Exam Week

Yes, this week is exam week for most students in schools in Singapore. My daughter, S, started hers on 26 April, and it will not end until 17 May. Too long drawn, I feel. Too many papers, and far too many projects due during this period too! And she is in primary school. Horrible isn't it?As for N, his will start tomorrow and end on thursday. 3 short days, but I cant wait for it to be over.

In preparation for the exams this week, we decided to go to the beach yesterday. And guess what? It was actually quite empty. Guess all those kiasu parents were busy prepping their kids at home. We saw much less people at most places we went, eg when we went out for lunch, at the mall, etc. Usually, you would have trouble getting parking, as well as getting a table at most restaurants. What a welcome change!

I guess, if the kids have been working consistently throughout the year, there is no need to really panic and stop living just for some exams, right? There has to be a balance. They still need some sunshine and fresh air. They still need their physical exercise. They must learn that exams isnt the be all and end all. They have to be well balanced. They must learn to work consistently, so that there is no need to panic at the last minute.

My heart goes out to all those that are kept in, denied breaks, and just forced to mug, because of the exams!

Book Week

Little D's school celebrated bookweek this week. It is to encourage children to read more. I have no problem with that. All my kids love to read, and love being read to. In fact Little D must have us read to her everyday, and she has her favourite books. We read them to her so often, that if we say a wrong word, she will correct us. She knows her favourite books by heart!

Bookweek in school culminates with a character parade. Unfortunately, due to the FHMD outbreak in Singapore, that has been reduced to a small scale, the parade is only in class. It used to be a big one with everyone from Nursery 1s to the K2s taking part, where the character that they come dressed in are announced and they take a walk around the assembly hall. What fun! And I must say, the teachers are very creative. Their costumes are all "home-made" or adapted from what they have hanging in their (or family members') wardrobes or cupboards around their house. In previous years I have seen the tin man from the wizard of oz (made from aluminium foil), the wicked witch, cinderella, captain hook, cat in the hat (dr Seuss), amongst the teachers.

Little D went as Little Red Riding Hood! Her teacher was Papa Bear (from Goldilocks and the 3 bears). Little D was actually afraid of Papa Bear!! Unfortunately for little D, not many of her classmates came dressed up. Some boys came in superman and zorro costumes, one came with a polar bear hat, but the rest were in "home" clothes. One little girl came in school uniform. Poor dear! She felt left out from all the fun.

Little Red Riding Hood with Papa Bear

Parent Volunteers at school

The trend nowadays is for parents to volunteer at the school which they would like their children to study in. The popular brand name schools have parents queueing up at their doorsteps, as early as 2 to 3 years before their kids are due to register for primary school, and the slots fill up really fast. Some schools have even gone to the extent of specifying the minimum number of hours the parents have to volunteer (and this is usually over and above that specified by the Ministry of Education) before they would be accepted as a parent volunteer. Due to the sheer numbers, schools can afford to be choosy, selecting those parents with certain expertise to help them.

I know of a doctor who attends to the sick shildren at the sick bay of his son's school once a week. Another parent who is an IT expert, helped configure all the IT requirements of his son's school, in exchange for a place there. Another performed for a school's fund raising concert to get his daughter into the school of his choice. Some schools save on their admin cost by using parent volunteers to help man the school office. Other parents help out as traffic wardens, or school librarians. As a result, schools are able to have substantial monetary savings.

But is this volunteer scheme open to abuse? Definitely! By choosing who they want to do the volunteer work, schools are able to give preferential treatment to those whom they want to accept. Should it not be strictly on a first-come-first-serve basis?

I managed to get my children into their schools the difficult way. For my eldest, we had to ballot. We were lucky! She managed to get into the school of our choice during the ballot. But it was terribly stressful,a s we had no fall back plan. She balloted under Phase 2C, which meant that if she did not get a place at this school of our choice, we would have to put her in whichever school had a vacancy, or worse, to wait for the ministry to post her to a school!! Fortunately, God was watching over her. As it was an all girls school, we had to find another school when it was time to register my son. We decided on a school in which we had an affiliation to. We managed to get him the place without balloting. For our third child, who is not due to start Grade 1 until 2011, we will not have that problem. She can go to her sister's current school (which is c0-ed) or to the all-girls school which we first had her sister enrolled!

