Ryan's Home Tuition Going Well

Ryan has been having home tuition for 2 weeks now. His tuition teacher previously his 5 year old class teacher has been very diligent in coming to coach my boy. Hardworking lady who said that she is trying to earn more besides her permanent job as a kindy teacher. This is the 3rd week already. Last week, Ryan had an intensive one since she was available - Mon to Thurs, 2 hours each. It started off with 1 and half hours per lesson but since she has to teach both Chinese and Malay, the timing was a bit stretched. Perhaps she was also trying to be a bit more hardworking while benefiting my boy, we have agreed on 2-hour lessons. Min 2-3 a week depending on her availability until she gets her kindy schedule for 2010. I'm ok with that as Ryan is still on holiday. Earlier, we agreed on RM35 for 1 and half hours and she prorated for me for the 2 hour lessons. I have seen some good in the lessons and I don't want to be too calculative. I rounded it to RM50 for 2 hours and hopefully keep her happier to do a good job in coaching my boy.

In fact when Raymund is ready in half year's time, I intend to get him to join in as well. Nothing is better than personal attention. And now that I have started work, it is difficult for me to allocate time for my kids' studies. And, I'm pretty comfortable with this teacher simply because:

1. No ice breaking - Ryan already knows his class teacher
2. She is a kindy teacher. She knows what and how to teach preschoolers.
3. Most importantly, she knows how to handle young children versus asking university students to give tuition
4. I know her too. So I'm not too worried about having a stranger in the house while I'm at work.

While I left the coaching to her, I did in fact told the teacher what worked for Ryan when I was coaching him before. I told her about his behavior, how Ryan catches on - which is normally the day after. It is quite enlightening. What appeared to be difficult lesson to Ryan on a day - when he was having difficulty remembering, absorbing - became almost like a piece of cake the next day. There was no revision in between. It could be that subconsciously he had already absorbed earlier but was too tired and jumbled up to respond. It was not just a one off occasion but almost always like this. The teacher also realized it recently.

I have arranged this tuition mainly to drill on 2 languages - Chinese and Malay. But because I don't have as much time, I have asked the teacher to slot in some English Phonics reading during some lessons. I have many English Phonics books like the Clifford Fun series, the Big Book series, some short easy to read stories, etc. And to make sure that the Chinese and Malay are more or less structured, I bought quite a few reading books as well as practice workbooks. A good place to get these is from the Popular Bookstore. I've got the Sukukata Malay series from there too. Cheap and relevant - a set of 8 mini books costing about RM5+ each book. The Chinese ones, I went by publication. Sorry I am Chinese illiterate and have no idea what the kids nowadays are supposed to know at kindy level. I got some from Pelangi and so forth. The teacher said that they are good. Phew! I will take some pix another day. Too lazy now :P

To facilitate the learning and adding a bit more spice to it, I prepared colouring pencils, handheld white board and marker (Ryan loves this), exercise books (both square (medium in size) and lined exercise books), cards (for flash cards) etc for them. I told the teacher not to be too strict on homeworks as I don't want Ryan to be stressed up. Moreover, his 6 year old kindy class will come with quite a load of homeworks, I was told. When kindy reopens, I have asked the teacher to go through his kindy books and lessons to help him reinforce his learnings as well as to help him with his homework. I'm so glad that at least that part is settled. Hope it works out well. I'll have to coach my kids still - but wait till I get fully adjusted to my time. I intend to advance my son in Maths and English... and then there is Raymund who will start school now.

My 1st Week at Work

My 1st week of work turned out pretty well considering that I was dragging my feet to start work before then :) Maybe it was the short break that refreshed me. Or maybe that my portfolio is somewhat new and resembling my earlier experience which was more exciting. My boss gives me a free hand in quite a lot of areas but his expectation is nevertheless pretty high. What counts is that he gives me the assurance that I have his support and backing. And I'm very happy with it. Frankly, I had a lousy experience once upon a time with a lousy supervisor who felt threatened by my presence...and too much politics. Needless to say, my opportunities and career was suppressed. Sigh!

