As I have mentioned in other posts, my son is dyslexic.  Thank God, He has been helping us step by step along the way, and my dear almost-10-year-old is reading pretty well on his own, and his reading comprehension is great!

But, in general this sweet boy of mine doesn't enjoy reading or writing.  I've tried all sorts of reading materials from comics to joke books, to chapter books, science fiction, non-fiction...you name it, and I believe I've tried it.  I realize that he needs exposure and practice, so I've had to be creative and think outside the box to "sneak" reading and writing into his daily activities.

Now, there are times when Roboboy does spontaneously read.  I have not been able to find a pattern in this.  Sometimes his sister points out interesting "news" pieces from Yahoo news, and he'll read those.  Sometimes he'll read something we're reading over our shoulders.  Sometimes he'll pick up a book and read.  Sometimes he'll  read every sign he sees.

And sometimes he spontaneously writes too.  But I know that he needs consistent practice at both these things.  So, we have a daily quiet reading time.  Sometimes he reads the next chapter in a chapter book he's currently reading.  Sometimes he obediently sets the timer for 30 minutes and reads a comic, or a joke book, a magazine, whatever he happens to be interested in reading at the time.

We also do reading aloud, and he enjoys listening to great literature, and gets very engrossed in the stories.  He has done very well in his listening comprehension, even when I have thought the language a little difficult or complex for his age level, he has coped better than I ever expected.

Writing has been our biggest challenge.  He struggles with his handwriting, and putting thoughts to paper seems to be almost impossible.  They lack rhyme or reason by the time he tortuously transfers his thoughts from his head to the printed word.  How to get this boy to simply practice more?

The answer came from an extremely unexpected source: blogging.  My dear son saw me blogging, and his older sister blogging, and begged me to set up a blog of his own.  I must confess, I really had my doubts.  Eventually I gave in.  He wrote several entries, and sort of tapered off.

But my dear hubby and I have been talking about how to help this boy along in his writing skills, and so, I have been having him journal short entries almost daily for the past two weeks.  It's been very simple.  I try not to stress him.  I assign things like 5 sentences about his best friend, or a paragraph about his swimming lessons.

He edits his own entries, and then I edit them before posting them.  I have observed that they have needed fewer and fewer grammar and spelling corrections by me as they go along. 

My expectations are simple: begin sentences and proper nouns with a capital letter, punctuation at the end of sentences, correct spelling of words he's familiar with, asking me for help on words he does not know how to spell.  It's not much, but it's a start, and I'm beginning to see results as he is willingly typing for his blog what would have been sheer torture to write out in longhand.

Stop by his blog (The Adventures of Roboboy) sometime, and leave him a note of encouragement.  He is always thrilled to get a comment, ...even if it's usually from his mom or dad.  And if you've got any other ideas for getting my boy reading or writing more, drop me a comment too.  I'm open to ideas!!

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This year I've been struggling with what to do with History/Geography as I have made gradual changes to our curriculum to better suit my children.  Finally, after wandering through the ages of time for a while, I settled on a study of American history/geography.

It actually began last year when we were planning our visit to the USA.  I decided it would be a good idea for the kids to learn a little bit about the states we would be visiting (Kentucky, where their Grandma and Grandpa live, Ohio where G.G., our affectionate nickname for their Great-Grandma, lives, and Tennessee, where we love to spend time in the Smoky Mountains.)  So I printed out some state coloring pages I found at Crayola.com.

I decided it would be a good time for my children to get familiar with American geography, so we've continued with these coloring pages since the beginning of the school year.

We've also been playing with an American States puzzle to try to remember where the states are located and how they're shaped.  I mounted a blank blackline map of the USA to the wall in our schoolroom, and we've been working at trying to be able to fill in all the names of the states.  We've also been working with state capital flashcards to try to learn the name of each state's capital city.

I just made these out of index cards (50 cards with the state names and their 2-letter abbreviations on them, and another 50 cards with the state capital city names on them).  We're focusing on just 10 states at a time.  Right now we're trying to learn the West Coast states.  Today we played concentration with just the 10 states and their capitals that we are focusing on.

I've tried to keep this geography aspect very hands-on for my kinesthetic learner, and so far, he, and his sister, seem to be enjoying it.  He was so proud that he went from being able to label only 4 states on the map yesterday to being able to label 17 today!  Quite an accomplishment for this guy who, though American, lives halfway around the world from this country.

