Covid-19 HBL with M&M S#2 Last Days

Yeah!!! Handing over M&M to school teachers tomorrow. We are so ready!

I try try try to do science experiments with the kiddos. Frozen grape growing crystals in super-cooled water.. FAIL (3x). Growing ice experiment... FAIL... Candle in a bottle... err... partial success.

A 3/4 successful experiment! Finally! My science projects success rate damn low...

Found a dead branch!!! This represents an opportunity - for decoration... Morgan says he is doing a lot of butterflies... Mimi asks me what occasions are we decorating for... err... Dragon boat festival.

Recycled branch for some pattern painting. Throw away branch. Done.

An evolving artwork. 

Day 1: 

I want to paint my face blue, Morgan says. So I tell him  why not do it both on face and paper? Birth of a blue A3 background... it is an coincidence without purpose. 

Day 2: 

Morgan, do you want to draw an umbrella on a rainy day or sea creatures on your blue background? I want to draw a ship... The blue is now endow with meaning. It is the sea. 

Day 3: 

Mr Morg, fish or crab or octopus? 

TADA!!! The epic battle of of the deep sea octopus (yes, that is an octopus) vs the ship in turbulent stormy waters. Deep scars on the (big fat) arm of the octopus... wow.. Mad confusions of colours, dunno what these exploding sea balls are but they scream DANGER... Skies merge with the sea, a puff of cloud under the ship...

Ok, this is just me speaking. What I am trying to say is : the battle is very happening.

Actually, Mr Morg just goes got-space-got-balls-just-paste-paste-paste.
Scars is just the unfortunate results of why-did-I-draw-such-a-big-surface-to-colur-so-wth-I-am-angry-and-impatient. No meaning, intent or purpose... sigh.

In comparison... Megan's paint by number art is super tranquil and relaxing... intent is to match the color to the number. Life is not that complicated.

Wow... we do have a lot of jigsaw puzzles in the house.

Commission Megi to construct a hopscotch. Brilliant.

An adult attempting hopscotch is extremely faint inducing. Goggled "panting heavily after exercise" immediately because I do feel out of oxygen + absolutely unwell. Page 1-3 search results come back with "is it normal for your cat or dog to pant heavily after exercise". Does nobody care about humans?

Morgan refuses to use beanbags, he keeps using a piece of steak from his store to throw, which hardly ever lands on the correct box.

Chocolate muffins for back to school snacks. Oh no... Morgan has ulcers again! Do not let grandfather know we bake chocolate muffins.

Scooter skate and roller blade. I am glad you exist.

Worksheets achieved:

Covid-19 HBL with M&M S#2 Day 16 - 23

Motivated by the guilt of overripe banana staring at me, baking strikes again. Seriously, these days, everything and anything guilt trips me.

The days when collecting stamps exist alongside catching spiders in matchboxes. I generously share my books of (hopefully treasure) with M&M, giving them a history lesson on how to paste stamps, where to write names and addresses on an envelope.

Megan is a polite listener but Morgan to my surprise, is extremely fascinated. Especially the stamp licking part... yum! MORGAN LOHHHH!!! You licked my 1983 stamps onto WHERE???

Megan explores morse code...
LEARN MORSE CODE from a MEMORY CHAMP (in 15 minutes)
This is such an awesome easy way to memorise morse code. For what? For the fun of knowing.

You only make friendship bands for true friends because... what a pain it is to make... Mess it up somewhere in the middle and the fastest way to fix it is to insert a ladybug button and all mistakes are out of sight, out of mind.

Megi explains her crooked creation in a better way - it's not a mistake, it's meant to be more contemporary.... wah... I like. Girl will go far.

"Is this beehoon?" is testament that our second batch of hide-in-the-cupboard bean sprouts is snow white and (almost) as thick as bee hoon. Mr Morg is getting pro at plucking bean sprouts while Megan winces and winces. In other news, Megan's bean plant has expired hence harvested.

None of us know the rules of Mancala until karkar steps in... All indonesians are experts at this, I reckon. I realise during this CB that Megan calculates her moves for every single game played - Oshi, chess, now mancala... she is counting her options ahead non stop. She is serious with her games!!!

