Science Fair

這兩天是哈嘻學校的Science Fair, 星期二是一二年級，今天是三四年級，所以我們兩天都得忙。

早上要先送小朋友早去set up.我剛好需要早出門，去公司又剛好經過他們學校，所以我負責送小朋友去set up,老公再drop off 不需要早去set up 的那個。晚上六到七點是Science Fair open house, 所以大家又得去。我六點到家先做飯，昨天是滷肉飯，前一天先把蛋煮熟，回家切蒜末，肉炒一炒，加五香粉，油蔥，酒，醬油，冰糖，水，全丟進壓力鍋，再拌個沙拉，6:20就可以出門，6:25就到他們學校。老公去after school 接了他們直接到學校，他們有在after school 吃點心，所以不會太餓。7點多我們從學校回家，滷肉剛好完成。今天冰箱裡還剩一點昨天的滷肉，前天的咖哩雞，所以我昨天先把菠菜切好，粉絲燙軟，今天洗一下菠菜，菠菜粉絲胡椒加一點滷絞肉，就完成螞蟻上樹。不到6:20就可以出門，我到學校時，他們3個還沒到。Anyways, 講了半天，跟Science Fair 好像沒什麼關係，只是上班後遇到這種特殊情況，需要動作很快。

嘻是做“How to get the Sharpie stain off?", 他用11種不同的東西試著擦掉在寶麗龍碗的Sharpie stain, 最後， carpet cleaner 和 酒精可以擦掉，baking soda 能擦掉一點，其他不行。

哈是做 “Balloon Experiment". 看看醋加baking soda, 檸檬汁加baking soda 和酒精加 baking soda 那一種產生的氣體能讓氣球吹最大，最後是醋加baking soda 的最大，酒精加baking soda 完全沒反應。





我們除了看他們的以外，還要看其他小朋友的。每個做實驗的人有個袋子裝feedback form, 參觀的人就要寫feedback 鼓勵他們。他們覺得好玩，明年就會再做。1到4年級都是自由參加，5年級則是規定要參加。嘻嘻很有興趣，因為 “別的小朋友要在教室做平常的事，但是參加Science Fair的小朋友可以到圖書館為參觀的班級講解他的實驗，不用上課”。他們班只有3個人參加，哈哈班大概有7，8個人做。

Student of the Month

兩個人昨天一上車就開始跟我講Student of the Month, 兩個人講來講去我也不知道他們在講什麼，後來嘻嘻說他有在廣播聽到哈哈的名字，哈哈說他也不確定，可是他的同學都說是他，問題是我從來不知道他們學校有Student of the Month 的活動，也不知道這是幹嘛的，他們說這是第一次有的，是給聽話(follow the rules)的小朋友，他們以前也沒聽說過。Ok, 所以我想，可能哈哈被選上他們班的Student of the Month. 其實他的老師已經在連絡紙上寫了兩次，說哈是很好的“role model", 所以如果他真的被選到，我也不會太驚訝。開車到紅燈時，嘻從後面遞過來一張紙，說也是和Student of the Month 有關的，一看，原來嘻也被選上他們班的student of the month. 我問他廣播有沒有念到他名字，他也說有，我這才搞清楚狀況。哈哈可能因為老師請假，所以他沒拿到certificate。

既然這是第一次辦的活動，第一個被選出來的應該是全班最聽話的小朋友。很好，我兒子在學校沒亂搞惹麻煩，是好的基督徒見證。願榮耀歸於神！

Crazy Hair Day

今天是哈嘻學校的Crazy Hair Day, 昨天他們就開始想要搞什麼頭髮，男生頭髮實在沒什麼好變化的，以上就是他們的傑作。

哈是用水弄了幾個尖（不過我覺得等他到了學校，頭髮乾了，可能會蹋）；嘻是用3組Legos夾在頭上，作了個Lego頭。

不知道是幸還是不幸，我今天下午剛好又輪到去學校幫忙，看來，我也該搞個什麼頭再去。我可能也會弄個Lego頭，跟嘻變母子頭。

這是我剛剛去學校的髮型。頗受歡迎。

媽媽的特權

今天我穿睡衣去嘻班參加他們的聖誕派對，真是太興奮了。從小到大，好像還沒試過穿個睡衣走在路上，今天能夠抬頭挺胸的大方穿睡衣出門，是個新奇的經驗。

其實今天是他們學校的PJ Day，他們倆個平常在家不穿睡衣，都是直接穿第二天出門的衣服，夏天就短袖短褲，冬天就長袖薄衣加長褲。所以他們PJ Day的衣服都是舊的。我也曾問他們晚上要不要穿睡衣，可是他們懶得早上換衣服，所以就算了，我是家裡唯一有一堆睡衣的人。

