Am I brave enough?

Am I brave enough to homeschool my children? Am I patient enough? I am exploring all options before deciding on one.

As I've posted previously, I know next to nothing about homeschooling. However, I have gotten in touch with someone in Malaysia who runs a homeschooling website. At this point, I still know very little but hopefully will gather more knowledge to make an educated decision.

Let me give an insight to what I daydream about...

For my children to have fun learning and learning is beyond the classroom. Instead of learning flora and fauna from books, to actually be outdoors touching and smelling to learn. To learn about life cycle of an insect, to observe a caterpillar morphing to a butterfly in our own backyard. To visit science centre to explore, to do experiments at home and to gather information together.

All that is fine and good except, we don't have a science centre which is fun or equipped for such excursion. I do not have a backyard where butterflies will lay eggs. I suppose there are ways and means. My main concern is really the onus of teaching of my children will be on me. Am I good enough? Qualified enough? Patient enough?

Opposition leader not allowed to attend her former school's function

This is absolutely ridiculous! Hannah Yeoh, ADUN Subang Jaya have been banned from attending a Prefects' Reunion of her former school because she is an assemblyman from Pakatan Rakyat. Read here.

What is Malaysian schools coming to?

Laura's homework weekend 21-22 Jun

BM - Master Penulisan Bahasa Melayu Pages 4 - 7
Jumbled words to be reconstructed into sentences. I have a beef with this. How to reconstruct sentences when the child doesn't know how to construct in the first place?

Chinese 3M hua bao (magazine)
This is what Laura's teacher deem as fun homework. The magazine covers Chinese, Moral, BM, English and Maths in two languages. We used to struggle with this until Laura discovers she doesn't have to do the whole book. And it's ok not to do as her teacher will go through the questions with them.

Mathematics in English Activity Book Pages 6, 8, 9
This is one of the workbooks that are fun. Calculate and solve puzzles.

Isn't it bizarre that there are less homework in the weekends? I shouldn't complain 'coz at least Laura had time to spend with the family.

Last Saturday, parents were to meet the teachers and pick up their children's report card. Laura's teacher said she did pretty well considering she's from an English speaking family. Now, if my teachers had thought like that when I was in primary school, my command of the English would have been next to zero. My father used to work late and my mother was educated in the Chinese medium until she was 9 years old.

I am very proud of my little girl as she got all A's and B's, average mark 87%. Position in class 24/46, in standard 50/218. Goes to show Laura is a smart little girl. If only there was less punishment and more positive reinforcement in school, my daughter would shine!

Homeschooling

What is homeschooling? I've heard this buzzword for some time and it's usually linked to Christian groups. I have nothing against Christianity but I am wary of overzealous people out to convert all and sundry, whatever the religion. I will like to keep an open mind on religion, let my children learn all they can learn of different religions so they can make an educated choice in the future. So, having over enthusiastic people on one religion around will make clouded judgement in the future. I digress.... What is homeschooling?

This is the limited view I have of homeschooling.

1. The onus on educating my children will be on me, sitting one to one with them.

2. Children who are homeschooled miss out on interacting with other children from all walks of life. Limiting their chances to learn social skills as well as dealing with trials and tribulations of childhood.

3. I will be breaking the law as children are required to complete Std 6 education in school.

4. Homeschooling centres are usually run by church groups, which I am ok with as long as they do not try to "convert" my children.

5. There is negative connotation to homeschooling. Kids who are homeschooled are square.

These are what I can think of offhand. From what I read here. This paragraph caught my eye:

To homeschool is to take responsibility of your child/ren�s learning because parents want to assume a bigger role in the education of their children. We want children to learn naturally � meaning, that they are able to use their naturally inquisitive and full of wonder kind of minds to explore and learn about the world around them. To do this, parents must view and value their children with love and respect and trust them to learn with all their physical as well as mental senses. We must give them space to express themselves through movements, art, music, songs and poems, whichever that attracts them most. We must allow them to speak their minds and say what is in their hearts.

What I want for my children but is homeschooling an option? I don't know enough to make that decision. Where can I find more information? Who can I talk to? That's what I'm going to find out.

Link on corporate punishment and discipline in school

When I was searching for information on education in Malaysia, I stumbled upon this link. These are articles in the newspaper from 1998 regarding corporate punishment and discipline (or lack of) of students in school nowadays. Interesting read!

School issues again...