You wouldn't believe it but at the interview, I was quite point blank about my need to balance my life. While I promised delivery, I still need to be there for my family. I was specific about me being not able to stay back late unlike the young and single. Some would say that I was pretty silly to bring this up at interview but I feel that if I have to give up the balance, then the work is not suitable for me. After all, working is a means to an end. My boss remembers that and he is quite alright with it. How nice! Of course, I will have to play my part to deliver. What more can I ask. Hope this good luck stays :)

I have to wake up early now and it is almost non stop at work. Yes! This is only my 1st week - haha! When I reached home, I was so drained and practically knocked out before 11 pm. Just as well I have a tuition teacher for Ryan to coach him in his studies. I just don't have the energy. Maybe my body is still in 'siew lai lai' mode like when I was between jobs. Or.. I think .. highly likely.. it is because of my age that is catching up. So unlike those young days when I had boundless energy... I remember I could have a hard day's work, finished late and still go out 'lepak'.

I miss my 24 hour time with my kids. I miss the carefree time during my break when I can decide to visit this shop and run that errand at will. But then again, I scold my kids less now - only see them when I'm not at work mah :) So I appreciate them more and value my weekends and public holidays. I tend to take them for granted when I was not working. Whatever it is, the reality is that I have to earn $$$ to provide for my kids. Education is so expensive what with those extra enrichment classes. I just wish I can have an early retirement in time to come.

Merry Christmas!

Winter Solstice .. or 'Kor Tung' in Cantonese

Today is 'kor tung' ...also known as Winter Solstice or Dong Zhi Festival. My folks used to say...'Tung tai kor nin' .. translated to mean...'Winter Solstice Festival is more important than Chinese New Year'. And a lot even told me that you are 1 year older after Kor Tung instead of Chinese New Year (CNY).

As children , I used to think only that 'Kor Tung' is the day where we eat 'Tang yuen' .. glutinuous ball dumplings (plain or filled), coloured with some red and even green in ginger sugar water. This is also the day where we met all our uncles, aunties, cousins, etc etc and had a good dinner... something similar to 'Tuen Nin Fan' (The evening meal before 1st day of CNY). Yea.. it was all about eating and playing then. I remember the good old days when my grandparents (now in the land of paradise :)) would call all their children and grandchildren home. They would play chef and cooked a good meal for all. My aunties would be busy helping in the kitchen, the men chatting outside and us children... play la, of course. In fact, we have this gathering almost every week as my grandparents were very particular about family get together. Just that on festives, the food got better.

Quite a pity, things weren't the same after they departed. Now, the grandchildren, my generation, we have our own family.. thus our own celebration. So... today, my brother and my family are taking my mum to celebrate 'kor tung'. We are going to eat Steamboat!! My kids have never tried steam boat before... so I told my maid to line their stomach first just in case... that is IF we are taking them along :). Knowing how they love 'kai kai' (outing), they will most likely follow. My husband side of the family.. unfortunately we will miss the celebration with them. Afterall, this is a working day. Hope that there will be no heavy traffic when I rush home later.

Happy Kor Tung to you all... have a wonderful time with your family :)

First Day of Work Today... Yawn!!!

Today is my first day back to the work force. Really take some getting to use to. My new boss arranged some back to back meetings for me... yes, on my first day! Not that I'm complaining. At least I get a good glimpse into the business and the company. But for the 1st day, it's quite abit of information overload. Not to mention that after so many days on rest, of enjoying being a temporary 'si lai', it is a bit tough switching on the 'working mode' again. Yawn!

