PLECO helped my son study for his Chinese Spelling

Ryan was pestering over the weekend to get his tuition teacher to come over and help him with his Chinese Spelling ('ting seah' or direct translation: 'listen then write'). Actually, I'm not correctly saying this as there is no such thing as Chinese spelling since it is character learning. Basically, it really means listening to the character and writing it out again. I didn't want to call in the teacher this round. And I also felt that Ryan is too reliant on the tuition teacher.

I decided to try out PLECO. I talked about this application earlier. I was playing the demo version which didn't get me that far. Here is what I thought. It is cheaper than having an electronic dictionary and will definitely teach my kid to be more independent. So, why not? Then, it got me the next question. Should I buy the basic version which is for Chinese beginners, or the 'professional' version which caters for intermediate students? The catch is that I can't upgrade from basic to professional later but to buy add-ons by add-ons which may turn out more expensive. The cost for basic is US39.99 and professional is US69.99. I'm thinking that my son could be progressing to intermediate quite soon ... so what the heck.. just get the professional version. After all, shopping for a dress might cost me more than that. I decided not to get the OCR add on -- the one that you can hover the phone/iPad over the character and it will search for a match. Cool add-pn but more for 'syiok sendiri'. I feel. The package comes with handwriting which is good enough. Handwriting means you can draw the character on the iPad and a match will appear. Then you can get the meaning and even have the application pronounce the character for you. I just felt that OCR is just good to have but not necessary.

So, I tried it out with my son for his revision on 'ting seah'. I used the Flashcard function to save all the characters for his exam so that he can practice over and again. I was also able to check whether his strokes are correct. And then, emphasizing the meaning of the characters. Cool! Ryan was excited with this new 'toy' and he actually learned quite well from it.

Money well spent! And then, my husband had to say that we could have jail broken the iPad before I got the application. Grrrrr....

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!

Chinese Enrichment Class

Considering what I had to do to bring Ryan up to speed on Chinese, I was deciding to get Raymund ready. At Raymund's kindy, they offer Chinese enrichment class for preschoolers starting Year 5. I'm such a bad mom. I totally forgot about it until I spoke to my neighbour who sends her kids to the same kindy.

I called the kindy enquiring whether it was too late for him to join midway. And if it too difficult for him to catch up. Also checking what kind of syllabus do they cover in the half hour enrichment every day. Guess what??

Of course, they have the usual thematics blended in but one of the key piece is reading and story telling from the Red Dragonfly series. Obviously I didn't know what that was. I checked with my kids' tuition teacher and realised that it was actually the Odonata series that I talked about. Raymund is already on it with his tuition teacher. That's not the only thing I'm happy about. I'm just happy that I'm on the right track in putting my sons through the series :) ... doesn't matter that it was a somewhat random shot!

红 蜻 蜓

:)

Odonata series ... Chinese version of Peter and Jane

I just bought the 5th series of Odonata series and to my sons, they call them the Ming Ming and Li Li books. I talked about this before. That was when I first started Ryan on these books. It was the boy's tuition teacher who first introduced the books to them. I found them good and useful. Thanks to her :).

Since Ryan started on them not too long ago, he is still at the pre-school series... which tells simple stories around two kids by the name of 眀眀 (Ming Ming) and 丽丽(Li Li). Actually according to the books, this 1st series of 8 books is suitable for kids aged as young as 2-4 years. In my case, it's never too late. Very visual with lots of colors. My boys love them. They have CDs to teach kids how to pronounce as well as workbook for practice but I didn't get them since I have our tuition teacher to help them.

Ryan is on the 2nd series already. Raymund is almost half way through the 1st. Each series promises that the child will know and recognise 100 characters once he is through with it. I hope so. At least my sons can read more than they can talk in Chinese. Definitely better than not at all. It is another matter when it comes to oral. That's for Ryan to rough it out in his primary school now. They are so banana! Sigh!

Here are the rest of pre-school series.

200 words

500-800 words

900-1200 words

I have gotten till the 500 words series. The books aren't thick else I would think they will scare of kids. Mine would! But the repetitive learning is sufficient to encourage word recognition. Most of all, it ain't expensive. I got mine from the Popular bookstore. I'm a member of Popular since I get a lot of my kids' books and stationery supplies there. With 10% for members, each book is only RM5! Cheap and good! I intend to get them all but I noticed that Popular does not have the complete set.... perhaps they are replenishing?

I like collecting books. Even children's. I notice that Ryan takes after me. His precious ones are the children encyclopedia series published by Parragon Books Ltd. Again I got them at Popular too :). Only RM29.90 each. He calls them his Science books. He loves telling people that he knows Science and that ... he knows a lot of things. I encourage him definitely. He has 4 of these already. He is pestering me to get the one about Body now. Told me he wants to become a doctor when he grows up :) Phew!

