Mugging has Started

Time really just flew by. We are now in March and Zaky had finished his WA1. I had been hearing Zaky whined about the heavy school load and how his school ends in the late afternoon every school day and it is killing him. To add on to his pain, he has started his A Maths tuition in end 2024 and I had just added on Chinese tuition. Zaky seems to be struggling with his Sciences and I am waiting for him to tell me if he needs help with Physics or Chemistry. 

Zaky is under the same Chinese tutor as Nana. He had his 1st lesson 2 weeks ago and surprisingly, the tutor said that his foundation isn’t too bad. I asked if he is better than Nana. The tutor in turned asked if Zaky is as hardworking as Nana. Ok, GG. By the way, he failed his Chinese WA1 and just had his 2nd tuition yday, the tutor now said that while he learns quickly, he has also forgotten a lot of the simple vocabulary that he has learnt in the past. Zzzzz.

I think he is struggling, such that he had asked if it is ok for him to go poly instead of JC bcos he is so sick of studying and thinks that poly has more hands-on curriculum. Hello, poly also needs good O level result to go to a good course leh. In Poly, also need to study hard to go NTU/ NUS ah. I am not heartless. I just don’t buy his arguments that he needs to relax during the weekends and too tired during weekday evenings to do work/ revision. I duno when to step in but probably will at some point when it seems to get out of hand. 

Yday, there was some parent engagement session in SST at 8am. I wanted to go and signed up. However, it was raining so heavily when I left the house at 7am. I figured that I will be late when I arrived in SST and then will be late for work when I leave SST for office. In the end, I skipped the session and headed to the office instead. Lol. It is mentioned that the briefing slides will be shared later. I will read that instead. Hoho. 

I think I didn’t miss much. From the parents’ chat group, the most important point is that majority of O levels syllabus will be taught in Sec 3. Sec 4 is mainly for revision leading up to O levels. Zaky, fighting! 

It had been a month since Nana started JC. She has gotten her desired subject combination and bcos she opted for hybrid combination, taking up Econs and Geography, her days are stretching late too as Arts subject classes are usually later in the day. Her school year barely started and she has asked for Maths tuition. Not long after, she has requested to start Physics tuition too bcos she didn’t understand what was taught. When I checked with Nana last weekend, she said that the full curriculum has started and showed me her packed time table. Nana, fighting! 

Nana said that she will be taking her H1 Chinese exam at the end of JC1. If passed and satisfied with her result, she can then drop Chinese in JC2. Her Chinese tutor said that the H1 Chinese syllabus is pretty similar to O levels and that Nana wouldn’t need tuition. During her Chinese class yday, she asked me if she needed to work very hard for Chinese and how much the Chinese result affects her A level results. That is a story for another post. 

ACJC has a parent engagement session this evening at 6pm. I thought I should attend, given that we are new to JC school life. The students are invited but not compulsory. Nana happily skipped the session. I took the MRT and walk the familiar, yet unfamiliar walkway to the school. 

About 30 years ago, I walked the same walkway every weekday morning for 2 years. Then, there was no mobile phone and no covered walkway. It was a dark pathway with the road on one side and a lot of trees on the other. Today, it is nicely sheltered and bright, with new buildings replacing the plot with trees. 

Several years back, I had the chance to visit ACJC for Sunday service, when Faith Methodist Church was undergoing renovations. It was nostalgic. This visit, it continued to bring back many memories. 

This was my classroom! I think I had the same classroom for both years.

The briefing was conducted in the auditorium. It is the same! 

The best seats are at the sides, where the railing is - best bcos it is the most comfortable to doze on tired mornings during assembly. Hoho. 

The session started online and with a prayer led by the pastor. That was nice. This was followed by the staff introduction and the principal’s speech. It is the usual school history, motto, values, etc. What I did hear is that the A levels today is very different from our times and a lot more difficult. Ikr. Lol. 

There is even a theme verse for the year!

The session went on and on. I got bored and read my story book. Hoho. The key takeaway? The key dates and university admission score. 

Finally, the session ended at 7ish. The parents were invited to meet their form teacher - I don’t even know which class Nana is in. Hohoho. I left. 

