NH's Turn - Parents Engagement

It is now Nana's turn. The school has invited the parents for an engagement session - the very 1st in my memory. 

The session was made up of 2 parts - 3.3pm to 4 30pm was the Pricipal Speech and Award Presentation, to be attended with the kid, followed by 30 mins with the class teacher, without the kid.

When filling up the response form, I was very excited to find out I could choose to attend only 1 of the 2 segments. I asked Nana if she was receiving any awards. Unlikely.. ok, skip the 1st part then. Hoho. 

I took time off from work, rushing down after a call ended at 4pm. I barely had chance to go to NH and was very lost. I called Nana, who came to my rescue. 

I joined the rest of the parents and students in the hall. Nana was sitting with her classmate, who told us that the session was coming to an end. "Very good!" I said, a little too loud. The session must be not too exciting bcos a few parents looked at me and gave me that "I know" smile. I made the right choice. 

The only thing that I got to hear, which is probably the most valuable information to me, is how great the last O level cohort has done. 

75% of the cohort went to JC, which is a great %. SST only 55%. What is more impressive, is the number of students who scored 7 points and below. 7 points leh, a whooping 45% of the students! Moreover, this does not include students who did equally well but decided to head to poly. I am very impressed. 

The parents were then ushered to the classroom and the students released. Nana's classroom is on level 6. Zzzz. The teacher session was more so about the class' moto, strengths and weaknesses. Nothing too specific actually.

I was glad to leave when the session ended at 5ish. I got no questions leh. I did leave, feeling that the race has started, that things have gotten serious now that Nana is in upper secondary. Scary siol. Secondary 3 just started, isn't it? 

Mummy Lim

NH Sec 3 Camp

Nana had been so excited about the camp. She finally got down to packing on Sunday evening. With Popo's instructions, she ended up with many, many plastic bags, like every other shirt/ short is in a plastic bag. I had thought that she is independent enough but apparently not. 

Of course I had to help her. I cannot tahan seeing my daughter going to a school camp with so many plastic bags. We managed to squeeze everything into a big haversack and a backpack (for day activities). If I hadn't helped, I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up with multiple bags too. 

I don't know how she managed to lug the 2 bags to school but she did and claimed that it is the norm (for multiple bags) for school camps. She said that she had seen worse in her seniors previously. Then it was peace and quiet for 3 days. 

It wasn't a big deal for us. Nana is no stranger to sleepover but the parent Sec 3 chat was buzzing non-stop. Having their kid away may be a rare occurrence for some and thus the outpour of anxieties, curiosity and excitement. Then, there are "paparazzis" and "mamarazis" in the chat and there was 1st night update in the chat.

Day 2 morning updates too. 

Night 2 was the campfire and we got more updates. I have no idea how do these resourceful parents get these pictures. 

The final morning. 

Nana is a sucker for such camps. I had imagined her rumbling non-stop once home about how much fun the camp was. 

She was home after lunch. I was right about the fun part but she was exhausted and didn't know where to start in relating the amount of fun. It was way too much. It is OK, I already got the updates from the parents chat. I was also young once and did such camps too. I know. Hoho. 

This morning, I asked if she had a good night sleep on her precious bed. Confirm. No more squeezing with your mates on hard floor (with sleeping bag) and aircon! Lol. 

Mummy Lim

Mid Autumn Festival

The Mid Autumn Festival has definitely lost its charms as the kids grow older. They aren't interested in lanterns anymore.

Did we eat mooncake? Barely. With the covid restrictions easing, there are so many gifts of mooncakes in the office. At one point, I saw a mountain of mooncakes and brought one leftover home. That was the only mooncake that we had. I took a little slice but had 2 balls of pineapple tarts instead. Ya, I also duno why there are pineapple tarts in the office during the Mid Autumn Festival. 

NH is a SAP school and the Mid Autumn Festival is a big thing. The school holds a carnival and invites the students' family and friends to the school. Nana was raving about the carnival, telling me how great her seniors said they are but it was unfortunately canceled last year. 

This year, Nana finally got to participate in the carnival and is so super excited. She had been talking about it for weeks, reminding us to attend. The carnival was held yday from 4pm to 8pm. 

Daddy Lim wasn't too interested and joked that we will turn up at 8pm. Lol. But with work, we really weren't much earlier and left the house at almost 7pm in search of dinner. Daddy Lim was insistent that he would not go to the carnival to find overpriced finger food/ snack as dinner. Smart choice bcos he is absolutely right about the overpricing and only finger food/ snacks part. Nana started texting us and rushing us bcos the carnival was ending soon. Haha.

This is the 1st time that I am physically in the school compound unless I count the last time where we dropped her. Daddy Lim was the one who accompanied her for Sec 1 orientation.

We had a shock when we moved to the parade square, where the actions were. 人山人海.. all the girls in similar uniform and braided hair. How to find Nana? 

