How apt that it is Mother’s Day and I have chosen this day to ponder over the future direction of this blog…

So first up, let me wish you Happy Mother’s Day!

Now, on to the next part…

This blog has been a reflection of the journey I have taken since I first discovered I was pregnant with Aristotle. Its direction is not set because it meanders along the course that the growth of my two boys leads me on since our experiences continuously molds and shapes my parenting ideals. Although the kind of parent I want to be has not changed, it is evident that there are many paths that can take me from A to B. Everyday, I have to make choices regarding which paths I want to follow.

Every family is different therefore I do not presume that the path I choose is necessarily the right one or the best one for every family. What I do hope is that it is the right one and the best one for my family. I invite you to join us and share our reflections not so that you will agree with them but so that this journey will not be so lonely. I find that in this age of nuclear families, many of us are isolated and alone in parenthood. It can be a terribly lonely road to walk so let’s walk together. We don’t have to make the same choices, but we can certainly keep each other company along the way.

My boys are growing up and I find myself at the crossroads again. With both of them in school now, I have had to reassess how best to spend my time with them. Aristotle, especially, spends long hours in school – longer, perhaps, than I would have liked. Unfortunately, we don’t really have the option to shorten his school hours due to the limited schooling options here. And as wonderful as homeschooling is, I have been forced to agree that homeschooling is not for us.

Now that the boys are spending a large portion of their time at school, what are we doing at home? Last November, I wrote about what we do with Hercules but I’ve realised that I haven’t really been writing about what we do with Aristotle in a very long time. Perhaps it is because we do not really have a set after school program for Aristotle. So what are some of the things we might do?

Extra-curricular Activities

• i-Clay
• Taekwondo
• Swimming
• Heguru

Home Activities

• Right Brain Home Practice
• BrillKids Little Musician
• BrillKids Little French
• Brainology
• Play Moolah
• Brain Training – mostly brain training apps and lumosity
• Art – Painting
• Art – Play Doh
• Lego Construction
• Writing Practice – writing by hand helps to develop the brain

I have also been toying with introducing de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats after reading de Bono’s book on teaching children how to think because de Bono believes that logical thinking is not necessarily acquired naturally but must be taught specifically.

“while a child might be intelligent, it does not necessarily follow that that child will become a good thinker. This is so often the mistaken assumption. In fact, de Bono states that intelligence can sometimes be a trap because “many highly intelligent people often take up a view on a subject then use their intelligence to defend that view. Since they can defend the view very well they never see any need to explore the subject or listen to alternative views.”

But more about this another day…

I’ve also been working with Aristotle on his Math, Reading Comprehension, and Science because he seems to have this idea that “he knows everything” at school and I want him to see that he doesn’t. Learning is an ongoing process that is never ending and I want him to learn to embrace it.

Reading

Aristotle loves to read. His favourite books are:

• Cressida Cowell – How to Train Your Dragon Series
• Roald Dahl – The Complete Adventures of Charlie and Mr Willy Wonka
• Roald Dahl – Matilda
• Roald Dahl – Fantastic Mr Fox
• Enid Blyton – The Brer Rabbit Collection
• Enid Blyton – The Wishing Chair Collection
• Enid Blyton – The O’Clock Tales Collection
• Enid Blyton – Amelia Jane Series
• Steve Cole – Astrosaurs

New book collections he has begun:

• Enid Blyton – Adventure Series
• Mary Pope Osborne – The Magic Tree House
• George Lucas – Star Wars Trilogy

Non-Fiction:

• Greek Gods
• Dinosaurs

Classics collection:

• L Frank Baum – Wizard of Oz
• J M Barrie – Peter Pan

I have been trying to encourage him to get started on more of the classics without much success. I recently made the mistake of reading Tom Sawyer with him and he got put off by the language because they used a lot of old terms he was not familiar with like “getting a lickin'” when they misbehaved and “playing hookey” when skipping school. Perhaps we need to try Classic Starts first.