Today is the start of a new school year here in Singapore. Children born in 2004 also start their formal schooling from today. When I went to drop D&P at school today, I saw the new Primary 1 cohort coming in to school. P as well as D were excited as well as a wee bit apprehensive about moving up to P2 this year. The incoming P1 students and their parents reminded me of what S and me did last year when our two started school. P1 was a mixed year for P&D. They didn’t do as well as expected, but in a way I am glad that they got their bad start now so that they can improve on it this year. I strongly believe that a slow climb up with the child peaking at 12 (when they write their Primary School Leaving Exam or PSLE in acronym addicted Singapore) rather than peaking too early and then starting their decent down.

Now that school has started, life becomes a lot more hectic for both the children as well as me. Their schedule for the week looks like this now (All these are after school activities. They return from school at around 1:45 pm on all days except Tuesdays when they will be back around 3:30 pm):

Monday – Kumon

Tuesday – Ballet (Exam classes for D)

Wednesday – Chinese Tutions (this will move to Fridays from February)

Thursday – Kumon

Friday – Free this month so will go to the library

Saturday – Hindi in the morning and Carnatic music in the evening

Sunday – Ballet for D

It’s a jam packed schedule but in a way I am glad they can do all this – after all this is the age where you get exposed to the most activities in life…..