Minglun and Arthur Story Series

What food does Arthur like

2011-03-05T10:40:00.001-08:00

We were passing a cafeteria and Arthur sniffed and said, "I smelled some yummy food." I asked him, "What do you smell?" Arthur said happily, "French Fries." As I was rushing Minglun and Arthur to get out of the gym and go to the car, I just said to Arthur, "Oh, those are junk food."

While on the way driving home, I started talking about lunch with the kids. I asked them, "How about we eat meat loaf today?" Both of them love meat loaf. Minglun answered, "Yeah!" But Arthur got into some unhappy mood and said, "I don't like meat loaf." We still have friend chicken, so I asked him, "How about I give you chicken." Arthur said, "I don't like chicken either." Then I remembered that we also have meat balls. So I said, "How about meat balls?" Again Arthur said, "No, I don't like meat balls."

So I asked him, "Arthur, then what food do you like?" Arthur said, "Junk Food!"

Take off the myth about private schools

2011-01-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

I am a Chinese immigrant living in Texas. My first born is going to Kindergarten next year. All of sudden, my husband and I started looking for information about schools everywhere. We also think about whether we should send our kids to private schools because we keep on hearing people talking that private schools are better than public schools. Even though private schools are way beyond what we can afford, we still spend time to collect information on private schools. What's so great about private schools? Is it worthy to send kids to private schools? Like any other parents, we are just trying and thinking hard about how to give our kids the best education they can get or put them into the best environment we can provide so that they can learn and grow into well educated people.

By looking into information about private schools, I found this interesting book by Richard Rothstein and co-authors: "Can Public Schools Learn From Private Schools?". The authors did extensive case studies to try to find out what are the factors that contribute to private elementary schools students providing better outcomes than those in public schools. If it is due to certain practices from private schools, then public schools can learn from private schools and improve. However, the result of the research turned out to be not as those commonly held generalizations.

"Private elementary school personnel are not necessarily more accountable to parents than are public elementary school personnel."

The key factor that lead to private schools' better outcomes is because they enroll students from more advantaged backgrounds and disadvantaged students' outcomes also improve by association with more advantaged classmates.

These are very valuable researches and give me insight into private schools and comfort that public schools can provide as good education as private schools. As conclusion of this book, the answer to the question "what can public schools learn from private schools?" is "not much". But to the question "what can schools, public and private, learn from other schools, public and private?", the answer is "quite a bit".

There are very good public schools and very good private schools. Not all private schools are good or better than public schools in the same neighborhood. I know there are advantages in private schools, such as we can freely pick any private school, but public schools are decided by which school district we belong to.

For affluent families, this would not be a too hard decision. But for a working family like us with two kids, sending our kids to private schools is not an option. And now I am so glad that we did research on this and I am not feeling sorry for my kids for not being able to go to private schools, because public schools can be good as well.

Arthur shares a lot

2011-01-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

We went to the zoo during Labor day weekend. Arthur got a sheet of animal stickers from the souvenir store. The next day, Minglun wanted to help Arthur with the stickers. In the past, the stickers they got normally ended up on their chairs or desks. So I asked Minglun to "supervise" Arthur to put those stickers to the good spots.

After a while, Minglun wanted to get a few stickers, but Arthur refused him. "They are all MINE." He said. Minglun was not too happy. So I went to talk with Arthur, telling him that he needs to share, just as Minglun is helping him to make his room look nice with all those animal stickers. Arthur kept quiet and didn't say anything. Minglun was sad and almost cried. So I took him away with me to the living room and let him play something else there.

The house was quiet. Then Arthur came to the living room with a big smile on his face, "Mama and Minglun, come look. I made Minglun's room look pretty." We went there, and saw Minglun's room's door, closet doors are full of stickers. Arthur put All, yes, All of his stickers to Minglun's room. I was so touched and I held both of them in my arms and said, "You know what, you two made Mama so happy."

All I remember about Education in China

2011-01-28T10:56:00.000-08:00

Chinese sayings:

Live and Learn. 活到老，学到老。

Knowledge is power. 知识就是力量。
Knowledge is wealth. 知识就是财富。

Reading is the key to knowledge. 读书是打开知识宝库的钥匙。

After you master math, physics and chemistry, you can go all around the world without a problem. 学好数理化，走遍全天下。

Confucius: Three people walking together, there must be at least one that I can learn from.
孔子云，三人行，则必有我师。

It takes 10 years to grow a tree, and it takes 100 years to educate a person.
十年种树，百年育人。

In books, there are beauty and house of gold.
书中自有颜如玉，书中自有黄金屋。

Travel 10,000 miles and read 10,000 books.
行万里路，读万卷书。

Arthur's Naive Question

2009-11-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

One day I was driving with Arthur, another car all of sudden jumped in front of me. I quickly pressed brake and said "Shoot".

Arthur must be opening his eyes big at the back. He exclaimed, "Mama, you just said 'Shoot'". I said to him, "Sorry, Arthur. Mama was not supposed to say that." Arthur was still amazed, "Mama, your car has shooting power??"

