HBL is almost over

We were busy catching a funny and warm drama after the kids went to bed the past two weeks so I couldn't write much. I also cheong-ed through a Stephen King book the past week. Now, Sito is still having a call - he's been working almost the entire day :(

So I write.

Yang and Yu came home with a booklet on staying home during COVID-19. They were supposed to write about their feelings etc. I think the idea is, kids might feel stuck at home, scared, sad, etc.

Not mine *.*

The three of them are very happy to stay at home to watch TV, play with one another, not go to school. I was telling Yu that he couldn't go to the playground, swim or play scooter. He went awww....! And he added that Papa could not go out to work, Mama could not go out to work. Yes, my baby. So we want all this to end! But Yang said he doesn't want to go back to school - no way, boy!

Kai has been spending more time at home since he started primary school. For Yang and Yu, this is really quite different. So while Kai isn't much different, his brothers' weird kiddy habits are showing up. Yang would take a long time to change from and to PJs; I often found him playing, half dressed! Yu would take off his pants some time in the day coz "it's too hot!"

Yang forgetting to change

Yu, like Yang, enjoys assessment books!

JY lent me a few books for K1-K2. I let Yang and Yu do them every week or so.

This was supposed to be Yu's HBL with family but what was he doing?!

Papa joined us for Spider Man workout!

Yu had an abrasion on his chin one night :(

I sneaked into his room every night to apply ointment on his broken chin. He slept on, unaware and not pushing my hand away like in the day. This is like how he sneaks into our room every night and takes up a snug position between his parents. We sleep on, unaware until morning. Or when he kicks :)

He took this himself, to check his chin :p

Afternoons are mostly spent on Reading Eggs - Yang on laptop and Yu on the iPad. Won't be for long coz the month-long trial is coming to an end and it's quite ex to subscribe to that app.

Here, Kai was playing for Yang, and Yu was playing a Mandarin app for which I paid to unlock more lessons - he can do it really well!

The younger ones have their fair share of HBL activities. The talking ones weren't very easy to do coz they got bored easily - think it's different in school when friends are around. Two of the five activities each week are supposed to be in Chinese. The only problem is that the Chinese activities have not been very well received. In fact, I often got English in reply.

I fear that they're getting behind in Chinese so yesterday, in desperation, I made them pick up phrases from Channel 8 news and give me the meaning in English. Yang heard four phrases! And he surprised me by picking 全球 “the whole world!” Yup, I’m mighty pleased about this! Time to give him 唐诗? Haha!

Kai had some difficulty but he managed in the end. I asked him just now why he wouldn't speak Mandarin. He said it was so hard! I wonder how I can encourage and teach him...

Hands-on activities are more popular

Yu can cut! Though the direction is a bit strange...

These two weeks, Kai also started meeting teachers online and eventually having short online lessons. He wasn't too happy at some timings coz he had to miss TV but he did log on faithfully - good for you, my boy!

Initially, I didn't want such lessons. But after helping him log on and teaching him how to get there, it turned out to be quite ok - no need for him to come after me to ask me how to do his SLS stuff!

I still don't want such lessons for Yang and Yu - that would need constant handholding!

Cheerful for his first Google Meet session

So cute! We were doing left and right and I purposely made him touch him left right ears eyes cheeks etc

Papa giving them a hands-on session to screw a toy back

They played some card fighting game one evening and disregarded funny videos...

I told Yu to wait and he went ahead to dig out the tools to fix his sunglasses all by himself (but no, he didn't fix them)

But he can colour very well now!

Bonus - I found this on my phone just now

Taken by Yu, it is a common sight to see one or more boys (leaning) on me. My back, my poor back!

Kai has one last day of HBL - at least for this cycle - next Monday. But HBL for Yang and Yu continues - I already received the emails from their teachers. But at least I can choose the timing for their activities. I think I can survive May.