I was two hearts about 2 weeks ago. On one hand, I was excited but what to anticipate in a new environment new boss new function. But on the other, I so love the carefree 'siew lai lai' mode... only have to worry about my kids, their studies and food in the house. Of course at more times than not, my blood pressure was high from scolding and punishing my kids... but still those are one of those quality moments with them. and there were those lazy moments that I can nap my afternoon away. Sigh! Well, there are debts to pay, loans to bring down and tax to get rid off. Gotta work! My dream however is to have an early retirement. I don't wish to slave till 60 or 65 years old. I want quality times with my family. Like favorite HK TVB character 'Chai Kau' (柴九) played by my favorite actor Wayne Lai Yiu Cheung (黎耀祥) in my favorite show Rosy business (巾幗梟雄)...'Yan sang duen duen yau kei tor kor sap nin. Jo yan jui kan yew tung fai.' In case you don't understand this cantonese jargons.. the translation is something like this - 'In our short life, there not many ten years (decades). It's then important we are happy and enjoy our lifetime'. How true!

Yawn! I'm going to bed now. I just hugged and kissed my 3 kids good night. Been a long day for me. See ya!

My Kids Are So Attached to Me Now :)

At one stage, I was blogging how upset I was that my kids were so attached to my maids. Since my maid has gone back to Indon for a break, little Raymund had sem lost and attached himself to me. He wants me to 'pat pat' him to sleep every night. He wants me to sit next to him for meals. All these despite the many scoldings and punishing coz he is basically a very active and mischievous little boy. Needless to say, Ryan has always been attached to me. My hubby and I had been taking care of him since he was a baby. Those days we couldn't afford a maid.

The fact that I've been at home for a while after resigning from my former job and waiting to get on to the new one, encourages the bonding with my kids. I have been teaching, scolding (haha! Just can't avoid this ;p) , taking them out, bathing and playing with them helps... giving me quality time with my kids and hubby. I'm back to bathing my kids... sad, I've been slacking before since my maid has been doing the job. Normally after they have their evening exercise, I would bath the 2 boys together (of course, expect mischief here!) and then my little girl. Don't underestimate 'bathing' session with kids. My little girl got so much closer to me after these sessions. I so enjoy the bonding. She loves it too and said 'bah bah' (ie bath bath) and starts pulling at her clothes trying to take off her clothes ... like she thinks she can at 1 year old :). My husband also bath my little girl just the other day but he treated her like 'glass', haha! I asked him how come he was so confidently bathing the boys when they were young but when it comes to his girl, he was so cautious. He just told me his boys are tougher. His little girl is too fragile. Haha! Daddy's girl! I cannot 'tahan'... I took over the bathing after that to make sure that she was clean :p

I just put my little girl to bed. She has been cozying up to me earlier. Even rejecting her favourite kakak... which is just pretty rare! She snuggled up to me and wanted me to 'pat pat' her and make her sleep. So nice! The two boys wanted me to be around too. Lotsa urging and nudging to make them sleep. Finally... peace :) and I get to blog about it :)

Simple acts of pleasure!

Changed My Blog Header

Just changed my blog header. Hope you like it. My kids are growing fast..but wouldn't all kids be :) The photos are pretty outdated by now - so, I am updating them once again.

This is the old one -

Did some little designing for the header but around the same theme as I'm too lazy to change the background. My eyes are gritty now. Going to rest. Blog another time :) See ya!

Cheers

Ryan's 1st Home Tuition Today

Ryan just had his 1st Home Tuition day with his ex class teacher. Initially he was 2 hearts when I told him about his tuition. He was excited to have his Teacher come to his house but his holiday lazy bones were getting the better of him :)

Turned out good, I would say. I put them at the 'study area' that I prepared in my family hall upstairs. I prepared exercise books, paper and pencils for them. I forgot about the color pencils ;p. I have already got some Malay and Chinese reading and workbooks from Popular bookstore. They were really cheap and practical. They got into study mode almost immediately. I could hear them downstairs. My 2 younger kids were a bit noisy. I didn't want to distract the learning upstairs and so, I got them to play in the room downstairs instead. Little Raymund was eager to join him. He thought it was fun. To him, going to school and seeing teacher means he will get balloons. You see, Ryan came home from kindy one day with a balloon. He told his brother that his Teacher gave it to him. That's why Raymund got that idea :) At the same time, I think he feels a bit left out and wants to learn too. Good start! I didn't want to stress him yet - definitely not ready for home tuition. Instead, I have begun some basic prewriting exercises, shapes and colors with him. I'll blog about it later.