It took a while for Nana to find us. We told her that we were under the "moon". Please come find us. The school did up the decor so nicely. Got full moon somemore. 

We didn't stay long, we were not hungry, there were too many people, it was very hot. We stayed 30 mins before heading to the kopitiam to wait for Nana. Haha. What I did find amusing is the NH Bear, who appeared to be in a meeting with the teachers. 

Poor thing to whoever is in that costume. 

Nana absolutely enjoyed herself, helping her class and the council stall to sell keychains. Every student in her class contributed $10 for the keychain raw material. She also spent a lot of $$ in support of the carnival. The best part? She has totally no idea where do the proceeds go to. Win lah. 出钱又出力 but duno what is it for. Lol. Never mind, 开心就好.

While walking in the crowd, I was lamenting that Zaky wouldn't be part of this culture. I think he has made up his mind to opt for SST. I shall not complained; I am benefitting from the relieve of PSLE stress too. All good, except for a Nana who would be soon be telling me that she is very broke. 

Mummy Lim

Netball

Nana has a love-hate relationship with netball. With covid restrictions easing up, she finally got a taste of what it is like to play a decent netball game. She trained hard but being new at the game, she made plenty of mistakes and got scolded harder by the Coach. Getting scolded is hard for Nana. I think her ears are too soft and skin too thin. I probably didn't scold her enough when she was younger. It got to such a point that she got super stress at training and a scolding at training would spoil the rest of her evenings.

I know her Coach is fierce. We hear him over zoom all the time during the previous zoom online 脚步 practices. I had been trying to tell her to focus on rectifying her errors and not focus on why he scolded her and not somebody else. Didn't work. Haiz. 

The zonal games started a few weeks ago. Right when the games started, she sprained her ankle 2x, then kena covid and was involved in some other school activities. As a result, she missed many training sessions and was told that she would be pulled out of the main team. Was she upset? Yes, bcos she really wanted to play but at the same time, she was glad to be relieved of the stress. 

She still got to play in the initial games against the weaker teams. In the very last game that she got to play, she didn't perform well, got scolded so badly and came home to cry so bitterly. What to do? I cannot talk sense into her, she was so fixated with the fact that Coach scolded her so badly in front of so many people. Hopefully time will heal.

NH got into the West Zone finals. They fought against MGS, last year's champion, and won, earning them the rights to face NYGS for the champion spot. Family was invited. The game would be held at Tampines Sports Hub. Wah, very far. Knowing that Nana may not get to play, I wasn't keen to go watch the game until she said that all her mates' parents are all going. OK lor. 

路途遥远... I got the car and slowly drove to faraway Tampines. I counted, 30ish km one way. The game just started when I entered the hall. 

As expected, Nana didn't get to play but was helping to tabulate some statistics.

The game was very intense. Both teams are very good but the NH team drove harder and their GS is so super good. She was so calm and controlled the semi circle. She ended up scoring every single point for NH and her shoots were like 99% accurate. NH's defence put up a good fight too and didn't give chance to their opponent. Every point that the opponent scored was like so hard earned. 

We couldn't see the score from our side but I think NH was already leading in the 1st quarter. 

In the 3rd quarters, NH players were exhausted and started losing points to mistakes. Fortunately, they held up and won the West Zone championship at 44-31. Yip, yip, hooray!

The NYGS netballers were mostly tall and slender, very much like netballers. They don a pretty dress attire too. Very chio. The NH girls lost out on appearance but that doesn't matter when they eventually got the game.

I totally enjoyed the game and didn't at all regret  coming. Throughout the game, I was so awed by the GS and I also heard how hard the Coach scolded the team. Very loud and clear, 中气十足. The GK got scolded badly and I was thinking that if Nana got to play (she plays the GK), she would have died on the court by the scolding. I also understand why the GK got scolded so badly, bcos the GK is the last line of defence. 

Nana earned herself a medal too. It doesn't matter that she didn't get to play in the final games, she trained just as hard as the rest of her mates. 

Hopefully she gets better at the game and gets opportunity to play next year. 

She also earned for herself the 1st appearance in Straits Times leh. 

She 准准 position so nicely. Hoho.

Mummy Lim

School Updates

Lil Shauna says that she likes taking the school bus to school as compared to Daddy Lim sending her. Though she is still the 1st in her class to arrive in school, she's not overly early and there are other lower primary kids in her bus.

We caught the bus again this morning. It is the same old story - we were early and the bus therefore must be late. We will decide if school bus is the way to go when school reopens. Alternatively, we will all have bfast at home and slightly delay the time to leave the house for school, which isn't significantly late either. New term, new routine.

