Nature is calling

Growing up in concrete jungle like Singapore, I had little contact with nature and most of my time was spent indoors. I did get that occasional visit to the zoo or bird park, however, it was mostly through school excursions when I got to primary school. I recall that I experienced none of that when I was in preschool. (It was likely that early childhood education was still in it’s infancy in Singapore in the early 80s and academic development was the only focus for the 4-6 year olds).

When I finally learnt how to read at 6 or 7 years old, (I think in those days most kids only got to learn reading in primary school) I became a bookworm. Often my head was buried in storybooks, lost in the magical fantasy of Enid Blyton books, the mysteries of Nancy Drew and Secret 7. Rarely pick up any non-fiction books about birds, insects, frogs, plants etc. Without the knowlege of nature first hand, I did not have much interest in it.

All that I knew of nature, was limited to my pet dog in primary school, rabbits and hamsters kept by a next-door neighbour, bougan-villas, orchids and bonsais that were planted in my balcony by my green-fingers father. And a little more formal science lessons in school; planted some muang beans in primary school and in secondary school; learnt all about the innards of a dissected frog.

The only time when I got interested in nature was the time I spent in Australia in my university years. I walked to the campus from my home daily and always made a point to pick a wild flower, watch the butterflies, gaze at the cottony clouds above and simply marvel at the beauty of God’s creations.

Seriously. I hope K never become like that. To be so caught up in the secularity of this world and only know the man-made part of it. Only learn the commercial view of nature through animal enclosures and the television. Merely know the names of 2 kinds of species of birds; sparrows and mynahs or comprehend the metamorphosis of a chrysalis to a butterfly solely through a book.

Depravity comes in many forms, I think not giving a child opportunities to discern what he understands from nature through first hand knowledge is depravation. Children need to spend more time outdoors to be in direct contact with nature, learn to observe and recognise things in the natural world. I really have no excuse since there are a couple of nature parks a stone’s throw away from our home.

A wide-brimmed hat, lots of sunblock and a love for nature will be all we need to deal with sweltering morning heat, profuse perspiration and some freckles along the way.

bbpark

Trying to spot squirrels and birds with Grand-dad in Bukit Batok Nature Park

Share it:

Related posts:

Re-prioritising

After spending so much time these last 3 years learning about child development and familiarising myself with the various education methods and ways to bring up a child. I often wonder what route I will take if dh and I chose to home-school K.

I still don’t have the courage and the discipline to do this and will chose the conventional route of entering my child into Singapore’s school system. However I will have to admit that I have a dislike for Singapore’s educational system. I was a late developer, struggled through my academic years in upper primary school and secondary school. And only managed to blossom when I was sent to Australia for my university years.

What if K is like me? I really hope not, I rather he takes after his dad in the academic ‘department’ (dh was in the ‘gifted’ programme from primary 4). This will surely make it a little easier for me in his schooling years.

Recently, when dh and nana were watching golf channel in her place, they talked about the possibility of grooming K into a sportsman. K has shown potential for golf and tennis from a very young age. He picked up tennis before he could walk, would be hitting the balls while sitting in his tricycle. And could effortlessly swing his toy golf clubs and hit plastic golf balls when he was about 1 and a half years old.

However, the grim possibility is this. Even if K is gifted in golf or tennis, it is hard for him to gain international standing if we were to stay within Singapore. If our family cannot afford to invest hundreds of thousands to send him to a foreign university in US or UK, sponsor him for international tours to obtain a standing in PGA or Pro tennis circuit, there isn’t a chance.

Instead of banking on hopes of being able to groom a sportsman, it is my job to expose him to as much learning as possible while growing up. Golf and tennis can be for leisure, if he really shows a gift for it, we can pursue it as see how far it brings him. The focus cannot be just in academics, it is not enough for one to just have book smarts. But also in areas of moral, emotional intelligence, social development, nature, sciences and the arts.

Sounds like a list of things to do and a huge challenge for me, but when I learnt more about the Charlotte Mason educational method, it is not as hard as I imagined it to be. I have read about this about a year ago, but recently my interest in it has been renewed after reviewing my home-school experiences with K thus far. I will be looking at ways to incorporate the principles of this method with our home curriculum, and continue using this to supplement his learning even when he enters preschool. This method will have more longevity as he develops and will allow me to learn alongside with him.

It is of my utmost conviction that that I bring up a child who will become a socially responsible and accountable adult, has self-control, learns to relate and adapts well to the environment around him. And most importantly, put God first in his life.

Share it:

Related posts:

Midway into the last quarter of 2009

midweek

We are already into November! Time seemed to have flown by unusually fast this year, I can’t believe that we are less than 2 months away from Christmas. Note to self : have to draft the Christmas shopping list, start buying 1-2 gifts per week so I don’t get caught up in the Christmas rush.

I am still letting K take teeny weeny baby steps in his homeschool lessons, in fact we have only done 2 alphabets since we started more than 2 weeks ago. That’s how slow we are going! He has been busy with unstructured activities for this week…mostly doing messy art and lots of play. He is having so much fun, till it has been quite difficult to convince him stop what he is doing to take his nap in the afternoons, brush his teeth or even go to bed at night.

Share it:

Related posts: