Happy Mid Term School Holidays

I can't imagine how fast half the school year has passed.  In fact, I can't imagine how fast the time has passed. I can't believe I have a Std 3 boy and a Std 5 girl now. It seems like not long ago they were just a baby and a toddler.

We look forward to the holidays. At least during the holidays, we don't have to worry about the morning rush or the nighttime homework rush.

The kids have been taking it easy with their piano practise but now its time to steam on ahead  with the piano practical exams just round the corner. Exams, Exams, Exams. I'm really tired of the word.

The girl's teacher told the over 40 students. "7 of you received Bs in one subject. That is not good. You are all expected to get As in every subject and not only that, for certain subject like Mathematics, you are expected to get the over 90s type of As." 

Its tough to be a student these days.

Happy Holidays to all students and parents. Hope you have a good one.

School Holiday Programmes For Mid Term Holidays

The mid term holidays are here again and time for some child care centres to get busy making money..... offering school holiday programmes, workshops, holiday camps, tuition etc for school going children. :P

Usually during the last week of school, some staff from these institutes will line up outside the school gates distributing pamphlets and brochures to parents offering various supervised activities... at a price of course.

Fortunately I am a SAHM, so I don't have to worry about taking leave or spending extra money on some of these programmes. Some of the programmes are quite interesting too. Cooking workshops, storytelling programmes, outdoor camps, public speaking. There is a whole list of them. We didn't use to have any of these when I was in school. .

The woman pondering in the picture is not me. Usually we don't do any of those things she is thinking about. Being a SAHM, I usually device my own school holiday programme. I wonder what to do with the kids this holidays. Still haven't thought of anything yet. Two weeks is really very short. Before we know it, its over.

I may have to MIA for a while from my blogging.

Nilai Murni For Younger Primary Kids

I found a cute set of slides to introduce younger primary kids to the concept of "Nilai Murni" (Moral Values). Nilai Murni is included in the Bahasa Malaysia Paper 2 under Part C and carries 20 marks in the UPSR examination.

It is useful to introduce the younger primary students to the concept starting from Standard 3. When it is first taught, the children will find it hard to grasp because the words and vocab used are new to them.

Here is a nice set of slides to introduce some of the nilai murni vocabulary to them. The slides show the words but do not explain them in detail. I'm afraid that if you are the educator or the parent, you would have to do a little bit of homework and explain them to your child. If they already know some of the 16 nilai murni listed here, then this should be a quick reminder or a good mini checklist for them.

You may also like to check out my English translation for 55 commonly asked Nilai Murni. The exams are just over, so remember to bookmark these pages for your easy reference.

16 Nilai Murni from Norazlin Mohd Rusdin

How To Stop Your Child From Making Careless Mistakes During Tests

There is an old martial arts movie called "The Bride With The White Hair". Well, when I wed, I was The Bride With The Black Hair. Now, I'm turning into The Mom With White Hair.

You see, you spend all this time coaching your kids for their tests. The spouse is on your back to make sure they do well in their studies.

The day of the test comes and goes. Your child says "It was easy mom because I studied so hard" so you breath a sigh of relief and then they come home with the test paper and says......

"Ma, I forgot to do 10 questions." 

That's right. The boy missed out 10 questions on the last page which was on a separate sheet of paper but stapled along with the rest of the test papers. I wonder how he could have missed it. Each question carries 2 marks.

Then the girl comes to you and says

"Ma, I forgot to write my name on the answer sheet."

Aaarrgggghhhhh!

If anyone has the magic formula on How To Stop Your Child From Making Careless Mistakes During Tests... I'd really like to know it! Obviously my methods aren't working and they include

• coaching
• teaching test taking skills
• telling them what to do
• reminding them to check their papers thoroughly 
• testing (in actual test environment)
• trying to instil good habits
• reminder checklist
• training them to proofread their work. 

Nothing works. They still keep on making careless mistakes.

The Ironing Lady Watches Iron Man 3

With the exams over, we were finally able to take the kids to watch Iron Man 3. There were many kids in the cinema, and it was freezing cold as usual. We wore sweaters, shawls and double or triple layers of clothing as usual because it is always so cold at the cinema.

We did enjoy the movie but something wasn't quite right.......

I know. I think sometimes they try to make the superheroes too human. I want my superhero to be a real superhero. A fantasy figure out to fight the real Mandarin with his magic rings which can send out icy blasts or blasts of flames, not some pretend figure.

I didn't want my superhero to have panic attacks and other weaknesses. I want my superhero to be top secret, not an open secret.

I wanted to be taken away from my real world into a world of fantasy but I wasn't. Still, I enjoyed the show overall but it wasn't really a superhero show. It was just like any other action movie.

In every adult, there is always a child inside. A child who loves fantasy and magic and whose heart is filled with wonder.