Lil Shauna came home yday and declared unhappily that she had been selected to join the choir. Her outburst was quite comical. I was told that I needed to sign a form and saw that there are options. Lil Shauna was happy to be able to opt out. I don't think it is a big loss. I was in the choir too in primary school and I don't think I particularly love singing, at least not now. Lol. I think any person can be in the choir so long as they are not tone deaf. It was pretty boring if you asked me, especially ever since I started vball in secondary school.

I don't know how the system works.  I don't know if it is compulsory for all kids to have some kind of CCA. I supposed the school will let us know in due time. I briefly looked at the school website previously and didn't find any very interesting CCAs. Let's see how things turn out.

Mummy Lim

Happy Teachers' Day

Teachers' Day is on coming Friday, 6 Sep. The kids' school is closed and they are having half day on Thursday. We haven't bought any Teachers' Day presents. My bad. I was procrastinating and it so happened that I have to work late yday and today. So effectively, we have no time to buy present. When Daddy Lim and the kids came to pick me up, I suggested that we head to the petrol kiosk mart to buy some chocolates for the teachers.

ML: Baby, we haven't bought anything for your teachers. Shall we head to the petrol kiosk to buy something?

LS: But I already gave something to my teacher.

ML: Huh? What did you give to your teacher?

LS: The big seashell lor. I gave that to Mrs Neo (form teacher).

ML: Muahahahahaha.

We picked up that seashell when we visited Tanjong Rhu @ Sentosa a few weeks back. I can imagine all the useless stuff that pre-school teachers received on teachers' day. Lol.

Mummy Lim

Mummy, You Forgot!

Lil Shauna left her school file in the school bus last Wednesday. There was homework to be done and we didn't get to do any. She got back her file on Monday and we totally forgot about her homework.

This morning, at about 10.30am, Popo called and I was trying to pacify a pre-schooler who realised that she hadnt completed her homework and was trying to complete before having to board the school bus in 20mins time. I can hear Lil Isaac fussing in the background while jiejie tried to ask me how to do her homework and struggling to hear me. Then Lil Shauna exclaimed, "mummy, you forgot to help me do my homework!". Win already. Lol.

I concluded that we weren't going to get much done. I couldn't quite understand what was her homework about and thus unable to help effectively. She wasnt doing the best job describing over the phone and panicking didn't help. At one point, she told me, "mummy, I cannot hear what you are saying, can you come home and help me with my homework?". Haha.

Eventually, I told Lil Shauna that I will call the school to inform her teacher that "we" had forgotten about her homework and will hand in the following day. She was pleased with the suggestion and proceeded to school, leaving her homework behind and I did call the school to inform.

This reminds me of the time when I was a student, especially in my primary school years. I remembered how I would tremble with fear at thought of the consequences whenever I had forgotten to do/ bring something. We had no luxury of parents calling up the school to defend us then.

I wonder if the kids now will still have the same fear. They are so much bolder now. More importantly, they always have their parents who back them up. Good luck teachers. 

Mummy Lim

So Precious

Just a few months ago, when Lil Shauna was still in the Nursery class, I was still complaining that she doesn’t have much homework from school to do. Now, I am lamenting that she has too much homework to finish. Let me help you recall. On top of her 3 hours school that keeps her away from home for almost 5 hours a day (including travelling time), she has taken on school Chinese enrichment every Wednesday and external Chinese enrichment every Saturday morning. She is also on phonics every Friday evening, music every Wednesday and swimming on Saturday after her Chinese enrichment class. Gosh, I am a monster mummy. But trust me, probably every pre-school kid is going through similar regime in their generation now.

Last Friday, after her phonics class, I realized that she has the following homework:

From school
1. 1 page of Chinese writing
2. 2 pages of English writing (bcos we forgot to do last week’s homework)
3. 1 page of Chinese character matching homework (to find some Chinese words in a passage)
4. 1 page of drawing and coloring
5. Some flashcard that we are supposed to go through with her (both Chinese and English words)

From enrichment
1. 10 spelling words from phonics
2. Practise the 10 spelling words (to write down 2x on an exercise book)
3. 1.5 pages of phonics homework (an additional half page as she couldn’t finish in class)
4. 1 page of simple music homework
5. Practice 3 times on the keyboard before the next lesson (which is today)

We got the school homework done over the weekend. It was hard work. There was plenty of writing. She threw a tantrum on Monday morning and refused to go to school. Popo had to call me and made her speak to me. Lil Shauna insisted that I didn’t read some instructions that she brought home from school. She was appeased only when I asked her for help to do whatever that I failed to follow up. T.T

She is learning to spell 2 new words every day. Bcos I worked late on Monday and she is down with cough, we didn’t practice 3x on the keyboard this week and there are still plenty of phonics homework not done. I only have that pathetic and very precious half to one hour with the kids after work every day. Popo commented that Lil Shuana is such a poor thing to have to do homework late in the night. What to do? Popo is unable to guide her on her homework in the day and it is always late by the time I fetch them in the night.