The most interesting part of the visit? When I was leaving the school, there was a signboard at the entrance and a big chicken was perched on it, enjoying the view. Lol. 

Mummy Lim

End of School Year

One of my favourite things to do at the end of every school year is to donate the kids’ old textbooks and throw the workbooks, worksheets and old notes into the recycle bin. The kids love this symbolic act and it was particularly satisfying after they had completed their PSLE. 

As the kids grow older, they can now do a lot of this packing themselves. I told the kids to sort the stuff into 3 piles - (1) the textbooks and assessment books to be donated, (2) the worksheets to be recycled and (3) the textbooks and assessment books to be handed down to Zaky. Their reward is $10 but they have to give me $10 if the task is not done or done shabbily. 

Nana was enthusiastic and I came home to this. 

It is a super big stack of papers to be thrown into the recycle bin. She said that she wanted to be part of the “throwing”. Zaky’s pile is a lot smaller and they are already in the bin. Happy. 

The reason for doing this now is also bcos Zaky needed to buy books for sec 3 and we needed to know what Nana can pass down to him. He has just obtained his subject combination result (EL, CL, A, E Maths, Chemistry, Physics, SS/Geo and Electronics), as per what he had opted for. While Nana had taken almost the same subjects, there is no guaranteed that her textbooks are still intact. The kids constantly lose their books, forgetting them in lockers, under their table, wherever.

After the kids had dug out all the books, it is time to sort into which to donate and which to keep (for Zaky). 

I was so surprised to find sec 1 textbooks still lurking around in the house. Why did I keep them ah? Many years back, I have already come to the realisation that only Chinese books need to be kept. Thankfully, I was able to pass the sec 1 books to my colleague, whose son is turning 13 next year. I did have to lug the books to the office. Zaky’s sec 2 textbooks are going to QQ. I have already warned Auntie TL that they are not the best condition, especially if they have gone through Zaky’s hands. If they are good, it only means that SST didn’t use those textbooks. 

In the end, we only have to buy a couple of books for Zaky. SST is also well known to rely on their own teaching material than on textbooks; some of Zaky’s textbooks are so new. While delivery service is available at a few, I am making Zaky go to school to collect the books. Hohoho. 

New year, new books, new uniform. 

Mummy Lim

Tuitions

All tuition and enrichment are dropped the moment the kids cleared their PSLE and doing my pocket a great favor. Tuition would now be a need be basis; there are simply too many subjects. 

Nana asked to continue with Maths in Sec 1 bcos she struggled. She probably didn't like feeling so, having aced Maths all through primary sschool. After a while, she also thought that she needed help with Humanities but took my advice to give herself  little more time. It is a new subject, I think she just needed to figure out how to "study" humanities. It all went well for her lower secondary years. 

Zaky too, enjoyed months of no tuition after PSLE. FREEDOM! I had asked if he needed help in Maths too but he thinks that he is doing fine. We will know after WA1. 

Recently, Nana said that she is struggling with physics and needed help. I asked her to ask her peers of good tuition centes. As the days gone by, there is no news of which tuition center but instead of her mounting desperation for help. T.T

After some exploration, she attended a trial at her current Maths center, but they specialised in Maths. She is going for another trial on Sunday and another one next Saturday. I hope she finds something. 

A few nights ago, Zaky said that maybe he would need help in Chinese. Then, a question strikes me....

Unlike PSLE, where the kid has no choice but to work hard for all 4 subjects, we only need 6 (max) out of the 8 subjects that the kid would be taking. With that option, do we struggle and tutor the weaker subjects or simply focus on the strong ones? I don't see Zaky getting an A1 for Chinese and if it is not going to be an A, then should we just pray for a pass and focus on his stronger 6 subjects? I sort of did that too when I was taking my Os, "giving up" on my Literature and A Maths. 

Interesting thought, isn't it? 

Mummy Lim

SA2 Done

Preparation for SA2 has a different feel this year. In the past, both kids would have been mugging past exam papers at about the same time and I get very busy alongside them. This year, Lil Shauna had been independent in studying for EOY exams and I didn't have to sweat about her. 

