Homework, Homework!

Since Ace has been back in Singapore, it has not all been fun and outings:)

The good thing about having a longer vacation in Singapore is tat we can take things easy and do some other things other than meeting up with friends like spending time with our family.. nua-ing at home.. wahahaha.. and in Ace's case, it means HOMEWORK!:) hahahah...


I must sheepishly admit tat my best of intentions when I brought all those primary 1 textbooks n workbooks ended with me having nothing to show for it because Ace has been having so little time after school to do much and his dad keeps asking him memorize this times table and tat timestable.. and there is just no time left to do anything else.. so leh, they left UNTOUCHED and I brought them back to Singapore again on this trip home...

A typical nothing to do but homework day goes like this for Ace.. he sleeps at 12 plus the night before and then wakes leisurely at 11am in the morning....

Once awake, he will do funny stunts like sticking post it notes on his face...

Or pasting his breakfast gao deng kuay on his mouth.. hahahah..

Or perhaps he will busy himself with reading a brochure or two...

About things like LIFE CYCLE of an ANDES MOSQUITO.. wahahaha

Then leh, he will start to watch his loony toons on computer or OKTO on TV.

At this point, the monster teacher mummy comes in and reminds him that he needs to complete his homework before he can do anything else...

Usually on any given day, we actually can spend a good 3-4 hours on work.. with some breaks in between for him to watch looney toons on computer... In that 3-4 hours, we actually can do a chapter in the math textbook, a chapter in the chinese textbook, some writing and spelling of chinese words, a chapter in the chinese workbook and practising of two sets of timetables..

To me, that is quite an accomplishment since I usually only have like an hour and end up not being able to do much...

And I am rather pleased that Ace does not quibble with me when I ask him to do work and just does it and try to do it quickly so tat he can watch the looney tunes that I promised him..

Even if i give him more and more homework.. he doesnt complain at all... he may lose focus sometimes and start fooling around but he always gets right back to work.. I am very proud of him!

Ace really impressed me with his learning attitude.. when it gets too noisy in the living room to do work, he actually runs to the bedroom to do it on a pillow!;) hahahah

When I had to reintroduce him to how to write his chinese name and how to spell the numbers in chinese, after he finished writing the whole row of words already, he actually on his own accord, write down random arabic numbers and tested himself how to write the chinese word.. the first step to self study! I only started self study when I was 12!

However, I noticed that the primary school textbooks tat we covered so far is actually VERY EASY. I am not quite sure why the test and exams are deemed super difficult by most parents in Singapore and when I talked to my sister about it, she told me she noticed tat the textbooks and workbooks in Singapore are actually relatively easy... it is the assesment books tat are difficult and they are so because the schools have been increasing their standards and so parents have higher requirements...

No wonder the minister of education say things like our curricullum is not more difficult blah blah blah.. it is true.. if you look at the textbooks, its easy! It is only more difficult if you try to download the test papers of the famous primary schools and do them! MOE has to get their act right.. maybe they should set the test papers for all schools just based on the textbooks!:)

I was all ready to stop at just exposing Ace to the textbooks but a friend who is also a parent and tuition teacher told me it might be worth my while to also expose Ace to those tricky and difficult primary school papers from the various schools.. so now I am contemplating whether to buy those 10 years series exam paper packages..

But but but.. 10 years series for a primary 1? I didn't know what these were and never used them till my O levels leh! PLUS, I dun really fancy bringing lots of papers home to dubai as my lugguage already confirm overload liao...

In the end, I decided to settle for second best option.. I logged onto the internet and see if I can find downloadable papers for him to practice and I did find a few..  But I still sort of wonder if that is enough and it is a dilemma about whether to push him or not all over again... sigh...

What do you think?

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