That is why we will only have 2. There will always be enough $$ to go around and there is plenty of love too. The only thing that is lacking and cannot be bought is time. The time that with them is so precious. I cannot imagine how to tear myself apart when Lil Isaac starts his enrichment classes and come back with homework too.

Mummy Lim

Graduation Ceremony

It was a grand affair. There are many more students in the kindergarten this year and the worship hall was filled. I bet that was also bcos many families were like us, the entire family (nainai, popo, pappy, myself, auntie and Lil Isaac) went just to watch one kid performed. Lil Shauna only has one item to perform. But I think it meant the world to her to have the entire family down just to watch her on the stage.

The theme this year is God’s creation. The ceremony started with the K2 (graduating) students’ walk-in and then to receive their scroll from the GOH. Yes, it was a super grand affair. Many of the song and dance items were by the K2 classes. Lil Shauna’s class performed the “If I were a butterfly…” song. The kids were dressed up as the different creatures in the song and Lil Shauna was a butterfly with 2 other classmates, who have the most stage time bcos butterflies appeared at the start of the song. Lil Shauna said that she chose to be a butterfly when her teacher asked her what did she want to dress up as, that is so typical of Lil Shauna.

Lil Shauna was a very bouncy butterfly. She appeared to be very excited, chatting happily with the other 2 butterflies while waiting for the cue to start, giggling and waving excitedly when she saw us. When the song started, we saw her skipping onto the stage and she was jumping up and down for most part of the song. Very cute. Lol. Lil Shauna also joined the finale to perform another 2 action songs and the event closed.

The event ended at 9ish. Lil Isaac was grumpy towards the end as it was nearing his bedtime. We headed for home immediately after Lil Shauna was released and the kids crashed into bed shortly after. It was indeed a tiring affair. Hehe.

I actually preferred last year’s concert. This year, the costumes are definitely much vibrant and more detailed and customize. However, there aren’t many actions from the kids. They seem to be doing more of a parading of costumes. The dance steps aren’t as nice as last year’s too. However, I guessed what matter most is for the kids to enjoy performing on stage. Next year, Lil Isaac will join jiejie on stage and I am secretly excited at the thought. The pre-nursery kids are always the cutest. Daddy Lim and I both agreed that the K1 and older kids lose their cuteness. Muahahaha.

The butterfly costume was given to us and we are wondering what we should do to the costume. Maybe we should meet up with the girls for a Halloween party. Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Homework

I know that I just blogged about being excited about Lil Shauna having to do homework not too long ago. However, this excitement did die down very quickly. This is so when Lil Shauna needs lots of coaxing to do her homework.

Lil Shauna has been given homework since last weekend. She is given 3 pages of letters to write each weekend. She has done "A, B & C" last week and was given "D, E & F" this week. Her writing is atrocious but I can live with it than to constantly erase and ask her to re-write bcos shortly into writing, I hear her familiar, "mummy, I am tired". -.o" Errr, I am tired too, tired from the coaxing and repeating which stroke to write first. Hoho.

It is no joke when we have all forgotten about her homework and only to realize it shortly before bedtime on a Sunday night. It doesn't matter how atrocious her handwriting is anymore bcos I just need her to get her homework done. In fact, I was even tempted to write her homework for her. Lol. Doesn't this sound familiar?

I must remember to ask her to do homework next weekend before we go gaigai. I hope my pea brain works then. Shoo, gold fish...

Mummy Lim

Homework

Lil Shauna is familiar with the concept of doing homework, particularly for her phonics and music class. The only homework from school were art & craft work and they were rare. Growing up as a true blue Singaporean in our academically driven (read: plenty of homework) education system, I had been wondering when Lil Shauna will start doing homework. Well, I shouldn’t care that she doesn’t have any now. There will afterall be plenty in the future and she is only 4. Making a 4-year old do homework sounded wrong and cruel.

This school holiday, Lil Shauna was finally given some real homework. I was actually excited. Hehe. She was given 10 pages of Chinese to write. Sidetracking, Lil Shauna still thinks that she is an English bcos she cant speak Chinese well. Her Chinese teacher, one of her favorites, did a good job instructing the kids on what to do. Lil Shauna was motivated to do her homework but her handwriting has always been atrocious. Things get a little more complicated when she’s required to write Chinese.

We told Lil Shauna that she’s required to complete 2 pages of the homework every night. The writing aren’t tough, the basic 笔画. Each page requires her to write the same 笔画 about 25 times. But to Lil Shauna, it probably takes a lot of effort. For the past 3 nights, she did her writing very slowly and lost concentration towards the end of the 2nd page. We kept repeating the "横折钩", "斜钩", "撇长点" as she writes and standby the eraser to erase the really cannot make it ones. At the end, the same 笔画 comes in all shapes and sizes, but I am proud. We still have 4 pages to go, which shouldn’t be too tough.