After today's lesson, the Teacher told me that she has to start from scratch. I agreed with her as I wanted to strengthen his foundation 1st. The same with Malay. I'm happy with today's outcome. His Chinese characters looked a lot better now. His Teacher was particular that he writes better. Believe me, his writing was atrocious before!!

Anyway, the lesson lasted 1 and half hour as agreed with the Teacher. She is charging me RM35 for each session. We are arranging for 2-3 (or sometimes more) times a week going around her busy schedule. I don't mind more since Ryan is on holiday now. As long as he enjoys his lessons and benefits out of it :).

Another thing I forgot to mention to his Teacher. I don't want her to give homework to him. I know practice makes perfect and I so believe in it. But he already has E.nopi homework and come next year, his new kindy will be loading him too. I don't want him stressed up. I have to constantly remind myself that he is still a little 5 year old boy. He is tall and big for his age. A good half a head taller than the next kid in his class. And he is the eldest amongst his siblings. It's so easy to forget that he is still a very small boy.

Study Area for My Kids

I have been thinking where to set up Ryan study area for home tuition. Dining table? Too much noise. Too much distraction. Raymund and Rachel will sure to disturb. My room where I normally teach them (I have the kids round tables and chairs already)? Nope... not a good idea to let an outsider enter my private bedroom. That leaves the family hall upstairs.

My family hall is pretty small and cozy. Over the weekend, we purchased a cheap RM100 book shelf to keep my kids, my hubby's and my books. Collected quite a lot overtime. I love novels. It's my other world where I'll sink into fantasies while reading my favorite author's latest. My son Ryan is so into 'library' too. In fact, one of his requirement for his new kindy is a good sized library. He loves books. Little Raymund just follows his 'kor kor'. So, it's as good time as any to cultivate this habit.

Busy weekend. Did some cleaning up. Moved our books to the new book shelf. Put the IKEA round kids table and chair in the hall. Some nice colorful IKEA containers to store some materials. Displayed some of my son's art work. There... we have a mini library cum study area. My kids were very excited over it. They call it their library. Haha! But I felt that it was a bit dull. I went to IKEA today hoping to get some kids play chairs... I remembered seeing an IKEA teddy bear shaped floor chair in Ryan's kindy.

It comes in several colors.. I like the red one. Thought it would go nicely in the hall. I wanted something colorful and attractive for kids. Didn't buy! That darn thing costs RM339!

Went to Jusco after that and got me a nice vibrant blue and white canvas bean bag. My kids haven't played on a bean bag before. I will put it up once I give it a good rinse and fill it with the polystyrene little balls. It's only RM84! A far cry from that chair.

I have an existing TV table and an extra small TV in the family hall. Never used it since we shifted in. It used to me our old TV back in the 'couple-no-children' days. My hubby came back and connected the TV with an old VCD player. Boy! Were the children excited! They arranged the little chairs in a row, watched 'Thomas and His Friends' and called the family hall their very own cinema, haha! My husband and I joined in the fun, sitting on those little chairs with them. Ryan happily said to me that he can now read books and watch TV at the same time. Raymund parrots Ryan :) My little princess also climbed up the little chair next to her kor kor Raymund (of course, we were watching over her and helping :)) , swung her little legs and babbling away. Whatever her two 'kor kors' do, she wants in. I guess she thinks that she is much older than her 1 year old :)

Kids are happy, no big damage to my wallet, settled home tuition area....Mission accomplished! :) :) ;p

Will post some pictures once my bean bag dries up :)

RM50 Service Tax On Each Credit/Charge Card

My husband and I have collected a lot of credit cards overtime. Mostly due to too much pushing by the credit card salesman, hearing sob stories asking us to apply for the cards so that they can earn some commission... after all, they are free for life or a good few years, with conditions attached or not. So we applied, got their free gift upon application .. esp when they are toys.. and then kept the cards in a drawer when we received them. Dormant!