This subject has come up again. My poor little girl is trying so hard to do well and please her teacher but her school culture seems to be concentrating on putting fear on the children. Children are given a whole book of "Holiday Homework" to do during the 2-weeks school holidays. One boy didn't know how to do one page (something which his teacher hadn't taught), he was caned by his teacher. His mom went to school to see the teacher. His teacher admitted to not having taught the page in question, briefly went through the page with the boy and gave mother and son permission to go to the canteen to complete the homework. Vice Principal comes along and scolded the mother for not knowing that he should be in the assembly hall. This was 1/2 hour before school officially starts. Children are required to gather at the assembly hall from 12.30pm - 1.00pm. Said something to the effect, "Been 6 months of school already, how can you as a mother not know?" To talk down to a mother in front of her child is a definite no no!

Children are penalized by teachers and branded "lazy" and "stupid" if they do not know how to answer questions or miss out on doing homework. These children are so bogged down with homework, I have a tough time keeping up with what needs to be done!

Laura gets home every day about 7.15pm, dinner and shower and starts homework about 8.15pm. She doesn't finish till 11.00pm, sometimes midnight. So fatigued already, how to concentrate? Weekend homework is ridiculous. When are the children supposed to have time with the parents? Time to play? This weekend, this was what Laura had to do for homework - construct sentences in Mandarin, hanyu pinyin, copy a page from her Mandarin textbook, counting number of strokes and recognizing the radicals, Maths in Chinese, Maths in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Pemahaman in BM and Moral. Her birthday party was scheduled for Saturday, so she wanted to finish all her homework on Friday after school so she can have the whole weekend free to play. Laura stayed up till midnight on Friday and she could not finish. This morning, to have time to play the rest of the weekend 'coz we have house guests, she finished the rest of her homework.

I myself have not been the most patient with her. I feel really bad about it. Not having been educated at a Chinese school, my knowledge of Mandarin is very limited, not up to the standards of a Std 2 student. Laura will like me to sit with her to do her homework, helping her look up words in the dictionary, etc. Evening is also the time when I usually work on cakes, as day time is spent running errands and picking kids up from school. If Laura finishes close to midnight, that's when I start my work on cakes and I do not get to bed till 3-4am sometimes. Sleeping late is really putting a strain on me and I am such a grump when I do not have enough sleep. My children suffer, PT suffers and our helper suffers my wrath too.

I see my daughter changing. She has been forced to grow up faster than she should. At 8-years-old, she should still have the "Wow!" factor in her. To be curious and amazed by what's around her and the world around her. Laura should have time to daydream and read what she wants to read.

My daughter used to be a confident, outspoken little girl. At 3 years old, she told off some 6-7 year-old-girls for being rude to her at the playground. I was so proud of her for standing up for herself. However, that quality is frowned upon in her school. They are supposed to listen, sit down and shut up.

Private schools like Sri KL, Sri Cempaka or Sri Garden are not options for me. Also, I feel cheated having to pay almost RM10,000 a year in fees to learn the Malaysian school syllabus. RM10k is only fees for lower primary, have not taken into consideration the deposit, material fees, extra-curricular activities, uniform, etc. OUCH!!

Laura is also feeling a little left out in school. She has been raised by us to be affectionate and has always talked like a little adult. I don't think she can really relate to her friends in school.

Anyone know what Convent Bukit Nanas is like? Or Stella Maris? Does St Mary have a primary school? Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Sek Men St Mary and met the principal. I am very impressed with Miss Goh, the school principal. Miss Goh is a principal who cares about the students under her care and it shows. Unfortunately, the school is too far from my home.

I am desperate! I need to find a good school to transfer my daughter to and eventually for Adam to start school in before my children lose their innocence and drive.

Science for Std 2 Challenge - Answer

Thank you for replying to the challenge. Here are the answers I got:

Kat:
Pix1 (left) matches with Pix2 (right)
2 = 4
3 = 1
4 = 3

I like Don's argument, so I will put it here:
Eat too much, you put on weight (1=2)

Don't eat at all, you end up skinny with sunken cheeks (2=4) -- though they should have drawn him looking a bit more cadaverous, IMHO.

Skip your veggies, you end up with constipation (3=1), though frankly they should have drawn the kid straining on the loo to make this clearer.

Prance about abstaining from a good, stiff drink after a good curry masala with sambal on the side on a hot, sunny day and you end up mugging someone and stealing their bag desperately looking for a drink while flapping your hand in front of your face to cool down your tongue, all in all looking like a loon (4=3).

Seriously though, what other possible conclusions could Laura have come to?! Given the scant clues provided by the artwork, those are the most logical choices. Kudos to her for figuring it out, considering the poor cartooning/art direction/editing of the book.