This homework thing reminded me of a story of ah yee, which I told to Lil Shauna. When ah yee was young, she was definitely not the most motivated student. I remembered one particular school holiday, that was probably spent idling away. On the night of the last day of school holiday, tons of untouched homework suddenly appeared. She being the youngest and most doted upon had my Dad instructed all of us to help with her homework. The homework was split up and I remembered writing her Chinese 习字 while somebody else was colouring her art and doing her maths. This had been a constant joke. Hohoho.

Lil Shauna requires a lot of supervision to do her homework. But it is ok, I am a kiasu mummy in the making.

Mummy Lim

Homework

Lil Shauna gets distracted easily and doing homework is always hard work. She ends up talking about anything and everything unrelated and wanting to do other stuff. Now that we are into middle sound and Lil Shauna hasn't master it, doing the phonics homework is a pain. It takes lots of coaxing, alternating with coercing. At the end of the session, I think I feel more tired than her.

I remembered Mummy P telling me how Jiejie C can do her phonics herself and without supervision. I listen with envy. Left alone, I think Lil Shauna will be doing everything else other than her homework.

I wonder how many white hairs I will get when she goes to school and I have to help her with her homework. I can already picture the heartache that accompanies the school examinations. Haiz.. This is part of the parenthood deal.. I can hear Daddy Lim asking me, "now, is the family complete?".

Mummy Lim

Easter Performance

I took leave to attend Lil Shauna's Easter performance in school on Monday. I managed to persuade Popo to let Lil Isaac go along. This is the first time that Popo and Lil Isaac ever see jiejie performs.

We sent Lil Shauna to school and Lil Isaac roams the church hall while waiting for the performance to start. Easy, breezy.

Lil Shauna only performed one song item. Most of the items were put up by the K2 students. Lil Shauna was at the back row while performing and we couldn't see much of her. But she saw us and happily waved at us. She also appeared to have thoroughly enjoyed herself singing on stage along with her class. I think that is all that matters - Lil Shauna enjoying herself and knowing that we are there for her. The Principal shared that some kids were actually disappointed when their parents were unable to make it to their performance.

The pre-nursery kids are the cutest. That is what Lil Shauna was last year. When Lil Isaac saw the little kids on stage, he actually attempted to imitate their actions. Too cute! A moment ago, he was staring at the big kids performing. Which reminds me that it is almost time to send Lil Isaac to school. Yes, my little boy who can barely walk steadily and can't speak more than 10 words will go to playgroup at the end of this year. We will probably send him to the church school in 2nd half of next year.

Mummy Lim

Homework

Lil Shauna enjoys drawing and colouring. Her "people" are starting to look like one. However she doesn't enjoy writing and it is super hard to get her to write.

Lil Shauna doesn't get much homework from school. Her school is not very academic driven and her principal seems to believe very much in maintaining the kids' interest, which basically means having fun. However, Lil Shauna gets homework from her weekly phonics class. It is mainly colouring of pictures with the same sound but parents are expected to go through pronunciation with their kids.

It was relatively easy when Lil Shauna was in her Foundations class. She can now hear most of the first sound in words provided that the first sound is obvious. She also enjoys tracing patterns. In the Launchpad class, she's starting to learn the last sound and it is tougher. I supposed once she gets it, she will be able to hear most of the last sound but we are definitely not there yet after 2 lessons. And it is equally hard trying to get her to write her alphabets. It doesn't help that she's already very tired by the time we are home and she couldn't concentrate on her homework. It takes lots of coaxing and we sometimes ended up having to break a simple 2 pages homework into several day. I had to beg, coax, plead, threaten to get the homework done.

Did I read about how much AN and C love to do their homework?

Mummy Lim

First Day of School

Somebody commented that the fb was filled with post of proud parents showcasing their kids' first day of school. I was tempted to post too but didn't. Hoho. I prefer to keep this memory in my blog and savor the nice memory many years down the road.

Lil Shauna starts nursery yday. It is with the same church school. What is different is that Felicia has swop school and will no longer take the school bus together with Lil Shauna. This cause Popo and me much anxieties. Lil Shauna only started accepting school when we switched her to the afternoon class, to be together with Felicia. It didn't help that the church has taken in more students and Lil Shauna's class will be split and there will be new faces in the class. I have asked the principal to help put Lil Shauna with her besties. She often mentioned Faith and Tong En.

Popo was prepared to send her to school if things didn't turn out well but things went really fine. Lil Shauna was the first kid to board the school bus but there was no tears. In fact, she happily waved good bye to Popo. I heard she was happy when she came back from school too. Yeah!

Day 2 turned out fine too. When I asked Lil Shauna if she enjoys school, she replied that she did. I guessed her friends helped. She has also grown pretty fond of some teachers who happened to be also teaching her this year.