After a year in secondary school, we have come to acknowledge that she has barely any artistic and musical talents, scrapping through her art and music assessments consistently through the year. Lol. She struggled with the humanities as well and considered getting tuition help but I had asked that she gives herself more time. These are new and very different from primary school subjects after all and I think she needs to grasp how to study and take exams for these subjects. 

The SA2 preparation is even weirder for Zaky. The prolong HBL before SA2 gave us a lot of time to do past year papers and we completed what were passed down from Boo almost a week before SA2. Then, the school 1st informed us that paper 1 for EL and CL would be canceled. Soon after, we were told that oral would also be canceled. Zzzzz.  These are 2 segments that we exactly cannot practice and grade (at least I cant) on our own. With these 2 components removed and taking up almost half of the total subject score, there is almost no way to properly gauge the students' subject competencies. I don't know what the school is thinking about. Their "consideration" to not overly tax the students this year has definitely pushed the burden to the already stressful P6 year ahead. Anyway....

Then Daddy Lim was tested C+ and I initially thought that the kids would be confined and Zaky missing his SA2. I further lost steam in helping him prepare. The only subject that we continued to work hard on was Chinese bcos there is like truckload of 生词 to revise. He eventually took his SA2, much to his disappointment. He also had that glimpse of hope to be able to skip SA2. Haha. 

I didn't know what to expect for his SA2. The year had been really disruptive with multiple episodes of HBL, which truthfully had not been effective. I supposed the school had taken that into consideration in setting easier papers as well. 

His SA2 results turned out decent. Of course the expectations that I had set for him is higher. Hohoho. 

Jiejie had set the benchmark for PSLE as well as the guidelines on how and when to start studying for PSLE. Interestingly, Zaky appeared to be a lot clearer about what he wanted to achieve for PSLE and the new AL scoring system makes setting goals easier too. Jiejie must have been a good role model. 

I must helped him in his goal, right? Hoho. I am very helpful. Hohoho. The 1st step is to head down to Popular for assessment books. His Chinese tutor has recommended 4. I bought a Maths guide and an English assessment to help in his weak areas. He is not on English tuition now and I hoped that we can stay that way for P6. 

By Auntie H's recommendation, we got him a $50 English assessment book. This is like the most expensive assessment book that I have ever bought for the kids. It is quite good, coming with detailed solution key and explanations. In the past, when Zaky got his grammar wrong, we can never really properly explained the rules, we can only tell him that bcos the right answer sounds "right". 

I had also prebooked an one hour slot with him on Saturday afternoon, asking him to give me his 120% attention during that hour. He did and we worked out all the topics that he had to revise for Maths and Science. In addition, we sat down to revise the 1st Science topic, guiding him how to do so. We also attempted 1 mini segment of the English assessment; he is to do just one mini segment per day, and we found how helpful the answer key was. 

On Sunday evening, Auntie H is also very helpful and passed on more assessment books that Boo didn't complete to Zaky. Hohoho. 

One of them was actually passed on from Lil Shauna to Boo and now made it back. We used to do that with the kids' clothes and now it is assessment books. Did I take them? Of course. Whether we will use them or not is another story and the unused ones will be passed down again. I am sure there will be some. Hahaha. 

With these, we kick started our revision journey for PSLE. I am so looking forward to the end of the school term and be able to clear out all the P5 worksheets and workbooks, just like a cleansing ritual. Hohoho. 

Mummy Lim

1st Day of School and Work

Lil Shauna started school on Monday while Zaky got an extra day off. 

We had been practicing tying braids only to have somebody pointed out that I had been trying Dutch braids for Lil Shauna and it has to be French braids for her school. Huh? Braids also go by country?!!? I thought "French" braid is simple a name for braids. Apparently I have to twist on top and not below and I had been tying Dutch braids for Lil Shauna for as long as I had been doing it.

Can you tell which side is which country's braids?

Lil Shauna had been anxious about 1st day of school. Whatever "I want to make new friends" was replaced by "I am an extreme introvert and cannot make new friends". Ok lor, win already lor. At least she found a WG schoolmate who lives in the next door condo and have arranged to go to school together on their 1st day. 

