A Visit to Popular Bookstore

Following the earlier post... yep! I'm panicking. My children... nah!!

Reflecting.. I don't remember MY mum panicking during my time. Why ah? But then again, my kid's  Standard 1 syllabus now is my Standard 3 syllabus then. It is therefore no wonder why my mum can't understand why I'm so worried about my kids' studies. The pressure on young kids today is so great .. sigh!

So, I need to expand both my sons' Chinese vocab and literacy thru reading. And I need workbook practices of KSSR syllabus in preparation for Ryan's exam. I can only do English and BM for him.

So, that calls for shopping for books. I tried going to those local bookstores usually opened by Malay or Indian proprietors, thinking that KSSR for Kebangsaan schools and SJKC books are the same. Actually they are NOT. Coz I actually took a snap of the BM and English syllabus with my phone. Then when I was at the store, I checked the workbook's syllabus with my son's school books. They are not the same. The shopkeeper thinks that the KSSR syllabuses BM and English for SJKC are easier.

I made a visit with my kids to Popular Bookstore instead. I got about 3-4 books each. This is so that I can do repeat practicing by topic when I coach Ryan. And while we were there, I got some Chinese books for Ryan, Raymund and Rachel. Ryan loves encyclopedia and we found a good one in Chinese. He has been holding onto it since that day and every day and sleeping with it :). For Raymund, I got some simple Chinese storybook reading with English translation and Han Yu Pin Yin as well. Rachel didn't want to lose out, so she got herself a small Chinese English similar book and a Disney Princess tupperware.

 

All my kids were happy. But that is just the beginning. I have yet to find time to read with them. Then again, I'm Chinese illiterate. So, I have to depend on my tuition teacher instead.

My next task now is to find children's encyclopedia in Malay. So far, I can't find any. And I don't know where to look for. To get Ryan to expand vocab in any language is to get him to read his area of interest... encyclopedia. I'm asking around still.

All these collections of books will be used to help Raymund later. Hopefully, he will share the same interest in knowledge. Ryan has managed to influence him a little. But Raymund is still young. He is still very attached to his toys :). He is very partial to pencil boxes and containers.

My Kids' Exam is coming...who is panicking??

My kids' exam is drawing near... in May. Yes, its another month's time but it is really not that far away. Now that all 3 kids are schooling, I don't know who to concentrate on first and whether I can cope for all at the same time. And I only have weekends to do so. My work is going crazy now too. Ryan is still my main focus since he is in Std 2 but Raymund is in his last year of kindy.

I was asking their tuition teacher about Ryan's progress. No doubt better but she thinks Ryan is still going to struggle in Chinese esp Science and Math where the questions are going to be in narrated. Ryan's school teacher also fed back the same. I have established a communication method with Ryan's school teacher. The same what I have done when my kids are in the kindy. It's thru the Message Book. It is worse in Primary school and especially so in Chinese school where the access to teachers is so very restricted. Practically little or no opportunity to talk to teachers. Yep, I may be a bit anal but I want to know my kid's progress. So, I tested to see if the teacher is receptive to notes to her thru the Message Book ('tung kau pu') and I got Ryan to pass it to the teacher to see. She is ok and in fact, my tuition teacher has also been communicating to her on Ryan's studies. Works well. And I recommend for mummies to try. During Std 1 days, I used to write notes on a paper and get Ryan to pass to his teacher but the Message Book is lots better so that there is a trail and consistent place to look out for messaging. Once even, his teacher initiated a note to me telling me that Ryan had not been studying for his spelling and was the only one with zero in the class. Since then, I was able to push for interest and good results from him. This 2 way communication proves to help either party to know where are the weaknesses that we can concentrate on for Ryan.

Because exam is round the corner, I dropped another note to the teacher to ask her where are areas that we should concentrate on. She advised to get Ryan to read more Chinese books to improve his vocab. She also mentioned that she has moved Ryan to front roll to 'watch out for him' knowing that he is not a 'Chinese based' boy. Cool or what :)

With Raymund, he is still in kindy. I'm less worried as he has been quite consistent with his exam results. That is 100% in all subjects. His teachers have been pretty responsive and when there is a problem, they will call me instead. The one piece that I have to concentrate for Raymund is reading. He is almost hopeless with Phonics blending. I noticed that this is a common problem in a lot of children. My colleagues' kids are having the same problem. His other problem is obviously Chinese!!!! Am I surprised??