Soon, it will be Lil Isaac's turn. If all goes on well, he should start playground this July and starts pre-nursery next year. Goodness, that sounds really soon. He is just a baby now. Hehe.

Mummy Lim

Graduation Concert

Jiejie performed at her school's graduation concert last Thursday and we wouldn't miss it for a million $$.. Wait, maybe we will. Hohoho. Anyway, I was really excited and was really looking forward it. It was quite amazing that kindergarten graduation is such a big thing now. The K2 students marched in and also went up the stage to collect their certificate. So pro. Then the different classes went up to perform. I was actually worried that jiejie will be frightened by the crowd, that she will freeze on stage or even cry but I was so wrong. This is her while getting on the stage. She was really excited when she spotted me waving at her. She is so different from the shy little toddler in the past. Jiejie was really enjoying the limelight.The pre-nursery and nursery students were really cute. Daddy Lim commented that kids lost their cuteness once they reach K1. I hope Lil Shauna doesn't grow up so quickly. She went up the stage 3x, the 1st to perform with her class, the 2nd to recite Chinese poems that she learnt during her Chinese enrichment class and lastly together with all the kids in her school. She really done me proud but most importantly, she enjoyed herself. :) Mummy Lim

Performance

I have never seen S performs on stage. The last time she performed in school, I couldn’t make it and had to miss it.

The school sent us a consent form recently to ask for our approval for Lil Shauna to join some post National Day celebration at the Geh Poh Ville CC last Saturday evening. The kids will be performing a few song items. I replied OK, but I think I was late in replying.

We were excited and brought Lil Shauna to the CC on Saturday. When it was time to gather, the teacher asked me if Lil Shauna was performing??!! She mentioned that kids who were performing had some parental consent form signed and Lil Shauna didn’t had that. There were some special rehearsals too, which I supposed Lil Shauna wasn’t included while they were conducted in school. Regardless, I wanted Lil Shauna to go on stage and of course the teacher allowed that since we were all there already. But I could tell that she was worried that Lil Shauna would cry on the stage.

Lil Shauna was initially clingy when she was queuing up. She didn’t look too happy. We kept assuring her that we will be around and right at the bottom of the stage.

The kids performed a total of 4 songs. Lil Shauna was at the back and hidden most of the time. But we could see her singing and dancing happily to the songs. I don’t think you can see her, she’s at the left hand side, at the back.

I am really proud of her. No crying and totally enjoying herself even though she was hidden. I was so touched and near to tears when I see her on stage performing. Daddy Lim was beaming from ear to ear too.

Lil Shauna was happy after her performance and showed me how to do certain moves while waiting for Daddy Lim to drive the car down from the carpark. It was seriously cute. When we were home, she did another performance for ah yee. Hohoho, so cute.

Our princess is growing up.

Mummy Lim

School and Church

School started for almost 2 weeks and things are going well. For the time being until my SIL completes her confinement, Popo will be bringing the kids and MA to Centris every morning and we will fetch them in the evening. Lil Shauna will thus board the school bus with Felicia at Centris and alighted at Centris. This arrangement works really fine. Lil Shauna will don her uniform and tie her hair just like the 2 Fs, no tears at all. She enjoys taking the school bus with Felicia too. The bus auntie sometimes relates that they quarrel in the bus but they also appear to enjoy each other’s companionship too. Lil Shauna does not seem to have any other issues with school now. She enjoys school and sometimes relates to us the things that she does in school, the songs she learn and even the prayers that they do. J The change of classmates seems to have no impact on her at all. Phew… At least we don’t have to run around looking for new school or managed a crying Lil Shauna.

Then again, I cannot help worrying that Lil Shauna will start rejecting school again when they stopped their daily shuffle to Centris. Well, Lil Shauna will still see Felicia on the school bus and in school. Then, my SIL told me last week that she has tried to apply Felicia to the Kindergarten that Fione is studying now. It is a well-known Kindergarten in ​Jurong West, very popular and it is more academically driven than New Life. They do not have a vacancy now but will inform my SIL if there are drop-outs. My heart further drops but I will be happy for Felicia if she does get into that school. It is really more reputable I also tried my luck and called up that Kindergarten. I was told by the administrator that the registration is already closed and the waiting list is very loooonnnnggg. Ok, I get her hint. I can only hope that Lil Shauna learns how to be independent soon or get used to going to school, such that when Felicia does go to her new school, Lil Shauna will continue to enjoy going to New Life. *crossing my fingers and toes*

We have started picking up going to church again since Lil Shauna stops her My Little Gym classes on Sunday afternoon. Amazingly, Lil Shauna likes church and I enjoy the time that I spent with her alone. During the last few visits, she was participative in the worship and activities. Now that she is 3 YO, almost all enrichment classes are independent classes. I realized that I actually missed those times that I spent with her in the various enrichment classes that we have attended. Boohoo, my baby has grown up. Come next year, she will move to the next level of Sunday school classes where parental companion is not allowed. Another challenge. We just have to take things as they come and pray more. I have been praying so little recently. Haiz. Jia you.

