The "half" chapters of manga doesn't show up as updates on "my lists". I can only find out about these when I go to the scanlation groups. Is there a way to include them?

I reject your reality and substitute for my own.

Depending on how you sort your lists, it can appear. I sort my reading list by unread releases so anything that gets an update - 0.5 chapters included or even chapters from different groups - get bumped to the top of the list. However the title just gets bumped to the top; you don't get the red chapter number that indicates what the new chapter is.

Not perfect, but it works. Even manga with pending release approvals get bumped to the top of the list.