Home learning+

So lovely to receive a good feedback/review from a parent:

“Jane always came across as a very lovely natured and well mannered tutor to my son. She was able to motivate him hugely using a variety of age appropriate resources both visual, tactile, verbal and written. She was able to adapt his lessons according to his temperament, his pace of understanding and always willing to offer as many tutor lessons as my son enjoyed, including for longer periods.

Jane was also keen to express to myself (the parent) his progress levels and very willing to support him to sit for public examinations.

My son has since continued to speak several languages and it is no surprise that some of his love for languages started whilst being tutored by Jane from such a young age.

I also am aware that Jane has children of her own and therefore feel that her personal experiences make her a good fit to work with other younger /older students in such a role. I would highly recommend Jane for this role. “

Amita Kenyon
Specialist teacher and Assessor for SpLDs

This week’s highlights at homelearning+.

We are grateful to have the vast woodlands and nature’s reserve at our doorstep - we explored the routes that we’ve never been, boys have climbed every trees that are possible to climb; discovered a hidden stunt park in the middle of nowhere, went back next day with our bikes, had a great time messing about.

At home thanks to the good weather, we had lessons in our garden, boys built a reading/drawing den, and won’t come out of it, some fantastic drawings and poems were produced in there, it’s been blissful.

#homelearning #funlearning #littleartist #littlepoet

They started to show...found the drawing and the captions on the whiteboard of my 8 years old’s bedroom.

Two more poem/mini stories by boys from today’s lesson.
#itwillbeworthit

This is brilliant!! #youarenotalone

Easter egg hunt... in Chinese! Completed in 10 mins with a little of help. Now chocolate for breakfast 😂💓

Week 3

Easter holiday begins, except that kids don’t get school work, every things else stay the same. I don’t won’t kids to binge in screen time, so have laid down simple timetables for these couple of week:

1. Joe wick pe and Mandarin in the morning
2. Reading and ping pong in the afternoon

These have been carried out well and give us a structure of our “holiday” time. Boys are left with plenty of time to connect with their friends online via playing same video games, while they do that I enjoy my freedom of cooking, reading and doing yoga.

Mandarin and PE have continued to be a huge success of home learning, results are easier to measure I suppose. We have lots of fun learning and working out together. I would like this to continue after we return to our normality.

Reflection:
1. Food waste is non-exist in our house anymore, with careful storage and following use by date on our daily meal plan, we made use of everything we have, stretched out shopping trips as far out as possible.
2. We noticed more small great things that never have the time to stop and enjoy: birds chirping, new buds, gentle breeze, first light through the windows...
3. We are grateful for the place we live where we have beautiful quiet outdoor spaces for our one form of exercise a day.
4. We are grateful that we are still able to feed our children and all we are asked to do is to stay in whereas thousands of families struggle to make their ends meet.
5. We are grateful for the key workers who save lives, who stock up and deliver essential supplies, who don’t have the luxury to work at home, you keep society functioning, and you are the true heroes.

#lockdowndiary

#homelearning #begrateful #thankyoukeyworkers

Boys attempted their first Chinese poem writing today.

Andrew:

On top of the mountain there is a big sheep
Big sheep wants to eat grass
At the bottom of the mountain there is a little insect
The little insect eats mud
In the field there are two horses
They run happily

Jonathan:

Little cow eats grass slowly
Little bird tweets loudly
Medium sheep baas in the spring

We have mountain, horses, spring... can’t get more poetic than that😂😍😂
#chinesepoem

'Super Pink Moon' rises tonight! Teach your kids about the biggest full moon of 2020

#pinkmoon2020

'Super Pink Moon' rises tonight! Teach your kids about the biggest full moon of 2020 "It will be bright and brilliant and absolutely gorgeous."

Looking forward to start our first session with #drchips tomorrow. #science #engineering #computing

#harrypotterathome

Week 2 at home learning+.

Second week whooshes pass and gone. As the world seem to go into idle mode, husband and I are lucky enough to still have our jobs going to keep society functioning, with the luxury of working at home. With kids at home, I am juggling with doing both schoolwork and home schooling, however, we are all enjoying the gained family time - it’s amazing how little you need and how much you can do with limited access to pretty much everything to have quality time.

Unlike first week everyone got up at working hour (6am in our house), second week we managed to lie in a little, partly due to the clock been moved forward.

This week we continued the same routine as first week, what seemed to have improved the most is PE and Mandarin. 3 times a day exercise have not only improved our physical ability but as well as mental well-being. As we all enjoy our exercises more each day, we have all become more resilient, focused and happier. Boys have taken on Mandarin so well, it’s hard to believe that merely 2 weeks ago, they were adamant about not learning it.

Thoughts to share:
1. Use the time well. If you don’t have young kids to look after and educate you might feel flooded by abundant time. Rather than worrying about things you can’t control, direct your energy to self improvement: learn a new language, new instrument, pick up a sport etc. Learn to cook, be passionate about cooking, that way not only you fill your day with passion and excitement, it’s also cheaper and healthier. Do home improvement, there are plenty of online courses for DIYs or any skills that you wish to have but never have the time to learn. Time goes fast when you are busy.
2. Look after yourself. Exercise, eat well. Do regular facials, get your partner to give you massages. Pedicure and manicure at home, as often as you like. Make the most of the down time to reconnect with your inner self - you’ll never speak to anyone more than to yourself in your head. Be kind to yourself.
3. Read, read, read. If you feel like escaping current life without any cost or just for pure enjoyment, read.
4. Escape to nature near where you live. We walk/run/cycle to near by park & woodland on a daily basis, we avoided the usual route for social distancing but were rewarded with hidden beauty of nature.

