There and Back Again

Bedtime Reading In previous posts, I had emphasised my son's iPad habits. I hope I did not give the impression that he gets uncontrolled time on handhelds. On the contrary, I am always displeased about the amount of time he spends on iPads, Xbox and phone. But considering the generation he is in, and the fact that I was a young gamer as well (I started when I was 11, in 1985), I doubt I can stop him. But as I say, controlled moderation is the best. Ever since school had started, he has his iPad time cut down. Now, he is turning increasing to reading. He is reading a kid's version of Hamlet He is the third generation of readers in my family. My father is an avid reader. Even now he reads a lot - which can be very stressful for more. He keeps passing these books to me expecting me to read them. But then, he's retired and u still have a full time job!  My son has proven to be an early reader. I read that this is because he's a late talker. I guess tha...

Happy during recess (taken by another parent) It is the middle of Term One Week four, and I finally believe that Lucas has settled into his new schedule. It has not been easy for us. Week 1 was full of frowns and tears as Lucas refused to let us go. I had mentioned this in an earlier post. He was unhappy with everything - Catholic High, Master Hand (his student care), going to my parents place (this was surprising considering he had been going to my parents' place for the last few years). It was especially traumatic for my wife, who at some point in time was so shaken by the experience that she was thinking of part-time work. I was also thrown off my stride a bit. But I told myself that everything would be alright. Some of the little things we did help, I think. Firstly, we arranged it so that I was the one who walked him in. He tended not to be so emotional around me. So I drove towards Bishan and just before we reached the drop-off point, I switched with my wife so that s...

Win-lose-draw. Note that I am losing. This is a robot. I thought it was Iron Man. A spiderweb He said he screwed up the first 'P'. This is actually Parkway Parade.

Today was the fourth day in school and the first day of following the time table. Today was also the day parents are not encouraged to be around. It was time for both of us to let go, or so we thought. We sent him to school, dropped him off and only picked him up at the end of school. It seemed to be fine at this point in time. Actually we already had a spy. One of the parents was in the school canteen till recess and she provided us with some information - in Catholic High, parents are allowed to stay in the school, but only in the designated area in the canteen. She spotted my son wondering around during the first break (the school practices two additional ten minute breaks together with a 30 minute recess). She said that he looked like he was trying to look for us. He wondered around the canteen, and then the rest of the school. Of course, we were nowhere nearby. He did not look too upset and went back when the break ended. She even praised him for being independent! Little did sh...

Back in November 2015, my wife enrolled my son in this Math school called Concept Math. He has had been in math tuition before, first in Jelic and than in MPM. I thought Jelic was quite good, it featured self-learning activities that combined logic, math, fine motor skills, inference and a host of other skills. But I am not sure about MPM as it is a worksheet based lesson. And if you have been reading my blogs, you will realise that I am not a fan of too many worksheets. The reason why my wife chose Concept Math was because of the recommendations of her friend whose children are currently studying in the school. Not to mention, his good friend is also studying in the same class! I am not sure if he will enjoy the lessons or the teacher, but I am sure he will enjoy the company of his good friend.  I cannot say much about its programme, this being the first day and the fact that I am not a math teacher by trade (in fact, I stopped taking math as a subject after my 'O' lev...

Chirpy at 6.40am The holidays just zoomed by and we are already in the fourth day of 2015. My son has to report to primary school and this being our first time as parents of a primary one kid, we were not really quite sure what to expect, especially my wife. Even a former school teacher like me was not very sure of the entire procedure - the first day of school for secondary one students is probably vastly different from the first day of school for primary school students. Actually, the day started quite well. The journey was smooth and traffic was not that heavy until we reached Bishan, where the school was located. Traffic really slowed down tremendously within the proximity of the school. But I managed to get him and my wife into school on time. For Monday, I have already figured out my strategy to minimise traffic time. When I arrived at the school hall after parking my car, I discovered that my son was already seated in his class and my wife was seated in a circle of ...