Is there joy in schooling here?

I feel a little emotional whenever I hear news of school-kid committed suicide. Some as young as in primary schools.

What made them do it? What was the motivation pushing a tiny soul to end the journey?

There are many questions in my head. Was it pressure from school, parents, peers or the society? Was there ever any happiness or joy in our educational system? What is our value system - meritocratic or ??? I don't know the answer. What I do know is the stress all of us have today. We have to cope so many things in a day. For me, coaching Kieran in his school work on weekday evenings becomes a chore. It irks me whenever he doesn't understand what I was explaining. My heart aches and my mind goes bonkers. I don't think I can take it. Initially we thought the after-school care could help, but it doesn't, and so did my friends told me.

So what parents to do?

We enrolled him in Singapore's favourite haunting place - tuition centre. Much to my displeasure. But what can we do? Pop goes our weekends of family togetherness and comes chaotic madness of chauffeuring. I don't know if it's good for Kieran or me; but I really don't know which is best.

AGAIN I stress, I DON'T LIKE OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM! There is no balance, kids are stretched, so are parents. It's like a test to our tensile strength, waiting for the breaking point.

A Chinese who failed Chinese

My poor boy failed his first Chinese test on Monday.

While he was nonchalant about it, his mom was anxious like an ant in a hot pot!

Friends said I should put him in a Chinese enrichment class, such as from TienHsia or Beijing Language School or private tuition. My goodness!

Tomorrow, he's going to attempt Maths test for the second time.

Oh, how I loathe our education system!

P1 registration frenzy

We have no affiliation to any schools or clans or churches, we did no volunteer work, we have no "connections", as such we can only register Kieran under Phase 2C (whatever this means).

Maybe we did not do enough... Nevertheless, it's an emotionally tiring exercise as all parents only want the best for their kids within their means. I don't know if our current registration system is the right one but it's %&$#*&!

So now we are unsuccessful at Phase 2C balloting for kids who stay within 1km from school, what is our next "best" alternative? We have to register him at any school that still has vacancies.

I hate to say this... but I DON'T LIKE THE SYSTEM! Period.

To add to my dismay, I wasn't even in town during registration and had to rely on hubby to update me of yesterday's disappointing result. Perhaps GOD has better plans for Kieran. At least I'll be home on National Day morning.

I'm now 17 hours away from the opening of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing.

Wo Shi Hong Qi Yang

That's Hanyu Pinyin for "I am Foong Kieran".

The kiasu me managed to convince hubby that it is TIME to put Kieran in Hanyu Pinyin class (after I've heard horror stories from friends about how tough it was for their kids at P1). And so, together with the hyper Raeyen, we went to Beijing Language School to enrol him for the new term starting Sunday 29 June at 4.30pm till 6pm.

Kieran's extra-curriculum classes as follows:

Saturday 1200-1300 Gymnastic
Sunday 1400-1500 Swimming
Sunday 1630-1800 Hanyu Pinyin

I still remember I learned Hanyu Pinyin at P3 (psst, and I loved it, unbelievable right?). However, I don't think I would have the patience to teach my offspring.

Spellbound

Kieran's into K2 this year and his English and Chinese spelling started from this term.

It certainly gets tougher as the words are thematic. Next week's spelling list has "food", "healthy", "breakfast", "lunch" and "dinner".

While he got all correct for his past 2 spelling tests (carrot, broccoli, spinach, tomato, cabbage last week and pear, mango, papaya, pineapple and durian today), it was not without coaching in the evenings and weekends. Coaching him on English spelling is tough as his loses focus fast. Once he managed to spell all correct when I tested him, he may have mental block to 1-2 words the next moment - this I cannot comprehend.

As for Chinese spelling, teaching him the "strokes" (bi hua) is also not easy but it is still easier than to guide him on English spelling. In Chinese spelling, he either makes careless mistakes or the strokes look out of proportion.

Sometimes, these moments could make me lose my cool and feeling so frustrated. BUT I never once want to give up on him. I might have scolded him BUT I always remind him that I BELIEVE IN HIM, that he could do it.

Family togetherness

Wed, 9 Aug - we were greeted by a nice piano recital by Gabriel as we stepped into Ger's apartment. That was the first time we witnessed his performance and were awed by his talent. He's at Grade 10 and am sure Guan and Lisa made the right decision to move to Canada when Gabriel & Carmen were very small.

Education in Canada is different from Singapore. Children are encouraged to find solutions to problems - this gives them the chance to expand their resources by learning through experience. I wish Kieran & Raeyen get to visit them in Toronto some day.

Sat, 12 Aug - I brought Kieran to a stage show on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other stories at The Jubilee Hall performed by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. It was a great show that we enjoyed; "Caterpillar" was not only a familiar story to Kieran but a great time for us to bond before I leave for KL coming Monday to Friday. (This trip comes in an untimely period as it coincides with hubby's reservist. During my absence, he will be in Tekong and that left us in a fix on how to get someone prepare Kieran for school in the morning! Finally we decided on getting my MIL's help. This bad timing had also made us postpone Kieran's 4th birthday celebration to Sat 26/8.) In the evening, we had our reunion again at Mom's place before Guan & family departs next morning. Having forged their relationship during the week, the older kids exchanged emails. We will miss them till their next visit in 2 years' time.

No matter how far we are apart (Ger will be posted to Suzhou coming Monday), our unspoken love as a big family will bind us together through time and tide.

"Happy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration." Charles Dudley Warner