For history, we've just begun reading aloud through the Little House book series.  I got the idea when I saw Dancing Queen pull them out and begin reading them again.  Roboboy has never read them, but I was given a boxed DVD set of the first season of the Little House on the Prairie TV show as a gift while we were in the USA, and he has loved it, so I thought I'd try him on the books again.  (The last time, he was not ready for it.) 

So we're enjoying both reading the books, as well as watching some episodes.  We're mapping out the travels of the Ingalls family on a map, and using some study guides courtesy of the Notebooking Corner.  (Thanks, Lisa!) 

The children are working now on a chart of the various chores and tasks that had to be done in each of the four seasons.  As I read aloud to them, they take note of any new chores that need to be added to their charts.  We're learning to sing some of the folk songs mentioned in the books, and will be doing some journaling, as well as trying  out some of the recipes and other activities provided in the study guides.  Fun stuff!

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One of our favorite homemade homeschooling games is based on the TV game show, "The Price Is Right."  This one takes a bit more planning and organizing to set up, but it's a fun way to assess and review your kids' studies, especially their math skills.  The thing that makes these games extra fun is that I really try to act like a game show host, rather than their mom or their teacher when we play.  So, from the very outset, the kids know this is light-hearted, fun and probably even a bit silly.

Now, when we play "The Price Is Right" (TPIR), we forego the beginning part of the TV game show, where contestants bid on an item, and the closest bidder without going over gets to play the game to win a prize.  We go straight to the games, and, as in "Let's Make a Deal" the youngest goes first, and each child gets a turn with each game.  Sometimes we use prizes from our surprise box, but with this game, we have so much fun in the playing, that prizes don't really matter.  Anyway, our prizes are very small and simple anyway, like a new pencil or eraser or a coin or a sticker or small sheet of stickers, so they are not really all that important.

We get out an old toy golf set, and play the putting game.  I set up the cup at the end of our hall, and the child stands at the other end.  I will ask the child questions from his or her recent studies, and with each correct answer, they get to take a step closer to the cup to make their put.  If they miss a question, they are not allowed to step closer, but must remain where they are.  After 3-5 questions, depending on how far away we start, wherever they are, they get to take a put and try to get the ball in the cup.

We do a similar game with a toy bowling set.  They answer questions to be able to move closer to the pins before they throw.  Of course, the goal of the game is to get a strike.

You could do a similar game with a velcro ball and target or a dart board, or other kinds of hit the target games.

My son has struggled with the value of money and how much things cost, so sometimes we play the higher or lower game.  I cut out a picture from a magazine or catalog of a toy or something he would be familiar with.  Then I set the clock for 60 seconds, and he must try to guess the price of the item, rounded to the nearest dollar.  Whenever he makes a guess, I tell him "higher" or "lower" to clue him in on his next guess.  If he can guess the price within 60 seconds (which for him was a real challenge!) he wins.  My daughter also plays this game, but we try to guess the price of 2 items within the 60 seconds, like the TV game show does.

We will modify other games from the TV show to suit our educational needs.  In one game, Beat the Clock, contestants must match prices to the correct items before time runs out.  We may play a similar game where the contestant must match answers to the correct questions.  This works with math problems, vocabulary words with their definitions, historical dates, state capitals, famous people, etc.

In the dice game, players try to roll the numbers in the price of a car, and then if the number rolled is incorrect, guess whether the correct number is higher or lower than the number rolled.  Well, we roll the dice and add or multiply the numbers on the dice, sometimes I add the challenge of trying to get as close to a certain target as possible.

In other games, contestants must unscramble the numbers in the price of an item.  I may give my children a more complex math problem to solve, such as adding 4-6 digit numbers, and have them unscramble the numbers provided (I write the numbers on index cards) to find the answer to the problem.

Sometimes contestants must "buy" selected grocery items to get as close to a fixed amount of money without going over, usually something like $20.  This is a great life experience practice for the kids, as they do help me with the weekly grocery shopping.  I lay out a number of grocery items on the counter, and they must try to buy any amount or combination of items to reach a certain amount of money, without going over.

The TV show has a mountain climber game, where the contestant must guess the prices of items and for each dollar off, must give up one of $7 given to him at the start of the game.  To win the game, he must have $1 left after guessing 3 or 4 items in order to "buy" the prize, usually a car.  I modify this game too, again trying to help my son understand the value of money and the cost of various items.  We use catalog pictures or household/grocery items for him to guess the price, and he tries to have a dollar left at the end of the game.