Mummy Lim

School Reopens

p.s - A post that I have drafted 1 week back bit not posted bcos the computer was down.

School reopens today. The 3 girls gave their caregivers nightmare for the past month. With school, they at least have a few hours of peace during weekdays, until the next school holiday comes along.

Lil Shauna was rejecting school before the school holidays. The last few days were horrible. Her reasons switched from disliking her school uniform, to pa pa the school bus driver, to pa pa Mrs Teo, who I supposed is a little stern. Then, she has to cry buckets and Popo had to alternate between coaxing and forcing. Plain bad.

We are worried that she will continue to reject school this term. I have switched her to the afternoon class, hoping that going to school with Felicia will help. We had been trying to prepare her for school, reminding her that school reopens today and she get to go to school with Felicia. We also made Felicia agreed to taking care of Lil Shauna, which Felicia readily agreed. Still, I can't help worrying, especially when she has to make friends all over again.

To prepare for the worse, I had explored EccoKids and Ichiban, which are walking distance away. I was also tempted to switch Lil Shauna to a more academically driven pre-school even if Lil Shauna can adapt to the afternoon session. However, after praying about it, I decided to keep her with the church school if she can adapt. I heard God saying that moral education is more important than academic now.

I was anxious the whole morning, as if I was the one who was supposed to start school. I called my mum a few times to check. Just before school, my mum called to say that the girls were getting ready for school and Lil Shauna was excited. She even happily donned her uniform! When it was time to board the bus, she happily did and wave goodbye to my mum. No signs of school refusal at all.

My SIL went to the school to peep at the girls. She shared that Lil Shauna was happily chatting with Felicia. At certain point, there was a crying kid and she spoke to the kid, as if trying to comfort her. :)

Lil Shauna came home with a file containing all her work from the 1st semester.


The file was very nicely organized, with pictures of her, her English teacher's assessment, her Chinese teacher's assessment and some of the nicer craft work that she has done.


The teachers generally have nice things to say about her.



I was actually a little upset for missing the last teacher-parent meet-up bcos of the cruise. Now seeing the file, I felt comforted that the school at least tried to inform the parents of what had happened in school.

I hope her good feeling about school will continue for the many more months and years to come. Amen.

Mummy Lim

School Hunt

I have arranged for Lil Shauna to visit 3 CCs on Wednesday morning. This is my backup plan in the event that she continues to reject school when it reopens in July or if she cannot adjust to the afternoon session and give us hell. Either way we will die a terrible death.

We have actually visited all the 3 CCs a year ago when I was deciding between sending Lil Shauna to CC vs hiring a maid. As guessed, Lil Shauna can’t remember anything of her previous visits to these CCs. We started our hunt from 9.30am. All the 3 CCs are across the road and within walking distance. But they are not that near, about 10 mins away but at least somebody can walk her to school. I am just a little worried that ferrying her will be tough when it rains. I was perspiring like mad by the time we arrived at the 1st school. Chiam ah, sun also cannot, rain also cannot.

EccoKids
I made an appointment to visit EccoKids CC. I saw a banner and followed the address and found EccoKids but thought that it unusually quiet. CC still operates during school holidays and there should be kids jumping around mah.

The principal met me at the door and asked if I was looking for EccoKids CC or Kindergarten. I was at the Kindergarten. I was surprised to know that there is an EccoKids Kindergarten and was excited to find out more. Afterall, I do not need to send Lil Shauna to a CC, a Kindergarten will meet our needs and I always have this opinion that CC is inferior in academic terms (in comparison to main stream Kindergarten) as their focus is more on providing child care services while the parents are away at work.

I was in luck that the Principal was around as it was school holidays. Lil Shauna insisted that she didn’t like the school but obliged when I insisted that we tour the school. Bcos there was no class, the Principal was able to explain to us their curriculum, show us their own school material that looks like enrichment books and also how they prepare the kids academically for Primary school. She seems like a nice lady.

The kids will start to learn pencil skill and phonics starting from nursery. Words recognition in K1, spelling, ting sie, hanyu pinying, show and tell in K2. There is also maths and science lessons too. The Principal mentioned that there will be no exams for P1 & 2 but the time Lil Shauna starts Primary school and Show & Tell will form a large part of the assessment, thus EccoKids also focused on Show & Tell to get the kids ready. The Principal was also sympathetic towards our situation and thinks that it is fine if the kids are unwilling to wear their school uniform and mentioned a girl in the school who refused school too and how they overcome that problem.

