Archive for the 'About the kids' Category

There are traditions and there are family routines. Tradition may be brought down from generation to generation but I believe that family routines can be created by your family and then enjoyed from year to year.

The kids are older now and our Chinese New Year routine has been established. Before, when they were younger, we did not have any routine but we thought that it would be very nice to have a family routine that they can look forward to each year. Now they know it well and look forward to …

1. Shopping for Chinese New Year Clothes. We limit our shopping to once a year only (unless necessary), then we go all out and have a shopping spree for Chinese New Year and everyone looks forward to having new clothes. We figured out that if you buy new clothes throughout the year, Chinese New Year would not feel any different.
2. Chinese New Year Cookies. Mummy does not bake so she will order the same cookies from the same place and when she brings them home the kids gape and go ooh and ahhh when they see the familiar cookies that they only get to eat once in a year. Then the kids will say “Please, please mummy can we eat them now?” and bad mommy will say “No, you will have to wait till Chinese New Year.”
3. Haircuts. The whole family goes to the salon and  have a haircut together. It kind of breaks the bank a little but its nice to go together. On normal days, sometimes mummy gives them home haircuts but for Chinese New Year, its off to the salon we go.
4. Chinese New Year Decorations. Now that the kids are older, they can help out. They love clipping, stringing and making homemade angpow decorations and I love listening to them work as a team in deciding where to hang each decoration. Usually, I will ask their opinion and let them decide so they can really get in the mood and contribute.
5. Spring Cleaning for Chinese New Year. Mummy gets to do most of it of course but on the eve of Chinese New Year, the kids will be roped in to wash the car and the porch. How they love the water and soap splashing fun.
6. Reunion Dinner. Usually its just the four of us because parents in law are no longer with us but we still cook up a storm anyway and everyone dons new pyjamas after dinner. Then we pack money into the red packets that will be given out as angpows and mummy and daughter will do their nails. Then mummy and daddy will give the kids their angpow and they will put it under their pillow to sleep on. Everyone stays up late and at midnight we will turn on every light in the house to welcome New Year.
7. First Day of Chinese New Year. Everyone gets up bright and early and have mee suah (vermicelli) soup then put on their brand new clothes and shoes. Then we go to the temple to watch the lion dances. After that we may go visiting or just stay home to relax and pack for the next day’s journey.
8. Balik Kampung. We will usually go back to mummy’s home town from the 2nd to the 4th day of Chinese New Year. We visit mummy’s aunties and see more lion dances, we play by the beach, go to more temples, pay respects to mummy’s mummy, play fireworks by the sea and send lighted lanterns into the sky.
9. Middle of Chinese New Year. Sometimes daddy invites his friends over and mummy cooks for them and the kids get to play host and hostess to other kids.
10. Chap Goh Meh. On the 15th day of Chinese New Year or the last day of Chinese New Year, its time to meet mummy’s brothers and sisters to have a gathering or dinner and exchange angpows with all the nephews and nieces.

That’s it. We do this every year to create a routine and tradition for the kids so that they look forward to Chinese New Year and in doing so, we enjoy our Chinese New Year very much too.

Kids, when you are grown and have your own families, we hope that you will remember fondly and continue with this routine and tradition that you have grown up with.

This year, 2012, I have a child in Std 2 doing the KSSR syllabus and a Std 4 child doing the KBSR syllabus.

So what is KSSR? What does KSSR stand for? I am sure that most parents in Malaysia know that kids start the new KSSR syllabus in 2012 but just what does KSSR stand for? Now, that’s simple. KSSR stands for Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah.

What about the older KBSR then? What does KBSR stand for? Now, that one is easy too. KBSR stands for Kurikulum Bersepadu Sekolah Rendah.

Now that we’ve got the easy part of the way, deriving the abbreviation for KSSR and KBSR, lets talk about the hard part.

The hard part is faced by parents whose children are doing the new KSSR new syllabus. Parents whose kids are doing the KBSR syllabus can skip this post. Let me give you an example.