I collect children books also as I said. The intend is to pass from boy to boy and then my girl. Of course, I also like to see our mini library grow :). No regrets really.. and I would say the investment is worth it. I just forgot to mention... I just found the Odonata official website and they offer online sales. That was when I notice that they carry a lot more .. from primary up till secondary. Along the way, there are also varieties like comics and literatures. If I can't find them at Popular, I just might go online.

http://www.odonatabooks.com/index.asp

If any mom out there who has banana kids like I do and like me, who is Chinese illiterate, hope this helps :). My boys are taking baby steps forward with Chinese ... and look at it this way, they are going forward :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Odonata Chinese Reading Series

I guess I'm making up for lost time, haha!

I was at the Popular Bookstore with my kids today. I was thinking of getting some Std One revision books and Chinese reading books for Ryan. Ryan is still very weak in Chinese, amongst others. I really regret not starting him on an academic based kindy. Tell you about it later.

After going thru the Standard 1 revision books, I got more worried. How come the syllabus today is so much more difficult than those my time? I called Ryan's tuition teacher to ask what I should buy. I know she has gotten some revision books for him. Thought it will be good to get him some Chinese reading materials. There is this series that he is working on that apparently introduce words to him as he progress from book to book. Seems good to. Found them in Popular bookstore.

The 1st series of 8 books promised that the child will know 100 characters. The 2nd series another 100, and so on. He is still in the beginners of Pre-school series. The publisher is Odonata Publishing Sdn Bhd. You can find the info it their online shopping site at http://www.odonatabooks.com/webshaper/store/viewCat.asp.

I just bought the 2nd series. Cost only RM5.50 x 8 books.

Long way to go to the Primary sets. See below.

I really hope we can do some good catch up during the holiday break. Ryan is very playful and somewhat lazy. Sigh!

Cheers

Latest!

I've been busy since my not so very new job now. That's good news means the excitement is going again. Does that mean I've somewhat neglected my kids' studies? Sadly, yes! I'm depending alot on my tuition teacher now and yes! Enopi! I have recently cut out Cambridge from Ryan's curriculum. I felt that it wasn't as effective as I thought. No doubt it reinforces. Also it requires the kids to do homework such as spellings and such but I felt that the advancing is not as fast as I'd like to. The problem is that I have the tuition teacher working on their school homework and reinforcing languages .. leaving not much time and chance to do Cambridge revision. As for me, after a long days work, I just feel too tired! But I guess I have to start again some time.

Keeping it light and easy for this post. I just wanted to post some of my kids' latest photos on my blog. We recently attended my bro-in-law's wedding and they were the flower boys and girl. My boys in full tux and my little girl an angel. Of course, after a while, the bow ties and shirts were all hanging out and lopsided :)

Homework for Kindy Kids - For or Against?

Do you believe 4 year old kindy goers should be given homework? Is it too young? And that they should enjoy their kindy first before the real school? 4 year old kindy kids are actually 3+ year olds... not that older than the babies and still at the edge of toddlerhood. And now, they have to go to kindies and get homeworks. Sigh!

In my search for kindies, I have come across 2 types of kindy. One that says no homework because a kindy should be fun for the 4 year olds and the other that advices that we have to start preparing them for school right at the beginning. I have the 'benefit' of both extremes. Ryan had his 4 year old class in Eduland back then. Eduland/Beaconhouse sells no homework... they also sell balanced program, not fully academic... err...in my opinion, there was a bit too much focus on activities. And now, Raymund , just only turned 3 in Nov, is attending a fully academic (of course, still have some activities la) one at SuperFun Learners. Raymund has homework. Not too heavy. Just writing numbers. Some coloring. But it's homework alright. So, which is good? Is there any hard and fast rule? If there is, all kindies would have already adopted it.

During Ryan's time, I chose Eduland because I wanted a more complete program for him. The activities to build his non-academic knowledge and development. That was my condition. Did it work? Not for him. If you have read my earlier post, you'd know how mortified I was when I realized how simple the syllabus was in Eduland when compared with SuperFun Learners. Ryan is playing catchup now at SuperFun Learners' 6-Year-Old class (fully academic kindy) - and all those extra $ and classes that I have to arrange for him to get him ready for primary school. Of course, if your child is brilliant and his grandma coaches and advances him day in day out, then that's fine - but that's still reinforcement. It is so much harder for Ryan now. I have even asked myself, had Ryan gained from Eduland? It's not a complete lost but it could have been a lot better given his background ... Ryan was a late speaker (see my earlier posts).

With Raymund, he is with his brother in Superfun Learners. The kindy is good. His teacher has already called me twice to give me feedback. She said that Raymund is afraid to write in class and that he was given his 1st homework to write number that day. She asked us to coach him and give him more confidence. I was very grateful.