Life is tough for the kids!

It is week 10 of the school term already!! Yippee! A whole term has gone by. What have the kids learnt? That school is all work and no fun! Sad isn't it. There typical school week is : school , lunch, followed by cca (if any), and homework. Then it is off to enrichment, and other classes. For my kids it is Mandarin, Music, Swimming, chess, science. By then its dinner time. After dinner it's laze around time - watching some tv, and they are off to bed. Weekends are spent at chess school (some 3 to 4 hours on a sat), Cathecism, church, and finishing whatever homework that has not been done. However this equilibrium is thrown off when there are tests, exams, quizzes, after-school activities, tournaments, special projects. For my kids it is especially tough as they are competitive chess players. There are so many tournaments that they "have" to play in. (They are part of the National Junior Squad, and there are a number of tournaments which they have to play in to be able to continue in the squad). In addition, they are also required to represent the school in certain tournaments! All this is in addition to their normal work load. This eats into their time, and as a result they have no time to actually do nothing. I am one who strongly believes in children having time to do nothing, day dream and reflect. This allows them to put their creative ideas to work. I feel so sorry for them. They do not get to experience real childhood - playing around, catching fishes from drains, or even indulging in their favourite activities whatever that may be.

Even though they have a week of holidays next week, it is already almost full! On tueday, my daughter has to go to school for a mandarin cultural camp. On wednesday and thursday, both my kids are playing in a chess tournament, representing their school. On friday, my daughter has her school mate coming over to work on a project. (And she has a few other projects due after the one week vacation). And another chess tournament over the weekend. And by then, the school term starts again. We will not have time to go to the zoo, or the beach or for a swim or bake some cookies together, or even family bonding time. What school vacation is this? With such a short break, all school activities should come to a HALT! Then the kids will have a chance to recover, before starting a new term. The same scenario will replay itself over the June holidays, even if it is over 4 weeks. 2 weeks will be taken up by the Asean Age group chess tournament, there will be a 2 week mandarin immersion in china (if we decide to send our children), and the so called 4 week vacation will be gone!! And all this is not counting the preparation training they would need for the tournament. Poor kids.....tough life....or is it "no life"..... The ministry really needs to re-look at our education system or our kids will suffer from a burn-out!

School Stress!!

Little D has been very stressed about going to school Initially, I thot it had to do with separation anxiety, but now..... I am not so sure. She really doesn't like to go to school. With S, my eldest child, she used to cry (when we 1st started her in preschool) everyday, but only at the time when I left her at school. Otherwise she was fine the rest of the day at home. With N, it was super duper easy. No problems from day 1. Said goodbye happily. With D, it starts the night before. She doesn't want to go to bed. She hates me (coz I am the one that sends her to school everyday). She wakes up in the night crying. Even on weekends, if we head in the direction of school, she will remind us that she doesn't want to go to school. Wont wear her uniform. Cries from the minute she wakes up. Doesn't want to shower. Doesn't want to wear her school shoes. This is really, really stressful for me. Not sure if there will be any psychological impact on her in the future. I worry. How can someone so young, be so aware. None of her classmates have this problem. She is the only one crying in class everyday. I know every child is different. But why is D SO different? Many children would have gotten used to the routine by week 2 or 3. This is week 5!! She knows that I will pick her home at the end of the school day. She can even tell me that. It is not that preschool is no fun. I chose this preschool because the teachers are caring and the kids have lots of fun there. (Sometimes, i think too much fun!) Why, why, why? I just hope things improve soon. I am too stressed out by it. As a result, I tend to be shouting more than necessary at the other 2 children. Poor them. I must watch myself.