Looks like I need to set aside time to guide my kids. The good thing about this is all my kids love it when I guide them ... even though I can be quite fierce when they are not concentrating :). I guess they want Mummy's attention.

I'm just worried I'll fail. Sigh!

Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre for Chinese & Bahasa Malaysia Enrichment

I have discussed at length on Bao Bei a while ago. You can check out this post 'Just Checked Out BAO BEI Reading Wonderland (Chinese Enrichment for Age 3-10)' for details. 


My friend told me that a comparable and perhaps better Chinese enrichment is this centre called Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre or 葉老師創意教學中心. I decided to check it out today.







Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre is not operating a franchise. This was one of the 1st questions I asked when I got there with Raymund and Rachel. I prefer that it is not a franchise. At least there will be more consistency in standards and offerings. 


The selling point for Teacher Yap CLC is that the teaching focuses on full attention 1 to 1 learning for children aged 3 to 12. They stresses that the learning levels depends on the child's capability. For the very basic level, they will start with big flash cards with simple to hard chinese characters. They will use interesting interactive ways to teach the child to absorb and remember the characters. The basic level also includes reading the Odonato 'red dragonfly' series. I have written about these Odonata book series which comes in series of 100, 200... all the way up to 1200 characters recognition. According to the facilitator, the founder Teacher Yap had put together various compilation of chinese characters initially for her own 3 kids. When she found that it worked on her kids, she proceeded to set up the Centre to get young children ready for Primary and thereafter. The Odonata is the reading series supporting the flash cards piece. The centre does not believe in teaching children long sentences and pushing them to go for difficult reading. Like Kumon and Enopi, children will know and familiarize before moving from level to level. The methods, they say, are very simple and easy to understand and fun to increase absorption. The teaching comes with some fun activities like drawing and such. At the beginning, the kids will be given 'homework' which they will need to complete in class. The focus is yet again on 1 to 1 teaching. The facilitator also stresses that it is important for us parents to talk to our children, particularly in the language that they are learning. Coupled with what they learn at the centre, it would be easier for the kids to apply, understand and speak. 

Interestingly, the Centre also provides Bahasa Malaysia enrichment. Parents get to choose to go for either 1 language or both. The teaching remains 1 to 1 as is their focal point. For BM, the basic level starts of with sounds and suku kata and so on. The aim is to get the kids ready for Primary KSSR. BM and Chinese syllabus for Standard 1 today is not what it used to be. In my time, what they are studying now in Standard 1 was our Standard 3 syllabus. Poor kids! It is no wonder that us parents are frantically starting our kids young. The stress on the young children! And a great investment opportunity for those who pursue their career in offering enrichment for children. 


Teacher Yap Creative Learning Centre has centres in Sri Petailing, OUG, Bandar Kinrara, Bandar Puteri, Bandar Mahkota Cheras, Kota Damansara, Taman Segar and Taman Equine. The first centre was in Sri Petaling started in 2007. The contact is:


Sri Petaling: 26-1,Jalan 14/149L, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 03-9059 5991 / 016-2155 377




The minimum number of lessons per week is 3 and up to 5. Each lesson is 1 and half hours. Depending on whether you pick Chinese or both languages, it will still be 1 and half hour each lesson. 


Their fees structure for now looks like this:


  Registration fees = RM100
  Material fees  =  RM50 for 1 subject   or RM100 for 2 subjects


  For One Program, One Teacher  (ie. 1 language)
     3days/week  12 lessons/mth   = RM300 per month
     4days/week  16 lessons/mth   = RM350 per month
     5days/week  20 lessons/mth   = RM400 per month


  For 2 Program, 2 Teacher  (ie. both Chinese and BM)
     3days/week  12 lessons/mth   = RM350 per month
     4days/week  16 lessons/mth   = RM400 per month
     5days/week  20 lessons/mth   = RM450 per month




If you are interested in this, hope this info helps.


I have yet to decide as I have a main problem since I'm not a SAHM. Timing and Transport!! Sigh!

Sending a English-based Kid to a Chinese School - Is it a good move??

Kinda strange. When I resumed blogging, what is top most in mind is not just my children but their education. No, I'm not saying that this is not in my mind but the focus wasn't really there. Hence, I have somewhat slacked in that area. Now that I'm back, this piece is coming back in sharper focus. The guilt of slacking naturally comes with it.

I was having this conversation today with a friend. Her daughter will be starting school in 3 years time and darn, she is already wondering which school to send her to. She was asking my opinion on SJK(C) versus a private school. Is there a hard and fast rule to it?