Lately, we heard that government may charge a RM50 PER CARD upon the anniversary of each card. When I called the banks to cancel the cards, they told me that decision is not final yet. Nevertheless, it's better terminate them before the tax requirement kicked in (supposedly in Jan) and we get stuck paying tax for unused cards. All added up, quite a bit of unnecessary tax. It is not as if it only RM10 per card but RM50 per card!!

My Chatty Little Princess

My little girl Rachel is learning how to talk already. When we teach her to say certain words, she can parrot them although not exactly accurate. Pretty fast for a 1 year old. My boys weren't that good at this age. Some people say girls speak faster. I think, it is due to 2 factors.. the person who takes care of her and that she is the 3rd child in the family. My maid speaks to her alot, sings to her too. Rachel will respond and try to parrot. She'd even sing along .. some key words la and lotsa baby babbling :). She loves music. She would sway and rock when we sing to her or when she hears music that she likes. Being the 3rd child, she has playmates - her brothers. It helps a lot as kids tend to follow their older siblings.

She knows already how to get what she wants. She calls her kakak 'Ti Ti' ...her version for 'Siti' :). Like today, she said 'Ti Ti.. bao bao...mum mum' .. translated means 'Siti, carry me. I want to eat'. She knows to tall you when she wants to go 'pooh pooh' (pass motion, the big one). She doesn't pooh pooh in her pampers any more.. unless we are too slow :) She knows how to differentiate 'mum mum' to mean food other than milk and 'nen nen' as milk. Sorry these are all the family baby talk that we teach our babies. Easier for them to say. May sound like babbles to you still ;p. Other words she knows are..

'bir bir' as in bird bird

'cicak' as in lizard in Malay

'Daddy' .. super accurate

'chor chor' ..cantonese for sitting down. Once she dragged a chair and said to my maid 'chor chor', patting the chair :)

'fish'

'poh poh' .. grandmother

'there there' .. means she wants to go there

'ding dong'

'no'

.. and quite a bit more.

As for 'Mummy', she knows but she is being very mischievous. Just refused to call me Mummy. Kept calling me 'Daddy' and his father also 'Daddy'. She would point to let you know who she is calling. I would correct her and tell her to call me Mummy. She will challenge 'Daddy'. Then I will say 'Mummy. Then she would challenge louder 'Daddy' and it goes on. All these time, she has a smile on her face. Till today, the naughty girl is still calling me 'Daddy'. It is not because she doesn't know what is Mummy or doesn't know how to say. My maid refers to me as Mummy when she talks to her and she knows. And I have heard her saying 'Mummy' when she didn't know I was around. Naughty or what :) She's my sweetheart :)

I Have Sorted Out Ryan's Classes

I think I sorted out Ryan's classes. I'm about to start work in a week's time and I'm worried that I may not be back in time to fetch him to Enopi Math which is every Mon and Thurs/Fri evening. Then there are other classes to fix to.

My husband and I just discussed that we just have to adjust our time around the classes. I talked to his Enopi teacher and she is ok that I send Ryan a bit later like 8:30pm or latest by 9pm if we cannot make it earlier. Normally we would be sending by 7:45pm. The class is about 1 hour, depending on how fast he completes his assignment. I have no intention of dropping this class. Ryan benefited a lot from Enopi.

Phew! One down, next one... Cambridge English For Life (CEFL). The one I have decided for Ryan is Third Term JE1 class, as recommended by the centre manager. Unfortunately, they have only one class which is on Saturday 2-4pm. You see, about once or twice a month, we would 'balik kampung' to Melaka to visit my in laws. On those weekends that we do not, we would sometimes take our kids for shopping or something. Looks like we have to work around this too. I will have to work out with the centre manager for some replacement classes on those weeks that we balik kampung. I was told that I can opt to attend another class which is of a different level or ask the teacher to give an extra 20 min before the next class. I must remember to sort this out when I register Ryan next week. Sigh!