I have children doing both the syllabus. My standard 2 child cannot recycle or reuse his sister’s books because the syllabus has changed for almost every subject, English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Maths and Science. For example in Math, he is now taught Fractions in Std 1 and Fractions and Decimals in Std 2. Previously, it was not taught till Std 3. So if you buy the old KBSR workbooks you would have missed out two whole chapters. This is only an example of one confusion that can arise.

Worse still, the book publishers and printers are in a bind. How do they get rid of their old KBSR stocks? What’s happening is, when I went to the bookshops, I had trouble finding Std 2 workbooks or rather very few Std 2 KSSR workbooks. Std 1 is ok since there is new print for this year but not Std 2. For almost every publisher, I could find Std 1 then Std 3, 4, 5,6  but not Std 2. I had trouble finding KSSR books for Std 2, probably they will be available later on.

Then there are unscrupulous publishers who change the name of the cover to KSSR! Well, at least that is what I think because I had bought a KSSR book but when I looked inside the syllabus was the same as the old one. So before you go out to buy any workbooks for your child, make sure you look at his textbook to know his syllabus first, then make sure it matches those of the workbooks. Don’t buy blindly. Do some homework first.

Here is my tips for parents when buying primary school workbooks:

1. Std 1 and Std 2 parents buy books with KSSR on the cover
2. However, make sure you check your child’s textbook before buying. Make sure that the syllabus in the workbook matches the syllabus in the textbook
3. You will need to buy KSSR for the 5 core subjects, i.e. the 3 languages English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, plus Maths and Science
4. However, you may get KBSR books for the paper 2 for English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese. Paper 2 meaning the Writing Practise Paper as this do not change very much. (Paper 1 is Comprehension or Pemahaman, Paper 2 is Writing or Penulisan) Note: In Std 1 and 2, there is no Paper 2 test for English, however workbooks are available for practise. There is Paper 2 test for Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Cina or Chinese though)
5. If your child is in Chinese School, go to the SJKC section to pick books. What does SJKC stand for? (SJKC stands for Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina). As for those in National Schools, buy your workbooks from the SJK section (SJK stands for Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan). They syllabus for both are different.

So many acronyms and abbreviations to learn. Parenting is hard enough without all this headache.

I have been really busy just as I predicted. Time for only a few quick updates before I forget how to blog.

1. Bye bye Streamyx and Hello Unifi. Naturally there are teething problems but we refuse to call the chargeable 1300 number so we’ve been running around in circles changing dongers, and moving or rather switching our pc from room to room just to get connected. Have to do all sorts of troubleshooting and testing just to find the reason for the bad connection. Is it the pc problem/the network adapter/the interference from the neighbour’s wifi, need to change channel, change donger, change pc or pull out hair? blah blah blah…*Shakes head*

2. We got ourselves several new shelves and tables and enjoying our family bonding session of putting them together. The kids love this. All the banging and screwing and counting of screws and looking and following the diagrams is a delight to both the kids. They’re having a fine time with the Allen Key, Phillips Screwdriver, etc. After that we all sit back and enjoy our hard work of putting up the shelf and the kids feel proud that they were involved in putting up their own tables or drawers etc. Putting together furniture is definitely an activity where you can and should involve kids, just be mindful of safety when handling tools and sharp nails that is all.

3. I received my Giant Squid trohpy over at Squidoo. That makes me a Giant Squid now. Too bad, I am too busy to celebrate or make any new lenses for the holiday season. I guess I will just have to update my existing ones if I can find some snippets of time.

4. I have received two back to school brochures from departmental stores and I thought the school holidays has just started! Yes, it would end very soon too and then I would have a Year 2 and Year 4 student at home. Gosh. Time flies!

Well, times up. I thought I had a lot of things to blog about but I can’t remember now. If I am not careful, I will forget how to blog in no time.

I have bought several books on Maths and Science in English for primary schools. Some of them are excellent bilingual English/Chinese books. I have been teaching my kids Maths and Science in English from the time they were in Std 1. They are going to be Std 2 and Std 4 next year. I also help them with their Maths and Science in Chinese by using an electronic dictionary and bilingual Maths and Science books.