A few months back, when my husband was coaching Ryan on his BM, he was real upset to see that Ryan's Malay literacy was and still is below par. In fact, his Chinese now is a lot better than his Malay. We started to question.. have we done the wrong thing by sending Ryan, an obviously non-Chinese speaking and pretty much a banana boy, to a Chinese Primary school. He went thru a very tough time during Standard 1.. to the extend that he dreaded going to school. His results other than English and Math, weren't encouraging then. His spirit was really low. Now that we realized that with this approach, we could be doing it at the expense of Malay literacy. Is it worth while? After all, we are living in Malaysia and Malay is definitely very important. Now, I'm not saying that Chinese is not important but should it be Chinese in all subjects? Our earlier decision to put him in a Chinese school was also because we wanted the strict disciplinary training that usually comes with the teaching culture. But what's my cost here?

In fact, at this stage, I'm kind of stuck. Ryan can't go to a Kebangsaan school. He will be soooo lost especially with his weakness in BM. But can he strive thru all the way to Standard 6 in a Chinese school? I'm not confident about his grades. And I don't want also a Grade 2 if he does badly in BM next time. That leaves us with the consideration of a private school. Of course, the cost is real $$$. I have many friends in similar situation who ended up pulling their children out of SJK(C) and into private schools.

I was given so many opinions of private schools. Not all are favourable. There have been sweeping remarks that children from private schools tend to be spoiled and kinda self centred. And there have been some that said that it really depends on the school. I have yet to check out the different private schools. I felt that what's important when it comes to that is the parents' testimonial and the course structure/syllabus of the school. I'm in fact quite weary of the over-commercialized private school. Ryan was in such similar over-commercialized private kindy and guess what? I have get him out and raced against time to get him ready for Standard 1.

Frankly, I don't know where to start searching. At this point, I will be most happy for any recommendation to me :)

I'm not going to pull him out of SJK(C) just yet. Ryan is showing good signs of improvement especially now that he takes pride in his results and achievements. But it is still a long way to go. My husband and I agreed to wait for his term exam and see how he fares. The decision will come after that.

Sometimes, I feel really bad for Ryan. Whatever and whichever moves/decisions we make for him have always been a trial and error. And definitely, there have been glaring mistakes and he has to do quite a bit of catch up. Raymund and Rachel are more fortunate. That is probably why I focus a lot of attention on Ryan. Nevertheless, I'm pretty worried over my younger kids as well and whether they can survive SJK(C). My kids are all banana kids. My hope is that different kids have different pick up and learning capabilities. I still maintain that SJK(C) is still the 1st step. But I can always ram up their base first.... and therein lies yet another headache especially when I'm not a SAHM... coming up next...

Registering for Primary School Admission in 2012

It has been bothering me... how come there is no notice for me to go to Ryan's school to register for Raymund. I remembered that I have to get his birth certificate stamped by the school as part of the procedure of applying for a place in the SJK(C) school for him. I asked my colleague some time back and she said that she was also waiting for the same.

I knew I had done the online application via MOE for Raymund. I had also filled up a form brought back by Ryan that asked for Ryan's sibling who will be attending the school come next year. What I didn't remember was going to the school to submit the relevant documents, get his birth cert stamped and fill up some stacks of forms. 

March has gone and now April. I remember that during Ryan's time, the cut off date was March to do all this. I was definitely panicking. I had finally managed to get thru to the school and speak to the school admin. I had a moment of panic when she said she couldn't find Raymund's record despite my online application thru MOE. She told me she had to search thru 700+ records of application to search for his record and told me to call back. When I called back, she told me that she found Raymund's record and that I had already went thru all the procedures including getting his birth certificate stamped. Gosh! Must be old age! I seriously thought I didn't do it and I was so certain that I didn't even check his birth certificate. Whatever it is, thank God I did it!

I quickly then called my colleague. Her situation is different as her son is the eldest and going to Primary on his own. Raymund's situation is better as he is tagging in after Ryan. When I told her about the deadline being end of this month (that's what the school admin told me), she dropped everything and went straight to the school to get everything done. 

So, to all mothers out there. Please check that your children's admission into Standard 1 next year is in order. The deadline is THIS MONTH APRIL. I was also told of another situation. Having an older child in the school DOES NOT GUARANTEE a place for the younger. So, let's be prepared.