Bcos school is now further and she has to take public transport, she had arranged to meet her friend at the MRT at 6.20am. Bcos she hasn't learnt how to tie braids, yours truly was awoken at 6am to do so. Yes, I was very much half awake. 

Not bad lah, at least they look like some kind of braids. The young lady left the house soon after and then her friend was late. Zzzzz. Chey. Could have slept a while more. 

White uniform, white shoes. Confirm get dirty easily. 

Along with the big jiejie, many of the little ones were also starting school. 

Monday also marked the new year work day for us. Daddy Lim went through a turbulence year and has started a new career journey on Monday. For the past 10 months, he had been my WFH companion and it suddenly dawned on me that with him going back physically in the office and the kids in school, WFH will be very quiet and lonely. 

Lil Shauna was back from school at about 2pm and was starving bcos there were too many people queuing for food and she decided that she was not hungry. Ended up, she gobbled down lunch back home while relating the wonderful tales of her 1st day in school. She met her ice skating friend R and took the train together towards home.

I am so glad that she enjoyed school and the earlier anxieties dissipated. She funnily talked about a sea of white students and how everybody looked the same in the same uniform and hairstyle. Haha. Of course she lamented about how her school shoes have blackened after a single wear. 

Zaky joined jiejie on Tuesday to head back to school. We just got his hair trimmed over the weekend.

Bcos Daddy Lim now have to be at the workplace super early, the boy also have to wake up earlier and leave the house earlier. He says that he reaches the school by 6.30am but have the other kids who take the school bus to accompany him. 

With the big and small boys also gone, it was indeed a quiet WFH day. All of them were at work/ school the entire day; Lil Shauna had some orientation while Zaky went to the student care. I better get used to that. 

Ever since we shifted, Zaky had never tried taking the public transport home on his own. He used to have jiejie and simply followed blindly. So the 1st day of school also become his orientation to go home via public transport. I met him at the interchange, fed him and ran a couple of errands at JP. We took a break for him to climb around at the playground and I have to constantly remind him not to split his pants. Hoho. 

With that, the 1st school day was also successfully completed for Zaky. Everybody survived. Yay!

While everybody is away at work/ school, I found my companion. Hi Cookie!

Mummy Lim

Home-based Learning Day 1

After last week's home-based learning experience, I learnt that scheduling is a must to prevent the kids from fighting over the laptop. The kids sat down on Tuesday evening after knowing their zoom timing and amount of SLS work to be completed on Wednesday and Thursday.

The yelling and fighting already started even before the home-based learning officially commences. "I need the computer... I don't want to do this... I want to...". I had to step in to meditate the situation a little and gave some suggestions here and there. Then to ensure no clashing as a final touch.

We also set ground rules. No phones allowed until after lunch though they can schedule in 2 x 15 mins handphone breaks in their timetable but have to set alarm when they are using their phones to ensure keeping to schedule. They have to set aside time for reading. They have to write something everyday and Zaky has to do 1 Chinese comp for me every week.
Yay! All good to go... I hope. *Nervous laughs*.

The day's schedule starts early with an exercise session at 7am. I did HIIT with the kids while Daddy Lim did his usually strolling. The kids aren't very excited about the workout though. Within mins, Zaky already declared that he was too tired to continue. Zzzzz.

People were definitely practicing social distancing. There were quite some neighbors who were jogging and strolling but they intentionally avoided us as we huff and puff through the workout.

We then rushed back for Zaky to start his 1st zoom session with his English teacher for 40 mins. The connection went without a hitch.

Accordingly to Zaky's reaction, it probably wasn't too exciting. Poor him had to sit through the session while the rest of us enjoy bfast. He asked a couple of times about the time. When 40 mins was up, he very vocally informed the teacher through zoom and reminded her a few times. Hahaha.

At the end of the session, he said that nothing much was done. All they did was to read a passage and highlight 5 words. I reminded him to give this whole home-based learning more time. His teacher is probably just as new to this as him.

The bfast was definitely hard earned.

