Year End Exams

Today is the last day for H's exams. Phew. I can finally breath a sigh of relief. Its Art and Music today, so technically, it was over yesterday. Its so competitive these days....she is only in primary one, but the competition is so stiff. Everyone gets high 90's for all papers so, if you dont get 100, your position would drop. They shoudl do away with positions as it causes unnessary stress on everyone. With the new KSSR system in place, its suppose to move away from exam oriented structures, but sadly, despite parents opting for a more holistic environment, at the end of the day, they still look at how many As you get. In this case, it is getting 100% for all papers.

H worked hard, not crazy hard , but hard enough. So I should be happy for whatever marks she obtains. Yes, I would be dissapointed, if she does not obtain the top 3 placings, but since I opted for THAT school, I have to accept the competition. More so, most of them there go for private tuition. She does not - I am her private tutor :) I believe in the early years, its nothing like having the support of your own parents, than depending on external help. So, if she does well, I deserve a pat on my back too!!



Rowena icing a cake at Roald dahls bday party



Harvynna's turn to ice the cake



Anyway, exam week is actually a good bonding week for us as I pick her up from school (which is a treat for her), bring her out for a nice lunch (her choice), and then she gets to spend one on one time with me.... without R hogging the attention. We do some revision - and then have a nap, and I think she values that and seems very happy and relaxed to have mummy with her. That is a luxury these days for most kids as most mothers are working mothers and time is a rare commodity. For this exam, I opted for a more relaxed mode as preparations began much earlier than the last round.

Of course, during the last 1 month, R has been slightly neglected, as most of my time is spent revising with H. But that will change after today. Yesterday, I got both of them to practise their art together for Harvynna's art paper today.

Sometimes I wonder, if the girls are too busy with all kinds of activities. They dont complain, so I take it as ok. I always offer the option to stop, but they dont want to. (except for R - who wants to stop Enopi coz its too much work!!) But i would like to give them the opportunity to try various things, as good academic results alone is not enough today. I have interviewed dozens of people at work, and many with good academic results are just bores, speak horribly and do not have the guts to do a presentation. That's why I hope by exposing them to various other non academic programmes, they will grow to be more confident and not for anything else.

The girls are starting classical Indian dance next week. Let's see how that goes.

Rowena's updates

Just looking through some previous postings and it seems like its all about Harvynna. Not that I am biased - just that there is a lot to update since she started Primary school. Rowena is still the happy go lucky girl with a mind of her own. There is no way I am able to control her as she does what she wants and does not care about the consequences. She is a survivor - this one.

Started her on Enopi classes since July as she needs someone to sit down with her and practice with her. She climbs all over my head so I cant do it with her. She is progressing slowly but surely. I dont push her, but it irritates me that she refuses to do her homework and ends up bullying the teachers in class. Now, i can see that she responds well with praise - when she gets the answers right, her face lights up and feels very proud of herself. So I guess I have to praise her all the time.

As for swimming, she is progressing not as fast as Harvynna as she still has a fear of water when it is a pool she is not familiar with. But she totally enjoys her swimming lessons.

In school, I am very happy with her reading progress. She is catching up fast and can read quite a few words. She tries to read books, the titles of movies on TV and feels very proud that she is doing well. Bravo.

So, I guess, I need not worry too much about her, if she wants to do something, she can - so I will just let her progress at her own pace. Its different with Harvynna where she naturally wants to excel at everything and is very competitive in nature. Rowena just wants to smell the roses and take things one step at a time. The 2 videos here describe her best!