Best of the June holidays - 2017

We both made efforts to bring the kids out to various places in the last 4 weeks of June holidays and here's what we have covered

1) National Gallery

Spot the boy

'Admiring' at a painting that was worth more than a million dollars

Standing on the top of a pillar

Making funny expressions while queuing to get into an exhibition gallery

Fun!

Took us about 40 minutes to get into the exhibition which lasted only 8 minutes

2) Army Open House 

 3) Argentina vs Singapore soccer match

Not disappointed when Messi eventually didn't play

Good view from their seats

4) Wild Wild Wet

5) cycling at Coney Island 

Can't hang out at the beach as there were too many wild monkeys surrounding humans waiting to be fed

There were some bracket fungi on the logs

This school holidays seemed to pass very quickly, the boys have had their share of fun and relief from the school work load this month. I think very soon, we will all get stressed up over the upcoming Prelims and PSLE timelines and hopefully my dear son can start to step up his gear to work alot harder.

Our P6 journey - April

Another month has passed and honestly we didn't achieve much again..

The boys were grounded from playing soccer for a month because both of them fought when we were not at home.  Caden exhibited behavioral issues during the month and we noticed that he turned rough with his younger brother when there was slight irritation that got in his way.  We spent most of the weekday nights questioning the sequence of events and resolving conflicts between them. They made up quickly most of the time but when another day comes,  they may end up quarrelling again.. I hope this is just another passing phase of their childhood.

Some nights,  I ended up getting into a debate with Caden when I told him to put more emphasis on his weaker subjects instead of Chinese. He explained that his higher Chinese paper 2 is weak and hence needed more practice. But he didn't see the point that his other subjects are equally important as well and required practice too. I have probably reached a saturation point myself on guiding him and decided to let him determine what he needs to do.

It's been a tough month for us to manage our first born in the whole of April but the consoling thing for us is that this Labour Day holiday long weekend had been productive. The boys were motivated to complete some of the past year's exam papers in exchange for time at their cousin's place to play PS4. Most of the times, I secretly wish my son to be  more matured and not argumentative, hoping that he'll be more cooperative.

4 more months to go before the national exams and I certainly don't expect the level of maturity to improve significantly in this short span of time. Just hope that he'll get some level of motivation from the friends around him or encouragement from his teachers.

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!