It's been over 6 months since the last post. Haha. Thankfully I don't do this for a living. I have been swamped - by work, by school and by just running around being involved in the children's lives.
Work
At the end of September, Cay graduated from my classes as he completed his PSLE Math paper. I am hoping that his results will reflect the amount of hard work the both of us have invested. As I had predicted, I took in a young lady named Cade who started in October, for OG lessons. Although I don't normally take in children at such a young age (Cade is 4y9m), the fact that she is already completing K1 and struggling meant that I felt I had to help her.
I also took on another young man named Yo. Yo is 5y but in K1, and also lagging behind. So that added another 4 hours of lessons to my schedule. Yo came to me in an interesting way. I received a message from an ex-colleague who asked me if I would be able to help a child with mild dyslexia. Not too long after, another friend from FB asked me if I could help a child with "mild dyslexia" as well. Both kids were 5yos and I wondered if they were the same child... what a coincidence. Recommended to the same lady by two non-related friends. :)
In December, I will also start teaching Cay's sister Math - she happens to be good friends with Shannon, and I thought I would include Shannon in the sessions so that I could teach the two of them together. This also allowed me to help Cay's mom out by giving D lessons at a lower price. So come 2015, I will have 5 students coming for class (not counting Shannon) for a total of 11.5 hours a week. Wah.
Studies
It's been non-stop assignments since I started school in April this year... and there is no rest until I hand in my last assignment for the year on Dec 8th. A break until the next lecture in Feb 2015, Yay! But meanwhile, I am going crazy trying to keep up with all the readings and project work and assignments and online quiz thing and so on. It's no joke trying to study amidst being a teacher and a mummy as well... not to mention all the craziness from serving in church as we prepare for the Church's anniversary and then Christmas season! But the studying has been good so far. Surprisingly and thankfully I have been doing decently well. First module bagged me 2 distinctions and a credit - with an overall credit (bummer!). Second module bagged me 2 distincitions. Third module I thought was a goner when I scored only a credit in my first assignment, but then I managed to bring in a high distinction on my second assignment so that pulled me over to an overall distinction. I'm currently on my fourth and fifth modules. As always, I am not confident of myself and these two modules are tough! I am quite unfamiliar with the concepts and it requires a lot of effort to wrap my head around the topics. Ah well. The fourth module also consists of a quiz and a group project.... hopefully we can do well on the group project. We'll see. It's due tomorrow and we aren't even finished yet. Fun.
The offspring
The two older ones are now off school, much to the chagrin of the youngest who is still laden with 2 more papers over the next two days. The older two have done sort of kind of well in their exams... they are both in the top 7 in their classes, but this despite not clearing all his subjects, in the young man's case. I can't imagine what his classmates reports look like. Stacey was awarded the "Model Learner Award" and she deserves it. No tuition - all entirely her and her teachers working together, despite her Dyslexia... she managed to come in third in her class. So proud of her. And she even cleared all her subjects - including things like humanities and literature! She did well in her strengths which were Math and Art, so that was great.
Had a bit of an issue with the Form Teacher of the youngest. Despite making known her special needs early in the year, and despite having seen that she cannot "treat her like all the other girls" at mid-year and my telling her to inform me as soon as something went wrong, history repeated itself two weeks before the exams and I had to bring it all up again. Sigh. I really hope and pray that hse will no longer be her teacher next year. Hopefully, in the crucial P5 and P6 years she will have a supportive teacher who understands that she has special needs and needs to be supported differently. The toughest thing about Shannon is that she looks so "normal" - as such, teachers find it hard to wrap their head around the fact that they need to see past that, because Shannon is so bright she has developed coping strategies to avoid the things that cause her distress, but this means that she ends up avoiding the work that she is not feeling confident in either. Argh.
Year End Holidays
...bring with them mayhem. With birthdays galore and Shannon due to have her big birthday bash, I am simultaneously dealing with all of the above and also organizing a party at the same time. Ah well. They only get one big party in their childhood, at age 9 or 10, so okay la. The rest of the time we celebrate simply with just the extended family (which isn't very big) eating out at a restaurant or having a small cake at home with grandparents and cousins. Year end also means buying books and uniforms for the new year... and this year, it also means preparing Stacey for her trip abroad in the first two weeks of next year as she goes to Oz to attend a ballet summer school - wah, dream come true for her. She has put so much effort and has so much passion for her dance that we think she deserves the opportunity to go. An invitation to attend something like that doesn't come by easily.
