Saturday, February 28, 2009

Homeschool - III / IV / V

Wednesday

Think can close down my school, you've got a lazy teacher today.

Athena is given another 4 days of MC, that makes her absent from school for one week. *gasp*. I said I would rebel, I did. PD laughed at me, staffs said I'm over-reacting and "now that the naughty one is in school - house shouldn't be that noisy."

Wednesdays are Math day. She's doing Measurements - way way ahead of her peers. No problem today, so she's basically in my room while I do some printing. I only work my mouth today (in the first 2 hours).. hee! Talk about being a dedicated teacher, bullshit!

Emailed her FT to inform her, as well as asking her if there's any homework I can collect from the school next morning. Will do that after I drop Aricia off in school. Ehh... I am a little worried about her lagging behind her classmates. Very stupid right? She's well ahead of her peers, but still being a kiasu mother. The only thing I'm worried about is her subtraction. Friends say children always have problems with subtraction, I don't fully agree with them. Come on! I've been drilling this into her brain since last year with the Cuisenaire rods, until I want to bring out the 'rod' (pun intended) on her. She can read the sentence and though she can't really explain in her own words, she says she comprehends them. So what's the problem?
Needless to say, I went through all the silly mistakes she made in her books. Can you believe that she's concurrently doing 3 Maths assessment books, I've got another one on sentence sums for her; and... that's not it - another card sentence game set. Maths - more practice and practice.

Did her music. Didn't go for lesson.

I did a short home session with Aricia today. Dare not do the two LMs - coz' afraid of long contact with her.

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Thursday

Mad rush for me in the morning. I collected her work from the office in the morning, went back home to let her do her work.
I was told that on Wednesday, the moment I left the house, Athena gleefully sat herself down infront of TV. Timed and then took out the books to do when she knows I'm coming back. Smart or not? Say she dunno how to tell time, I think she's lying. Or maybe she goes by instinct. So this morning, I assigned her to do some pages of her Maths which she has missed out.

Came back to see her sitting on the coffee table doing her work. Good girl! Told her what she needed to do, and she took the work to do. She didn't ask me any questions, which is good news - goes to show she knows her work. But when I checked her work, I had to ask her to erase off some work coz' it's untidy. I marked her "missed out pages" and also checked on her Math workbook which is given back to her. Went through what she did in class - not much left coz' it's been torn off. But saw two sums which she did wrongly and told her off for her carelessness. Goash! Am I too hard on her? Afterall I did tell her I would want her to excel in class, be one of the Top 3 students.

I had to leave the house at 11.55am to pick Aricia up. Athena stayed home coz' didn't want her to end up playing with a helper and end up folding papers every week.
(speaking of which, I wrote of Athena missing out 2 weeks of her chinese work on Thursdays while waiting for me right? She was playing with a helper - the one who helped me accompany her when Athena was still eating & I had to rush in for class - of course I don't blame the helper for playing with her coz' she wouldn't know that she's given work to do. And that girl, being playful/being a child would choose to play over her work. So, for weeks I get presents after we finish class. I come out to the waiting area to see tons of folded paper boxes using magazine papers. Then when we had to go off, Aricia wants to be carried. And for obvious reason I can't & won't help Athena carry her stupid boxes. You'll hear her complaining "mummy, walk slowly. I cannot.........ah.......mummy my things drop. Mummy.... I cannot carry my book." Last time she'd do her work, until she pretended and lied to me that she dunno how to do her work for 2 weeks. What can I say? Aricia's class already over, we're rushing off to her class.)

It's odd, I didn't have to stalk in carpark to wait for Athena coz' she's not in school but I still did lor......I could have taken the time to go jalan-jalan in PP or Toa Payoh but I think Aricia needs her nap more than my bo-liao walking around to spend time. Resist! resist! I'm already itching to go out, to paint the streets red. Since the start of this year, I haven't had the luxury of being a tai-tai. sob sob.

After her class, went back home. Since I didn't let her go for Berries today, I arranged for make up lesson on Sunday or maybe MC (if eyes still pinkish). I had a little of leisurely time chatting with J who intends to switch her son, J, from Chiltern House to this. I gasped at the school fees! I don't have the money siah! Is there a need to send children to such expensive preschools? And then you hear stories of long waiting list etc... What's your view on this?

Back home, I didn't hear her fumble for the remote control (pretend to turn off TV) but I don't mind as long as she finishes her work. Not bad! She only didn't understand "write a addition sentence / a number sentence / a subtraction sentence." Explained to her and then she wrote her own lor-soh 'story' sentence.

Aricia's home session? No.........I was tired. Strange right? Afterall I didn't do much work with Athena what!

I'm so tempted, so tempted not to send Aricia in to school the next day. It's so stupid to go all the way to Katong to send just one child for school. And hers is only a few hours of school.

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Friday

Sent Aricia to school, cannot miss lah! No excuse since she was telling me "temorow (tomorrow) go kool (school), see flend (friend) flend, see chicher (teacher), cannot cry...."
On way home, went to get some bread and small groceries. Just as I was about to reach home, at the carpark, mom called to ask me to go back Tampines to collect something. Duh! Stupid me, go all the way to Tampines.

By the time I got back home was already 10am. Athena was doing her work at the coffee table again (no remote control near in sight - heehee!). Guess what work? Maths! I asked her to do her English, she ended up doing Maths. Normally Fridays I don't assign any subject day for her coz' by the time she gets back home will be late.

What Homeschool? Mummy surrendered!! Buay tahan. Gave her a treat, I didn't want to make her think going out gai-gai is a must when she's on MC but I myself couldn't resist staying at home, though technically I always have things to do. I rebel too, coz' I've been staying at home almost 2 weeks straight! Is that a record? So promised her to bring her out after we pick Aricia from school.
She asked to go Big Splash (to FnR) but I declined, saying with her eyes, they'd not allow her to go in either. We either go PP or CP or TM - for 2 to 3 hrs, come back and I'd continue her work with her.
The children had their lunch at Sakae Sushi at CS, with Athena and myself wearing sunglasses the whole time. (ridiculous!) And we were using my hand sanitizer so often during that short trip out. After which they wanted to go ToysRUs. I didn't want to waste time, so dropped the both of them inside while I go over to Popular to do my much needed shopping. They played a while more then we left the place.

Back home, the children had their shower. Marked her Maths (again), went through the mistakes. Goash! I think I'm going to hide those books first! She's doing way ahead of her peers - that's the 3rd or 4th term's work. But she tells me she loves Maths leh. How?

English - she asked me what does 'herding' means. I taught her how to use the dictionary I bought for her. She got the hang of it quite fast, and then she asked me what does 'cattle' means? Let her find it, and she asks me another word. Will take very long for her to finish the whole cycle. She has to write the words that she don't understand in a book that I gave her. I call it her Vocabulary Booster Book.
I remember my sister made me flip the dictionary and read the meaning of words etc.. She also gave me a book Oliver Twist when I was 11. You think she was being nice to me? It's unabridged edition. Gasp! And I didn't read past Chapter 2 (my sis will kill me if she knows this. She will know, she reads my blog. Confession), I kept the book in pristine condition (obviously) and will pass it down as a heirloom to Athena. Muahhahaha.

Practised piano, guided Aricia with her Logico before she start fighting with me. Didn't do home session, I'm just not up to it - after I had exhausted my energy on Athena's work.

Rrrring. The school bell rang. What school? Ha! So now I really worry if she's lagging behind her classmates since I didn't really spend that much time teaching her things from her school textbook, which I had intended to.

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