Activities

DIY kid car wash sprinkler with no power tools

I was inspired to come up with some kids activities while the little ones are on summer break. Yes, homeschoolers take a summer break too. I decides to make this kid car wash sprinkler out of PVC pipes. I got the plans from this post on instructable.com.

DIY Kid Car Wash Sprinkler assembled

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George Town Heritage Celebrations

In 2008, UNESCO declared the city of George Town, Penang to be a World Heritage Site giving it status as an important cultural nexus.  Every year, 7 July is a Public Holiday in Penang State to celebrate the anniversary of the declaraion.  There is an organization called the George Town World Heritage Inc that organizes events throughout the year promoting and preserving  the culture and the history of George Town.  The pinnacle of the year is the Heritage Day celebrations which will be on the 6th and 7th of July.

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Kidland Penang Field Trip

We went to Kidland Penang with a large group of homeschoolers this week.  It was an incredible place for fun, adventure, learning, and fun.  Our community of homeschooling families has periodic opportunities like this.  Interested in joining us some time, like the Living in Penang Facebook page and let me know that you want to be included in the next outing.

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31 days: Thaipusam photo tour announced

I’ve mentioned the Thaipusam festival on the blog before.  It is a Hindu festival that happens every year in January.  It is a very colorful and exotic thing, and while I do not recommend it for younger children, it is something that you might be interested in experiencing.

Well our good friend Dave Ray will be running a photo tour here in Penang during the next Thaipusam Festival.  You will get to see the tour, embedded with the people, trailing the participants.  There will be opportunities to work with the other tour participants to learn new photography techniques, and story telling with photography.

The details can be found at Dave’s tour page.  The tour price includes the hotel and meals plus all the work Dave’s put into getting you into the heart of the festival.

Spaces are limited, so you need to sign up as quickly as possible.

In general, I think photo tours and photo workshops like these are a great way to get into the local culture.  The tour guide has done a lot of the legwork to get you an insider’s perspective, in this case into the Thaipusam festival.  The advantage of a photo tour over a regular tour is that 1) you can see what you’re going to see because the photographer often shows you the images you should be expecting to capture.  and 2) you take home with you all your images to remember what you’ve experienced.  I highly recommend photo tours and will be pointing out other photo tours in Penang as they come up.

[I have not been paid for promoting this tour, I just believe in the product and the photographer.]

Field Trip: Serba Wangi Rice Mill in Kedah

I’ve mentioned it before that we are a homeschooling family.  Our kids aren’t enrolled in any of the (many) international schools in Penang.  We are hooked into the Distance Learning Resource Centre at Dalat International School which is a great opportunity for anyone who is homeschooling in Penang.  One of the big benefits to this program is the opportunity to connect with the other families that are registered with DLRC.  This past August one of the moms organized a field trip to Kedah and we were grateful to be part of it.

This post is being linked up to the Hip Homeschool Moms link up party.  They are collecting field trips around the world that homeschoolers can find.  Readers who have found this post through that website might also be interested in our field trips to

• A local organic goat farm
• A Batik Factory
• The Royal Selangor School of Hard Knocks – where we made our own pewter ice cream bowls
• and more to come

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31 days: After school activities at Dalat International School

I’ve mentioned before that we’re a home schooling family.  Our children are not enrolled in any of the schools here in Penang, local or.  We buy our school curriculum from the US and ship it here for the kids.  On average, we’re spending $600-$1000 USD per child for a year.  It does cost us, I mean, my wife time in that she has to do lesson planning and teaching and reading to them.  We’ve got multiple kids, so she has to plan and teach multiple levels.

But what about social activities?  What about Physical Education?  First, those are usually not a concern for most homeschoolers.  Those are the questions non-home schoolers ask.  Most homeschoolers tend to be more physically active and more socially adjusted to the children their age range who are forced to sit at desks for hours at a time and interact with only children their own age for hours at a time.

DLRC

And besides the myriad kids programs and tuition programs that are out there, Dalat International School has a program call the Distance Learning Resource Centre which is for home educators, local in Penang, as well as around the region.

The benefits are huge!  We paid a small annual fee for the whole family.  And that gives us:

• full access to the Dalat library including online resources
• full access to the DLRC resource library
• option of enrolling in single classes taken on campus
• option of enrolling in online classes through Dalat (Sevenstar)
• option to participate in after-school clubs and athletic programs
• academic testing services
• homeschool/TCK consultation services at Dalat
• college/career counseling services at Dalat
• assistance with homeschool record keeping and transcripts

After school activities

I think the word is getting out, because this year there are now over 40 home school students who are participating in Dalat’s afterschool activities.  In the past year, our daughters have been part of gymnastics, soccer, art, choir, gardening, girls scouts, and dance.  There are loads more to choose from, although many of these after school clubs have limited space.

My kids have made some friends too.  It’s been a great opportunity for them to connect and interact with expat children.

That’s another slice of Living in Penang.  Keep coming back for more of our 31 days of living in Penang.

Field Trip: Happy Goat Farm in Balik Pulau

This summer we hope to get out an around Penang more, finding cheap, kid friendly activities.  We have some other families that want to get out there with us as well and so for this first time out, we found this goat farm out in Balik Pulau.   Read more…

Field Trip to Craft Batik in Teluk Bahang

2014 Update: The current price is now RM25 for tourists.  DLRC members can tell them they are connected to Dalat school and get a price of RM12 per painting.

After our successful outing to the Royal Selangor School of Hard Knocks, Our Travel Lifestyle and the Living in Penang kids decided to try another field trip together.  We wanted to do something distinctly Malaysian, and quickly, because we’re about to say goodbye to Our Travel Lifestyle as they travel on to New Zealand.  So the little one and I went on a scouting mission to Craft Batik in Teluk Bahang and arranged a tour and a chance to do some batik painting at Craft Batik in Teluk Bahang. Read more…

Field Trip to the School of Hard Knocks at Royal Selangor

As homeschoolers we have the flexibility to go on field trips whenever we want.  For this particular field trip we paired up with the exciting family at Our Travel Lifestyle.  This time we decided to learn about the history of pewter in Malaysia at the School of Hard Knocks at the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre in the middle of Straits Quay.

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