So yes, exciting times ahead... and extremely busy and expensive times ahead too. And at times like these, when the money that comes into my bank seems to go right out again, I wonder if I am charging too little when others are charging a good 3 or more times more than me. Then I remember that it is my desire to have the lessons within reach of the average family and not to have them only for the rich and loaded... and I know the Lord will provide all that my family needs... as He always has.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Closing the Gap
Not bad, 17 days since the last post... thus the title. Haha.
At this very moment, a brand new part time cleaner is at the house... she's the I-don't-know-how-many-th cleaner I have had... but the last one that I had left the country suddenly in November last year, leaving me cleaner-less until now. The lady that appeared today seems nice enough... a local who doesn't seem to be afraid of hard work. She's smiley and pleasant and that makes a difference.
The March holidays came and went... it brought with it some much needed rain, although that put a damper on some of our activities, but it was a welcome respite from the two months of hot and dry weather that we had. The holidays were packed chock full with activities... some dictated by us, others were just part and parcel of their classes. We had to fit in two ballet examinations - Grade 3 for Shannon and Grade 6 for Stacey - besides choir practices for Shannon, the usual enrichment classes and my tuition classes as well. I managed to clear two days so that we could have our day out at the Science Center... but we still had to rush home for classes that took place in the evening. The highlight of the week for me was Friday when hubby took the boy out for a bonding day with him (they ended up in Sentosa riding the Luge over and over and over and over and over again, besides catching a movie and doing other equally boy things together), while the girls and I spent the day together - starting out with choir practice then lunch then an eye exam for Shannon whose health check at school came back with a startling 6/48 vision reported in her "bad eye" without glasses! So on the recommendation of a friend, we went to see a proper eye doctor, just to determine that there was nothing to be concerned about, and we go back in 6 months to determine the rate of progression in her bad eye. Having said that, her first pair of specs was made 15mths ago back in December 2012, and it was 125 degrees in one eye. Now, it's gone up to 175 - 50 degrees up in 15 months is considered mild I believe... but she's also developed astigmatism... not surprising since I have it too. Yet at the same time, her other eye has perfect sight. Really weird. On Saturday we had a pleasantly free day so we made a trip to our optician to get her specs done. At first she was reluctant to change her glasses because she felt she looked good in the one she had... but agreed to at least try some other frames. After trying on the many many many frames offered by the shop, she finally settled on one that looked very very similar to the pair I have. I'm not sure if it was deliberate, or she just found the familiarity comforting and safe.
In order to protect her eyes, I splurged and got her Transition lenses so that in the sun, her eyes would get better protection from the UV rays.
But I digress. So on Friday after the eye exam, we walked around and the girls kept trying to guess what the surprise I had in store for them was. It was only at dinner time, about an hour before the show that I finally revealed to them that I would be taking them to watch Disney on Ice. It was such a thrill to see their expressions as they took in this revelation! Haha.
We quite enjoyed ourselves at the show except that we were seated right in the first row and was blocked somewhat by the railings in front of us. In future, if I book tickets at the indoor stadium again, I will book a couple rows back so that we have an unobstructed view of the stage. The girls were thrilled by the ice-skating as well as all the characters that appeared, though I think they were a tad disappointed when Elsa and Ana from Frozen didn't make an appearance. I particularly enjoyed the scene from Alice in Wonderland - I thought the playing cards were so awesome, and liked that their costumes are made to look "double-sided"... they had faces both on the front and back of their costumes, and even their shoes were symmetrical back to front... though you could tell from the way their knees bent when they skated which way they were really facing, even when they were skating backwards.
So all too quickly, the march holidays have come and gone. We are back to the routine (which I love) of school and classes and tuition-giving and cell group and so on. Exciting events to come are Stacey's enrolment service with the Girls' Brigade, Shannon's many outings with her school, in particular the one to the Road Safety Park which she has been anticipating for years since her siblings got to go a few years back...