Finally it is a consolation to know this could be happening:

“While we’re all taking a break from the hustle and bustle of our daily routines—with all of our consumer-based ways in tow—maybe the Earth will have time and space to reset a little, to find a better balance, to heal. Maybe we’ll have time and space to think more about the things we want and the things we need, and how our lives and our daily activities and patterns affect the world around us. Maybe the waterways and the air will continue to become cleaner and clearer. Maybe the dolphins will continue to come closer. Maybe the levels of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide will continue to decrease. Maybe the Earth will surprise us with the ways that it is able to make quick changes during only a brief pause in the output of our everyday industry and pollution." ~Carrie Ciula

Stay safe and keep learning.

. #lockdowndiary #homelearning #homeschooling #keepcalmandcarryon

#pewithjoe #myleenesmusicklass #maddiemoatie #otimabuseofficial #themathsfactor #historyhit #worldofdavidwalliams #keepcookingandcarryon

#lockdowndiary
Week 1 of home learning/family time/distant teaching

As a full time working mum, I was determined to make positive use of these lockdown time to give my kids the attention and care they deserved. So making connections first, academic second.

Each day we would start with “#pewithjoe “ then we did school work, we made smoothie to drink at break (boys designed menu), lunch time we ran/cycled into woods near where we live. In the afternoon boys would learn mandarin with me, we also baked together every other day. We had our ping pong table and swing ball stand set up in our garden, boys could go on them during breaks/ after learning hours.

On top of those my work was happening like normal, I was replying emails to parents, students, colleagues, keeping track /log students learning activity, conference meeting, carried out assigned tasks, real marking and distance marking...

Reflection:

1. A positive learning routine, keeping a loose timetable but don’t stress if you don’t stick to the timings. Strictly no pjs during the day.
2. Boys take lead of their learning by keeping track of their tasks giving by school
3. Online gaming/conferencing with friends is a good incentive at the end of the day
4. Read together, lots of them.
5. “Special occasion “ once a week, this weekend we are doing dinner party theme with smart dress code.

Throughout the week I was nowhere near boredom, neither stressed/agitation, it was a productive and fulfilling week with lots of bonding and laughing moments.

I will sure miss this when we all go back to our real, fast paced life.

The most mysterious number: 142857 .It's found inside Egypt Pyramid.
This is how special it is:
142857 X 1 = 142857 .
142857 X 2 = 285714 .
142857 X 3 = 428571 .
142857 X 4 = 571428 .
142857 X 5 = 714285 .
142857 X 6 = 857142 .
Same numbers appear repeatedly with different order. What's the result of it times 7?

The time of year the exhaustion is in its Ma###, then they arrived on my desk to keep me going. 4 more weeks and bring it on 😎

Krogen

50 meters under the water
Sunken submarine
Help me when I get my daughter
When I hit the sea
Ocean hole of blood and squid
Dead on sunken sand
Cringe of paper hits the floor
Relax, it’s just a hand

By Andrew age 9 #littlepoemist

Quality over quantity

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for – and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing. It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool – for love – for your dreams – for the adventure of being alive.
Happy new year.
Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Friday evening Maths feast:

你要到远处寻觅吗？你最后一定会回来的，
在你所熟悉的东西中找到最好的，或者像最好者一样好，
在你最亲近的人中找到最中意的、最强健的和最爱你的......
幸福、知识，不在别处而在这里。
——沃尔特·惠特曼 《草叶集》

Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at last,
In things best known to you finding the best or as good as the best,
In folks nearest to you finding also the sweetest and strongest and lovingest,
Happiness not in another place, but this place... not for another hour, but this hour ---Walt Whitman «Leaves of Grass»

Happy Sunday!

Are you ready for a Friday Maths joke ....here you go!

Junior Mathematics Olympiad (JMO) 2018 questions, have a go: #jmo

青花瓷（英文版）---by 罗艺恒

Beautiful lyrics written in classic poem style, to me it is impossible to translate Chinese ancient poems into another language without losing its depth of artistic and intellectual conception.
Laurence Larson is closest by far. Enjoy.

https://youtu.be/Ai98NMNoAWE

青花瓷（英文版）---by 罗艺恒 非常好听的歌，谢谢歌者！ 图片来自网络，谢谢原拍摄者与原制作者！！！

Mid week maths challenge #mathschallenge

My sentiment on my children, ALWAYS. #bethenicekid

自卑感与软弱感的根源在于：无力自发活动，无法表达真感觉及思想，其结果必然是用伪自我取代他人和自我。无论我们是否意识到，最大的耻辱莫过于我们不是我们自己，最大的自豪与幸福莫过于思考、感觉和说出属于我们自己的东西。— 弗洛姆 《逃避自由》
"The inability to act spontaneously, to express what one genuinely feels and thinks, and the resulting necessity to present a pseudo-self to oneself and others, are the roots of the feelings of inferiority and weakness. Whether or not we are aware of it, there is nothing of which we are more ashamed than of not being ourselves, and there is nothing that gives us greater pride and happiness than to think, to feel, and to say what is ours.”– Erich Fromm

若她涉世未深，就带她看尽人间繁华；
若她心已沧桑，就带她坐旋转木马；
若他情窦初开，请为他宽衣解带；
若他阅人无数，请为他灶边炉台。

Who doesn’t like coffee, cake and big breakfast! Have a go on these year 7 - 8 food themed maths questions:

Have a go on maths exam question from New Zealand 🇳🇿

A maths puzzle to spice up your Friday night

Petrichor