Then again maybe not...

Last week, Tai Pi didn't do well in a maths paper from her BASC teacher. She said to me "I have bad news. I scored 67 upon 100. Are you angry with me?". Oh dear, seems she expects me to go ballistic whenever she doesn't do well. I have to get her to understand that I'm happy so long as she tries her best. But how could she have been trying her best and only scoring 67?! I hope it was only because she made careless mistakes. Let's hope that she is careful on the day of her maths exam.

And I think I confused her over the "more than", "less than" business. I had her do an assessment book last weekend and the "more than" "less than" statements were written in several different ways e.g. "____ less than 19 is 11" "15 is ___ less than 20". So the method I taught her earlier doesn't quite work in every case. So Pa was right. It really is a matter of understanding the English...

By George I think she's got it!

This evening, Tai Pi was in very high spirits. Her teacher at BASC (Before And After School Care) gave the kids a math test paper in the morning and another one in the afternoon (PSLE marking week so no school). She scored 90% in one and 91% in the other! She was so very pleased with herself. So my efforts have not gone to waste!

But still, I resolve not to raise my voice at her and I will remember to look at the big picture and not get hung up over tests and exams. Tai Pi's Kong Kong is right - the important thing is that she understands the concepts; it's too much to expect her not to make any careless mistakes. And I am not kiasu lah! It's just that I realised I had been too uninvolved. I used to not even bother to look at her schoolwork or textbooks. I guess I was trying to make up for lost time with this intensive coaching.

Whether Tai Pi does well or not, I believe the most important thing is for her to understand that she must not judge herself or others using academic performance. So she shouldn't feel inferior if she doesn't do well and likewise, she shouldn't feel superior if she does.

Sai Pi's Day Out

I was off work today so I thought I'd spend the day with the youngest one, let's call her Sai Pi. Poor Sai Pi mostly gets just snatches of time with me and her Daddy and with Tai Pi's schoolwork taking up so much of my time, I feel bad about spending so little time with Sai Pi and the middle one, let's call her Pumpkin.


I brought Sai Pi out, starting our excursion with a bus ride to the mall, then lunch at Genki Sushi (the girls love Japanese food) and then it was off to Toys R Us to play with toys for free...hee hee. We took the train after that but by then Sai Pi was so tired she was asleep from the time we got on the train till after we got off so she didn't know that she took the train.


We brought the girls home early so there was time for Tai Pi to do some math exercises before dinner. She did the "more than" "less than" exercises and once again made careless mistakes due to her lack of concentration. I told her I can only teach her how to do math but I can't teach her how to concentrate, she has to do that herself. I hate to think that all this effort we are making will go to waste if she doesn't concentrate during the exams and loses marks because of carelessness. What is a mother to do?

Educating Tai Pi....

A couple of months back, it suddenly dawned on me that my oldest daughter, let's call her Tai Pi, could do with some help with her schoolwork. Before that, I had been very relaxed. I mean how difficult can primary 1 work be? Then I found out that her math scores were much worse than her friends' and I also found out that her friends did math exercises everyday either with their mothers or their tutors. It caused me quite a panic. Since then I have bought maybe 5 math assessment books and also English and Chinese assessment books - quite therapeutic actually, buying assessment books; it makes me feel I'm doing something to help Tai Pi make the grade. Now I make her do math exercises almost everyday and weekends are quite traumatic - I turn into a crazed, table-banging, screaming banshee when Tai Pi makes careless mistakes or forgets what I just taught her the weekend before. I know I really shouldn't lose my head but it is just so frustrating, and I would much rather be doing something else, like make a pinata, which was what we did today (after she finished her math exercises of course) - we made a pinata out of a paper bag and decorated it with colourful strips cut out of plastic bags and then filled the bag with near-expired sweets and chocolate, then we invited our friends over and the kids had a great time whacking the pinata while I got to get rid of the damn sweets and chocolate that were sitting forever in the fridge. See picture of the kids scrambling for the goodies.

So anyway, I'm starting this blog to chronicle the treacherous road to PSLE that Tai Pi and I are treading. Will Tai Pi do well in her first exam? Will she end up in the worst class in primary 2? Will I end up in a mental institution? Tune in to find out.