(No. Arthur. Mama's car doesn't have shooting power. It is not a transformer either.)
(For some reason, the two kids keep on thinking Papa's truck is a hot wheel and it runs faster than my van.)

Minglun's Happy Times and Sad Times

2009-09-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

Minglun's answer to a school assignment -

Happy times: 1. When I go asleep.

2. When my dad snores like a baby.

3. When my little brother does NOT play with me.

4. When I go to store with my mom.

Sad times: 1. When my brother Arthur screams at me.

2. When I cannot go to grandma's house.

3. When I get timeout in school.

4. When I cannot watch Star Wars.

A Serious Talk with Arthur

2009-09-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

Arthur is almost three and half now, but he can still get into toddler mood sometimes and make some big noise in the house, such as the roars, "DON'T TOUCH MY BIKE." "This is MY toy!"

Last Saturday morning, after he screamed at Minglun, I found myself start talking to him like this, "Arthur, you have to try to control your temper." At the back of my mind, I was thinking, "Does he know the word control or what it means?" Arthur looked at me quite unhappily and said, "I cannot, because I am too little."

Since he answered, I felt that I need to keep the conversation, "You need to change." Arthur looked even unhappier, and said, "I don't want to."

Minglun had been listening carefully since our conversation started, and now he threw himself to the couch and hit his head against it repeatedly in frustration, "Arthur is never going to change. Arthur is never going to change."

Where does Chocolate Milk Come From?

2009-09-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

"From what type of cows?" - questioned by Minglun.

Arthur and Wrinkles

2009-09-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

This summer, we played a lot in water. Minglun is five and half and Arthur is three and half and I finally can take both of them to the pool all by myself. The only difficult part was to get them out from the pool. Arthur is the more difficult one and he wouldn't listen sometimes. I tried different things and the one worked really well was telling Arthur that he got many wrinkles on his hands and he cannot stay in water any longer. Arthur will talk in his baby voice, slowly but clearly, "Oh my gosh. I got so many wrinkles. Hurry, hurry, we have to go wash my wrinkles away."

I think I played this too much. Then later Arthur wouldn't like to go to the pool any more. He would say, "I do not want to go swimming because I will get wrinkles." And I found myself talking to him, "Arthur, you are only three years old. You don't need to worry about WRINKLES..." So we still go to the pool but now I have to be careful not to mention wrinkles to Arthur any more.

Henry and Gordon

2009-08-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

At bedtime, Minglun and Arthur were reading a new book with Mama, "Henry and the Elephant" fromThomas and friends series. Both boys are quite into the stories about Thomas and his friends. Especially Arthur, who has a set of little trains. Each of the trains has their name at the bottom. Arthur asked Mama before for each train's name and he requires other people to remember them too. Such as, if he asks his Grandma, "Grandma, can you bring Percy to me?" and if Grandma doesn't know who is Percy, Arthur will not be very happy.

Anyway, they started reading the book. Minglun was the one that was doing the reading because he was at the age of a beginner reader. The first page is "Thomas left to run the Branch lines. Gordon and Henry missed Thomas." Minglun couldn't recognize "Gordon" and asked Mama for help. Mama tried to give him a hint, "Minglun, this is the name of a train. It starts with a G. Look, what train is this one?" At the same time, Mama was pointing to a blue train on the book. Arthur said casually, "That's Gordon!" Mama said, "That's right. See, Arthur knows that train's name. It is Gordon."

Minglun continued, "Gordon and ...". He didn't know how to read "Henry" now. Mama helped again, "Now it is another train's name and it starts with an H. See who is this?" She pointed to a green train in the book. Arthur exclaimed, "It is Henry!" Mama said, "Right. Minglun, see, even Arthur knows the trains' names. Gordon and Henry." Minglun was feeling unhappy and refused to continue to read the book.

It was late alreay and Mama sent them to bed. After turning off the light, Minglun asked Mama, "Mama, can you tell Arthur that he still doesn't know every single train's name." After comforting Minglun and assuring him not to worry about those trains, Mama went to Arthur's room. Arthur was holding his blue train Thomas in bed. Arthur was still feeling so proud and hadn't fallen asleep yet. He was talking to himself, "This is Thomas, and this is Gordon and that is Henry. And that's it."

When I grow up - by Minglun

2009-08-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

At around four years old, Minglun likes to say, "When I grow up, I am going to put on my belt, take my backpack, drive papa's truck, and I am going far away." Every time I heard this, I would ask him, "Minglun, where would you be going?" Minglun thought a while, and then said, "I am going to Grandpa's house." Then I felt that my heart go back to its place because his grandpa's house is very close to us.

At around five years old, Minglun likes to say, "When I grow up" or "When I turn 17, I am going to drive papa's truck and pick up Arthur from his school. I am going to put Arthur to his car seat and help him to put seat belt on, then I am going to take him home." Sometimes I have to remind him that when he turns 17, Arthur will be 15 already will not be needing a car seat. My heart just turns very soft when he says that and I will always give him a lot of hugs and kisses.

A moment for the Moon

2009-07-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

Not sure from when, probably after Arthur turned three, he likes to look for the moon in the sky when it is getting dark. He is not very happy when the moon hides behind the clouds, and he gets really excited whenever he finds the moon.