First thing first, I reckon that calling the school to check for your child's record may be a good step. Be prepared with your child's IC number as they will search by IC. You have to ensure that if you have children born in 2006 and 2007, the procedures for school application should be in order by now. Children born in the year 2008 will start registering next year - that's for my Rachel.

Lastly, for children's admission to Standard 1 next year, we can check the result online in Aug. Good luck to all of us!

Challenging My Sons... I'm still testing

It's 3am and I'm still blogging!

I haven't been as attentive and as close to my sons' studies as in the earlier days. I'm relying on my tuition teacher quite a bit here as my work has been pretty demanding lately.

So, it came as no surprise that my son, especially the eldest, came back with bad results for exam as well as for his regular spelling, ejaan and Chinese listen and write (direct translation for 'ting seah'). It was most upsetting when his Standard 2 class teacher wrote me a note in his message book that Ryan was the only one in his class who got 0 for his spelling and that he was most unattentive in class. As a parent, I don't like to hear this. And Ryan wasn't (at that time) worried too much about having 0 result. He was too playful. My husband and I tried scolding and lecturing him. Didn't quite work. He was only bothered that I didn't sign on his book as he was worried that his teacher would scold. His school requires parents to sign on all their ejaan, spelling and 'ting seah' results. Later, I went to the extend of going a bit on reverse psychology saying that he upsets his mummy went he does very badly. Ryan is very sensitive about my feelings and he tries hard to make me happy. For this, I love my son very much. Even Raymund is the same. Both boys will always try to make me happy to the extend of 'satay-ing' me when I cook for them or something. The reverse psychology worked a bit. He came back with reasonable marks for his spelling, ejaan and 'ting seah'.

With this observation, I went further by challenging him to get 100% for all his spelling, ejaan and 'ting seah'. And that he is very clever and his parents will be very proud of him. Ryan loves to know that he is clever and he puts double effort to show this. I suppose this is because he had a hard time adjusting his Standard 1 in a chinese school in the year before. Since then, his record for all his 3 languages spelling equivalent has been 100% and graded A. He was very very proud. Once he came back with 1 wrong and he promised vehemently that he would get 100% next and he did!

Just this week, his tuition teacher couldn't make it to guide him with his Chinese 'ting seah'. Obviously, I can't either. He was most upset indeed as he was aiming high at 100% marks. He was pestering me the whole night to get someone to help him the next morning before he went to school. You see, at last minute on the day before, his school teacher had changed some characters for the 'ting seah'. Luckily, my neighbour was able to assist him. According to my neighbour, they didn't manage to finish practicing all. So, I didn't pressure for 100%. Today, when he came back, he was waiting for me to get in the house. In his hand, he was ready with the result of his Chinese 'ting seah'. It was 100%. I can still remember his face. He was proud and very happy. Naturally, my husband and I are very proud too. We fanned this spirit for perfection. We exaggerated our praise to him and even let him choose the venue for dinner. (Ryan loves to eat!!)

There is another observation. While he was putting in effort to achieve a consistent 100% in these various spelling for the 3 languages, I have also noticed that his memory power has also improved. Turns out very well indeed :)

While these were going on, my 2nd second, Raymund noticed the attention that his kor kor is having. Of course, he doesn't want to lose out. Raymund also started telling us that he has been getting 'all correct' for his spelling, ejaan and ting seah. Again, we exaggerated our praise. It became a friendly competition of who will bring back 100% for us. In fact, Raymund is kinda cute. A week back, I received a call from Raymund while I was at work. He sounded very upset. I was thinking perhaps he was sick or something. He then told me that 'Mummy, I got all correct for my ejaan...except one wrong'. He was most upset! I was trying not to laugh. Instead I asked him why not all correct and made him promised to give me 'all correct' the next round. He did! Later, his tuition teacher told me that she was in the house when Raymund called me. It was like this. When Raymund woke up from his nap, his tuition teacher asked him how he did for his ejaan. He didn't answer and looking very upset, he went straight to the phone and called me. Poor boy!

My colleague called me a 'Tiger Mum'. She told me that Tiger Mums are mums who wants and pressures her kids to get 100% perfection. Am I really? I seriously don't think so... though.. though I will be most happy if my kids are like that. In my situation, my boys are very playful and attention span is very short. Studies has not been something which is foremost in their minds. That's why the bad results on Ryan's part initially. Raymund is blessed with good memory - so, his situation is not that bad. Hence, this called for a bit more drastic action. A little strive for perfection and a friendly competition. Actually, I was really trying to stimulate interest and pride in their work. As for my girl, she is still a baby in the family :)


I am a proud mum!