通常，我每隔一個星期五去學校幫忙他們的Big Buddy 活動，這禮拜沒有，所以我打算不去了，反正classroom party也沒什麼好玩的。可是嘻昨天問我，要不要去他們classroom party 幫忙，如果要去，可以穿PJ去，因為是PJ Day。我一聽，立刻改變主意， 難得有正當理由穿睡衣出門，當然非去不可，所以下午我就換上睡衣去學校了。家長車不能停在學校停車場，要停在附近街上，下了車再走到學校。幸好我一向不是個介意他人眼光的人，做的事只要對得起自己，對得起神，對得起人就行，而且我通常是走搞笑路線，穿睡衣上街其實跟我的形象相符。

其實當媽媽是很不錯的，可以藉兒女之名，滿足自己的好奇心。通常在那種“hands-on"的博物館，最有興趣玩的是我； 去 Theme Park, 只要帶個兒子，也不用不好意思去坐我唯一敢坐的Merry-Go-Round 很多次。雖然養兒子平常很忙，不過偶爾還是有些福利的。

(ps. 所有去幫忙的家長中，只有我敢穿睡衣去，不過大家對我的造型相當讚賞。）

給老師的聖誕卡

我去買了兩個小禮物，要哈嘻各選一張卡片，自己寫好，明天拿去送老師。

嘻寫：Mrs. Xxx: I love you, and I love your hair.
哈寫：Mrs. Yyy: It has been a wonderful time with you. May your New Year be blessed with joy, happiness, and fun with your family.

 大了兩歲，好像就少了一點童真，多了一點八股。（雖然他也是真心的祝福老師）

尊 榮 以 前 ， 必 有 謙 卑

敗 壞 之 先 ， 人 心 驕 傲 ； 尊 榮 以 前 ， 必 有 謙 卑 。（箴言18：12）

今天在快到教室的時候，嘻跟我說：“我的spelling好像還沒有準備的很好耶”。 昨天我已經問過他所有的字一次，他只有兩個不會， 後來我再問那兩個，他也沒問題了，所以我覺得他已經ok了，早上也就沒再提spelling的事。我看他有點緊張spelling好像沒準備好，所以問了他幾個比較不容易記的字，他都會，所以我告訴他不要擔心，他預備的很好了。我也真的相信，他會做的不錯。

一兩個月之前，剛開始有spelling 練習的時候，每次叫他自己背一下，他總是一面背一面玩，然後說沒問題，都會了。他的phonics不錯，所以也不好好背，覺得“sound it out"就行了，可惜每次的 “sound it out" 跟真正的拼法都有距離， 所以他的spelling 很讓人頭痛，特別是他的自滿害他不願意下苦功背。

今天早上送他去教室，我走路到我的車的路上，聖經上箴言的這句話就跑出來了。我想到在他自以為不錯，不去努力時，反而愈來愈差；但當他自以為不足，加倍認真，反而會有好結果。這真的是一句很有智慧的話，可以應用在嘻嘻和我們每一個人的身上。

Code Red Alert Drill ( 紅色警報演習）

今天接他們放學時，兩個人一上車就興奮的你一句我一句的告訴我關於Code Red Alert Drill 的事。原來Code Red Alert 是關於有恐怖分子或壞人到學校時老師和學生應作的準備。他們說，老師把門用管子和膠帶層層封住，學生用特定的方式把桌椅堆成"Fort"(堡壘）， 和書包一起堵在門邊，然後學生去躲起來。嘻嘻說他們躲在Spelling的門裡面，門都快倒了；哈哈他們躲在和另一教室相通的通道，看樣子，他們這個演習做的很逼真。我有一次在他們學校幫忙時，剛好有火災演習，大家也是老師不用講，小朋友就會安靜迅速的到操場自己班的定位。比我們小時候演習時大家嘻嘻哈哈慢慢走強多了。

Monkey Bar

幾乎每個小公園都有Monkey Bar,學校裡也有，不過哈嘻一直以來好像力氣都不夠。前一陣子，哈哈說他們班有個女生教他玩Monkey Bar,嘻嘻也說有個女生教他玩像Monkey Bar 的手滑輪，就這樣，兩個人忽然都會了。