I'm a firm believer of practice makes perfect. I have seen it work in my two boys. Ryan comes back with averaging 4 homeworks. Enopi follows the same theory. And that's additional for him. I have seen good improvement. Of course, getting him to do them requires a lot of patience and encouragement. Enticing him with rewards, eg. Wii games, if he completes his homework fast and correctly works. With Raymund, it is more difficult since he is so young. My maid helped a lot.

Sometimes, I feel sad when I see them already 'stressed' up so young. Is there a choice? Maybe. I don't know. But in the current education environment, the expectation level is not like it used to be during my time. I was really treating kindy like a playground back then. Now? Different story. That's why enrichment classes make money. With all these, there is no choice but to join them else our kids get left behind. I'm not asking my kids to produce Number 1 position in their report cards. I'm happy with a good average. I just don't want them to fall behind, and then lose confidence and be miserable.

I Must Find Time to Read with Ryan

Another batch of Scholastic books that I have ordered through my kids' new kindy arrived a few days ago. To be honest with you, I have not even finished half of what I bought in the earlier rounds. No time to read to them. But books are books ... there is nothing wasted about buying books. I have got 3 kids... they get passed down.

I received a call from Ryan's class teacher not too long ago. She called to check on Ryan's progress and more so, if I'm happy with his progress since he is the new to the school. This is what I like about SuperFun Learners. She told me about his progress and participation in class. While not as advanced as the kids who came to the kindy from day 1 at 4 years old, Ryan has shown good progress. I noticed that too. I even noticed Raymund's syllabus. When compared with Ryan's when he was at Raymund's age at Eduland (now, Beaconhouse), what a difference!! And it is the good difference. In the same conversation, I told his teacher that I'm worried about my son's reading ability. She advised that at this stage, having frequent reading with Ryan at home will help alot. Let him learn to recognize words from frequent reading.

I told myself that I have to make time to read with Ryan. I have bought so many story books for them. I will let Ryan choose one to read every night. Raymund is still young but Ryan has to go to Primary next year. I have to make time for him first (Correct or wrong?? Gut feel tells me I have to start coaching Raymund too - Sigh!) Saying is easy. My mad schedule was just mad! I was too tired. I finally got down to it tonight. I must say that Ryan hadn't slipped. Must be the kindy and his home tuition. I praised him when he read well! He was very happy and that got him to read more. We agreed that we will do again tomorrow before our Wii game session. I just thought if I can't read with him everyday, at least I should try during the weekend. I have certainly slipped up with my coaching. I depended wholly and too much on the enrichment classes that I have arranged for him. Ultimately, it still needs parents involvement.

Almost a Week Now..

One more day and it'll be already a week in kindy for Raymund. It wasn't easy.

On the 2nd day, Raymund refused to take the van. No choice. Have to take him into it. So, he went into the van crying. We went to the kindy to wait for him. We stayed in the car initially to see if he is ok alone. Shortly, we heard him brawling and the teacher was trying unsuccessfully to calm him. Poor boy.. he has never been alone before. Neither have most 4 year old kids there. There were still so many parents hanging around. Raymund wouldn't let us out of his sight - not just that, we have to be within 2 feet from him. He wouldn't trust us after my maid hid from him the 1st day. Suddenly it dawned on me that I have to let go that day. If he is still not manageable, I'm still at home to take him since I was on leave till Wed. Otherwise, it will be a problem on Thurs when I went back to work.

I got hold of the class teacher and her assistant and told them that we are making a move. I told Raymund as well as it is better not to hide from him and give him a shock. Of course, I expected more brawling. The assistant was holding on to him while he shouted and crying desperately for 'Mummy'. I had to make myself walk away. It may seem like a small thing...or that I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. But..believe me, it is not easy walking away from your 3 year old frightened child.

We went home and waited. Hoping that the kindy wouldn't call to say that they couldn't handle. At 11am, the van came. Raymund carrying his school bag walked smartly into the house and declared that 'I went to school myself. I sit on Uncle van myself'. Phew!

That afternoon, he had bad dream during his afternoon nap. He woke up crying so many times. My poor boy. It was almost a trauma for him.

The next morning and the next, he refused to get into the van. We had to coax him into the van and he looked back looking lost and desperate while the van drove away at 7:30am. My maid almost cried.

All these while, he has been comfortable, getting up only in the later morning. Now he has to be up at 6:30am. He was sooo not used to it. And he is definitely exhausted as well. Last night, he slept at 7:30pm!! Never before! And today, even though he had his afternoon nap, he went to bed at 8pm! He is that tired.

My heart felt very heavy for my boys. Ryan on the other hand has to take extra tuition and enrichment classes to build his fundamentals for his new kindy.. on top of his daily kindy homework. As I mentioned earlier, there is a vaaaast difference between Eduland/Beaconhouse and SuperFun Learners. He has to play catch up. He too is also exhausted. By 9:30pm-10pm, he was already asleep. I feel like cancelling his extra classes ... but do I have a choice? He will suffer also when he can't catch up. Maybe I'll lighten it when he is up to speed later.

