Energy Lapbook Print-Outs

Some samples of the lastest lapbook templates I made.

Countries and their History

XP is obsessed with Europe countries

and their history during the Victorian Period, WW1 and WW2.

She puts a map and a globe in her little corner,

draws signs and symbols only she knows on them.

of exams and awards

This is posted on Homefrontier by Swee Bin, with her permission I am sharing this on my blog.

...............................................................................................................

Hello, everyone.

Here's something wonderful that happened recently.

Days before Feb 22, youths across Malaysia were surprised yet thrilled to receive calls - to attend the Outstanding Cambridge Learners Awards ceremony at Holiday Villa, Subang Jaya. My son, Jian Eu, was one of them. He did not know the full details of the award, but that did not matter. It was enough that he would be receiving one for History, which he self-studied and sat for in the Nov 2010 IGCSE sitting.

So, on Feb 22, a Tuesday, Jian Eu, his sister and me, gamely went to the Holiday Villa. Another surprise awaited us. It was a grand affair in a ballroom! We were expecting a small group in a small seminar room. Whoa! And there were so many people - about 500 of them! There was a lovely spread of food too!

The ceremony started quite on the dot. Cambridge International Exams representative in Malaysia, Mr Ng Kim Huat, spoke of the increase in numbers taking the IGCSE and the A Level. Dr John Guy, formerly of the Cambridge advisory board, sought to challenge the recipients to "aim to see what others see and think what others have not" in the next phase of their intellectual growth.

A total of 172 awards were presented that day, spanning the two sittings for the IGCSE and for the AS (mid-term partial exam of the A Level) and A Level in 2010. The afternoon ended with a very excellent tea spread.

For my family, the ceremony was made fun and memorable by connecting with two other hs families there - Sally and her daughter, Cherish Lo, who received four awards (Top In Malaysia for Business Studies; Top In Malaysia for English First Language; High Achievement for English Literature and first place for Best Across Eight Cambridge IGCSEs) and Richard and Audrey whose son, Hans Eli Sha Ho, received Top In Malaysia for Accounting. Jian Eu received High Achievement for History.

The day is well over, but the event will stay on in all of us.

It struck me that many people, including us, did not know of the awards. Maybe we did not browse through the CIE website well enough (still haven't done so). So, for the benefit of families who are preparing for the IGCSE or A Level (including AS), here's a run-down on the various awards (subject to change, I'd imagine).

TOP IN THE WORLD - is awarded to candidate with the highest score. If more than one candidate throughout the world obtain that highest score, they will be joint-recipients.

TOP IN MALAYSIA - is awarded to candidates with the highest score in this country. Joint-recipients if any, as above. Top In The World and Top In Malaysia recipients do not overlap, with the latter being a lower score than the former.

HIGH ACHIEVEMENT - is a new award, introduced for the 2010 exams (blessed Jian Eu!). It is created to recognize students who have done well in subjects which are not widely taken and is awarded to the highest scoring individual in the country. There will be joint-recipients where the same highest score is obtained by more than one individual.

BEST ACROSS 7 CAMBRIDGE IGCSEs - is awarded to those with the highest average score across seven subjects taken. Three prizes are awarded, i.e., First, Second and Third.

BEST ACROSS 8 CAMBRIDGE IGCSEs - highest average across eight subjects taken. Again, first, second and third placing awarded. Interestingly, a candidate who has taken 8 subjects may receive the Best Across 7. Cherish is one such example. She took 8 subjects but is recognized in the Best Across 7 - because her best 7 subjects came out tops in average point in this category.

BEST ACROSS 9 CAMBRIDGE IGCSEs - as above. (nobody received for Best Across award for 10 and above subjects; hence I do not know if there is such a category.)

For AS and A Level, the Best Across awards are given for 3, 4 and 5 subjects taken.

There is no prize money, but the award certificate and the experience of the awards ceremony are priceless and more than ample reward. Jian Eu absolutely values his piece of paper!

A last piece of information, which Sally shared with me - Cherish obtained a full scholarship to study A Level at the Alice Smith International School. The Upland International School in Penang offers a 80% scholarship. KDU offers full scholarship to those with 10As and above. I believe most places offer substantial scholarships for A scores in 8 subjects and above.

I hope this knowledge will serve HF families well. A heartfelt note here, with no offence intended - I hope all parents will let their children know of the awards BUT leave them to pursue them at their will. There mustn't be pressure to achieve at all costs, imho. So, I wish that this knowledge will bring inspiration and challenge to our young but not hardship. Not everyone is meant for the academics, and that is the beauty and wonder of God's creation.

Blessings, sweebin

some changes

Lately there are some changes in our homeschool -

.

1. I made XP plan out her weekly schedule.

(she doesn't like it, but I think she needs to learn this)

.

2. We use videos almost everyday.

(XP learns better by watching videos, I downloaded documentaries from Youtube

and science/mathematic videos from Khan Academy)

.