Two down...next.. home tuition. I got Ryan's ex-class teacher to give home tuition for Ryan for Chinese and Malay. 2 times a week, about 1 and half hour each. I'm asking her to charge RM35 for 1 and half hours instead of 1 hour. Tentatively agreed for now :) They will start next Thurs and Fri. Ryan's seems excited to able to see his teacher again :) If she's good, I may get Raymund to join in. After all, she is an experienced kindy teacher. She should be able to handle 2 small kids.. I hope ;p

Finally ... GlobalArt. Ryan has been attending GlobalArt since last year. He seems to enjoy it. It's a 2 hour class of art and craft which he attends every Saturday at 10am. Now that CEFL is scheduled for Sat afternoon, I may let him go to GlobalArt on Sunday instead. See if he is still interested when the time comes. I just asked him today if he still wants to continue with his art class. He is more interested if his brother goes with him. But Raymund is not ready. If it is too strenuous, I may put this class on hold. Maybe replace it with a Karate or Tae kwon do lesson?? He has been asking to learn kungfu lately. Rather he told me he 'knows' kungfu. Haha! Must be watching too much violent shows lately. Well, at least it is something he enjoys. More physical. Just that I don't know where I can find these lessons around my area :(

Anyway..This is what I have in mind. Hopefully not too heavy.

Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Kindy	Kindy	Kindy	Kindy	Kindy		GlobalArt
		Home Tuition		Home Tuition	CEFL
Enopi			Enopi

Toxic Air in The CAr - True or not?

I received this mail spam from someone. Most of the time, I would ignore them as a lot of people like to invent crap and circulate them to 'shock' and scare people. This one however sounds reasonable and disturbing to me. True or not, I think we should exercise caution especially when we chauffeur our kids and loved ones in our car. Sharing with you..

Car A/C (Air Conditioning)

Please do NOT turn on A/C as soon as you enter the car.

Open the windows after you enter your car and turn ON the AC after a couple of minutes.

Here's why:

According to a research, the car dashboard, sofa, air freshener emit Benzene, a Cancer causing toxin (carcinogen - take time to observe the smell of heated plastic in your car).

In addition to causing cancer, Benzene poisons your bones, causes anemia and reduces white blood cells.

Prolonged exposure will cause Leukemia, increasing the risk of cancer. Can also cause miscarriage.

Acceptable Benzene level indoors is 50mg per sq.ft.

A car parked indoors with windows closed will contain 400-800 mg of Benzene.

If parked outdoors under the sun at a temperature above 60 degrees F, the Benzene level goes up to 2000-4000 mg, 40 times the acceptable level.

People who get into the car, keeping windows closed will inevitably inhale, in quick succession, excessive amounts of the toxin.

Benzene is a toxin that affects your kidney and liver.

What's worse, it is extremely difficult for your body to expel this toxic stuff.

So friends, please open the windows and door of your car - give time for interior to air out -dispel the deadly stuff - before you enter.

Well... if anyone knows if the above is true or otherwise, do let me know, ya. I cringed when I think of my kids waiting for me in the car all these while while I took my time getting ready to take them out. Urghh!

Big Brother Protects Little Brother

My 3 year old little Raymund is really a little terror lately. No wonder people call 3 year olds, Terrible Three! He will scream shrilly, beat people, throw tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Rebellious... always getting into mischief. Most of the time I was so angry with him that I have to punish him. Practically a daily affair. But I feel very heartsick when I beat him. He is still a little boy and he is still close to me. Since my maid went back to Indon for holidays, Raymund has been asking for me, whether to sleep or eat. This maid has been taking care of him since he was 1 month old. Almost a second mother to him. Raymund still misses her and occasionally ask for her.

"Mummy, lets go fetch kakak home"

"Kakak go back Indon, don't friend kakak"

"Kakak go back Indon, I SAD! How?"