前幾個禮拜，有一次學校放假，我帶他們去學校玩，他們就玩Monkey Bar 給我看：
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aEPWoSAt_s
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ46Ejv2p_U

那時候他們的頭髮都還好長，真不帥。現在剪短一點比較帥。

小孩子的成長常常帶給人驚喜，一些久久不會的東西，說會就會。

Coyote Point Museum Fieldtrip With Hee's Class-10/5/10



入口處

 今天跟嘻班去個比較遠的校外教學，是去在San Mateo的Coyote Point Musuem. 9:15出發，在校車上搖搖晃晃的，還沒到已經睏了，想到等下要管5個小朋友，就更睏了。當老師的人真不簡單，不管前一天晚上幾點睡，心情好不好，一大早都要打起精神，面對20個完全不同的小朋友，說學逗唱，十項武藝全上，撐到3點下課。

Coyote Point Musuem的網站是http://www.coyoteptmuseum.org/

Today, we were there only to see the animals, plants and go for a short hike along the shore; however, we didn't get the opportunity to see the exhibits which looked fun on the web.



摸大龜

摸大樹



看飛機

看大海



The kids had a lot of fun looking at coyote, fox, raccoon, bobcats and snakes, and they also had a lot of fun counting the big airplanes. We saw about 20 airplanes on our hiking trip. Today, I learned the differences between Tortoise and Turtle. Tortoise is found at desert area and with very strong legs; turtle is usually found near the pools or ponds and their legs and feet are softer.

I like to be the chaperone of the fieldtrip because I got to know the kids in Ha's or Hee's class, and I learned a lot from the teachers, museum staffs or park rangers.











 

上學了！

Well, 已經開學快一個禮拜了！
Hee is in 1st grade, and Ha is in 3rd grade now.

Hee is mentally stronger  than he was in kindergarten, and he didn't cry when I said good bye to him at the door on the first day. However, he did cry at lunch time because it was his first time to eat lunch without Mommy around. He is doing better and better each day, and today, he told me that: "我今天在學校一點也沒有想哭的感覺了”。 Praise the Lord!

I believe that having a good teacher is part of the reasons that he got adjusted to the 1st grade setting so fast. Today, he told me: "我們老師說，要make一堆mistakes之後才會去second grade"". 我說:"那還不簡單，要去second grade的人就趕快故意make mistakes 就好了。”他說，“才不簡單，因為老師也說我們需要do our best，所以也不能故意。所以每個人都要很久才會去second grade”

這個老師真的很有智慧，讓學生do their best, 卻又不必為不小心犯的錯緊張，這樣在學校心情應該輕鬆愉快。

哈哈上3rd grade後，作homework更自動，他一年比一年更好。記得他在k的時候，幾乎沒homework,但每次只要有什麼需要做的東西，拖到最後一秒還不肯好好做 It's a big headache for me。感謝神，小孩子是會長大的。

Ha loves his teacher

Last night, ha told me that he wished he could still be in the first grade class next year, so he could still be in his teacher, Mrs. Bartlett's class.

It was his teacher's first year of teaching life, and she is a very caring and creative teacher. Ha was a shy person and was slow at doing his work. For open ended question or projects, he could sit there for very long and didn't know how to start it because he didn't want to give the wrong answer even though we told him that there's no wrong answer. However, he did good at spelling test or math test when there are exact answers. He was not sharp at writing because he didn't know what to write about. He's different, but he is not a troublemaker at all. In kindergarten, he seldomly spoke to other kids, but fortunately, he had a good teacher, Mr. Watson, and she helped him to go through the kindergarten, and the school did a great job in terms of arranging the teacher for his first grade class.

The first day of first grade class, Ha went home happily because he told me that he knew his teacher. Mrs. Bartlett was helping out in his kindergarten class before. Ha was happy to go to the school every day and never complained anything at school even though it was not easy to get him to do his homework at home. Mrs. Bartlett noticed that Ha was happy when he was with Ben at the beginning of the semester, so she arranged for them to sit together, and they became good friends. They and the other 2 boys usually played together during recess time, and they cared for each other, too. Ha told me that Ben went to Mrs. Bartlett when Ha's second tooth waggled hard, and Ha went to Mrs. Bartlett when that tooth was pulled out.