I'm sure there are other games on the show that could be modified to be used in our homeschool game, but I think this gives you an idea of what we do.  Let me know if you try it and how you like it. 

Because board games are extremely expensive here in Singapore, we tend to stick with the ones we have brought from America, or make up our own.  (A Monopoly or Scrabble game can cost around $40!)  So, if you think of any other great TV game shows to modify for our homeschool setting or have suggestions for great homemade games, drop me a note!  I'd love to hear from you!

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One of the things both my children and I enjoy about homeschooling is the ability to call for an occasional "Games Day".  I have used games a lot in our homeschooling, especially for my hands-on learner.

Games can range from Uno, Monopoly/Monopoly Jr. to Boggle, Scrabble and other board games, as well as a lot of homemade games.  In fact, our favorite games are homemade.

One of the kids' favorite games is based on the old TV game show "Let's Make a Deal."  This is a really old show I saw as a little girl, so if you've never seen it, don't worry, I'll explain it in detail below.  I especially like to pull this one out once in a while to review what they've been learning, so this game acts as a sort of assessment for me.  The equipment is all homemade, and set-up can be arranged in just moments, so this game is great for even spur-of-the-moment game times.

First, I ask the kids to bring me all their schoolbooks.  (This was a lot easier when they were using a workbook-based curriculum, but anyway...)  Then we get out 3 large hardcover picture books that are roughly the same size, a handful of loose change, and our surprise box.  The surprise box is a small container that holds stickers, stationery items, and other small gifts and prizes.  The kids often collect these items themselves when they receive small gifts at church, birthday party favors, etc. and choose to donate them to our surprise box.

If you've ever watched "Let's Make a Deal," you probably already know how this works, but for those of you who don't...

Stand the 3 picture books up on end, with spines facing out toward the children.  Teacher stands facing the pages side of the books so she can see what's behind the books, but the children cannot.  Place a small prize behind each book.

Then, beginning with the youngest child, select a subject and ask a question based on the child's recent lessons in that subject.  For math, I will usually give the child a problem to solve similar to those he's been solving in his math book.  For spelling, I will give her a word she's had in her recent spelling lists, or a word I've noticed she has misspelled in recent writing.  For English, I may ask a grammar question.  For literature, I may ask a question about the plot of the story the child has been reading, or from our read-aloud.  Science may include definitions of words learned recently, or other factual questions about the recent lessons.  Social Studies may be questions from history, geography, etc., depending on what we've been doing in our lessons.  And so on, through all the subjects.  Usually I will try to ask questions from the same subject for all the children in their turn before switching to a different subject.

Now, here's where the game show concept comes in.  In the old TV show, the host would always make a deal with the participant, "I'll give you a hundred dollars if you can find a paper clip in your bag" or "I'll give you $500 if you can answer this question."  So that's what I do: "I'll give you ten cents if you can answer this math question correctly" and I hold up the ten cents from the handful of loose change.  If the child answers correctly, he can either keep the money, or he can choose to trade it in for what's behind "Door number 1, Door number 2, or Door number 3" (the "doors" are actually the books standing on end with the small prizes behind them.  Most of the time, my kids will opt for what's behind one of the doors, but there are occasions when they would rather have a little extra pocket money.  If the child gets the answer wrong, he has to wait for his next turn to try again, and it is now the next youngest child's turn.

As I said, this game is one of my children's favorites, and it is a fun way for them to review with me what they have been learning.  By the end of the game, they feel rewarded with their little trinkets and prizes and pocket change, and I have a very clear idea of how well they have assimilated the material they've been studying.

In my next post, I'll talk about another of our favorite homemade TV game show homeschooling games: "The Price Is Right"!

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Last year, my family switched to Singapore Math.  At first, I didn't really know what made Singapore Math so special that people all over the world had heard about it, and even some American schools were using it.  In fact, all I knew was that kids in Singapore say that math is really tough, but also that they excel in math when it comes to standardized exams.

Well, the curriculum we were using just wasn't cutting it.  I had read reviews that claimed it was very slow-paced, and I had to concur.  I observed my kids falling farther and farther behind their grade level standards.  So, since Singapore was so famous for their math, I decided to give it a try.  (It doesn't hurt that by living in Singapore, I can pick up the local textbooks, and tons and tons of workbooks at my neighborhood bookstore at a very inexpensive price!)