I am not sure if it is the result of novelty or the scheduling worked but a large part of the morning went smoothly and quietly. I also got quite some work done. The pain only came in when Zaky had to do his Chinese homework. As he struggled on, he got more fustrated and he become more whinny. Aiyo, BTH.

The pain continued until after lunch. Yes, he took so long to complete his Chinese homework. At one point, he was rolling around on the floor beside me and whimpering, trying to get my attention as I was video conferencing with a candidate. I wonder if I managed to keep a straight face. Haha.

Lil Shauna on the other hand was a lot easier. She had so much homework that overran the time that she set for herself to do homework.

In the later afternoon, the gadgets started appearing and the kids started relaxing. Of course that is also when all the whinning stops. Hoho.

So where was Daddy Lim this whole time? Bcos the laptop was so heavily used by the kids and he cannot play PS4 to avoid distracting the kids, he ended up taking 2 naps! I didn't know that I am growing a big baby at home. Hahaha.

We survived day 1 of home-based learning alright. Phew.

Mummy Lim

Bcos SA2 is So Over

Finally, SA2 is over and the results are in. My hamster carrot maintained. I am reasonable ok, every year, I dropped the expectation a little bcos I know work gets harder. While my expectations are high, they are achivable; they must work hard to earn their hamster.

I was super encouraging and reminded them of their hamster target every SA but I doubt they will ever get one. Hohoho. Lil Shauna has the tenancy to screw up for SA1 but Zaky would perform great. Then Lil Shauna would buck up for SA2 while Zaky would be erratic. Hamster only materialised if they both meet the target. Awww.... Sorry but not sorry. Rearing a hamster is hard work and I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up as the main caregiver eventually.

Lil Shauna's SA2 results were indeed pleasing, with huge improvements to her maths. She improved substantially for her Science too bcos she did so badly for SA1 but I still think that she could have done better.

Zaky's result in Maths and Science were disappointing. He came home one day and told me without a hint of remorse that he lost 12 marks in Maths to careless mistake and he could have gotten full marks. Zzzzz.

Nevertheless, SA2 is over and I reminded them that they had tried their best or at least I think I had worked hard. Hoho. Play is now legit and the kids had played hard.

The kids had spent so many evenings after SA2 with the neighbour kids.

The weekends had been fun filled. From meeting the SHSS gang to the 3Fs.

They probably would have aced the SA2 and gotten their hamster if they had studied as hard as they played. Hohoho.

It is more play, play and play... Until school starts and Lil Shauna faces the PSLE monster.

Mummy Lim

Results In and School Almost Out!

As per last year, the hamster's carrot was put up for grab. While the targets for the hamster are super stretched, they are achievable. Zaky even made a deal with Daddy Lim - to buy him a real pet dog if the kids achieve 95 for all subjects. Daddy Lim was quick to promise; Lil Shauna just rolled eyes bcos it was mission impossible. At least my hamster targets for the kids were more realistic. Lol. Zaky then went on to make a side deal with me - he would stop his 天下 enrichment if he scores at least 90 for chinese. Deal!

The results came out last week. Lil Shauna did exceptionally well for her SA2. It was a vast improvement from her SA1 results, exceeding expectations for Maths and Science. Her English was on point and she was 1 mark short of her Chinese target but I was already super pleased. She is afterall a kang tang kia.

I had high hopes for Zaky too. He did very well for his P1 and also his P2 SA1. Then again, he had always been inconsistent, depending on how much efforts and concentration he has for the day. In the end, only his Maths met the target, his English wasnt too far off and let's forget about his Chinese. While I didnt expect him to ace in his Chinese, the result was a disgrace. No dog, no hamster and pls continue with your 天下 classes. Zzzzz. In fact, it was so bad that I can see the money that we had thrown into 天下 burning up. Yes, my fumes and blood pressure went up too. Aaarrggghhhh. At least he knew and was guilty (for a very little while) about how bad he had done.

The end of the year is also the time to gan cheong over class allocation. The kids are streamed into different classes based on their results starting from P3. I was super anxious for Zaky. While the Chinese results are always taken separately, I didnt think he did well enough to gaurantee a place in the top 2 classes.