3. Chores, music and art are as important as school.

(no excuses like "I am reading" when asked to do chores)

.

4. One notebooking page every school day.

(learns to jot down notes while reading or watching videos

and later put them into paragraphs)

.

5. Learn only ONE subject at a time.

(for example:

in one week we read the chapter on gases in The World of Chemistry,

watched videos The Discovery of Elements,

and did notebooking pages on Cavendish, Rutherford, Priestly and Berzelius;

the following week we did The Mycenaen Culture)

.

new pages in timeline book

Our timeline book is out of space,

I added in extra pages by sticking artblock papers below it. .

Only on those pages where more booklets are needed.

I am planning to add pages on top too,
for China, Japan and Korea history.

note typing

XP used to write her notes out straight onto notebooking pages,

but lately the readings are longer and she needs to make short notes first

before writing them down.

To prevent all the erasing and re-writing,

she uses Notepad to help her jod down all the points

and later complete the sentences.

After that she arranges and adds pictures into her notes.

She uses either Photoshop or Indesign (previously called Pagemaker).

Before You Know It

Before You Know It is a website

where you can download at least 64 languages for free.

.

I've downloaded some,

including Malay (to make sure that their pronunciation is correct)

and Mongolian (we are now doing Mongolia).

.

It's fun !!!

.

.

.

map

Since I am so greedy,

I like to put everything on a map,

but that will make it very messy and crowded.

Lately I figured out a way to make things easier.

.

.What you have to do is print a map on plain A4 paper and

paste/staple some tracing papers at its sides, maximum 4.
.

As you can see, I have 3 here - left, right & bottom.

.

.

.

This is the base - where the original map is.

.

The tracing paper on the left was placed on the map,

and XP drew sheep, oysters, kiwis ... etc at its place.

.

For the next map,

simple fold back the previous one (left) and put another (right) on the base.

For this one, it's agriculture.

.

Finally, fold both sides back to its places and place the bottom paper on the base.

Here shows cities and seas.

.

.

.

Homefrontier's blog

Homefrontier now has its own blog.

.

(Homefrontier is a Malaysia homeschoolers discussion group)

.

.

.

planning

This is how I plan XP's schooling,

every afternoon (weekdays), she does her Chinese, English & Mathematic mostly on her own.

.

At night we do either science or geography/history together,

after that we have our bedtime story.

.

Wednesdays are for art/craft or cooking related to what she is learning,

and Saturdays she joins in the art class which I hold in my studio.

.

.

I don't make long term planning,

just plan for 4 weeks in advance,

then add in the 5th week after end of week one,

then 6th week after end of week two......

.

This schedule is a long piece of pasted A4 papers,

like an acordian book;

and is written with pencil so that changes can be made when is needed.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Now we are doing prehistory, I use 2 books.

W stands for Encyclopedia of World History and F stands for Fossil.

Page 18-19 in book W has to be done together with book F page 14-15,

then Page 20-21 in book W with page 8-9 in book F.

.

.

But it is very troublesome and confusing to always have to refer to the schedule,

.

so this colour stickers came in handy.

.

.

I put the stickers with the same colours on the pages I need to do together......
.

.

for example,

.

Blue stickers on these pages, which talk about evolution,

.

and orange stickers on these, about the first life form.

.

.

Another reason to use these stickers is because XP always wanted to read more,

what we do is just go to the next "stickered" pages and continue.

.

.

book of time

We started using Book of Time 2 years ago when we were doing Introduce to World History.

.

.It is made of art blocks (both the papers & the cardboards)

.

.

Art block papers were joint together to make a 70 pages big accordion book

with 2 cardboards as covers.

.

Age of Discovery, with timeline figures and the happening years.

.

Starting this year, instead of just using the figures,

we made mini books like this,

with picture outside........

.

.

....... and description inside.

.

.

science curricula

Books used in NoeoScience.

Usborne Books, experiment books & history / biography.

.

.

All the books in RealScience4Kids level 1.
Text books, Lab books & Science Language books
for Chemistry, Biology & Physics.
.
.
.
.
Some of the books used by Sonlight level 2, 3, 4 & 5.

Usborne Science Books

TOPS Science Books

Lyrical Life Science Books

.

.

.

For our science unit,

the first 2 years we used SonlightScience,

this year we started to add in NoeoScience and RS4K.

.

I've heard a lot of compliment about RS4K but after using its Biology,

I've decided to drop its Chemistry and Physics (might use them in the future),

it's just not our "style" right now.

.

In the other hand, NoeoScience uses very interesting living books,

including some biographies and books on science history which we really love.

(we are using its chemistry now,

as usual I add in some extra books and also our own Periodic Table and Chemistry Songs)

.

Compare with SonlightScience which is also using living books,

NoeoScience seems to be more fun and lively.

Unfortunately its curriculum is only up to level 6 (age 12)

I will still have to source for something else after we finish our books.

.

.

.