Honey4Boyz

There're so many creative things you can do with children, and the list is never exhaustive. We did a lot of projects together this school holidays, mostly with resources from our backyard. There's not much grass left on our garden, more like a weed jungle! We even started a project to identify the names of the weeds. The weeds also have their roles in the eco-system, so perhaps we should accept them as part of our garden plants?  A few weeks before Christmas, the pine cones from our neighbour's tree started to fall in dozens every day. It has a very unique durian-like structure and we still didn't know the specie name yet! We've so much fun collecting them, in hundreds and hundreds.... ...until we must think of something to do with them.... We put a hook on each of these cones and the boys made their imaginary creatures with them. ...like owls... caterpillars, porcupine, bees, UFOs, monsters, etc etc ... we hung some of the cone...

Unschooling Get-together @ CLiC We managed to meet up with Wai Leng and some other unschooling families during the holidays. Tree-climbing was a favourite past time in CLiC. We've a glimpse of a typical day of these unschoolers, also their hangout place at the Community Learning Initiative Centre (CLiC). Unschooling with a community is a unique experience. There's little structure and no standard curriculum, unlike some homeschooling approaches. The kids learnt how to journal after collecting some stuff at the park and learning took place naturally. Stream trotting at Bukit Tinggi, Pahang A nature walk in a scenic and secluded place.  Most of the time we could have this place to ourselves. W e come here often, but never grow tired of it.  The water is clear and cold, there're small and big fishes, beautiful dragonflies in different colours, the sound of water gushing from the waterfall, fresh air... tis is what we miss in the city. Jumping ...

 The holidays are a time of fun and activities, but with all the festivities, it can also create stress. Everyone seems to be running in different directions this holiday season. Cooking with the kids is a simple way to spend some time together and step away from the hectic season. Even with boys, they can benefit from learning some skills that will help them in life.   Trying out the tangyuan at the Chinese Winter Solstice festival.  It's a Chinese dessert made from glutinous rice flour. The boys have to roll them into balls before cooking. Jin has a first time experience cooking dinner for the family on 30/12/2013. He has a tough time deciding on the menu. When he finally has the menu, the next challenge was to meet a budget of RM50. He has to do without the grilled chicken. A good hands on experience for him to create his own grocery shopping list and plan for a dinner for 6 people. Preparation gotta start way before the actual cooking. From g...

Posting by Xian Wei A few of us, including my brothers went to the chess camp held at the International Youth Centre in Cheras recently. Jin was in the higher intermediate level, whereas Brandon and I were in the lower intermediate. When the competition started, I was doing well, then I made a few mistakes and ended up in the 2nd place. I learnt a lesson not to take people's praises seriously and get overconfident. But I still enjoyed the games.  I was playing against the winner. I almost won him but he checkmated me a few minutes before his time ran out. Winners of the tournament (lower intermediate). Brandon got 4th place. Jin standing next to the Spanish coach, Captain Alberto. Like me, he got 2nd place.

Posting by Xian Jin The Kiwanis Youth Camp is an annual camp organized by Kiwanis Club of Kuala Lumpur. This year it was a 5 day 4 night trip to the Earth Camp, Gopeng. The day before it started, I had mixed feelings because I was afraid to do some activities I have never done before but I was curious as this was my first time. We took a bus from a meeting point to the Earth Camp. In the bus, everyone was silent as we did not know each other. When I reached Earth Camp, I was amazed by the cleanliness of the dorms, the size of the place and the hospitality given by the staff there. After a brief intro, we were divided into groups and had ice breaking sessions. We played many games like the tug-of-war and it was dinner time. The food was way beyond my expectation. I finished dinner with a very happy stomach and went on to wash up. After that we had a meeting and we slept. The next day I woke up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep. We first did water rescue...