After using Singapore Math for a little over a year now, I can say it is a great program!  What makes it different from other math programs?  There are a few factors that make Singapore Math stand out.

First, Singapore Math (I'm just going to call it SM from here on out) focuses on real life math.  That means it uses a lot of what Singaporeans call "problem sums" and what Americans call "story problems".  But these aren't just any story problems.  These are quite complex story problems.  In fact, when we first switched to SM, I couldn't figure out how to solve some of these problems without algebra, which primary school-aged kids aren't supposed to use yet.  What to do?

This dilemma of mine brings us to the next outstanding factor of SM: it uses a model approach.  I had to learn how to use the model approach right along with my kids, but, oh! was it helpful!  SM teaches the student how to draw a model to find the solution to a problem sum.  Somehow, this use of the model approach helps the student to take the written word and visualize it, making it easier to mentally picture the problem and thus, solve it.

And this brings me to my next point: somehow, even though I was really good in math in school (I got all A's, except in geometry, and took math right up through calculus and trigonometry in high school, which were the highest classes my high school offered.), somehow, a lot of what I learned was rote memory.  You know what I mean: you memorize addition facts, you memorize times tables, you memorize algebraic formulas and geometric formulas, etc.  But I didn't necessarily understand the full concepts behind the rote memorization--especially in higher mathematical formulas.  But SM makes you work with numbers and take them apart and put them back together again in a way that makes you understand the concepts in a much deeper way.  Sounds kind of stupid, but I feel like I really understand the world of numbers much better now.

Now, admittedly, SM truly is tough.  But, to help my kids adjust to this very different way of looking at math and at the world of numbers, I backtracked all the way back to the early primary school years (primary 1 and 2) just to give them time to learn how to use the model approach and how to deal with those complex problem sums. 

But, even though my then primary 5 daughter went all the way back to the primary 1B book, she was able to work at her own pace all the way through Primary 1, 2, and 3 texts last year.  And suddenly, she has a confidence with math that she never had before!  (Remember, I mentioned that my previous math curriculum was sadly lagging behind the grade-level standard, so I didn't expect her to get all the way up to primary 5 grade level.  She had far too many concepts that were new to her to move that quickly.) 

She has set a personal goal for herself to get up to grade level during the course of this year, and I don't doubt that she can do it!  Already, only 2 months into the school year (we start in January in Singapore) she is half-way through the Primary 4 book.  My son, then Primary 3, took quite well to the Singapore math.  He worked his way through Primary 1 and 2 last year, and is moving quite smoothly through the Primary 3 book this year.

If you are considering a math program, let me recommend Singapore Math.  It will really give your child an advantage in his or her comprehension of mathematics in the long run.

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My son's new-found freedom in taking control and responsibility for his own homeschooling schedule is working!  Normally, I work part-time, from home, so I'm around most of the time for my kids to supervise their studies.  But yesterday morning I was needed for a meeting in the office, so I asked my children to do their devotions together and then independently work on their studies.

Now, this has happened a few times before, so I sort of expected that my dear Roboboy would half-heartedly do a bit of his work, and waste a lot of time.  BUT, when I came home, he had done ALL his studies for the day, including math, English, spelling, social studies, Chinese homework, quiet reading, and guitar practice!  And Dancing Queen tells me that not only did she not have to tell him to do his studies or nag him, or even remind him AT ALL, but his attitude was great throughout the whole day too!  Hooray!!

On another note, our church homeschooling group met today at a nearby resort/park, and we welcomed 4 new families!  Amazing!  For years, we were the only homeschooling family I knew, and due to location, couldn't really get active in the Singapore Homeschool Group activities (most of their activities seem to be on the other side of the island!).  I felt so alone at times.  Now there are ten families in my church alone!  What a joy to be able to share with these young moms, just starting out in their homeschool journey!  I'm still praying for a few older kids who are closer to my older 2 kids' ages, but meanwhile, my kids enjoyed the time today, even though they were by far the oldest there.

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Do you ever wonder if any other mom ever struggles with an issue in homeschooling?  I do!

Yesterday, Roboboy had a meltdown.  Yep, it took just three weeks into the new school year.  Frankly, it's been building up since day 1!  Sometimes I'm at the end of my rope when it comes to knowing what is best for this boy of mine.  Are my expectations too high?  Am I letting him off too easy if I don't encourage him to do more and to move faster?