As there is no school, we will be going back to visit them when school re-opens and the Principal invited Lil Shauna to sit in the class for an hour to experience. They have vacancy! Lil Shauna was told that they have rabbits, which were sleeping while we visit and she can come back and see the rabbit. The school fees will be a little more expensive as compared to what I am paying now (school + bus fees). I left with a good feeling. The only thing that the school lacks is outdoor playground. They only have one pathetic slide and that definitely didn’t go well with Lil Shauna.

Oh, the principal has a good chat with Lil Shauna too and she actually replied! She mentioned that Lil Shauna is pretty advance for her age. Hohoho, I am a proud mummy.

Ichiban Montessori (98 Pioneer Cresent)
There are 2 Ichiban Montesorri in the vicinity under 2 different management. I actually made a booboo. I only realized that I called and made appointment with the branch in CCK when I called them to ask for directions. We did found the Ichiban located on Pioneer Cresent eventually but the teacher told us that they were unable to take visitors as they were busy. Their Principal was also unable to speak to us.

Well, it was my fault and I didn’t persist. Then again, it was also bcos I saw this girl who kept standing inside the gate looking at us the whole time that we were there talking to the teacher. While talking, the whole flock of children came, they are probably very shorthanded. And when we were leaving, the little girl at the gate was rolling on the floor and nobody seems to care about her. The teacher didn’t impress me too – a Filipino.

My colleague’s daughter is also attending the same CC and he mentioned that quite a few teachers had left recently and the CC hired a few PRC teachers as replacement. Great, a CC full of foreign talents. And he said that quite a few of his daughter’s classmates were withdrawn by their parents. Failed.

Ichiban Montessori (50 Pioneer Cresent)
Fione attended this school before she started CC and I know that this school is very academically driven. I spoke to the Administration Director (AD) who is a PRC. I think the boss is also a PRC. They are indeed very academic focus. The kids in Nursery are already writing and when we visited, they were having their mid-term assessment! The K1 students will start spelling, ting sie, hanyu pinying, show & tell. The kids in K2 will learn grammar and can add and subtract!

My only concern is that they seem a little too academically driven and wonder if that will kill the fun of learning. While touring the compound, I can’t help but noticed that most of the teachers are aunties-class and plump. Hmmm… The AD didn’t particularly impress me too. Her HP was ringing during our meet-up and she couldn’t really tell me the teaching methodology used. It seems like the school was more profit driven, pitched as a money spinning business. I also noticed that there are quite a few PRC kids. I heard that this CC is stronger in Mandarin than English. Well, this doesn’t bother me that much. I am just worried that the teaching is by memorization. PRCs are well-known for that and I always think that learning by memorizing is a passé, something that I used during my times and is definitely not the best method. I also check with the AD on her take about kids who refused their school uniform. There wasn’t any concrete answer but she just replied that she found it strange that Lil Shauna started off fine but reject subsequently. Oh well, maybe I am just prejudice that the school is run by PRC. ;p

The school fees is about the same as what we are paying now and there is school during the school holidays. They do not have vacancies now but think that it shouldn’t be a problem to enroll Lil Shauna next year in their Nursery class. Then again, the AD was kind enough to suggest that we check again in August/ September if Lil Shauna continues to reject school as there might be kids who are withdrawn due to house moving or parents relocating.


It looks like we have 2 choice now – EccoKids Kindergarten and Ichiban Montessori @ 50.
Lil Shauna remembers that EccoKids has rabbits and she loves the different slides that she sees at the Ichiban Montessori. Based on my account above, you can probably feel that I prefer the former. Then again, my opinion might change will I see the teachers when we go back during school term. I had initially hoped that Lil Shauna will take to the afternoon session well and we will keep her with the church. But just the other day, my SIL was telling me that she too felt that New Life Center doesn’t seem that academically driven and she was wondering if she should switch Felicia. Her words fueled the Kiasu-ism in me and I started thinking too if I should switch Lil Shauna too even if she adapts well. -__-“

I guessed I will have to pray for discernment. I really want Lil Shauna to grow up in a church environment. Then again, I can simply do more at home and also bring her to church on Sunday. I think I will have to talk to the New Life Center Principal again when the school re-opens. When we signed Lil Shauna up for New Life Center, I didn’t do my homework and didn’t check what does New Life Center teaches their K1 and K2. We have also been reminding Lil Shauna that she will go to school, in the same school bus with Felicia when school re-opens. The last I discussed with her, she said that she doesn’t like Mrs Teo, her form teacher bcos she is very fierce. I think Lil Shauna will have the same teachers in the afternoon class.

Pls pray for me as well. The last thing that I want is to change school for Lil Shauna and found that she cannot adapt and we have to go through this whole saga again. This school changing is as tough as maid changing. -___________-“

Mummy Lim