*Drumroll.....*
Lil Shauna remained in the top class for the 3rd year in a roll! She was mega pleased with herself and so was I. While her Chinese was ok, she was eventually offered higher Chinese bcos she did so well for the other subjects. She hestitated for a while and eventually decided to try out higher Chinese. I left the choice entirely to her bcos I can only expect that much when it comes to Chinese. Haha. More importantly, a couple of her good friends are staying on in the same class as her. Phew.

Zaky made it into the 2nd top class! While he was slightly (so very slightly) disappointed, he was happily telling me which other BFFs are joining him in the new class. I am so relieved that at least he squeezed into the better class. Double phew.

With the results in and school almost out, I was so eager to start packing their own books and throwing away the accumulated worksheets and books. They are stacked so high on the shelf that I thought I wad playing Jenga. The booklist is also out and I was busy last night texting to see if anybody wanted hand me downs.

This morning, I had mega satisfaction when I threw a whole stack of workbooks into the recycle bin. With just 2 days to school closing, I doubt they do decent work in school and was sure that I could start throwing. I am so thrilled at the thought of ripping worksheets out of the files and into the recycle bins. Hohoho.

Bye books, bye worksheets! I am happy with the end of the school year but strangely for a reason so different from the kids. Lol.

Mummy Lim

It is Over!

SA1 is finally over!!!
I was in such good mood yday that I wanted to shop and spend $$. Lol.

The kids were busy playing soccer with their friends at the basketball court when I reached home. Sure. Clearly, they were not the only ones celebrating.

The kids asked to go JP after sweating out at the court. Sure. I even offered to bring them to Popular to buy the 265th pen that Lil Shauna needed. Zaky got a treat of Famous Amos cookies.

My mood was so good that the not very ideal results didnt quite dampen it. Yes, the kids already came home with some not very good news on their results. Well, there isnt anything that we can do about it now, right?

Just let me enjoy the "after SA1" feeling for the weekend. Let's fret about the results next week. My poor heart.

Mummy Lim

The Dreadful SA1

Last SA1, the kids were largely left on their own. Most of the revisions were left to their school and enrichment classes teachers while I concentrated on Chinese, simply going through the list of 生字.

Lil Shauna's SA1 results told me that there were more to be done. She was put back for chinese classes and from fellow mummies, I discovered the beautiful world of free exam test papers from good schools. The kids started working on these papers to prep for last year's SA2 and I think they did help.

Given the effectiveness of the test papers, of course we had to do the same this SA1. The preparation started about 3 weeks back and the intensity increased as we neared the exam week.

While Zaky's P2 papers were short and simple, Lil Shauna's papers were many pages long each. Zaky could easily chomp 2 papers in the span of 30 mins but Lil Shauna had to commit twice the time just to struggle with 1. It didnt help that her Chinese just became doubly hard. Arrggghhh. This period had been so horrible, especially the last few days. Boo!

Our last weekend was spent mugging papers, much to the kids' protest and dismay. I can only remind them of their impending freedom once the week is over. Seriously, I am looking forward to the end of SA1 as much (if not more) than they do. While they mugged the papers, I was sitting beside them. Luckily I had my Suduku book to accompany me. Then I had to mark their papers and explained the wrong answers to kids who couldnt be bothered. Zzzzz. Hit repeat mode x 2 kids. Vomit blood.... a lot of blood.

To add on the pain, Lil Shauna had not been too cooperative. I think her teacher at school has also been drilling them; she had been coming home with many completed past years' papers. She is probably so sick and tired of doing papers. Moreover, Zaky seems to be let off easier while she needed so much more effort. In her pain, it doesnt matter if it is bcos Zaky is in P2 and it is definitely an easier year. As a result, she had threw so many tantrums and shed so much tears over this period. So much that I lost count. Yes, we are talking about the usually angelic and cooperative Lil Shauna.

Today is the beginning of their written papers. Our agony will be over when Thursday ends. I have never like Thursday as much as I do now.