I just feel that the education system is stressing kids younger and younger. Also it could be us parents' expectations and 'kiasu-ness'. Gone were the days when we just had fun in kindy. And the enrichment classes have been capitalizing on this need.

Hmmm...Thinking perhaps it is good to look into young children education business opportunity when I plan for my early retirement :)

Chain Post #2.. Then Comes The Panic!!

Fingers were depressing the panic button... and still not letting go. When do mothers normally freak out like that??... I would say it's usually something that involves her beloved precious children.

It started off on Friday... a lovely day, had a great lunch and some satisfaction in my work areas. Then the phone rang at 3pm!!

"Good afternoon, this is Teacher A from SFL kindergarten. I'm calling with regard to Ryan. He has brought home the new set of text books and exercise books, 13 in all. Pls help him write his name and wrap it all up in plastic .. and then bring them back to school on Monday..."

I was thinking... either that was a very good 1 to 1 teacher-parent service ... or that is NOT the reason for calling. Here comes...

"At the same time, can I request for your help to assist Ryan with his alphabets and numbers? He doesn't seem to know the sequence about what comes after what. Not too much about numbers but more so the alphabets. We need your assistance as our syllabus will go very fast starting next week and your son may have a lot of difficulty otherwise."

Puzzled. "What do you mean that he does not know alphabets? Can you pls give me a good example?"

"I asked him to tell me the missing alphabets in a sequence and he couldn't do it."

"Could it be that he was nervous?" I said... heart beating faster already.

Immediately after this call, I placed a call to Ryan's tuition teacher. I told her to check him out. She was his Eduland class teacher last year and she was pretty surprise when I told her that. She assured that it could be that Ryan was nervous at that time.

6+pm. I was on the way home, hoping to catch the tuition teacher before she left. I called her to make sure. She told me that Ryan REALLY does not know the sequence of alphabets! WHAT!! I have never focused on alphabets when I was guiding Ryan in the past years. All these time thinking that his kindy Eduland would have taken of that well. Imagine my horror! What has his kindy been doing? How come no one there picked this up? And it has to take a new teacher in a new kindergarten to pick it up within the 1st 5 days of school? What happened??? I have some insights alright... coming up later.

Then came Panic #2. I saw the new books! The syllabus are so advanced.. for all 3 languages. The English and Chinese are into short stories. English going into grammar. Math in double language - English and Chinese. My worry was mounting. I showed it to the teacher and she too was surprised. Ryan was just into a little bit more in sound blending in Eduland/Beaconhouse. As for Malay, Eduland/Beaconhouse was only introducing basic Suku Kata which all students were still wishy washy at the end of the year. Do you know that the books are already into narrations/stories and the respective language's basic peculiarities?? If I have to guess, it looks like Ryan is at least 1 year behind!! Who wouldn't panic!

I did some desperate moves. My husband and I agreed that he needs some intensives to pump up his foundation. Did these...

• Got his Tuition teacher to follow the new kindy's syllabus instead. And to reinforce his kindy's teaching and help him with his daily homework. Forget about the leisurely pace of revisiting Year 5 Eduland/ Beaconhouse work! The Tuition Teacher asked for more $$. We agreed but until Ryan stabilizes. Can't take the cost and I'm open for other options later.
• Signed Ryan up for Cambridge English For Life today. Joined the 3rd term JE1 class, instead of JE2 to brush up the foundation
• Stopped temporarily his GlobalArt classes since Cambridge is also on Saturday. It's heavy enough for him
• Tell myself to make time for Ryan every day, at worst every other day, to reinforce his alphabets and numbers

Panic #3. Did the alphabets with him after dinner today. He was really upset. He was not confident with the alphabet sequence or even able to say the name of the alphabets smoothly. Poor boy. I hugged him good after the lesson and explained to him that he has to put in a bit more effort.. otherwise, he would have trouble in class. I had a discovery. He had absolutely no problem reading out the sounds of the alphabets but not the name of the alphabets. Thinking back, I remembered that Eduland insisted that they teach and concentrate on the sound of the alphabets instead of the name of the alphabets in Year 4. I remembered that this was one of the contention I had when I was considering whether or not to let my son continue for Year 5 in Eduland/Beaconhouse. The kindy convinced me that they are different from other kindies who goes A ..(a sound) , apple....and that their method is much better so as not to 'confuse' the children. See what happened?!! Probably I would not have spotted this if I had not decided to change kindy for Ryan. I'm just thankful that I'm still able to do something about it before he goes to Primary school.

I do not want my boy to suffer at this very young age. Truly upset and hoping for a miracle.

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.

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 :)

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