Ever since the beginning of this school year, I have been struggling to get him motivated and moving to do his work.  I've even reduced my expectations this year in that, when we were using a workbook curriculum, we did every subject every day.  This year, I'm trying to have them do Math, Reading and Language Arts every day, and Social studies and science twice a week, with notebooking and art/music/etc. rounding off the week on the odd day.  I've given him a checklist, and when he finishes working on one subject, he ticks it off and goes on to whatever he wants to do next.

After yesterday's meltdown, I feel like in a sense I threw in the towel.  I basically told him, after we have our devotions and memory work together, you can basically do what you want so long as you work on school work until lunchtime.  I did encourage him to try to do some math and English every day.  Well, today, he spent most of the morning online researching state symbols for one of the states.  Then he watched a horrible histories video with his sister who is studying ancient Egypt, and rounded out the morning by working on memorizing his times tables and spelling.  All without a single sign of bad attitude or temper (which has been on display daily since the first day of school).

Maybe this child of mine needs more time and more flexibility than I have been giving him.  Lord, help me to instill a love of learning in this boy.  It is such a struggle!

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January not only marks the beginning of a new calendar year for us here in Singapore, but also the beginning of a new school year.

Yesterday, Bubbles began her first day of Kindergarten.  Here in Singapore, our preschools offer a 3-4 year program:  2 years ago, Bubbles started with Pre-Nursery, a 1-1/2 hour daily playgroup that she absolutely loved.  In fact, I would never have sent her to school so young if she had not begged for 6 months before to go to school.  I don't know where she got this idea of going to school, as her brother and sister have been homeschooled as long as she can remember, but when our church kindergarten decided to offer a pre-nursery program, it seemed to fit the bill for us, and she jumped right in and never looked back.  2006, Bubbles was in Nursery, which began her years with a daily 3-hour program, and this year marks her first of 2 years of Kindergarten, commonly referred to as K1 here.

Today was the first day of homeschooling for Dancing Queen and Roboboy.  I got an idea from Creative Homeschooling's blog to get my kids more involved in organizing their own work by giving them a self-directed homeschooling checklist for each week.  This seems like a possible solution for the frequent struggles I have with getting dear Roboboy to get on with his work and get it done.  So today, after our morning devotions, I sat them down and explained our new system.  Basically, I let them know what I think is a reasonable goal for them to complete for each subject, and they are responsible to divide it up over the number of days they have for that subject in the week.  They can choose which subjects to work on, and how much to do, so long as they meet their overall goal for the week. 

Right now, they seem a bit ambivalent.  They're not sure if it's going to be easier for them or harder, probably because they have to be a little more responsible for organizing how they will complete the week's work, instead of me telling them what to do each day.  I think it will take a bit of adjusting for them, but in the end, it will be a good move forward to learning how to take responsibility for themselves.

This year also marks a major transition for us, in that, I decided last year to change our curriculum after 4 years with the same curriculum.  We made some gradual changes through the year, as we used up the last of our consumable curriculum, and didn't order any more, but today marks the first day we're not using it for any of our subjects at all.

I can truly affirm now that I am an eclectic  homeschooler.  As I've examined where we are and where we are going in our homeschooling journey, and chosen our curriculum, it is a mix and match of what I hope will better suit the children's needs.

We begin our day with devotions, using children's devotionals that I wrote myself for Scripture Union Singapore.  It will take the children on an overview of the entire Bible over the course of 3 years.  There are 2 titles, one designed for upper primaries that suits Dancing Queen, and the other for lower primaries that fits Roboboy to a T.  We also work on memory work and copy work.

Then we have a quick math timed test, to sharpen their memory on basic math skills.

After that, we move to self-directed subjects: math, English, science and history.  I'm using a combination of local curriculum (math and science) with other various materials and notebooking for these subjects.  The children will take turns spending individual time with me as and when they need my input on their lessons, with the other child doing writing, notebooking, or other book work. 

We will also begin picture studies and music studies this year, which I have done irregularly and infrequently until now.  Lindafay over at Higher Up and Further In provided some great information about how she does picture studies in a post on her blog.  Thanks, Linda!