His teacher has a high-tech background, and she had worked for Apple and HP before she became a teacher, so she was good at science projects or experiments, and Ha liked those, too. He really enjoyed his school days. His teacher also made good use of all the resources to help the kids being successful. Ha was not reading well at the beginning of the semester, and he needed to sound out every word before he could say them. Mrs. Bartlett let him go to the reading club, and now, his reading speed had improved a lot since then. I was surprised that a kid can change so big in a year. She also recommends Ha to go to the summer session for a month, so he can have a better foundation for the second grade. I prayed that God will prepare a good teacher for Ha in second grade!

Leprechaun Trap

This week, the topic of Ha's classroom sharing was to make a leprechaun trap and to demonstrate it. Without my help, Ha had had an idea in mind, and he just asked me for some materials that he might need. He was doing it all by himself, and the finished product looked good.

It reminded me that he made a leprechaun trap when he was in kindergarten, too. At that time, even though he had some idea in mind, he still needed me and stephen's help in order to finish the project. It was a huge trap, and it was a huge star in his classroom on that day. see http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-RFrkaVAocrWPQEHcSlK_TZd.?bid=2803&yy=2008&mm=3
(for some reason, video clips were gone! Bad Yahoo!You may watch it from my Yahoo! Video http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2205972/6966312)

I still remembered that in kindergarten, when he was doing the trap, he was having a cold and staying home, and this time, Ha was staying home last Friday because of the cold, too. I believed that these 2 days were the only days that Ha stayed home because of illness. What a coincidence!

Next year, I should pay more attention to Ha and give him more vitamin C around the time of making the leprechaun trap. (Around March 6)

(I'll load the photo of the new leprechaun trap later)

Ha's Science Fair

Yesterday(3/2) was the first annual science fair at Ha's school. At the end of January, we knew about the science fair, and I wanted to encourage Ha to participate. It was not an easy job for me because the participation is voluntary, and Ha hated to do any extra work unless it's necessary; moreover, the students need to present their projects to classmates, other kids and other parents, and Ha was not comfortable at doing it. I tried hard to talk him into it, and he agreed to do a project, but he still didn't want to say a word in front of people on the science fair day, and I told him that it's up to him. As long as he agreed to do some work, it's better than nothing.

I helped him to think of some ideas,(we didn't want to choose the topics from the books, but we wanted to do our originals which he would be interested) and he chose that he wanted to do an experiment about the relationship between battery's life and size. With my Dad's help, he got a good battery/lighbulbs layout board, and he did the experiment by himself after we came back from Taiwan.

Doing the experiment and recording the results were not very hard for him, but making a display board was a challenge. I was afraid that he would refuse to write so many words because writing was not one of his favorites. However, things went better than I thought. Ha and I discussed what to write, and I taught him how to spell, and he seemed to be interested in doing his work to write and to decorate the board.

On the day of science fair, I didn't mention anything about presentation; instead, I told him that he would be good at showing people how his project works by connecting the lightbulbs and batteries which he had no problem doing it.

In the afternoon, when I went to pick him up, he told me that people asked him questions about his project, and he answered them, and he wanted to go there at night for the whole hour to answer more questions. (previously, he planned to go to the keyboard class from 5:45 to 6:30 and then go to science fair, which was from 6pm to 7pm) It's a good opportunity to strengthen his ability to communicate with people, so I talked to his keyboard teacher that he couldn't be in class this week.

In the science fair, I didn't stick with him; instead, I walked around to see other people's projects while my eyes were on Ha from time to time. I saw people going by his display and talking to him, and I saw him answering the questions, too. He was excited about the science fair, and he would like to participate again next year.

To me, the whole thing was like a miracle, a mission impossible, but we did it. Ha is a sensitive kid, so I was 戒慎恐懼，moving slowly at each step because I knew that if he had a bad feeling about this science fair, he wouldn't participate any more in the future; on the other hand, if he did good on this one, it would be a huge encouragement to him to move forward. Thank God for giving me enough wisdom and strengh on the process of guiding him through this science fair. I'm so glad that they only have the science fair once a year, so I can take a little break.

Blueberry and Blackberry

Because Martin Luther King believed that everyone should be nice to each other, the sharing topic of Ha's class this week is to bring something that can be shared with other kids. Since I found out the topic after I picked up Ha from school, and I was too lazy to go shopping with two of them, we decided to bring something that we have at home.

The healthiest choice was to bring the fruit. Ha said that his friend Ben brought apples yesterday, so he wanted to bring something different. I counted our blueberry and blackberry, and both of them are over 21 (20kids+teacher), so Ha brings blueberry and blackberry today.

