Winters Kids

Just a little update about what in the world we're doing these days…

Archive for November, 2009

Knyom Jia Goan Robah Preah

Friday, November 13th, 2009

That is what Mylie started singing the other night before bed. It is the Khmer (Cambodian) version of the song I Am a Child of God that I (Nick) had sung over a dozen times to her and Nolan before bed without her ever repeating it. Now all of a sudden she can repeat the whole song…in Khmer.

Each night I found the kids seemed to go to bed much better when they get a song. I sing about as good as I blog (notice this is only my second post) and cannot carry a tune very well especially when by myself without hearing the music. We put the kids in bed, let Karli leave, and shut the door before asking any requests from the kids. For awhile Mylie liked singing I Am a Child of God, a favorite young person’s song from church, so I thought in addition to English I would also sing it in a different language. The only other language I know is Khmer so I decided to go for it. Instantly it became the number 1 requested song for a few weeks and she would always request it “in a different signwich (i.e. language)”. Nolan even enjoyed it and it seemed he would go to bed much easier than with any other song.

Later I took a hiatus from singing while recovering from the flu. Every time I laughed or sang I could not stop coughing. Finally after I fully recovered I attempted to sing again. That takes me to just the other night where I started singing I Am a Child of God in English as they were getting pajamas on and Mylie started singing it in Khmer. I was shocked! Then I started singing it in Khmer and the little girl was following along with me. I had her perform for Karli, which she was acting very shy and did not want to do it. So I started to help and we sang the entire first verse (that’s the only one I sing) together including the chorus. Even the pronunciation was quite good.

I am just amazed what good memory this little girl has. Just tonight at dinner she was reciting completely from memory a book we read just a couple times. It always puts a smile on my face watching these kids grow up and knowing they really are children of God.

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Smart Cookies

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

As some of you may know, this year instead of sending Mylie to a preschool program, we opted for doing a co-op preschool. I vacillated on this decision a lot at the end of last year. We really did like our preschool program at Liberty High School. The administrator and the student teachers were excellent. I found, however, that it was becoming way too easy for me to “check-out” in terms of Mylie’s education.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was super concerned with the curriculum at the 3-year old level. But too often, when I’d ask what she did at school, and she’d say “nothing,” I would just leave it at that, and not care to ask any more.

I decided that was a bad precedent to set going forward. So this year we dove into a co-op. And today the inevitable happened… I had to teach.

We are using a wonderful curriculum that I think is so cool. It’s called Kidgenuity (formerly known as Smart Cookies), and although the lessons are fairly well layed-out, they do require a bit of prep work, especially your first time out of the gate. Let’s just say we’ve had a few late nights around here for the last week. I was nervous about 8 (mostly unfamiliar) kids descending on my house, and delving into paint projects and glue sticks and the like. So I spent extra time to make sure I was ultra prepared.

And I think the preparation paid off! The morning went swimmingly, and I actually nearly enjoyed myself. In fact, the only major hitch was this:

Yes, don’t let his sweet innocent face fool you. This kid was a holy terror during preschool. I had decided to keep him around, because I thought he might enjoy some of the activities, or else he could spend his time reading all the books. But oh, no. Never one to back down around kids twice his size, Nolan must have thought these kids were here to take away his life and liberty, and he staked claim on his property for sure. He spent the entire first hour and a half SCREAMING. He screamed while I held him, and screamed louder if I set him down. So I spent half the time trying to direct traffic with one hand and a bursting ear drum. Needless to say, Nolan’s preschool privileges have been revoked, and he will not be joining us next time.

Other than that, however, it was pretty fun. I especially enjoyed getting to see all of the kids’ talents emerge during the independent station work. Each kid gravitated towards a different activity, and it was amazing to see how some would do SO well at a certain station that was so difficult for others. And then the roles would switch at a different activity.

It almost makes me look forward to teaching again. They’re definitely a bunch of smart cookies.

The Classroom Setup (before the onslaught)

Our lesson was on Clothing Patterns, so the kids got to learn about different types of patterns they encounter daily: Stripes, Plaids, Solids, Checkered, Prints & Polka-dots.

Crayon Pattern Rubbings
Watercolor Patchwork Quilt
“U” Collage
(our letter of the day)
Clown Dress-Up & Lacing Animals