The best way to learn English and General Knowledge for Ryan

Continuing from the last post - 'I Bought a Globe for my Sons'.

Buying encyclopedias and globe of the world map is the best move the I've ever made for Ryan so far. No regrets! Raymund has yet to catch on - I guess he is still young and I'm not pressuring him yet. But soon!

What started as a catalyst for Ryan to learn more English, vocab and reading stemming from his interest in science and knowledge has certainly reaped more results that I earlier expected.

No doubt I spent a lot to get him lots and lots of encyclopedia covering all topics and whichever topics that he wants. It was a good and non-regretable investment. In fact, I grabbed a lot from the last Big Bad Wolf sale. And yes, I always tend to over-provide as I love to shop. All my friends and colleagues know my love to shop - retail therapy - to me, it could be the therapy, or could it be the disease in itself? Doesn't matter. That's another reason why I need to work and forget about being a SAHM. I'm digressing...

Ryan's collection of encyclopedia ranges from geography, human body, animals, the ocean, astronomy, dinosaurs... you name it and I would say he has some of everything. His latest collection is the encyclopedia on Malaysia covering all aspects, which he was pestering me for a while to get for him. Even though it is not the updated version, it certainly provided enough information about Malaysia. I didn't buy them. I took them home before someone disposed them.

Ryan holds his collection as his 'treasures'. Every day, he will be holding one of his encyclopedia. He may not know all the words but he is trying. The Malaysian collection is certainly not for children. But what is the harm.

I noticed that his ability to read over time has improved a lot. Even his vocab. Of course, his continual drilling on his school work helps in a way.

What is more impressive is that at 7 plus years old, he is able to tell me a lot of things which... if I recall, during my time, I was happy to be able to know some of the most basics. My husband and I have been testing him in the way of a game. Of course, we were also fanning his pride and confidence along the way.
the questions we asked to him - remember, he is only a 7 year old boy going on 8 - were:

1. Where is Pacific Ocean... Atlantic Ocean... South China Sea?
2. Where are penguins found?
3. Where are polar bears found?
4. What are mammals? Are humans mammal?
5. Where are king cobras found? What about pythons?
6. He told me that lady birds are actually poisonous. And so are some species of cockroaches.
7. How many planets are there in our universe? What are they? The biggest planets, smallest planets, closest to the sun? Whether there is oxygen in the outer space?
8. What is the largest star in the universe?
9. Why dinosaurs extinct?
10. The first man on the moon came from which country?
11. About Samurais ... ancient Japan (basics)
12. Identifying where are some countries like Rome, Egypt, etc
13. Where are the deserts? The main forests?
14. How earthquakes happen? What about tsunamis? Volcanoes?
15. Human organs...
16. Different types of storms - monsoon, twisters, forked lightnings  ... and where they are
17. All the states in Malaysia and where they are

and lots more. Am I proud? You bet!!!  :)   :)   :)

Tonight, I challenged him to look up a few topics. What is a black hole in the universe. What are the differences between amphibians, reptilians and mammals. Let's see.

My next goal is to look up encyclopedia in BM and Chinese. My aim is to use the interest in knowledge to brush up his other languages. At the moment, he is very weak in these 2 languages... therein lies our dilemma where to keep him in chinese school or otherwise. I'll keep this for the next post.

Chao!

Joanne