I told Ha : "blueberry is sweeter, and blackberry is not as sweet as blueberry, so you should eat blackberry first, and then eat blueberry."

Ha said: "But they are so small, and I will eat both of them in one bite."

That's true, and more realistic. Sometimes, adults' thoughts are more complicated, but it doesn't mean that we are always right.

動動腦

Tonight, Ha's school had a "math night" for kids from k to 2nd grade. Stephen's math skill is much better than mine ( He won something on the National math competition in Taiwan, but I didn't. I was not good enough to even participate in that competition.), but since he needed to eat dinner, I went to the math night with Ha.

It had many sets of different games and puzzles, and kids could freely choose to play with any games or puzzles. We enjoyed most of the games except for one....because we couldn't get the answer. When I came home and asked Stephen, he got the right answer right away. ( I believed that I heard about this question long time ago, but I just couldn't think of the answer .)

Ok, here is the question:

One person and his 3 pets, a dog, a cat, and a bird are going to cross the river by the boat. The boat can only take that person and one of the pets each time. The cat can not be alone with the dog, and the bird can not be alone with the cat. Can you think of a way for all of them to cross the river?

Finally, it's 10/31

Sooooooooo busy for the past few days (weeks) because 10/31 is the deadline for 3 things: My license renewal (needs to finish 80 hours of Contination Education online plus passing the all exams for those CEs online); State and federal payroll taxes and state sales tax returns are due; One of my clients' city license needs to be renewed. Finally, I got everything out this morning! Feeling good!脖子前2天有點扭到，今天差不多快好了。

In the afternoon, Hee and I went to Ha's school. They had a little parade, some crafts and a game. After the game, they had yummy snack (and Hee ate some, too.)

Tonight, we are going to attend the harvest night in the church, and then, I can have a good night sleep and say good-bye to 10/31.

Halloween issue followed up -- emails between teacher and mom

This morning, Ha's teacher sent me an email during the recess time ( I believed):

Joshua told us today that he does not celebrate Halloween. Some children were curious about that, but they were satisfied when I told him that not all families celebrate the same days.
I wanted to let you know that Friday afternoon will be very focused on Halloween with a parade and a party. if you want to pick him up at lunch time you could certainly do that. Otherwise perhaps we could chat so that I know if you want him to participate in the parade etc.

I wrote back:

Thanks for asking. He told me that he will wear his regular clothes for parade, and I think that it will be fine for him to join the Halloween class party unless he chooses not to. He wore the costume when he was in kindergarten, but last night, when we were preparing for the sharing, he told me that he doesn't want to celebrate the Halloween because God doesn't like the ghost or evil spirit things. His brother and I will be there with him for the parade and the class party, and we are sure that he will have fun on Friday with other kids.

And she replied:

Thanks for the response. That sounds good.

So, this will be the way that we handle this Halloween issue. Ha's teacher is very caring, and she loves to communicate with parents regarding to big or small things which she thought that parents should know, so we have the peace of mind when we send Ha to school with her.

I'm Soooooooo Proud of Haha

This week, in Ha's class, the sharing topic is "Draw a picture of what you are going to be for Halloween", and there's an option:" For those who do not celebrate Halloween, please draw a very nice picture of things that remind you of fall".

Last year, we bought a bear costume from Craigslist for Ha, so this year, I told him that he can wear that one as well. I also mentioned to him before that Christian do not celebrate Halloween because it's related to ghost or the evil things that God doesn't like, so we don't go to treat or trick but go to the Harvest Night in the church instead. I don't want him to feel leftout at school, so I let him wear the costume to school last year.

However, when I asked him to draw the bear for tomorrow's sharing, he told me that he wanted to draw a leaf because he doesn't celebrate Halloween, so he's going to draw something that reminds him of fall. Then, I asked him if he will wear the regular clothes to school on Friday, and he said yes. I told him that he may look strange when other kids wear their costume and he doesn't. He said that it's ok because when he was in kindergarten, there were some kids not wearing the costume, either.

I was so surprised and yet, so proud of his "guts". Being a Christian for so many years, I don't think that I have the same courage as Ha to live differently from others in order to please God. He made a lot of Yes on 8 signs and wanted to put in our front yard, but I was afraid that those people who support No on 8 will do bad things to us, so I asked Ha not to put them there. I only dared to put the signs on the street where is further away from our house. 如果基督徒都像Ha一樣，福音可能早就到地極了。

A Long Day

Saturday, 10/25 was a long day for us.

