Five of My Favorites...and Tell Me Five of Yours!

Christina (Fiddler) of Rockhound Place is playing tag! And she tagged me with five questions, which I will attempt to answer to the best of my ability below.

Wanna play too? This is how the game works. A blogger tags you to answer a number of questions. Write a post in reply, and then, make up your own questions and tag other bloggers to answer your new questions. Since Christina assigned 5 Qs and tagged 5 new bloggers to answer them, I will follow her example.

Here are her questions. I must admit, I find it tricky to choose just one answer!

1. What book from your childhood do you remember the most, and why? Taking childhood to mean the years before I turned 13, I would have to choose the Amar Chitra Katha series of graphic novels from India. I practically devoured them and would often bicker with my brother about whose turn it was to read one title or other. We usually either bought them from Indian grocery stores in Malaysia or would stock up on the rare visits we made to India. These books were a wonderful source of cultural literacy for me, helping me learn tons about my ancestors' religion, and the myths, heroes/ heroines and legends they grew up with.

2. What type of music do you enjoy the most? Please include examples! Indian film songs. Mainly compositions by A.R. Rahman, and Illayaraja oldies. Performed by singers like Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan, Unnikrishnan and Shreya Ghoshal. Growing up, I was a huge fan of Yesudas, S Janaki and SP Balasubramaniam.

Here's one from the 90's that I loved and now, the kiddo enjoys too:




3. What subject do you find most challenging (to teach or to learn)? It would have to be a toss up between English Grammar and Science. I think I'll go with Science. That's why we unschool it! I find Science challenging to learn on my own as well. It's always more fun and more deeply satisfying when the kiddo is discussing it with me.


4. What is your favorite hot drink? Bonus points for including the recipe! Malaysian teh tarik (literally, pulled tea). For one serving, steep one Lipton teabag in 1/4 mug of boiling hot water. Remove teabag after 5 minutes. Top up with warm milk and sugar to taste. Stir well and heat it another 30 seconds to one minute in the microwave. When I'm in the mood, I "pull" it like the guy in the link does for a nice frothy top. Enjoy with Khong Guan butter-free cream crackers. We buy these crackers from an Asian market. We break the cracker into two, dunk a half in the hot tea and savor it slowly as it almost melts (and releases the tea's sweetness) in the mouth. Sigh...lovely, comfort food.

5. About what new book, movie, or tv series do you want to let others know?  A Child's Introduction to the World: Geography, Cultures, and People - From the Grand Canyon to the Great Wall of China by Heather Alexander. Published in May of 2010, this beautiful tome follows in the tradition of  A Child's Introduction to Poetry and A Child's Introduction to the Night Sky with glorious pictures and all the wonderful basics of its chosen topic...in this case, geography concepts including map notation, longitude and latitude and hemispheres. The kiddo has outgrown this (although the pictures still attract the two of us) so I thought I'd recommend this to homeschoolers with younger kids (I'm guessing it will work well for ages 4 onwards as a read aloud).

OK! It's my turn. I'm tagging (in alphabetical blog order)
Nonie at Applied Life Academy
Kerrie at Kez's Blog
Annie at Learn At Every Turn
Lisa at The Joy of Learning
Michelle at Whimsy Way

And the questions are:
1. If you had one super power to wish for (X-ray vision, invisibility etc.), what would it be and why?
2. What is the one book, resource or homeschool curriculum that you feel you will not sell or give away, and maybe even want to save for the grandkids?
3. If you had a chance to learn one European or Asian language, which one will it be and why?
4. When time is short and/ or when chaos reigns in your home, what is the one task, family routine or household chore you prioritize?
5. What does your dream learning environment (study/ den/ school room/ kitchen/ outdoor space) look like? If you've found something similar online, post a link! If you have broken the bank remodelling your home to achieve it (lucky you!), post a photo!

LOL, you probably smell a rat already...yup, I'm hoping to live vicariously through your replies :)