"Homeschooling".

Every morning as soon as Sky wakes up in a cheery mood, I take out one of his books and read him a story to start off his day. And then we say a little prayer of thanks for a good night’s sleep the night before.

Our bouncing toddler has shown adeptness to animals and insects. Probably because D and I both love nature and wildlife – that most of the books we get him are bombarded with animals and nature sceneries.

Seeing how much his brain is like a sponge now, we do an unstructured homeschooling schedule for him. Nothing rigid, what’s important is he’s having fun.

We do the following activities everyday. Not always at the same time though, we still let him watch a little of “Diego” and “Little Einstein” for 30 minutes to an hour at a time twice a day. And we let him play by himself for 15 minutes at various times of the day  to teach him to be more independent…

• READING A BOOK or POSTER (he chose) OUT LOUD. However, most of the time we make up stories from the pictures in the books – it sparks his imagination!
• DRAWING and SKETCHING. From doodling around, Sky now knows a circle, a triangle, a star, a diamond and a square. He also knows colors; like brown, red, blue and green. There are also times that he asks D and me to draw him a monkey, a dinosaur, a cockroach, a butterfly and a backpack! (D is an excellent artist, he’s better at me at this one:) )
• PLAYDOUGH. Good thing he doesn’t have the urge to place everything in his mouth anymore. We carve out turtles, faces and kites from clay. It enhances his motor skills too.
• SINGING and DANCING at the same time. He learns to dance or just sway to the rhythm of a song he hears randomly. He appreciates music through this one.
• GOING OUTSIDE. Never underestimate the power of a short walk outside your home. Every little thing is NEW to him. A pile of stones becomes a tower and a butterfly becomes a friend. Taking him out to grocery shopping and showing him fruits and vegetables teaches not only about nutrition, but texture, shapes and colors too!

We do the best we can to nurture his curious little brain…

While we were having our lunch awhile ago, and Sky asked for “papur” and “cwayons”. He kept asking his dad “DAH-Deee, dwow a MAAHGEE”…. D gave me a look of confusion, and right before I tell him to clarify what Sky was telling him…

Sky scratches his tummy with his left hand and his head with his right hand while saying “Uh, Uh, Uh, Ah, Ah, Ah…”

“Oh you want me to draw a MONKEY?!!!”, D exclaimed.

Sky then nods his head and says “EEe-YESSSS, PUwheezeee”.

His brain just amazes us both.