Well, this time we have hired movers to pack up for us! This will be the first time when I could spend the day at a spa if I felt like it instead of packing/hoisting/listing items/moving/organizing/unpacking etc...
France, Switzerland, Japan, the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Singapore...many moves. This time, take it easy-er...I am not going to a day spa but I am having the help I need to make it go smooth and in this heat, I sure do appreciate being able to afford it. As I write this though, I hear Papa preparing stuff because it is hard to trust that the movers will be careful with certain items like computers. Fair enough.
So we are moving from our 5 bedroom/5 bathroom home with shared pool/jacuzzi/steam room and other facilities to a 3 + 1 flat across the park from the boys' school. So glad we could host so many family members and friends in our gorgeous, 5* home. It was also handy to have a full-time maid while we had guests to do all the shopping/cooking/clean up. I am grateful for that experience too.
Our new place is tiny by comparison but the location is great, the boys can walk to school and come home for lunch and the rental price is almost half what it is here at D'Manor. With so many friends with pools, we will just condo hop as and when needed!!! Yes, it won't be the same...but maybe it'll be better?
The problem is that we made this plan when we thought we had a really great school for our boys. The school is very fine in many regards but the amount of study/homework/exams and the recent threats of caning have made us question the whole system that others warned us was not good for children. Some colleagues warned us that the system would "wreck" our kids and "they would lose their childhood." The international schools tried to be diplomatic but hinted at negative aspects. Of course they would. They wanted our children to become their students. Or did they just want to warn us too?
Well, we thought we would give it a try and up until a few months ago, things seemed to be going fine. Until the form teacher told me that indeed parents are purchasing exams some which have the "exact same questions" as the exams at our school. I asked where to purchase them and she said, "off the record, you'll see some guy milling about under the hdb flats. He's got them." Students, in general, study for the exams by studying exams. I did this in university. I would prefer my children to learn for fun and study the information so they know it inside out. We are working on reminding them to learn not for an A but so they know the material which is interesting. One might think that if they know the material inside and out, they will get an A anyway. Well, unfortunately, the exams contain questions which have not been covered (for some annoying reason) and because they are multiple choice, there are plenty of trick questions that trip Frunty up. The written part of exams is challenging too. On a recent exam he wrote that,
"a caterpillar has to eat a lot of food to become a pupa." Wrong. Zero marks. The correct answer was, "a caterpillar has to eat a lot of leaves to become a pupa." I think he could have been given part marks. Come on.
I don't want to get into too much detail about the caning but the principal is very upset that Frunty and others have been threatened by several teachers this year. One teacher in particular has been whacking the desk with a cane and yelling, "Shut up!" At times, Frunty finds it hard to concentrate in class and like the others, talks at times or at other times, reads a book. He is not perfect. He is not engaged. The rooms are hot with no air-con and very loud fans. With 40 children, it is a zoo and I know because I have done some teaching in several classes. It is not an ideal learning environment.
Recent studies have shown that children learn much better in an environment where they can move around a bit when appropriate. I know that Frunty needs this kind of environment and it isn't because he lacks discipline. It is because he gets distracted easily and has trouble coping with a monotonous teacher who does not engage. Last year, we had no issues and he loved his teachers. I thought we could handle the local system and were proving the skeptics wrong!
Anyway, all of this to say that we have been warned that as the students prepare for their PSLEs (primary school leaving exams) which stream them into the correct highschool, the work load increases as does the pressure from P4 onwards. Since our boys are not going to a local highschool here because of its failed attempts at being "holistic", I dislike the thought of Frunty spending the next three years having to study at least 2-3 hours a day as the principal has insisted. She has to earn the awards for her school, afterall. This pressure and focus on exams and top marks are annoying. The parents talk about it constantly as do the students. I volunteer at the school a lot so I know what I am talking about. And the fact that we have had two play dates in two years because students have to study after school and on weekends, is rather sad. In the end though, it is okay that we can't have play dates with local kids because of their poor level of spoken English. At least if Frunty and Pit play with kids from international schools, they can hear standard English and I am grateful that their best friend speaks so well.
Frunty and Pit's best friend right now is Jack. He goes to One World International school and I have heard him ask our boys why their parents make them study so much. "Why do you have so much homework?" I honestly don't mind the homework and it can be really fun and with proper breaks, we can make time to enjoy it and sports and other activities as well. Even if the teacher at whatever school did not give homework, I would supplement the boys schooling with fun and educational activities. The whole exam business and 2-3 hours a day seems excessive to me and puts a lot of pressure on our family.
We are definitely in a state of flux! Wish us luck!
After ten years of waiting, the Circle Line in Singapore opened on Saturday! It is the fourth line and really helps car-less families like ours travel around the island. Last night there was a big celebration of the grand opening of the circle line! We enjoyed riding the train and getting off at Holland Village for free beer, doughnuts, a rock concert, and a rooftop, