Our P6 Journey - March

The school's Chinese teacher has given Caden's class so much work that we saw him spending most of his time on Chinese the last 2 weeks. Although there were some good resources provided but we have some concerns now that he can't spare any time to work on other subjects if this goes on (which I believe will get more intensive).

In the past few weeks, Caden slept near 10 plus pm each night, which is an hour later than the children's usual bedtime. Part of the reason was that he has so many stuff he'll rather do before starting on his homework:

1) playing soccer in the evening

2) watching tv shows

3) playing his rubik's cube

4) reading his storybook (which is done after items 1 to 3 have been completed)

Recently I sat down with him after school and list down all his to-do homework items on the whiteboard and made him estimate the time needed for each assignment. Indirectly I am hoping to inculcate the importance of time management. With this approach he realises how little time he has from late afternoon to his bedtime and helps him to prioritise and forgo some of his personal activities if need be.

We have been talking about how much more effort we need to put in for his English (he is still insistent on not going for tuition, so I will have to support his decision) and get him to set aside some time for this subject before it deteriorates further. At this point, we are still taking BABY steps on getting the momentum build up leading to his first major exam. I hope he will step up and spend more time on his weaker subjects soon.

Caden's Piano Recital - 18 March 2017

Teacher Jasmin organized a piano recital for her students on 18th March. It was meant to be held sometime last December but I supposed quite a number of us were out of town during the school holiday and Christmas season so she had to postpone to this March holidays. 

Venue was held at some piano academy in Bras Basah (near Manulife Centre), it was a cosy place which could accommodate most of the parents and grandparents for some who bought extra tickets.

Caden did not have alot of time to practise for his performance piece because he was busy preparing for his Grade 5 exams which happened 4 weeks back (so technically he only had 4 lessons to polish his piece). Thankfully he managed to pull through his 'Mission Impossible' well on the stage.

First time taking the centre stage playing his piece for the audience

I think this is quite a good experience for him, given that he heard how the other performers have played their pieces and also having an opportunity to play for an audience. My lou closed his eyes in the second half of the recital and when I asked if he had fallen asleep, his reply was he was enjoying the pieces with his eyes closed..

At the end of the recital, Teacher Jasmin provided a few surprises:

1) Providing a certificate of achievement for the participation in this recital

2) Rewarding students who had done well in their recent ABRSM practical exams

Caden felt so happy when he got 2 rewards from her, one for his Merit in Grade 4 achieved in last year's exam, and another for his Distinction in Grade 5 in the recent Grade 5 practical exam. What a nice gesture from Teacher Jasmin!

With most of the performers at the end of the recital (the very young ones are the siblings of the performers). We realised that some of her students can really play very well from this recital.

This marks the closure of his 7 years piano journey for now, as we decided to take a break from his piano lessons till PSLE is over. I am not sure if he is still keen to continue taking piano lessons after September, but we will definitely continue to support him if he request so!

Gardens by the Bay @ Flower Dome

We had a chance to visit the Flower Dome in Gardens by the Bay last Friday as ah lou's company had a company family day event held there. The boys met up with their Dad for lunch before proceeding to the venue

First, they had so much fun in the indoor holding place next to the Sakura exhibition in the Flower Dome, playing table tennis and other station games to gain points for their father's division.

task was to flip the pencil from the edge of table into the cup

Ethan managed to accomplish most of the station tasks and gained some points, I think he really has very good motor skills. Not much luck seen in Caden's play 😂

When the boys completed all the stations, we went to the Flower Dome to view the 'Blossom Bliss' floral display (which runs until 24 March only). The sight was scenic, coupled with the temperature in Flower Dome, so the walk was very comforting. It's a pity that the crowd on Friday was massive, so we couldn't take many photos tastefully.. haha, these are all I have..

a majestic sculpture 

Ethan's favorite plant

these flowers caught my eye

view from second deck

It was too cold in the flower dome for us to hang around, so we decided to roam around the park to regularize our body temperature when the rain has stopped. At Gardens by the Bay, currently it is running the Children's festivals so there were quite a few dinosaurs placed around the park. This is the smallest one we saw:

Although we didn't walk a lot in the afternoon but by the time we finished the event, we were all dead tired (including the kids). It was a good outing and the Sakura display was really awesome!

Stress

When I heard about how Caden has scored for his CA1 English paper, I tried not to look disappointed because I suppose he had already tried his best. Given that he ended up as one of the bottom lot in his class, I raised the idea of getting him back into English tuition lessons in Mind Stretcher (we compromised earlier this year to drop English because he did not want to have tuition this year). He reasoned it out with us that it will add "stress" to him if we get him on more lessons apart from what he's going through with his school's revision.

The term 'stress' was something new that came out from his reasoning. He probably had picked this term up from his friends in school or through some of the conversations in class.


Ethan happily added to his brother's point and said, "ya lor, you know we have a lot of stress one!"

I asked both of them in return, "what do you understand with the term - stress?"

Answer given to me was " Headache lor"


Their response was not entirely wrong but my point to them was that if they don't want tuition, then they will need to exercise more self-discipline in getting their own revision done in their spare time. The boys will be getting the rest of their CA1 results soon and I know that I can't pin too high hopes on any eye-popping surprises.

Art Science Museum - 5th March 2017

We have planned some activities for the boys this weekend as they did put in some effort the weekend before CA1 exams. I have been curious with the exhibitions in Art Science Museum and thought it will be a good idea to bring them there.

Art Science Museum is currently having a few exhibitions this month, They have this virtual adventure "Into the Wild " which was made possible by a collaboration between Lenovo, Google, WWF. The boys each got themselves equipped with a Lenovo smartphone device and they get to spot various endangered animals by walking around the open walkway around the entrance of each exhibition. Eventually they get to see a tree 'planted' by them at the end of the journey. I think it's a good initiative to create awareness in helping to understand and seek to protect the ecosystem but my boys felt that it was quite a short experience (we completed in less than 20 minutes). Nonetheless, it's a good experience and an eye-opener on the technology deployed.

The boys were being briefed on how to use the Lenovo gadget and navigate their way around with it

Various endangered animals spotted during their walk-about

At the final lap, this is the tree that they get to see on their devices

As we still have some time to spare, we decided to visit the NASA exhibition (tickets are currently going for 1-for-1) which is ending on 19th March. I love the exhibition but my boys were getting themselves busy with some drawing tools provided in the gallery (instead of appreciating the history of mankind's exploration of space).

No flash photography allowed so pictures don't turn out clear :(

Kids corner for them to doodle

Collectibles from the past

antique TV playing some of the news coverage

Magazines coverage on space exploration

We also get to know that a monkey was sent to the space first

Various engines in the exhibition hall - this gallery shows the evolution of rocket engines over time.

Magnificent Saturn V Rocket

Ethan looking at the various space suits which were worn by the astronauts.

I'm standing next to Neil Armstrong! (first man to walk on the moon)

with these famous astronauts

various food supplies eaten on space missions

with the man on the moon picture

With the Space Shuttle

rarely keen to pose for a picture these days

the cockpit of the space shuttle

NASA exhibition is ending soon and I think it's a good gallery to spend some time although it takes a lot for children like ours to appreciate it :) 

I would like to cover the Future World gallery in our next visit, but that will require us to set aside about 3 to 4 hours of our time given the wide coverage!