Mummy Lim

Progressing well Academically

Lil Shauna sets a very high benchmark when it comes to academic work.  Not only that, we also realised a long time ago that Zaky paled in comparison. We ended up subconsciously setting a high standard for Lil Shauna and gave more leeway to Zaky.

I always have the impression that Zaky isn't that academically inclined. Recently, I realised that I could be wrong. He was taught multiplication in his maths enrichment class and is progressing to division. This is an amazing feat for a 7 YO. Lil Shauna struggled for a long time when she 1st started.

We recently started reading the bible to do the kids' Sunday school homework. I was again pleasantly surprised at how well Zaky can now read. Lil Shauna is definitely better at 7 but Zaky isn't too bad for his age too.

The SAs are coming. I never have to worry about the kids' revision except for Chinese bcos I have jiat kang tang kids. Recently, I have started going through the 生字 with the kids and was surprised that Zaky did his revision so much easily than jiejie. Mentioning which, I almost vomited blood when helping jiejie with her chinese compo just now.

Zaky is definitely progressing well academically. Then again, he just brought home his Chinese listening comprehension mock test. He has 6 out of 10. I looked at his paper and was reminded how Lil Shauna always come back with full marks for listening comprehension. It is so hard not to compare. Zaky is having his graded chinese listening comprehension test this Wednesday. I reminded him to listen carefully. He said that he always do, just that he cannot remember. Zzzzz. Win already.

Mummy Lim

Homework Overload

We have busy kids. They are busy with school and many enrichment classes. Don't like that hor. I am just a typical Singaporean parent. However, school homework coupled with homework from the enrichment classes do get a little overwhelming at times. Most of the time, we have to ration the homework, completing the ones that are due 1st.

Time has been set aside for homework almost every day. We do cheat on weekends sometimes. Lil Isaac only get his school homework on Friday but we would make him do some writing too while jiejie is hard at work. We basically made him do plenty of writing.

I am a cheater bug. Sometimes, the amount of homework gets a little too overwhelming and I literally help the kids with their homework. I colour for Lil Isaac and help to do the maths sum for Lil Shauna. She has this whole booklet of multiplication to do last week from her enrichment class. We tried our very best to complete pages per day but to certain point, I started telling her the answers and she simply wrote them down.

Last week, her Maths enrichment class started 30 mins later than usual and she had the time to complete her homework before class starts.

When I see her painstakingly writing and trying to be as neat as possible, I had to suppress this urge to snatch her homework from her and help her complete her writing. Hahaha. I was thinking - some kids do need to learn how to write properly (like Lil Isaac) but most of them should be ok by the time they start P1, so why spend precious time and energy doing writing? But of course I didn't. She completed her homework, right before her teacher step in. 

Mummy Lim 

Easy Breezy

I am now convinced that spelling comes with age.

When Lil Shauna was promoted in her LC and was 1st introduced to spelling, she wasn't even 5. For almost an entire year, we struggled with spelling and there were moments that I felt like crying and I also made her cried over spelling. Despite numerous practices, her spelling results were pathetic as compared to Felicia's almost full marks every time. It had came to a point that I had to recognise her efforts more than results. There were times that I felt at banging wall when looking at her spelling book but tried to assure her that it was alright since she had tried her best (and so had I).

Spelling somehow became easier towards the end of her K1 year. Something suddenly clicked and I think that has to do with age. We spent lesser time learning spelling and she came back with better scores.

This year is even better. Spelling is such a breeze now and she remembers what she learnt such that we need not pained ourselves having to revise and revise and revise... This is even when there are also spelling and 听写 in school and she's worried when we are not in time to learn, which was so different from the whinny girl whenever we had to learn spelling a year back. I am a happy mummy.

I wonder if I will have the same worry for Lil Isaac. For one, he is definitely not going to progress as quickly as jiejie in his phonics class. By the time he gets to learn spelling, he would probably be in K2 and spelling should be OK for him then. By the way, we have completed all upper case alphabets and I I am so glad that most lower case alphabets look similar to the upper case ones. We just have an issue with "b, d, p, q". Oh well, which kid doesn't.

Jia you!

Mummy Lim