Add to that quiet reading, weekly instrument lessons and daily practice, weekly swimming lessons, almost daily romps at the playground (weather permitting) and their study of Chinese language, and we've got plenty to keep us busy.

One thing I hope to be more focused on this year is on building up the kids' life skills.  Dancing Queen is interested in fashion design, and, even though I'm not much of a seamstress at all, I guess we're going to be learning together.  Roboboy enjoys helping in the kitchen, so I want to build on that and help him learn to do some basic cooking for himself.  He also still struggles with handling money, and making change, so I want to work more on that with him as well.  They are responsible for keeping their rooms clean, but even though I have someone to help with domestic chores, I want to prepare my children for life and teach them more about doing laundry, ironing, and other household tasks too.  Already, they are both great at marketing.

So, we're off!  Roboboy is beginning Primary 4, and Dancing Queen is in Primary 6.  It's official!

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Because we're getting ready to leave for an extended trip to the US, I realize our school year is just about over.  Yes, we will bring stuff with us, and yes, we will have days of doing schoolwork while in the US, and yes, I have some plans for field trips, nature studies, etc. but our formal, do-it-every-day schooling is pretty much over for the year.

I usually do year-round schooling, so this end-of-the-year stuff is more for record-keeping purposes than for the way I see my children's on-going education.

But, enough rambling!  I was thinking back on this school year.  We have made much progress!  Both my older children have effectively switched over from an American math program to Singapore math.  Both children have learned the rules of basketball and have mastered riding a bicycle.  We have enjoyed reading so many books aloud.  This is by far our favorite together activity.  They have memorized the names of all the books of the Bible in proper order, Psalm 23, and the Lord's Prayer.  They will soon complete the Ten Commandments.  They are learning to have their own daily quiet time with the Lord, each according to his or her own ability.  Both have learned to swim fairly competently, and are continuing swimming lessons to be water safe.

My daughter has discovered the joy of writing, has ambitions to publish a book, has written some lovely poems, short stories, and even a chapter book, and started her own blog.  Her understanding of English grammar is strong, and always improving.  She enjoys notebooking, and has an ever-growing interest in history, branching out from her long-time love of ancient Egypt to the American Revolutionary War, as well as the Civil War.  Her interests are so wide and varied that she can't decide whether she wants to be a singer, writer, fashion designer or archeologist.  She loves her piano lessons, and practices with complaint, though she sometimes needs to be reminded.  We enjoy listening to her practice as she can play a number of songs quite well.

My son's progress has been amazing.  He has gone from telling people last year that he couldn't read to reading at grade level this year.  He picked up his first chapter book without being assigned to do it, and stuck with it until he had read it through.  He has progressed from missing at least half of his spelling words each week to missing only a few--major progress there!  And he has made such a huge success of his math, that he would be at the top of his class were he in a public school classroom!  No mean feat in Singapore, a nation that prides itself on turning out math and science scholars.  He also wants to start a blog, so he's showing interest in writing of his own initiative too.  He says he wants to be an inventor, creating things to make life easier for everyone.  He loves our membership to the Singapore Science Center, and enjoys exploring all the exhibits there on every trip.

My littlest one is "writing" notes to us, and then asking us what she wrote, a sure sign that she is reading ready!  She can form quite a few letters by herself already, and puts them down in a string on the paper.  She can spell and write her own name, as well as a couple of words that are similar to her name.  She loves to look at books, is trying to speak in Mandarin, though she usually strings together a bunch of words in a non-sense way, and is an eager and enthusiastic learner in all areas.  She has maintained a strong love for animals, particularly elephants, so her school field trip to the zoo was the highlight of the year for her.  She says she wants to be an elephant doctor (a veterinarian) when she grows up.

I'm looking forward to starting nature journals in the US, collecting samples of leaves and flowers, sketching plants and animals and insects, and who knows what else.

Yes, I'm grateful.  Another year has (almost) passed, and my children have made noticeable, measurable progress.  They are growing in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.

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Well, 10-year-old Dancing Queen has ever so politely informed me that telling little Bubbles that she is my "mei mei" (see yesterday's post) is incorrect.  That is saying that she is my little sister, which, of course, she is not.  Instead, I should have told her that she is my daughter, or literally, my "girl child", which is, "Ni shi wo de nu hai zi."  Another wonderful homeschooling moment!  My daughter's Chinese is so way far beyond mine already!!  Don't you love homeschooling, where you can learn things from your kids??

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