me where to not to move my pieces. I am still beating her, but I'm having to try to do so. That may say more about my chess skills than MsE's, but I think she would probably ready to play kids outside our house now.

We celebrated the coming of Summer with the festival of Beltane by watching the lighting of the bonfire at Uisneach, Ireland online. MsI said, "It looks like a camp fire." Yes, but much bigger. Fires have been lit on this hill in the centre of Ireland for 1000's of years to celebrate Beltane. There was no public celebration due to Covid, just the keepers of the hill managing the fire and broadcasting it. MsE really liked that someone did a dance with fire. MsC liked that we lit our own candles to symbolize the fires lit in Ireland. It's hard to keep track of time in Singapore without any changing of the seasons, so these little celebrations help us keep track of what it's like back home.

I've noticed that MsE writes unprompted as part of her play every day now. She used the search feature on Apple Music, sounding out the words herself, and then copying out the song titles as she listened to the music. She's been making charts for herself and keeping track of the occurrence of certain activities with tallies.

MsE did some reading comprehension activities, summarizing aloud passages read to her and also reading and sorting sentences into the order they happened in the story.

One of the girls' best friends has left Singapore to visit her family. Assuming there is still a 3 week quarantine when she returns, she will be away for about 3 months. The girls made and dropped off letters to her the morning she was to leave. MsE only asked for a little spelling help.

MsC's Beast Academy lessons this month were about math expressions. She learned how to solve expressions using addition and subtraction with multiple sets of brackets (order of operations) and then symbols were layered into the work to replace numbers (algebra).

The girls learned about machines, gears and conveyor belts by testing out Jonathan's newest Lego Technics machine. MsE loaded the loose parts into the scoops, and then watched them drop onto the conveyor belt, where they traveled along multiple belts to make it all the way to the dump truck awaiting them. Jonathan later re-made the kit into another machine which used conveyor belts again. In the second version the girls were able to see how machines are able to sort parts by size.  

We learned about how what we "know" can change. Scientists and archaeologists make theories based on what they know at the time. As they learn new information they change their theories again. Related to this, the girls completed some activities from "The Usborne Museum Activity Book". They loved guessing what the mistaken identities of the items below could have been.

Going out in groups of 2 means we're not gettting outside as much. We're limiting our social interactions with others significantly. However, we're still trying to get each kid outside at least once a day with a walk, playground, or swimming time. Often they're still getting out twice a day. MsC is still roller blading frequently.

MsE did a big nature walk in the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden. She used a map by herself to find her way all over the large gardens. She was the sole navigator.

Our tea time book this month is Matilda by Roald Dahl. Everyone is loving it. MsE says, "Don't read with out me!," if she needs to leave the table for any reason. We're reading a whole chapter at each sitting, even with all the usual interruptions that a household of 6 has.