Usually, I bake cupcakes on Saturdays as breakfast, and this week, I baked 14 apple&banana cupcakes. After we finished the breakfast, we went to McClellan Ranch Park where is now an 18-acre natural preserve park. It had an annual wildlife education day on Saturday, and I thought that my kids would be interested in it, so we went. Ha and Hee made birdfeeders, planted some small plants, and they touched many live animals. They loved the little chicken the best, and they fed them some food. They played with the animals for a long time, and I walked around to ask the experts some questions about compost, flowers, and how to get the honey from the beehives. I liked to touch the snake. Some girls tied the snake around their nacks, and I really wanted to try it, too, but I thought that I was too old to do this kind of children stuff, so I didn't do it.

We went home for lunch, and kids watched the TV for an hour, and then we set off again to Ha's school for Pumpkin Festival. Ha told me that his teacher's husband needed to attend a class, so she will be at school around 3pm, so he wanted to be at school at 3pm, too. He loved to see his teacher, so I guessed that he's not a trouble student at school because usually, trouble students want to hide away from the teachers as far as possible.

Ha and Hee played a lot of games, had fun and got some prizes. We also saw Ha's carved pumpkin in the library. Then, there's a not-so-funny magic show, so we went home before the show ended.

When we got home, it's around 5pm. I helped Ha to put his prizes in his room, and then, when I went to the kitchen, I saw that Stephen was measuring the rice. It was not a usual thing that he would do, and moreover, he measured cups and cups of rice, so I asked him who would be coming. He said that his brother's family would be here, but they are not big huge people, and I didn't think that they were able to eat so much. Ok, I know, it's a "surprise party"! The question was that we had been out the whole day, what were they going to eat when they came? Stephen went to the market to buy some food, and I cooked 2 easy dishes and cut some fruit. Ha and Hee didn't know that my birthday is coming, so when they found out, Hee went to clean up his room, and Ha started to decorate our house with ribbons, and he took out the candles. He asked for the cake, but we didn't have one, so he decorated the cupcakes that was leftover from the breakfast. At school's pumpkin festival, he could choose a prize because he caught a rubber duck. He chose a big ring for me. Later, when he found that it would be my birthday party, he took the ring back and wrapped it with a wrapping paper and asked me to take it out from the wrapping paper and wear it because it's my birthday gift. Even though Ha usually doesn't talk much or show much emotion, but indeed, he's a romantic guy. The prize box was full of stickers and toys, but he chose a ring for Mama, which was very nice and warm. ( I thought that the he liked the ring and wanted to get it for himself, but it's too big for him, so he gave it to me; however, this morning, when I asked him why he chose the ring, he said that he chose it on purpose. He knew that it was for girl, so he chose it for me. So sweet!) Hee usually is a sweet boy, but he didn't show any special action last night. He had too much fun with his friends.

By the way, my husband was very sweet, too because he invited our friends and family here without letting me know it. He must have been nervous because we were out for the whole day, and he hardly had time to cook or buy food. Even though the surprise party was really a surprise when I found it out, but there's still a big surprise for me and for him: When we started eating, he found that he forgot to press the buttom on the rice cooker, and the rice which made me found out about the party was UNCOOKED!!!!!!!Hahahaha.....

After dinner, when I thought that we were going to share the cupcakes, Stephen took out a beautiful. He hid it in our bedroom, and that was a surprise for me. I had a happy birthday party because I was able to spend time with my lovely friends and family.

This Saturday was a very very long day!

(I'll upload more photos to slide show on the side bar)

I

Volunteer at School

During the teacher/parent conference, I told Ha's teacher that I am available on Tuesdays and Thursdays because Hee goes to preschool in the morning, and if she needs help, I can be a volunteer.

Monday night, his teacher wrote an email to invite me to help her set up the science experiment for Wed., so I went to the school yesterday morning.

The advantage of being a volunteer is that I will have a better understanding of what Ha learns in school, so I can have more discussion with him at home. Also, now, I know the website that his science class uses, so if he has any questions in the future, I will be able to go online and get some understanding of the experiment myself.

When we were on the first grade, we didn't have the science experiment. We only planted some mung beans or had some silkworms. However, Ha's science experiments are more complicated. There's a kit for each experiment---all the materials are prepared, and there's a clear written instruction for the teacher; moreover, there's an online video clip to explain the preparation.

Being a volunteer at school helps me to broaden my view, and actually, Ha loves to see me at school, too.