Sasha:
1 = 2
2 = 4
3 = 3
4 = 1

I so agree with Don. The answer can be anything! Here's the teacher's explanation and what she insists is the optimum answer:

1. Eat too much = become fat (Pic 2)

2. Picky eater/don't eat = become weak (Pic 3). Gee, and we all thought Pic 3 depicted someone who was constipated/feeling hot/bratty.

3. Don't eat veg = become skinny (Pic 4). This I do not agree with the teacher. If Pic 2 is picky eater, picky eater will also become skinny right?

4. Don't drink water = fall sick (Pic 1). Not Pic 3? Body heats up and can't deal with the heat?



As Don pointed out, the illustration is so badly done, it is difficult to say which is THE answer for which. Can be anything right? So I really do not think the teacher should have marked Laura's answers as wrong. I asked Laura's teacher if questions like this will appear in the test paper and she refused to confirm or say no. Even have the cheek to tell me it's quite alright to get it wrong in the workbook. As long as Laura learns to identify what is the optimum answer. How to reply to that??

Science for Std 2 - a challenge

This is a page from my daughter's std 2 science book. Match the picture on the left to the right. See if you can get the answers right.



I will like to know what answers I will get.

What I remember about primary school...

Playing with my friends before school, during recess and after school. Waking up when the sky was still dark, the air was chilly and fireflies darting about. Yes, fireflies in PJ! We didn't have to drive all the way to Kuala Selangor and jump on a boat to watch fire flies in the 70's!

We played Rounders, hop scotch, five stones and jump rope before school. Nobody told us off for being noisy. At recess, we wolfed down our food so we could have more time to play some more.

When waiting for the school bus, my friends and I would play "Catching" which always involve jumping across the drain. I usually got caught because I was too chicken shit to jump across. I remember my teacher Miss Angela Wong who taught us well, who was firm yet loving. She was concerned about us, made sure we understood what was taught even though there was almost 50 of us. I remember a little fold up cabinet which was opened once a week so we could borrow books to read. After Std 3, once a week we went to a small room filled with books and we could borrow any books we want. I learned later that that was the school library of sorts. I borrowed books by Enid Blyton. Started with Blue Dragon books, slowly moved to Green Dragon and finally Red Dragon. Read all about the Famous Five, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I looked forward to the day we could borrow books. I can't remember now which day it was when we could borrow books. It could have been a Friday.

At home, I hardly had any homework. That was usually dealt with pretty quickly so I could watch TV when transmission started at 5pm. Yes, this was before cable TV and TV broadcast wasn't 24 hours. Heck, this was before colour TV.

33 years later and my daughter is in primary school. Her school days are so different from mine. Her school is situated on one of the busiest road in KL, so no chance to play outside the school compound for sure. Girls her age have been kidnapped, are still missing or murdered so playing outside the school without supervision is not an option!

A schoolmate's mom and I carpool with our kids. Why not put her on a school bus? Just today, a motorcyclist squeezed between a parked lorry and my car which was on the left lane. Needless to say, he scratched my car! With the number of cars on the road and the reckless way people drive, put my kids on a bus where they are not secured with any seat belt? I love my children too much to put them through that risk!

A typical day in my daughter's school day...

Arrive in school and straight away they are to get themselves upstairs to the school hall to be lined up with their class. The time between arrival and the start of school, they are taught to sing by their vice principal and they recite classics. Sometimes, they watch cartoon on TV. They are not allowed to run around or make too much noise as the morning session is still on.

Time to start school, they proceed to their classes in an orderly manner. They settle in and lesson starts. Maths and Science taught in English and Mandarin. Bahasa Melayu to learn and workbooks to do. English as a subject twice a week. Moral in Mandarin. Two to three workbooks per subject. Physical Education textbook and workbook to go through. Textbook and workbook for PE???! WTF! PE meant going to the field and being outdoors when I was in primary school!

Every kid look forward to recess right? Recess time in Laura's school... Children go straight to the school canteen and are expected to stay there the entire time. There isn't much of a field to play in in the first place. If the entire Std 1 and Std 2 population were to converge at the field, they will all be standing shoulder to shoulder. Hey, just like being in the assembly hall!

Poor Laura is swamped with homework. Something is terribly wrong with our education system when 8-year-olds go to school for 5 1/2 hours each day and still have to sit through 5-8 homework each day! A neighbour of ours also send her daughter to the same school. E is in Std 5. When we bumped into her the other day, she told Laura, "You're lucky to be in Std 2. You only have maximum 8 homework a day. In Std 5, I have 10 homework on average". She had just gotten back from 2 tuition back to back. It was 7.00pm (E goes to the morning session) and she was still in her school uniform and hadn't started on her homework. What time does she go to bed?

