Tree climbing test

"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing it is stupid" Albert Einstein


Fai would pass this test with flying colours.

He made a tree climbing training ground for Ean starting from Level 0 progressing to Level 4 :
Level 0 - balancing on a log

Level 1 - climbing a short stump
....

Level 4 - climb tree
Ean is currently at Level 1

Child Led - Conquering Fear

A kept muttering "I must face my fear, I must face my fear...." as he made his way across the hanging bridge.

No one coerced him into it. He just decided to get up there and conquer his fear one step at a time.

He proudly proclaimed "I was scared but I faced my fear!!" the moment he was on solid ground.

KH on the other hand was not ready to take the challenge of crossing the bridge and when he was forced by a grownup, he clung on to her shirt with his eyes tightly shut and had a harrowing time up there.

"Forcing a child to do something that he is not capable of doing - or should not be doing - at his present developmental age will always backfire. Expecting one's child to fit into a certain situation because other children appear to fit in is unrealistic. Each child develops at his own rate, and each child has his own best style of learning" ..An excerpt from a homeschooling site

To love a child means to treat him or her with respect, patience, gentleness and compassion, and in a way that is consistent with the Golden Rule. Tough love is tough, all right, but it has nothing to do with love....The Natural Child Project

I think children learn better when they learn what they want to learn when they want to learn it, and how they want to learn it, learning for their own curiosity and not at somebody else's order. ....An excerpt from John Holt's book The Underachieving School

Taman Warisan Pertanian - Explorasi Pokok Kelapa @Putrajaya

Off we go for a guided walk through the agricultural park

Zul, our tour guide explaining that the jambu air tree was pruned in such a way to minimize fruiting and maximize fruit quality

I learnt how to differentiate between a cempedak and nangka tree.
Cempedak leaves are hairy

Nangka has smooth leaves

Serai wangi used to ward off mosquitoes

Boys playing soldiers.

They were planning an ambush, waiting for the enemy to emerge from the drain

Zul thumping a nangka fruit - if its gives off a hollow sound, it's ripe.
We were also told that the nangka is the largest fruit in the world and it is the national fruit of Bangladesh.

Harvesting paddy

That whole patch would be able to produce just one bowl of rice!

Sniffing fragant pomelo flowers

Coffee beans

Coconut Workshop
From left(clockwise): lidi broom, coconut fruit, coconut leaves and ketupat

Showing how the 'lidi' broom is made.
First remove the blades of the leaves

The midrib

Tie many midribs together to get a very useful household cleaning device - for washing floors, sweeping leaves and removing cobwebs

Scrapping coconut

Doing it the tradional way.

Fai at work

The 3 coordinators were clearly impressed by this little girl - quizzing her about her schooling and her command of the Arabic language

A rubber tree and its milky white sap

Rubber tapping demonstration

Latex in water

Removing water

Pressing out more water. The sheet is put through the rollers 3x

Drying out the sheets

Taking a peek inside the smoky and hot smokehouse

Rice husker

Paddy farmer

JY's ketupat

Ean unravelling JY's ketupat as I enjoyed my lunch of rice and ayam goreng berempah at the foodcourt

MV Logos Hope @ Port Klang

The floating bookshop has docked at Port Klang

It was a long walk to the ship. Lucky for us it was cloudy and windy that morning.

The ship up close. Kids were playing in the playground on the upper deck as we walked pass.

Let's all try to navigate this ship.
Ean came to me and said "The ship's NOT moving!!!" "Why isn't it moving??!"

Sleeping quarters.

Safety simulation exercise

We were ushered into an auditorium

And were entertained by a few of the 45 nationalities on board.

The show was full of suspense...

And had nail-biting moments

Fai volunteered to participate in a race. His task was to run down the aisle, retrieve a life vest, and run back.

The ship sails all over the world and we were given a glimpse of the culture and language of 2 of the many ports it docks at - Mexico and Scotland.

National Mail Centre (Pos Malaysia)

We were at the National Mail Centre where all the mail in Malaysia gets sorted out before distribution. The visit was made possible because a 7yo inquisitive mind asked her mom what happens when she posts a letter.

Spiral conveyor belt

The centre has been in operation for just a year. It covers 4 acres and has state of the art equipment

The staff were cordial and very informative.

The kids were allowed to stamp a stack of letters.

A mother found the job addictive and was seen happily stamping away when the kids wandered off.

More letters to be sorted. Letters that were of standard size and had the address written in the correct order was easy - just put through a machine that scans the letter and off it goes....

based on the postcode written, letters will end up where it is destined to be

letters for all over Malaysia

Han was fascinated with the sorting machine. It worked so fast!

The screen states 37 403 letters per hour

Letters that were not of standard size were sorted manually

We were given First Day covers as a parting gift. Such generosity from Pos Malaysia.

As we were leaving, sacks of mail were delivered. We didn't get to see many of the machines in operation and were told that a better visit would be at 2pm. A night visit is possible as well.