Yep, at 3 years old, he talks quite well. My maid who speaks English has been teaching him a lot an he copies his older brother Ryan alot. But then again, he picks up all naughty things very fast too! Sigh!

Well, just today, little Raymund tore my leather sofa. Don't know how did it but he just did! Headache! I scared him by saying that Daddy will punish him when he came back. Ryan started defending his brother even before his Daddy came back. He even told his kakak, "Take care of Raymund, ok?", fearing that his brother will kena beating when his Daddy comes back.

When my husband came back, we pretended that we wanted to punish Raymund by throwing him outside to sleep in the garden for the night. Trying to instill fear in Raymund to behave.. but I think he is as fearless as any 3 year old! Ryan tried to protect his little brother. He said he loves his brother, cannot let his brother sleep outside. Kept blocking and pestering us until his eyes were red. Then he went to his little brother Raymund and persuaded his brother to say sorry to Daddy and Mummy. Raymund said sorry. Ryan then said to us, 'Raymund said sorry already. Cannot throw Raymund outside.' We accepted his 'sorry' and Raymund kiss us good night. Then all of a sudden, Ryan burst into tears. Poor boy! He was stressed up trying to defend his brother. I hugged him. Good boy! My husband and I are very happy that Ryan at his very young age, 5 years old, already knows how to protects his siblings. Happy :)

With Raymund, I'm hoping that he learns to discipline soon when he goes to kindergarten. I remember that Ryan was just as naughty when he was a toddler until he went to kindergarten. Can't wait. Sigh!

Cambridge English For Life

In my last post 'No Cosmotots. Take Cambridge CEFL & Home Tuition', I talked about my frustrations with Cosmotots and my plans for Ryan to reinforce his learnings. I discussed in some depth about Cambridge English For Life (CEFL) junior classes for preschoolers. If you are interested to know more, click on the link above :)

I was waiting for the centre manager to call me to advise the right level for Ryan. Should it be JE1 1st term or JE 1 3rd term (there are 2 intakes - Jan and Jun) or just rough it out for Ryan and get him to join JE2? I was shown the books for JE1 and JE2 syllabus. It looked like Ryan's level is actually between JE1 and JE2. So, I'm pretty unsure which one is best for him.

I managed to discuss with her today. Each level offers a full year program afterwhich the kids will move into the next level. Very much a class room based teaching but in very small groups. The one in Bandar Puteri Puchong allows a max of 9 kids for each JE1/JE2 class. I like that. At least, the teacher student attention would be better, hopefully. JE1 focus on ABC covering phonics sounds for single and double letters. Some light reading, some basic 1-10 numbers, even some light craft to spice up the lessons. The 3rd term for JE1 would go into sound blending. Some of which Ryan already knows but not all, and he is not exactly ready for the light reading.

JE2 goes into applying adjectives , more phonics, alternative vowels (sounds like ou and ow that have more than 1 sound - haha! I just learnt :p), words that phonics can't help such as two, even spelling and grammar. Much as I like to but Ryan ain't ready for this. I don't want him to withdraw and close up when he lacks confidence. Happened before. Ryan gets encouraged to learn with praises and progress. So, I have decided not to throw him into JE2 and let him swim ;p.

A 1 year program for each level with 4 terms. The Centre Manager advised me to go for 3rd term JE1. Not starting at the beginning since Ryan knows some sounds and blending. Luckily for us, this centre has two intakes, ie Jan and June. So they have a JE1 third term in Jan. I checked other centres; some only have 1 intake ie Jan. They follow school holiday schedule. So, most of the time, they have no classes during school holidays. What's more the JE classes are held on Sat and Sun. No need to rush from work to chauffeur my kids. Phew! But then again, we have to sacrifice 2 hours of our precious weekend for this lesson. Sigh! We can't have it all! Wouldn't it be great if they have weekday classes AND provide transport?! We can't have it all!

I'll discuss with my husband tonight to see if the timing works for us. Then, we will proceed. Very likely we'll go for it :)