The best way to learn English and General Knowledge for Ryan

Continuing from the last post - 'I Bought a Globe for my Sons'.

Buying encyclopedias and globe of the world map is the best move the I've ever made for Ryan so far. No regrets! Raymund has yet to catch on - I guess he is still young and I'm not pressuring him yet. But soon!

What started as a catalyst for Ryan to learn more English, vocab and reading stemming from his interest in science and knowledge has certainly reaped more results that I earlier expected.

No doubt I spent a lot to get him lots and lots of encyclopedia covering all topics and whichever topics that he wants. It was a good and non-regretable investment. In fact, I grabbed a lot from the last Big Bad Wolf sale. And yes, I always tend to over-provide as I love to shop. All my friends and colleagues know my love to shop - retail therapy - to me, it could be the therapy, or could it be the disease in itself? Doesn't matter. That's another reason why I need to work and forget about being a SAHM. I'm digressing...

Ryan's collection of encyclopedia ranges from geography, human body, animals, the ocean, astronomy, dinosaurs... you name it and I would say he has some of everything. His latest collection is the encyclopedia on Malaysia covering all aspects, which he was pestering me for a while to get for him. Even though it is not the updated version, it certainly provided enough information about Malaysia. I didn't buy them. I took them home before someone disposed them.

Ryan holds his collection as his 'treasures'. Every day, he will be holding one of his encyclopedia. He may not know all the words but he is trying. The Malaysian collection is certainly not for children. But what is the harm.

I noticed that his ability to read over time has improved a lot. Even his vocab. Of course, his continual drilling on his school work helps in a way.

What is more impressive is that at 7 plus years old, he is able to tell me a lot of things which... if I recall, during my time, I was happy to be able to know some of the most basics. My husband and I have been testing him in the way of a game. Of course, we were also fanning his pride and confidence along the way.
the questions we asked to him - remember, he is only a 7 year old boy going on 8 - were:

1. Where is Pacific Ocean... Atlantic Ocean... South China Sea?
2. Where are penguins found?
3. Where are polar bears found?
4. What are mammals? Are humans mammal?
5. Where are king cobras found? What about pythons?
6. He told me that lady birds are actually poisonous. And so are some species of cockroaches.
7. How many planets are there in our universe? What are they? The biggest planets, smallest planets, closest to the sun? Whether there is oxygen in the outer space?
8. What is the largest star in the universe?
9. Why dinosaurs extinct?
10. The first man on the moon came from which country?
11. About Samurais ... ancient Japan (basics)
12. Identifying where are some countries like Rome, Egypt, etc
13. Where are the deserts? The main forests?
14. How earthquakes happen? What about tsunamis? Volcanoes?
15. Human organs...
16. Different types of storms - monsoon, twisters, forked lightnings  ... and where they are
17. All the states in Malaysia and where they are

and lots more. Am I proud? You bet!!!  :)   :)   :)

Tonight, I challenged him to look up a few topics. What is a black hole in the universe. What are the differences between amphibians, reptilians and mammals. Let's see.

My next goal is to look up encyclopedia in BM and Chinese. My aim is to use the interest in knowledge to brush up his other languages. At the moment, he is very weak in these 2 languages... therein lies our dilemma where to keep him in chinese school or otherwise. I'll keep this for the next post.

Chao!

Joanne 

Side Effects?? Birth Control Pill - Yasmin

To all mummies out there....

I feel that I should share this little piece of information to you. While it will not affect everyone but it certainly did to me.

Since I gave birth to my youngest daughter, I have decided not to have another baby. My gynae recommended the then-latest Pill, Yasmin to me, telling me that there is ABSOLUTELY no side effects to it. So I started taking it 3 years ago.

So, my story began. Quite unsuspectingly.

I had a very bad scare 2 years back. You see, I decided to go for my regular checks on my fibrio-adenosis condition (multiple benign lumps on the breasts) 2 years ago as I suspected the Yasmin that I took had aggravated my hormon imbalance. I had more pain. My ultra sound check found that one of the lumps had looked and almost confirmed malignancy. I thought .... that's it... and went thru hell imagining the worst. What I couldn't take then was how will my kids be, how my husband would be left alone ... all the worst possible thought. It was torturing.. no, extreme torture. Went thru praying and so on. Finally, I was prepared to accept the worst. On the day of my biopsy, the so-called solid lump was actually a cyst and totally extracted using a needle. The relief, I just couldn't express here. I started thanking Kuan Yin Pu Sa (Goddess of Mercy) for the miracle. For it was indeed a miracle - at least to my family and I. I was still not suspecting the cause.