In 18 days' time I will attend my first series of lectures as part of my Degree in Education (Special Ed) and I'm really excited about it. I hope that I won't come to regret doing it because I am starting to get a little nervous about being able to complete the readings and assignments with my schedule and commitments... but since I have planned my year with this in mind, it won't be too disruptive. I pray that the lessons won't coincide with any of the children's important events... and that things will work out when I eventually have to do my attachment thing... I wonder if they will let me be attached to Shannon's school as that will allow be logistically easier... but I think we have to do attachment in a SPED school. Not sure but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. :) A friend told me that I might be able to get exemption from having to do the first practicum because I have experience as a teacher... so that might help. :)
At this very moment, a brand new part time cleaner is at the house... she's the I-don't-know-how-many-th cleaner I have had... but the last one that I had left the country suddenly in November last year, leaving me cleaner-less until now. The lady that appeared today seems nice enough... a local who doesn't seem to be afraid of hard work. She's smiley and pleasant and that makes a difference.
The March holidays came and went... it brought with it some much needed rain, although that put a damper on some of our activities, but it was a welcome respite from the two months of hot and dry weather that we had. The holidays were packed chock full with activities... some dictated by us, others were just part and parcel of their classes. We had to fit in two ballet examinations - Grade 3 for Shannon and Grade 6 for Stacey - besides choir practices for Shannon, the usual enrichment classes and my tuition classes as well. I managed to clear two days so that we could have our day out at the Science Center... but we still had to rush home for classes that took place in the evening. The highlight of the week for me was Friday when hubby took the boy out for a bonding day with him (they ended up in Sentosa riding the Luge over and over and over and over and over again, besides catching a movie and doing other equally boy things together), while the girls and I spent the day together - starting out with choir practice then lunch then an eye exam for Shannon whose health check at school came back with a startling 6/48 vision reported in her "bad eye" without glasses! So on the recommendation of a friend, we went to see a proper eye doctor, just to determine that there was nothing to be concerned about, and we go back in 6 months to determine the rate of progression in her bad eye. Having said that, her first pair of specs was made 15mths ago back in December 2012, and it was 125 degrees in one eye. Now, it's gone up to 175 - 50 degrees up in 15 months is considered mild I believe... but she's also developed astigmatism... not surprising since I have it too. Yet at the same time, her other eye has perfect sight. Really weird. On Saturday we had a pleasantly free day so we made a trip to our optician to get her specs done. At first she was reluctant to change her glasses because she felt she looked good in the one she had... but agreed to at least try some other frames. After trying on the many many many frames offered by the shop, she finally settled on one that looked very very similar to the pair I have. I'm not sure if it was deliberate, or she just found the familiarity comforting and safe.
In order to protect her eyes, I splurged and got her Transition lenses so that in the sun, her eyes would get better protection from the UV rays.
But I digress. So on Friday after the eye exam, we walked around and the girls kept trying to guess what the surprise I had in store for them was. It was only at dinner time, about an hour before the show that I finally revealed to them that I would be taking them to watch Disney on Ice. It was such a thrill to see their expressions as they took in this revelation! Haha.
We quite enjoyed ourselves at the show except that we were seated right in the first row and was blocked somewhat by the railings in front of us. In future, if I book tickets at the indoor stadium again, I will book a couple rows back so that we have an unobstructed view of the stage. The girls were thrilled by the ice-skating as well as all the characters that appeared, though I think they were a tad disappointed when Elsa and Ana from Frozen didn't make an appearance. I particularly enjoyed the scene from Alice in Wonderland - I thought the playing cards were so awesome, and liked that their costumes are made to look "double-sided"... they had faces both on the front and back of their costumes, and even their shoes were symmetrical back to front... though you could tell from the way their knees bent when they skated which way they were really facing, even when they were skating backwards.
So all too quickly, the march holidays have come and gone. We are back to the routine (which I love) of school and classes and tuition-giving and cell group and so on. Exciting events to come are Stacey's enrolment service with the Girls' Brigade, Shannon's many outings with her school, in particular the one to the Road Safety Park which she has been anticipating for years since her siblings got to go a few years back...
In 18 days' time I will attend my first series of lectures as part of my Degree in Education (Special Ed) and I'm really excited about it. I hope that I won't come to regret doing it because I am starting to get a little nervous about being able to complete the readings and assignments with my schedule and commitments... but since I have planned my year with this in mind, it won't be too disruptive. I pray that the lessons won't coincide with any of the children's important events... and that things will work out when I eventually have to do my attachment thing... I wonder if they will let me be attached to Shannon's school as that will allow be logistically easier... but I think we have to do attachment in a SPED school. Not sure but we will cross that bridge when we get to it. :) A friend told me that I might be able to get exemption from having to do the first practicum because I have experience as a teacher... so that might help. :)
Saturday, March 08, 2014
Alamak, sorry la....