My little girl has always had an early bedtime. Latest to bed 8.30pm. She's a growing girl so she needs her sleep. Since starting school, she's not had the chance to sleep early. Back home by 7.10pm, shower then dinner. By the time she finishes dinner, it's almost 8.30pm. She has to deal with homework. Plough through 5-8 homework, she's in bed by 10.30pm if she's lucky. The next morning, she's up by 8am so she can attend classes in Bao Bei. Laura doesn't attend any tuition class, only Bao Bei. She loves going to Bao Bei as children learn Mandarin in a fun way.

By the time Laura is done with homework, her eyes are half closed. She is exhausted. Dark circle under her eyes. No chance to unwind, no chance for some catch up time with her family, she is off to bed and falls asleep straight away.

Someone please remind me. What's the purpose of homework? My definition of homework is school work that can't be completed in time in school. Homework is a way to revise what was taught in school so that the students understand what they are taught. How is a 7+-year-old supposed to be able to concentrate on homework after having been in school for 5 1/2 hours? Can anyone sustain concentration for so long, whatever age they are?

What is the purpose of workbooks? Why is there such an emphasis on workbooks? One workbook per subject not good enough? Why the need for 2-3 workbooks? After Year 1, students who excel are placed in the first two classes. Laura made it to one of these two classes. I was actually hoping she wouldn't! I knew it would mean extra pressure on her and MORE WORKBOOKS! sigh

Laura was struggling with her homework 'coz she didn't understand what she was supposed to do. I helped her whenever I could by going through dictionary with her and guiding her but I get stumped too as I did not learn Mandarin in school. Several times I told her to ask her teacher the next day. She said she won't 'coz her teacher won't answer her questions, in fact will scold her for asking. A teacher who does not encourage her students to ask when they do not understand? Hmmm... Maybe something got lost in translation. After all, my daughter is 7 1/2 and may not convey fully what the teacher said or she chose the wrong time to ask. When I had a word with the teacher, I asked if Laura asked when she doesn't understand. Her teacher launched into a long explanation on her style of teaching.

She DOES NOT encourage her students to ask questions. There are 46 students in her class, so if everyone of them came up to her personally to ask questions, she does not have time to do much else. When she's teaching, her students are expected to give 100% attention and understand. Then they're given homework to do.

Hello, Ms Teacher. As you said, there are 46 students in your class. Do you expect every single one of them to be at the same level of understanding? They are 7-8 year olds and they are expected to pay full attention and be able to understand every single thing you teach? Wouldn't it be better if the students asked you questions so they learn better? They ask you questions so you can gauge how much you've taught is understood.

Laura has been known to wake up crying in the morning because she thought she had missed out on some homework. Any homework not done will result in marks deducted from her moral exams. Any students who skip school without a valid reason or MC will also have marks deducted. The teachers wield canes at the assembly hall to get the children to behave. The children are taught to fear their teachers. To do their homework or face punishment. Sit down, listen and shut up! That's the message being put across to these children. My daughter told me she's happy 'coz it's "the 5th day her teacher hadn't scolded her". Aiyooo!

I am very frustrated with the education system at the moment. Frustrated with how the children are so bogged down with homework they do not have time to be children. Frustrated at how Laura gets so stressed out when she thinks she's forgotten to do her homework. Frustrated that children's enthusiasm for learning is getting systematically squashed and replaced with learning through fear. Frustrated with the way languages is taught. That's another post! So much emphasis on passing examinations. I constantly remind Laura that examination is a way for the teachers to access how much the students understood what had been taught so far. Do the teachers and the school remember that?

From a Std 2 BM workbook

I want to know who approves the content of textbooks for our schools? Laura needed help with her homework today and this was the page from her Bahasa Malaysia (or is it called Bahasa Melayu now? I can't keep up!) workbook.



I am disturbed by this. At an age when the children should be increasing their BM vocabulary and reading interesting stories to better their understanding, they are getting questions like these? The book is teaching the children to look at their fellow countrymen differently? Very obvious that whoever wrote this activity book is very narrow minded and are teaching the children to be so.

Growing up

My little girl is growing up fast! Laura has just started Std 1 this year. Where has the little baby gone to? Today, she came back with a puncture on each arm. Enoculation in her school, follow up of BCG and I don't know what's the other one! She was very pleased to have shared that experience with the rest of her schoolmates.

I remember going through that when I was in Std 1. We all queued up to wait our turn with the nurse. Some girls cried. Most girls chatted until it was their turn. I remember feeling a little scared as I approached the nurse. A little pin prick which was more like an insect bite and it was over.

Sure we could have taken Laura to see her paediatrician to get that done but then she wouldn't have had that experience in school :D