PE HBL – Anyhow Do!
This is what happens during PE HBL. Anyhow do… 😓
#sigina #hbl #covid_19
HBL can be Lots of Fun!
The kiddos are starting think that HBL is lots of fun! Morning exercise this morning was to play catching (me included) at the playground for 1 hour!! Tired die me!!! 😵
We owned the playground!! No one else was there! The rest of the kiddos were still in school.
The exercise area, on the other hand, was pretty crowded!! Virus 🦠 alert!!! 📣📣📣
Meanwhile… HBL can be lots of fun! Keep chill everyone!!
#hbl #covid_19
Coping with HBL – Timetables and Schedules
HBL here we come!! 💪🏼 The kiddos used their last HBL schedules as a reference and did up their new timetables for this round. It’s much easier this time as they’ve done it before.
Time management is a life skill. Kind of liking this home schooling thingy as I can add on more extra stuff. 😈😈
We’ve done our 1h swimming this morning. Slightly behind schedule but we will catch up! I noticed that the kiddos added a lot of buffer in the planning. There are lots of food breaks. 🤔 And SOMEONE certainly doesn’t take 30 mins for piano practice. More like 5 mins. 😓
Zaobao (早报) picked up on the news and we are on the news!! ok ok.. cheap thrill….
#hbl #covid_19 #zaobao #timetable #baobeis
Overdose of HBL
Erm… I think he’s had too much HBL. Ki Siao already… poor kid. 🤣🤣🤣
#hbl #crazykid #xiaoxiaobaobei
Home Based Learning (HBL) in a Circuit Break (CB)
The trial Home Based Learning (HBL) which took place on a Wednesday just before the Circuit Break (CB) period went terribly. There were tantrums, crying, shouting from children and parent (yes, only 1 parent, because the other parent locked himself away in his study room, oblivious to the chaos.). When MOE announced school closures, I was horrified…If I were to put myself through that every single day, there would probably be a murder before the week even ended.
I work better when I have a schedule and clarity of what is going to happen next. I decided that having schedules for every one (including myself) could preserve our (my…) sanity. There was an article which was aggressively forwarded on all social media to not impose a schedule on the children. I beg to differ on that.
So, on the day of the school closure announcement, I set the kids on a task – create their own schedules for a typical school day during CB. They needed to factor in time for HBL, time for extra work or enrichment class practice, exercise, meals, hobbies and of course PLAY! We used the Canva software to create it. Canva is so idiot-proof that my daughter was able to create an invitation card for her birthday party when she was 6.
They felt empowered and had a lot of fun doing up their schedules, choosing their own backgrounds, graphics etc. I had to tweak the timings a little. I simply couldn’t allow them to have meals as and when they please. What am I?! A Cafe arh?! Sheesh. And the HBL timings had to be staggered so they wouldn’t fight over the one laptop they shared.
They stuck their schedules at their study spaces, at eye level, literally smack in their faces.
So far, it has worked pretty well. Sometimes they finish their work earlier. They get more playtime, so that’s an incentive for them. But for slipshod work, they get playtime deducted. No more whining, pushing of boundaries, complaining la dee dah. Along the way, we have also worked in time for doing household chores and cooking. Meanwhile, 姐姐 is now the appointed IT officer for her brother whenever he runs into technical issues. Delegation, delegation…
So ya, scheduling has done wonders during this CB period and I have retained my sanity. With luck, they may even turn into junior masterchefs and spiffy cleaners before the CB ends… Keeping my fingers crossed. Looking forward to my days of kiao ka-ing when my minions can cook and clean the house!