My last post was in December... approximately 3 months ago, declaring that I was going to try and write 1,000 words a day.... riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.....
This is my first post for the year... and the main reason for my lack of posting is that I have since switched to using a Note 3 instead of my trusty iPhone and iPad (though the latter does get used sometimes...) and that's where I had been trying to blog from since I don't actually sit down in front of the computer much these days.
So what has changed? Well, Stacey is now in Secondary School and thankfully seems to be happy where she is. Because she was posted back to her affiliated Secondary School, it means that she is more or less surrounded by familiar people who are used to her irlen lenses and so on. She's also since joined the Girls' Brigade, something I am really very happy about. We didn't want her to join Dance though I am sure she would have enjoyed it and the school would have been happier, but since school is now so far away, and she already dances more hours in a week than I can count with one hand, I didn't really think she would be wanting to spend more hours dancing and potentially over-tiring herself to the point of exhaustion or injury.
Zach continues on to Secondary Two this year... and things are pretty much the same except for one detail... he was the only one from his Sec One class to be moved to a different class. This caused some grief and problems... but after about 6 weeks of monitoring the situation, I had to intervene and this week will be his final week in this class. As of next term, he returns to the class that he was with in Sec One (minus the boys who had been taken out to form a class for the ones good in Math).
Shannon continues on to Primary Four this year... and as of yesterday as become a full-fledged prefect - finally! We held off buying new white school shoes at the beginning of the year because we knew she would need to switch to black school shoes upon confirmation as a prefect... but in the last few weeks, her shoes had started to fall apart... about two weeks ago I emailed her Prefect Mistress to find out when she would be confirmed, and explained the situation with the shoes. Much to my amusement, after telling us to hold off and tahan a bit longer, she said cheekily "ask her to walk lightly"... haha... This weekend we go get black shoes! Yeah!
On my end of things, while the chauffeuring duties ease up a little with the two older ones moving around on their own mostly (although they had already been moving around independently for many things already since about two years ago or so...), the schedule has started filling up again... this time with tuition - mine. Last year I took in little Cloud sometime in March... only to take on Cay sometime in April as well... and in Nov last year, I also took on little Bex. Between the three of them, I give 7.5 hours of tuition a week. Cloud is the only one who sees me for OG lessons, and all three are doing Math with me. By early Oct this year, Cay will be done with his PSLE and I will drop him from my schedule... knowing me, I would have taken one someone new by then. I have also just received the Offer Letter for my second degree... and I have sent out my Acceptance Form... now waiting to be notified so that I can pay my first module's fees and be on my way to becoming a student again for the next two years. I'm really really excited about the course although I am sure many times over the next two years you will hear me wondering whatever possessed me to take it on and whining about finishing assignments and so on (if not here then on FB, haha) but I know it will be worth it in the long run. I have so much to learn about Special Needs and Learning Differences. I hope that with this equipping I will be able to help more children with greater confidence, and greater insight on how to provide support and scaffolding to help them cope with their challenges. I start sooner than I expected... and my journey begins with a full day of lectures from 9.30am to 5pm on a Saturday in mid-April.
Although I left my name with Stacey's Secondary School to be involved in a group for parents with girls with LDs, I have heard nothing as yet. I'm not active anymore in the Secondary Schools and my Volunteering has so far been limited to the Primary School. With the choir preparing for SYF this April, it's going to be a very busy few months for me but I am looking forward to it all. Now, if only I can get a reliable Part Time Helper, my life would be easier. Oh, that and when mom finally moves and settles into her permanent new place... but I think that will take some time yet. I can already tell that 2014 is going to be a super busy and packed year.
