2019 Secondary 4 Week 15 Update

This week was the SYF judging for GG’s choir. They had practiced real hard, but somehow managed to goof up during the actual competition. This is according to their conductor. She was so upset and said some of the girls even cried. They don’t really expect much, and she feels she can’t even brag about it if she wants to use it for college applications.

I rounded the week at BB’s school for their annual day. Because I am fairly active in the parent support group, I was (along with some other parents) given an award by the school. BB had an e-learning day and managed to finish up all the e-learning tasks within an hour or so.

Exams start the week after next and the children are busy with school work. They should also step down from CCA soon and then can utilise that time for more school work. After all, the O levels are less than six months away!

Have a wonderful Sunday.

2019 Secondary 4 Week 14 Update

School continues and soon it will be time for the mid-year exams at the end of this month. BB’s school has already released the timetable for the exams, but GG’s school still needs to release the timetable.

Otherwise, school is going on as per normal. CCA’s should step down sometime after next week. GG has her Singapore Youth Festival competition also next week, which means more CCA practice time for her. She has been pretty exhausted these days due to long CCA hours.

They also had their Hindi mid year exam over the weekend, and all I hope for them is that they pass the exam. One more exam and then it’s the O level exam, after which both don’t want to do this subject anymore.

That’s all from the children in school this week. Have a wonderful Sunday!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 13 Update

School started and in the beginning of the week, I went to GG’s school for a breakfast session with her principal and school leaders.

It was a light hearted session and GG’s form teacher had only good things to say about her. Though he doesn’t teach her any subject, he has heard about her from her other subject Teachers.

Otherwise the week was the usual one. Pace has slightly increased because schools are trying to finish the syllabus by the end of this term so they have plenty of time for revision.

GG is also gearing up for the Singapore Youth Festival, after which she steps down from her CCA, both in terms of leadership as well as actual CCA.

Hope your Sunday is as good as mine promises to be!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 11 Update

This was an emotional week for me. Early in the week, I was so frustated with BB and his inability to do his school work, especially given that this is a crucial year for him, I decided to have a very emotional heart-to-heart talk with him.

I reached out online and found some answers which I used as ammunition to speak with BB. I told him bluntly how his life will turn out to be if he continues in the same vein and shared statistics with him on what kind of income levels he can expect. There was a bit of crying and the offshoot of this session was that he has decided to work hard so he can get into the course of his choice.

This week is the school term break. While BB does not have to go back to school, GG’s school is asking them to come back almost daily, whether for make-up lessons or for CCA practice. She was moaning the other day that holidays is just a misnomer in her case.

Happy Sunday folks and have a wonderful weekend!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 10 Update

This week was the Applied Learning Week in both BB & GG’s school for most of the week.

BB’s school had hired an external vendor to do a motivation and exam techniques camp in their school for around three days. The last day, during the last part, parents were asked to join the students and the trainer gave us tips on how to motivate them and also how to and not to scold and nag them. Quite a few students also went up on the stage and spoke to their parents. There were a lot of tears involved and then the children were asked to give their parents the letters they had written. As expected, BB did not write a letter, just came up to me, gave me a big hug and said “I love you”. I have told him I am still expecting the letter, hopefully he will give it to me later today.

GG’s school also did something similar, but without the use any external vendors. They called some junior colleges and polytechnics as well had talks by their counsellors and former students. Then on Friday, the entire cohort went on a day trip to Universal Studios Singapore, somthing they had been looking forward to since they reached Secondary 3. GG had a wonderful time with her friends and was relunctant to come home.

All in all, this is the penultimate week before the March school holidays. BB will get the balance of his marks and then we need to see what else he needs to work on before his mid-year exams.

Happy Sunday folks!