completed 1st kumon set

Was having homework marathon with andrea and ben felt left out I think, he kept on wanting to do more than 2 pages daily. I was stressed to the max because both kids want my attention by wanting to do 'homework'! I'm glad it's Over and I want to be Lazy this Week!

Because of doing more than 2 pages daily, his sticker chart also filled up very quickly. I asked both of them if they want to combined their completed sticker chart, so they can buy 'bigger' things like swimming pool? The kids love to play water. They happily agreed and we went and buy an inflated pool from mothercare which was having 50% off during the weekend at subang parade. Here it is :) Having fun splashing!

Ben Suzuki Group class - 6apr13

Hi! We are back to suzuki lessons! lol ..  i couldn't believe it too. One day a friend of mine, asked me about musicpro, I said I went before and told her there is one new teacher that I wanted to try but have no mood to call yet. She called and decided to put her 2 kids in suzuki group class, I then asked her to include me, as benjamin does not have a teacher now. Thought group class would spark up his interest once more, hopefully.

The 2 kids were also benjamin's school friend. He looks forward to go. In the class. he follows what teacher asked to do (only 70%), hence I asked teacher if he thinks benjamin is ready. Teacher told me, he is OK and parents involvement is important, I shared with him my difficulty in handling ben, and asked if he has handle such young and difficult kids. He said Yes and gave me some pointers. I guess, I would want to try out for a change. I signed up!

Back at home, I asked benjamin to practise. As usual group class teaching are slower but i feel the pace is just right for ben. I asked him to do: 1. rest position 2. Play position 3. Clap var A. He does it all at home!! I'm happy :) I'm hoping to plant the music seeds in him. Hubby said every morning benjamin listen to suzuki music without fail on the way to school, hence I truly hope he would pick up music. It's healing to the soul!

Thank God for bringing this experience to ben!

Homework Marathon

I was sweating, catching up what andrea missed for year 2 term 1 and 2. Teachers gave me all the workbooks that she needs to catch up, looking at it, makes me wanna puke. Seriously I thought I need more than a month to finish! Prior to that, she only needs to do kumon maths 80-100 question (abt 5min), Kumon word problem (abt 10min). She do extra homework not more than 30 min a day last time. I pray so hard she would not make a fuss cos we have so much to catch up! 

1. arithmetic book4 - started with this, 4 pages a day (completed in 9 homework days). done

2. abacus - surprisingly so easy, took 3 homework days to complete. done

3. science - it took us 2 homework days to complete. done

4. non-fiction - There are 7 chapters to cover (on-going), did 2 chapters in 1 homework day

5. fiction - have not started

6. Mandarin and Malay to catch up

The very good thing is, andrea could cope with the maths (the english are quite tricky but once she got it, she got everything!) and writings (spelling is improving but still needs lots of practice). She has a good memory and photo-memory, I'm not too worried looking at her workbooks and teachers feedback last week was good. She said she can see that andrea is very stable in year 2, at first the teacher told me she hope andrea could catch up on her second day at year 2. I was worried shit. Thank God for the settlement and encouragement you sent to andrea. 

emotional wise, she is quite Ok i guess, she told me what happened in the class and school just like before (in year 1). Homework wise, she is very cooperative, I think we spend at least 2 hours a day to do what we need to do. I always tell myself, if this is the road she choose, she better make it easy for me. The mother seriously do not have much stamina when things don't turn out well. So far, we have covered the important bits, and I feel we are back on track and felt relieved a little :) 

Hard Rock Hotel Penang

It took us 5 hours to reach penang from KL. Reason? It's a ching ming weekend and they have some marathon happening that weekend at batu ferringhi beach too :( We do not know it before hand, hence we were stuck! Arrived at this hotel at 6.30pm, was shocked when entered the foyer, it was so NOISY and wet (the floor). I asked the person, is this place so noisy everyday? she said, only on school holidays. Luckily we bought the king lounge package, they sent us up to king lounge for check in. I felt better arriving at king lounge. 

We checked in to lil' rock suite, the kids love it. Entered the room and explored themselves. Jumping on the kids bed and looks very excited. On the other hand, i think this hotel is just average, the toilet is quite small but the beds are alright, we sleep well for the two nights. We ate at hard rock cafe for 2 times, reason is too lazy to jam out and jam back :( The food there was OK. 

We drove out at night to have supper, forgot the name, hubby got it from the internet. Before leaving penang we went to buy apam (our usual place), luckily that uncle is still there and he has good business that day, I ordered 20 and the person after me ordered 100 pieces! Uncle said he can go home after making that 100 pieces. haha .... 

The kids love the water park. Ben had so much fun in water shooting and water slide. We did easter hunt in the afternoon and got 2nd place. In the evening after dinner, we went for easter egg painting contest, we bring back the egg that we paint :) The kids also love the beach and picking up sea shells. Overall, the kids had fun and I had good rest :) great holiday!