My preference would be for them to be taught Maths and Science in English in school but since it is not happening and I don’t forsee it changing anytime soon, I have no choice but to do teach them myself. As a parent, I feel that I need to be in the background always ready to provide them with the balance they need in life. I send them to a strict Chinese school, so I try to provide them with entertainment, play and relaxation at home. If I send them to a school which is more relaxed than, I will be there to guide and push them harder in their studies.

It is the same with Maths and Science in English. Since I think it is important for the kids to learn Maths and Science in English, I will teach them myself if it is not being taught in school. It is not difficult to teach. Maths and Science, unlike languages is all about concepts. The concept is the same. Once the children grasp the concept and understand the lesson, it is only a matter of teaching them the terms.

My girl just brought back her Std 4 books for next year. I am relieved to see that she still has the Maths and Science Books in English textbooks for the year 2012. Or should I feel sad that she will be burdened with yet another year of carrying extra books for subjects that teachers are teaching only half heartedly because they have no choice.

Unlike my Std 1 boy who is learning Maths and Science in Chinese, my girl had the chance to learn Maths and Science in Chinese as well as in English. However, the school takes a rather laid back or relaxed attitude in the teaching of Maths and Science in English. I can’t say that I blame them since it will be discontinued. Why should school time and resources be spent on something that will be phased out soon. There are only a few periods for Maths and Science in English. The test papers are very easy and given almost like an afterthought. There is hardly any homework for Maths and Science in English and most of the time, it is taught in a hurried manner to finish off the syllabus at the end of a term or school year as if to get it out of the way.

With such an attitude, it is better that the kids learn Maths and Science in Chinese alone. They won’t have to go through the burden of learning the same subjects in two languages in school and carrying extra loads of books to school, especially when the teaching of Maths and Science in English is half hearted. Even if given the choice, they will never choose to do any Maths and Science tests in English because they will be better at it in Chinese since the emphasis has always been on teaching Maths and Science in Chinese even though they were given a ‘choice’. I don’t see it as a choice really, it appears more like a burden, an extra thing that teachers are forced to get out of the way. It is not a bonus to be able to learn it in two languages under this sort of circumstances or learning/teaching environment.

So, that means it is up to me to teach my kids Maths and Science in English.  I am not good in Chinese so I find it useful to teach them in English and then later go through the Maths and Science terms in Chinese with them. I am thankful for the bilingual books. It helps the kids improve both languages as they grasp the concept.  My only wish is to see the Maths and Science books in English or the bilingual Maths and Science books being continued to be published by publishers and sold at bookshops. It will be a sad day, when even that stops soon after the Maths and Science in English is phased out.

Updated:

I just found out from my girl that she had to return the Maths and Science Books in English for Std 4 next year. I guess she won’t be learning them in English anymore. She is in Std 4 next year. My son who is in Std 2 will not be learning them in English since he is the ‘pioneer’ year for the switch back to teaching Maths and Science in mother tongues. Looks like this mother will have to work harder.

There still appears to be some confusion as many are unsure on whether the subjects will still be taught in English and until which year. So here is the schedule for the phasing out of teaching Maths and Science in English.

Updated again

Well, looks like that schedule for phasing out is outdated now…

Recently I won some skincare products in a contest. Previously I had not bothered with skincare before because it was expensive, I didn’t have the time and I’m lazy. Since, I have this set of expensive skincare, I might as well use it and so I did.

Naturally the kids became curious to see me applying stuff on my face. I explained that the products were supposed to make my skin look better.

The little one came closer to have a better look at my face and said “Mummy, actually your face is quite ugly” in all seriousness. I was trying hard not to laugh as I explained to him that my face is ugly because of all the pores whereas his skin is young and smooth.

A week later….

The little one came and peered at my face again and said “Mummy, how come you are not yet beautiful?” This time I couldn’t stand it anymore and I burst out laughing. Kids really can be painfully honest at times.

That’s why I don’t buy skincare products. However, I shall continue using this one since I won it and it is very expensive. Thankfully I didn’t pay any money for it, otherwise I would be heartbroken to hear that remark from my son.