(Word count: 902)... Another 100 words to go... on a non Twinkle note, I just booked the whole family tickets to the last Budak Pantai Concert ever... my favourite acapella group is retiring... *sob* of course you might say I am biased because one of them is married to my friend but still... and it will be the first time our children are attending one of their concerts... I wish it didn't also have to be their last, but ah well... I'm so looking forward to that! If you've never heard them, just Youtube them, and you'll find yourself wanting to hear them live! Quick! Go and book yourselves some tickets before they are all gone (as it is the good ones are almost all gone.... )
This is my first post for the year... and the main reason for my lack of posting is that I have since switched to using a Note 3 instead of my trusty iPhone and iPad (though the latter does get used sometimes...) and that's where I had been trying to blog from since I don't actually sit down in front of the computer much these days.
So what has changed? Well, Stacey is now in Secondary School and thankfully seems to be happy where she is. Because she was posted back to her affiliated Secondary School, it means that she is more or less surrounded by familiar people who are used to her irlen lenses and so on. She's also since joined the Girls' Brigade, something I am really very happy about. We didn't want her to join Dance though I am sure she would have enjoyed it and the school would have been happier, but since school is now so far away, and she already dances more hours in a week than I can count with one hand, I didn't really think she would be wanting to spend more hours dancing and potentially over-tiring herself to the point of exhaustion or injury.
Zach continues on to Secondary Two this year... and things are pretty much the same except for one detail... he was the only one from his Sec One class to be moved to a different class. This caused some grief and problems... but after about 6 weeks of monitoring the situation, I had to intervene and this week will be his final week in this class. As of next term, he returns to the class that he was with in Sec One (minus the boys who had been taken out to form a class for the ones good in Math).
Shannon continues on to Primary Four this year... and as of yesterday as become a full-fledged prefect - finally! We held off buying new white school shoes at the beginning of the year because we knew she would need to switch to black school shoes upon confirmation as a prefect... but in the last few weeks, her shoes had started to fall apart... about two weeks ago I emailed her Prefect Mistress to find out when she would be confirmed, and explained the situation with the shoes. Much to my amusement, after telling us to hold off and tahan a bit longer, she said cheekily "ask her to walk lightly"... haha... This weekend we go get black shoes! Yeah!
On my end of things, while the chauffeuring duties ease up a little with the two older ones moving around on their own mostly (although they had already been moving around independently for many things already since about two years ago or so...), the schedule has started filling up again... this time with tuition - mine. Last year I took in little Cloud sometime in March... only to take on Cay sometime in April as well... and in Nov last year, I also took on little Bex. Between the three of them, I give 7.5 hours of tuition a week. Cloud is the only one who sees me for OG lessons, and all three are doing Math with me. By early Oct this year, Cay will be done with his PSLE and I will drop him from my schedule... knowing me, I would have taken one someone new by then. I have also just received the Offer Letter for my second degree... and I have sent out my Acceptance Form... now waiting to be notified so that I can pay my first module's fees and be on my way to becoming a student again for the next two years. I'm really really excited about the course although I am sure many times over the next two years you will hear me wondering whatever possessed me to take it on and whining about finishing assignments and so on (if not here then on FB, haha) but I know it will be worth it in the long run. I have so much to learn about Special Needs and Learning Differences. I hope that with this equipping I will be able to help more children with greater confidence, and greater insight on how to provide support and scaffolding to help them cope with their challenges. I start sooner than I expected... and my journey begins with a full day of lectures from 9.30am to 5pm on a Saturday in mid-April.
Although I left my name with Stacey's Secondary School to be involved in a group for parents with girls with LDs, I have heard nothing as yet. I'm not active anymore in the Secondary Schools and my Volunteering has so far been limited to the Primary School. With the choir preparing for SYF this April, it's going to be a very busy few months for me but I am looking forward to it all. Now, if only I can get a reliable Part Time Helper, my life would be easier. Oh, that and when mom finally moves and settles into her permanent new place... but I think that will take some time yet. I can already tell that 2014 is going to be a super busy and packed year.
(Word count: 902)... Another 100 words to go... on a non Twinkle note, I just booked the whole family tickets to the last Budak Pantai Concert ever... my favourite acapella group is retiring... *sob* of course you might say I am biased because one of them is married to my friend but still... and it will be the first time our children are attending one of their concerts... I wish it didn't also have to be their last, but ah well... I'm so looking forward to that! If you've never heard them, just Youtube them, and you'll find yourself wanting to hear them live! Quick! Go and book yourselves some tickets before they are all gone (as it is the good ones are almost all gone.... )
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