Slamwich is quite fun to play. Instead of saying double-decker or slamwich, we keep saying chicken wings and sardines.

Ultra awesome game that Ken started to teach Morgi - Scissors Paper Stone! Genius. Pepsi cola 123 next?

Old games die hard.

Ken and his daughter continue to laugh at my chess moves.
Morgi is huge on monopoly. Play to Win, he says everyday... no problem adding up the numbers on both dice. I should have known that gambling is the way to learn maths. That is how I learn how to count when I was young too! Dice and poker cards.

Apparently, I snap up library books from the same shelf and they are all about plants, animals and evolution. Set Megan a task to draw an evolution chart for future humans. I am thinking bigger butts since we sit more and move less (visual evidence is apparent now in the household).

Interestingly, her chart states "1m years later: taller with good style (what they think)"... "6.5m years later : chlorophyll detected". Seriously? Why will I photosynthesis when I can have ba chor mee..... ohhhh.... haven't seen the BCM uncle open his stall for the entire CB... maybe this is the end of hawker food and my BCM???

Both kids have fallen into their own quiet routine of entertaining themselves. Megi draws little booklets. Morgi continues his many versions of planets and the milky way.

Modern slavery is well and about. Or shall we call this love?

Worksheets achieved:

Covid-19 HBL with M&M S#2 Day 10 - 15

Easing of circuit breaker means skating!!!! Kenneth tries to bring M&M out for daily skate time. Morgi looks at the closed pool (which is turning green) and asks if he can add chlorine to kill the bacteria. New cartoon or youtube is doing him well!

Talking about the things he learns online. I ask Morgi what he is drawing and he replies : Series B, Eblm, Trapis 1, Bosama Centuary (from left to right)... Hahahah... come again? Megan says Sirius B, Sirius B... its a star you dunno ah! 

How will I know? Morgi is drawing so many planets and stars these days I cannot keep up. 

A friend introduces me to this term "flat lay robot". It literally means getting the kids to find anything in the house to create a 2D robot image on the floor. Mr Morg insists the first robot is done by him.

Love how Megan defines robot. How can a robot not have movable parts? Girl is setting out her own parameters... Awesome.

Mimi has been sustaining on her home grown parsley, spring onions and bean sprouts. This lockdown has made everyone an urban farmer and chef. Morgi says we want to try.

Day One Morgi : Wow, seeds, are they going to grow into sprouty?
Day Two Morgi : Are these buds? Where are the flowers? (hmm, identifying plant parts in books vs a real growing plant is so different. Morgi thinks the de-shelled beans are buds)

Day Three Harvest Day
Me        : Mimi, why my bean sprouts are so green and thin and yours look so fat and white?
KarKar : I think PoPo use bigger beans. Our beans so small...
Megi     : What? You want to eat them? You are so cruel, they are also living things you know?

Morgi   : Pluck the roots and the heads off! Are we eating for lunch?

Remember the Singapore identity mind map? So that has an end purpose... which is to draw the icons of Singapore identity on this pathetic piece of cloth to make into a drawstring poach. This is Megi's school Art homework by the way.

We have no sewing machine and to stitch a piece of cloth into a poach is hard. This is sec one Home Econs disguised as P4 Art. But it is done! You should be extremely proud of yourself, Megan.

PE homework is also completed. Poster promoting drug free lifestyle. Is she being sarcastic or? 

Children! Put down that remote control and it's Lego time... Can you build a house?
Maybe I have very low expectations of Morgi because other than that watermelon, I have never seen him play with Lego. He totally surprises me with a very de stijl house. It looks bold and stunning! But, as Lx says.... let's not encourage him.

Megan's house cannot be more different. Traditional and homely pitched roof house with a yard. There is even a hand sewn felt sofa inside the house.

Snap! Balancing penguins and monopoly are in... Didi's first monopoly game and he is no pushover. Buys every property he lands and he gets a kick out of handing hundreds of dollars.

