Anyway, Ace must really value having fun and enjoying life:) Just look at the way his life panned out... While my manifestation is most of the time powerful, he did not in the end get into Yuneng like me and Max planned but was instead posted to a more relaxed primary school tat according to our fren who taught there before, was more focused on a all rounded education... (which means less work and more play... hahahaha)
And then leh, he gets his dad in a job in Dubai and comes over to start his primary school education here... and of the so many schools in dubai that we tried to get into.. he was ONLY accepted in Horizon School and they are also focused on a well rounded education.
My Dubai neighbour, A, whose girl is also in Horizon told me that it is one of the rare schools with minimal homework. Most schools pile the children with homework and she pities her colleagues who have to rush home to teach their children how to complete their homework or help them get ready for tests...
Yesterday, I met another neighbour, H, whose son is also in Grade two in another international school. I asked him if his son has homework and his reply? "Yes, especially during the weekends, they get lots of homework..." Wah, no wonder I never see him go out one lor....
And then when I talked to the mummies of Ace's kindergarten classmates, it seems that many of them are having tonnes of homework every two days and even more on the weekends. Some of them are also on tuition classes and enrichment classes as well.
While I am glad and happy for Ace that he gets to enjoy his childhood more and glad tat it seems that I have less work to do with him (he has spelling but they learn and test in school and I am only required to teach him the words that he still has not mastered at the end of the term and make sure he learns them properly.. which by then he already knows how to spell those words actually.. wahahaha), I am also a little worried that he might not be able to catch up when he goes back to Singapore.
When we were back in Singapore, I bought some assessment books and textbooks for him to learn all the stuff that the primary 1 kids will be learning in school... I dun require him to be a genius but just wants him to be sufficiently exposed such that he doesnt get a rude shock when he goes back to sgp... it doesnt help that most people I speak to are kan cheong spiders who keep advising me to make sure he can keep up lah.. to train him properly lah...
I even hear horror stories of how some schools require some students to know a few bookful of info before they even start primary one and how they are requested to start pri 1 tuition when they are in kindergarten! Wah.. super kia su man.. stress and chuanz if I am the parent of that kid in those schools... so crazy!
Max initially quite yaya tt his son is reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid at 6 years old only to find out from another fren who teaches pri school tuition that it is the norm that is "expected" of a pri 1 kid... I started reading those thick with lots of words books when I was 8.. so I still think reading DOAWK at 6 is still an achievement no matter wat others say.. hehehe...
Anyway, the dilemma comes because everyday after school, I wonder if I should push Ace to do too much extra work. You see, Ace has a long day in school. He wakes at 5.55am everyday, goes on the school bus at 6.30 and starts school finally at 7.45am....
School finally ends at 2.10 and out of 5 days of school, there will be two days where he has ECA and by the time he reaches home, it is usually already 3pm or 4pm... depending on whether it is a long or a short day.
From 3pm onwards, he will want to eat something (cos he is usually hungry when he reaches home), play with his toys a little or RnR in front of the TV before he will be willing to study or do any homework.
Daily, as it is now, our routine is reading two storybooks (which he borrows from school), doing two mental math exercises, learning 5 spelling words he has not mastered and by the time I finish, it is usually time for me to cook.. and he uses the time to bath...
By the time I am done, it is time for dinner. As he is a slow eater, he finally finishes his meals by 7 plus and he has only a little bit of time before he watches The Simpsons at 8pm and zzzzing at 8.30pm...
Also, it is very tiring for me to teach him his schoolwork as well ;) it takes lots of energy to muster patience and eradicate all expectations..... and it takes alot of effort to and energy to remain calm at all times.. ahahahaha...
And on some days where I am not feeling well, I just totally cannot teach cos I just dun have extra energy to do that. Some days I might have something I need to do like clean the house by a certain timeline cos someone is coming or wat, then I will also not have time to teach him...
Sometimes if I am tired or sick or in a bad mood, teaching him his schoolwork also becomes alot of extra stress and effort... Thankfully, he is really appreciative little boy.. the other day after a particularly frustrating day where I told him i am to tired and have to go to the room and rest... Ace came into the room and put a star tat says "Well Done" on my arm because he says tat is my reward for being a good mummy... doing so many things for him even though I am so tired.. hehehe:)
Anyway, I dunno whether to push him or let him relax more lor. Push him I see he so ke sian (poor thing).. already such a long school day.. dun push him scared he cannot catch up. I guess I just do my best to go with the flow bah... can do, do.. cannot do, during his july august summer holidays got alot of time to intensively work on it.. wahahahaha:)
Anyway, I glanced through a few assessment books and textbooks. I think english is not much of a problem since he reads alot... math leh, should be no problem cos it seems like it is just working on things he has learnt in kindergarten in deeper depth and what he is doing here seems sufficient like he is learning to count in 2, 5, 10.. learning number bonds of 10... and he is doing addition and subtraction of up to 20... he understands and is learning time, fraction, inverse numbers, money, length... I have also been giving him problem sums practice since kindergarten.. hehehe.. just chinese is a headache for me...
Just a few mths of not being in the environment of learning chinese, Ace has forgotten simple terms like chuang kou (window). I made him tell me a story that his K2 teacher, Fu Laoshi told him in Chinese and he after every phrase had to ask me,"How to say xx?" Wah lau eh, I totally dun understand the story he was trying to tell me lor! wahaahahahah....
Anyway, since we are on the topic of homework, tat very boh liao Ah Yee took this pic the other day and whatsapp me... said to tell Ace she is going to buy them to wait for Ace to go back ot Singapore to do lots of homework.. wahahahahaha..When I read the message to Ace, he went, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please Ah Yee, can you dun ask me to do homework when I go back to Singapore???"
hahahaha..
Ace says though that the homework in school has been getting tougher.. "I don't like.. cos have to think..." (Got homework dun need to think one meh???) I told him it is only when he practices the more difficult questions, then will he get better.. and learning and thinking go hand in hand lor:) wahahaha..
Anyway, his godma told me that Ace told her that he works very hard and concentrates hard in school.. that is why he plays hard afterwards.. wahahahahah... kiang lor!:)
I am just thankful he is quite fast in picking up things and he understands his lessons in school so all i need to do is reaffirm and practice only.. dun need to explain things from scratch to him till he understands.. if i had to do tat, i think my hair will all turn white and my face will totally turn GREEN like the angry incredible hulk:) whaahahaha..
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