Friday, December 31, 2010

Orientation day for Year 1 2011


Got to the school slightly after 9am to register this guy for Year 1. There are 4 Year 1 classes altogether. Each class has about 40 students. Not so much for an orientation today, just register with the class teacher, picked up some documents to be filled and returned on Monday, paid the fees (RM106), picked up the free textbooks, checked his rumah sukan.. (Rumah Kuning), and went to buy the rumah kuning t-shirts.. pastu balik..

Balik rumah, balut buku with the ready-made book covers bought at the school bookshop.

MONDAY awaits...

Sunday, December 26, 2010

"Nana Cucuk Langit"

Had a great Christmas lunch at Marche yesterday at The Curve... masyaAllah berderet2 orang berature from the LDP nak masuk the Mutiara Damansara area tu... gila! Bila dah dapat masuk parking bay area kat The Curve tu pusing punya pusing ada nak dekat setengah jam kot... baru dapat jumpa parking.. tu pun menyelit in between two cars... nasib baik bawak Kelisa.. hehe the slot memang muat untuk Kelisa and Kancil je.. hehe


Food was not too bad... as always.. altho the prices have gone up.. sekor oyster RM7.50++ apakejadah.. tak beli pun.. we just had kid's meal pasta, roast chicken, baked potato with sour cream, corn, mushroom soup, caesar salad, chilled lemon tea, mineral water.. and vanilla pudding with raspberry jam dessert (yang Rayyan dok tengah habihkan kat gambar atas tu)...

Rayhana was really hungry semalam.. Rayyan dok ajak main slide kat Marche tu pun dia buat dek je.. dok habihkan jagung dia... pastu tu baru dia gi join Rayyan...

Bila masa nak ambik gambar ni dia sebok dok joget cucuk-cucuk atas.. hehe.. kitorang joked whyla dia cucuk-cucuk langit.. haha bila nak amik gambar lagi, macam tu gak pose dia.. sambil berkata-kata... "..Nana cucuk langit!"..

Our "Christmas Day" started with the trip to the 1st KL Children's Book Fair at PWTC. Then, gi The Curve for lunch, before going to the kedai "Professor" at Giant to buy the primary school baju sekolah for Rayyan... RM300+ terbang nak beli baju, seluar, singlet, socks, and kasut & kapur dia...

Haritu beli buku-buku sekolah dia dah terbang about RM250.. tu pun nasib baik all textbooks are to be given free bila class start... kalau tak kena tambah lagi about RM70 kot on the books..

Kalau ada 5 orang anak masuk sekolah camana? Pengsan!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Rayhana & Doa Naik Kenderaan




This video was shot the night we spent at Legends International Waterhomes, Port Dickson... (cool and happening giler tempat ni hehe).. will blog about the 2D/1N break we had there soon..

Masa record video ni, Rayyan was doing his Kumon homework at the desk, Rayhana dok sebok main telefon while me and Ja were resting in bed.. tetiba Rayhana was reciting the doa over and over again non-stop (I think ada nak dekat 20+ kali kot) while playing with the phone... hehe lawak gila.. :)

So I took my trusted BB and recorded this scene...

We didn't teach her this doa. She picked up from Rayyan... after listening to him everytime we go out in the car, on the plane, etc.. mula2 just angkat tangan... then humming.. then ikut few syllables.... and finally she recites the whole doa on her own... :)


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Kumon... why?

Lama tak update blog... loads of stories to tell but tak terlarat pulak nak cerita.. :)

Enrolled Rayyan kat Kumon as soon as he started cuti sekolah.. frankly speaking I never liked the way they teach, but really loved their curriculum. The worksheets, especially Math, is something that I've been longing to get hold of for the sake of my future books that I'm planning to write.

I have worked at Mathnasium Malaysia (US-based, Kumon-like Math learning centre) as their Training Manager. Poorly funded franchise, so lama-kelamaan tak sempat nak expand, the income takleh nak support the overheads, including my salary. I even negotiated that I took half of the pay, and I work half the time... they agreed and that lasted for a year or so... then the owner wanted to let go of the business to some other person and that was the reason I left... although they contacted me back to continue working there full time... by that time dah dapat kerja baru... so have to let go..

Mathnasium worksheets was quite different in their approach. While Kumon focuses on "practice makes perfect", Mathnasium is more like "understand and apply" kinda approach, which kids love. In fact ramai lari from Kumon and masuk Mathnasium and they loved Mathnasium... takde homework and all.. unlike Kumon.. homework berlambak2...

So, why did I enroll Rayyan into Kumon?

1. So that he has something academic to do during the school holidays.
2. The Kumon center is in my office building.. senang je.. gi hantar, I buat kerja, bila dia dah siap, dia call, I go pick him up, and go home.. or if I have more work at the office, I'll let him do his Kumon homework in my office.
3. I want to get hold of Kumon materials for my R&D.. hehe..
4. After Genius Aulad where his friends/classmates were 100% Malay/Muslim, I want to get himself familiarized with people of other races and religions... kita kat Malaysia ni bukan semuorang Melayu and bukan semuanya Islam...
5. I want to instill the sense of having the responsibility to complete his work within a certain set of deadlines. Only 10 minutes of homework per subject per day. So kalau tak ikut timing tu and wait until the last minute baru nak terkocoh2 buat, tu yang jadi berlambak tu.. padahal only 10 mins per day per subject on the days yang takde class. (classes only on Mondays and Thursdays)
6. I want to let him realize that studying is serious, once he starts proper schooling next year. You don't need to excel, you just need to focus. With focus, excellence comes naturally.

So.. itulah intipatinya why I decided to enroll him into Kumon, despite the regimented learning style they are promoting.

After 2 classes, I can actually see his improvement in his focus for Math.. although writing dia sungguhla menunjukkan kemalasan membuat homework.. hahahaha... biarkan.. janji otak berjalan.. hehe

And of course, I also started to enroll Rayyan into the Yamaha Music School.. learning pop piano.
That deserves another entry, I guess :)

“In educating the young we use pleasure and pain as rudders to steer their course.” - Aristotle