Towards Feb last year, I started having breathlessness and heart palpitation. It went from bad to worse and in Mar, I did a string of tests like ECG, echo test, etc to find out the source of my anxiety attack. In fact, I blogged about this in 'Spending Some Quality Time' post. And guess what, I concluded that it was because of the big four letter word - BOSS!

Still unsuspecting!
After all, all this occurred 1-2 years AFTER I started on Yasmin. Who would have thought!

One night, while watching Astro, I had in my hands my iPad. For some reason, I started thinking about the possible causes of Yasmin - rather the severe side effects of Yasmin. I decided to google it up. Well, it started up as just for curiosity sake and having nothing to do then. Imagine my horror.

Here are some links:

1. http://www.unsafedrugs.com/1362/side-effects-of-yasmin-and-yaz
2. http://www.steadyhealth.com/Terrible_Side_Effects_on_Yasmin_Birth_Control_t101196.htm
3. http://chealth.canoe.ca/drug_info_details.asp?channel_id=0&relation_id=0&brand_name_id=2052&page_no=2
4. http://chealth.canoe.ca/drug_info_details.asp?channel_id=0&relation_id=0&brand_name_id=2052&page_no=2
5. http://www.livestrong.com/article/90560-effects-yasmin/

and a whole lot more.

Well, perhaps I over-reacted. But out of the few listed 'severe side effects', I'd got a few already. So what are the chances...

I told my colleague about it who was/is also on Yasmin. Again, side effects may affect some but not all. Then again, it is best that we are aware of it, isn't it. Later, she told me that her friend said that her (her friend's) gynae actually advised ladies with cancer history not to be on Yasmin. My dad was a cancer patient.
A separate incident later - when I was seeing a doc to attend to my cough and flu, I told her about my period cramps as I was off Yasmin for the first time and waiting for my system to regularize. Before I could mention why I was off Yasmin, she asked if I had anxiety attacks and palpitation. The doc told me that Yasmin is known to affect some ladies.

So, better safe than sorry. I'm off it for good. Neither am I taking any others or even injection. I'd rather risk conceiving. And no, I ain't gonna be on some operating theaters putting some stuff in my body for birth control. If God wants me to have another baby, I guess, it's my family's blessing. It is just that the cost and the responsibility of raising another. After all, I have 3 wonderful kids already :)


Joanne

Coming back ... in frenzy

I haven't been blogging for a year. I was google-ing for some short family travel in June and suddenly, I just thought of visiting my blog. Gosh! I actually... nearly... forgot my login and password... goes to show either that it has been a long time or just plain old age. I'm kinda 2 hearts. Have lots to say - after all it has been a year and a lot has happened - but at the same kind of lazy. Just thinking about my work and splitting my time for my kids and family basically left me no time for blogging. Work has been demanding. My portfolio has been increasing every other day. Truly! My boss keeps adding portfolio for me - looking at it positively, perhaps it means that I can do it... then again, it could also mean that I haven't reached my brim yet. I prefer to go positive :)


My kids are a lot bigger now.. bigger challenges for my husband and I. Especially the studies. My little girl just started kindy this year. How time flies! Sometimes, I wish I have more time to coach my kids. But once I get back from work, most of the time, I want to unwind... then after, I felt guilty for not paying more attention to them. Yes, I have slacked... a lot! Those were the moments when I thought about giving up my job and concentrate on them. The reality of things is that I can't - not now if my husband and I want build a comfortable retirement nest for ourselves. That's not very far away. Eeek! I also realized during those times when I was between jobs with some months to rest, I drifted - a bit - away from my husband. Not in terms on love or passion but on common topics of conversation. The brain sort of dwindled. So, this is the story of my life. We can't have it all. I just have to count my blessing that I can still see the sun and daylight when I leave the office everyday. Those were the days when I work till late at night - but then again, I was young, energetic, in very much need to learn. 


My blogging patterns doesn't seem to change, isn't it? Ranting about not being a SAHM and about kids. I guess I will go a bit of a blogging frenzy tonight to update some thoughts and experience. Hope to keep my readers and supporters entertained :)




Just me, Joanne