One of my distinct memories of school was 校长 giving all the girls a balloon during assembly and asking us to blow. She said this exercise is good for strengthening of the lungs. Immediately chomp the last package of balloons in the supermarket and M&M are sooooo excited. Shortly, I heard Kenneth tell the kids, don't blow, you will burst a vein, go fetch a pump... well... kiddos have fun throwing the balloons around. 

Cleaning out the top cabinet and discover a long lost hobby. Gather the kids for 阿公讲古 of my good old darkroom days- Ilford paper, Kodak films, negatives, test prints, physical photographs!!!! All the things they were gone before they were born!!! Morgi is more interested in the black and whites and slides. Boy has taste. 

Worksheets achieved:

Covid-19 HBL with M&M S#2 Day 5 - 9

The grocery store is open! Again! 

We have taken safety precaution for the last few weeks and now our grocery stall is back in business! Take away only. Fresh strawberries and mangosteens are in season. Come buy!

Morgi has been practicing with coins and I feel it is a good time to engage in some buying and selling for the betterment of the economy. I buy 10 strawberries and he charges me two 10c coins... Duh.... I want 2 cookies and he asks for a 50 cent coin... OK, boy STILL cannot count. This is harder than I thought... 

On the other side, Megi weights the fish at 28kg and charges me $28. Dishonest merchant, the fish is obviously 2.8kg at best. Grocery drama to be continued. 

Yeah... the long sufferable cross stitch project is done! According to historical records, Megi started this in late Nov 2019... The bygone good old era ... sob sob sob... anyway I digress... persist with one thread a day during lock down and it will be finished... Awesome.... now what do we do with this? Frame it? Make into another bag?

Growing older means projects gets more complex and takes longer to finish. One project down, the next one starts. Hey, we have to fill up those free time right? Super impressed with myself that I have 4 sets of paint by numbers canvas in the cabinet (yes I stock crafts and games that may one day become useful... who knows if there is a sudden birthday coming and I need instant gifts?!).

I approve of Mr Morg's new cartoon. Storybots is teaching him all about music! Timbre, melody, harmony, rhythm and intensity!!! Singing non stop... Enter artwork because it is easy to get Mr Morg to draw things he is interested in....

Learning Chinese chess has always been my wish. Now with WFH HBL, I literally have no excuse to delay learning so I humbly beg Megan to please teach me while I secretly watch Yi Fan Lao Shi youtube videos to get ahead of her.

Full of theory and with zero practical experience, Megi beats me three days in a row. Ken too killed me flat out. Embarrassing but I have thick skin. I just see Megan write in her Chinese compo that mummy is lousy at chess... Do not speak too soon. I will come out of this lockdown, a master...

Do you want to arrange the dominos Morgi? No...
Do you want to make patterns? Yes!

Ever since waistlines become taboo topics, a measuring tape's life becomes meaningless. I feel responsible for its sad state since I own it. Bestow the measuring tape to Morgan for new lease of life! Go measure everything in the house....

Similar to teachers, a mother's job tend go totally unappreciated. People just expect teachers and mothers to get their job done. People who thinks a teacher or a mothers' job is nothing, welcome to covid-19 HBL. But we all do what we do because of the smiles on our kids' face.

Twelve origami balls is no walk in the park for Morgi. Factory production style is more suited to this humongous quantity. Panic everyone!!! How to sustain beyond the second ball!!! Morgi is in charge of step 1, 2 and 4. He cries when he cannot inflate the balls (told you he leaks air), so must sayang and teach him blowing slowly... A

An extremely happy Morgi at bedtime... I get so much hugs and kisses I cried. Boy loves me.... CRYYYYY....

Most significant event this week is karkar's birthday. Since cakes are not easy to come by, we decide to bake one. Due to our pretty much inedible cake baking skills, we opt for the safe blueberry and chocolate tarts and pie. Boy keeps saying it is so beautiful! We need to do more toppings and a layer of frosting... Feel like shoving a photo of Phoon Huat's queue situation in his face. No more toppings! Work with the limited resources we have!

It is delicious! Yum Yum.

Zero reading done. But Morgi is on the ball for worksheets. Asks me for worksheets every morning.