For July 4th, we went to a soccer game which started at 8:30 pm. After the game, there would be fireworks right there at the stadium. As we got into the stadium and found our seats, it was getting a little bit dark. We were a little bit late and the game already started. Everybody was watching the game as my husband and I hastened putting the kids to their seats. Arthur's mind was not at the game at all because he was busy looking around. All of sudden, Arthur pointed to the sky and cheered very loud, "The Moon!" All of the people around us, probably more than 100 eyes followed Arthur's finger and looked that way. They must be perplexed for a little bit. Yes, the Moon was there. But there wasn't anything wrong over there. Then everybody turned their heads back and started watching the soccer game again.

Only Arthur stared at the Moon a little bit more until he got satisfied that the Moon was there and he started watching the game too.

Birds and Grapes

2009-07-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

1. The grapes in our backyard grow very well each year. This time, we got some grapes again. When I gave Minglun grapes to eat, I told him to take off the skin and seeds before eating the grapes. He was having fun doing that and he even helped to get some grapes ready for Arthur to eat.

Later, we were in the backyard playing. Some birds flew there to eat grapes. Minglun asked me a question, "Mama, do the birds know that our grapes have seeds?"

2. Since many birds come to eat grapes and tomatoes we have, my husband has been looking for ways to protect the plants from the birds. We have a scarecrow which does not work at all. We also have an owl and I put it away last year because it looks a little bit scary.

One evening, I went to the backyard to pick up some tomatoes. My husband didn't tell me that he moved the owl out earlier that day. So I was bending down getting tomatoes. As I stood up and turned around the other way, I saw this big owl with huge eyes looking at me. I screamed and was scared to half death. My husband dashed out from the house and ask me, "What happened? What happened?" It took me a while to be able to talk, "It was the owl. I didn't know it was there. I was so scared."

But later, I thought about the owl. If I was even so scared by the owl, how come the birds were not scared. Are they too smart or too dumb?

3. The next morning, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, Minglun looked through the window and reported, "Mama, some birds came to eat grapes again. They didn't see the owl over there." I started laughing, "I bet they saw the owl. They just don't care."

Mama says, Papa says and Grandma says

2009-06-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Minglun and Arthur's Mama is from China and speaks Chinese. Their Grandma from father's side is from Peru and speaks Spanish. Grandma lives close by and plays with them often.

When Minglun was little, Mama liked to play Flash cards with him in Chinese. Sometimes, Papa joined in and said some words in English. Like when Minglun lifted the card with a picture of an elephant on it, Papa would say "Elephant". Minglun frowned at Papa and lifted the card to Mama and Mama would say "Da Xiang". Minglun nodded his head satisfactorily and gave Papa a disapproval look.

From Minglun and Arthur's house to Grandma's house, there is a ranch. Many times on their way to Grandma's house, they see some cows in the field eating grass. Mama will point to the cows and say to Minglun, "Minglun, look... Niu. Hao duo Niu." However, Minglun seems to pick up Spanish first. One time, when Mama was saying, "Wow, Niu, Hao Duo Niu.", Minglun started saying, "Vaca, muchos vacas." And then sometimes he will repeat after Mama, "Niu, Hao duo Niu."

One time, Minglun asked, "Mama, why you say Niu and Grandma says Banca?" Mama said, "Because Mama speaks Chinese and Grandma speaks Spanish." Minglun asked again, "What does Papa speak?" "Papa speaks both Spanish and English."

Later when Arthur was learning how to talk, he also discovered the language differences. When he tried to count, he would say, "Grandma says, 'Uno, dos, tres.' Mama says, 'Yi, Er, San'". Everytime after he counted in English, he would say, "Mama, now count in Spanish." What he meant was in another language since he was not using the word Chinese well yet. Then he started counting "Yi, Er, San...".

What time is it outside?

2009-06-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

In Minglun's house, there is a garden themometer in the backyard hung on a shelf. Every morning, Mama likes to look through the window toward the backyard to take a look at the themometer outside and decides what clothes to put on for Minglun and Arthur. Minglun has been observing Mama and he didn't know what is that for.

After Minglun learned how to read a clock and read the clock correctly several times in the kitchen, one day he finally asked when Mama was trying to read the thermometer in the backyard. "Mama, what time is it outside?" Mama laughed and said, "That is not a clock. It is a thermometer." Minglun asked, "What is a thermometer?" "Thermometer is to tell you what temperature it is. Not the time. From the temperature, you can know if it is hot or cold."

"Okay, then I can read a thermometer!" Minglun was so excited and started reading the number. "It is 60 o'clock." Mama laughed again, "It is 60 degree, not o'clock. But you are doing very good Minglun. Sixty degree means that it is nice outside, but just a little bit chilly. You can wear your jacket and go outside with Arthur."

So from then on, Minglun started reading the thermometer every time they need to go outside. He will say, "Mama, it is 50 o'clock outside, me and Arthur need our jackets." Or "Mama, it is 65. We can go to the backyard to play."

It took him a while to say "degree" instead of "o'clock" and Mama was having so much fun hearing him saying that.

Minglun, Mama's sweet boy, just one step at a time.