Tag Archives: Weekly Updates

2018 Secondary 3 Week 44 Update

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This is the last update for Secondary 3 for the year. School has been out for more than a week now, but both GG & BB had to go back to school for a week for the Sec 4 head start programme. They had full day of lessons the whole week and teachers started on work for the next year. They have also been loaded with homework for the holidays in all subjects so that when they go back to school in January, they can continue from where they left off.

Since the year is short, school’s are expected to complete the O level syllabus by the time they break for their mid-year holidays in June.

Our O level countdown has also begun with the exams around 11 months away. I need to take some decisions about whether they need extra tuition for any subjects, especially the sciences.

Next week is Diwali and today promises to be slightly busier than usual. But here’s to a wonderful Sunday to everyone.

2018 Week 43 Update

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This was a pleasant week for me. If you remember, I mentioned about an organisation where I met people with whom I was not comfortable with. There was a sense of unease that I had which I decided to heed. I then set some conditions to them which I knew they will not accept and it happened as I expected. They let me know they will not be pursuing this further and I danced a little jig when I saw that email. I am glad I didn’t reject them off hand as it meant i would be burning some bridges.

Over the weekend, we made a day trip to Johor Baru to shop for clothes for the children for Diwali. What should have been a 30-45 minute trip, given that we stay a 10 minute drive from the causeway in no traffic conditions, this turned out to be a 3.5 hour drive to the mall! We spent more than 3 hours battling traffic! The drive on the way back was marginally better at 2 hours and 15 minutes, but the bumper to bumper traffic is so bad that it’s making me think twice about driving into Malaysia! I seriously hope the two governments do something about this. But we had a good time shopping with the children and hopefully the next time we drive in, the traffic is not so bad!

This week shows to be a hectic one with my Diwali preparations starting from today. I plan to start making a bit of the sweets and savories each day so that I am not overwhelmed.

Have a wonderful week folks!

2018 Secondary 3 Week 43 Update

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School’s out officially for the year and both have been promoted to Secondary 4. Since next year is their O level year, they have to go back to school for one more week where their teachers will start the Sec 4 syllabus and complete any sec 3 portion that was undone.

We also got the results this week and BB has done atrociously. I am very appalled with his marks and he got a real talking to from both me and his form teachers. I fact, because his school does not have a formal parent teacher meeting for the end of the year, I emailed all of his teachers for either a face-to-face meeting or a phone call to see what I can do to work with him over the holidays. During the face-to-face meetings, I also requested he be pulled out of class to meet with the teachers so he knows what we discussed. BB has promised to do better in sec 4, so let’s see.

GG on the other hand, did better, though not with stellar results. But she is the more dedicated and diligent child, so I am not that as concerned about her as I am about BB.

Happy Sunday folks

2018 Week 42 Update

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Last week was quite a boring and unproductive week for me.

I did meet one organisation, whom I first met during the networking event during my back to work programme. The meeting went well, but the process is a long one, I will know if they want to meet me again only around 3 weeks later. Another place, where I met people want me to work on a six-month trial basis before committing to the role on a full-time basis. The role is basically a hardcore sales one, a role which I am not very comfortable with to begin, so I have asked them to wait a month or so till I hear back from the organisation I met with earlier. I have yet to hear back from them on this request of mine, but if it doesn’t work out, I’m okay with it since it was a role I was not very interested in, to begin with.

In other updates, the children end school this week and I have plans for them, not just with school work, but also want to involve them in the housework a bit more. S and I are also planning to give them a set of the house keys which will eliminate the need for someone to be at home when they are back from school. Hopefully, this will make them more independent and responsible.

Have a wonderful and productive week folks! I am hoping this is true for me too…

2018 Secondary 3 Week 42 Update

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I mentioned about BB’s relatively bad marks, this week, I reached out to all his teachers to speak to them. In his school, the teachers meet the parents of all students after the mid-year exams, but for the year-end exams, they only meet parents of selected students. I am guessing that he has not reached that stage yet, he is probably in the bottom 15-20% of his class, but not yet bottom enough to stage a parental intervention.

I spoke to a couple of teachers and have an appointment to meet some more next week. The consensus from his teachers seems to be that he needs to change his attitude which I  also agree 100%. Now I will know for sure once I meet his form teachers next week. BB is also going on a trip to a Malaysian state in a couple of weeks for a Humanities learning journey.

As to GG, she did relatively well in her subjects. In the subjects which she is weakest, which are Maths and Science, she did better than we expected, but there is still a lot of scopes to improve, which we will start working on during the holidays.

Have a blessed Sunday!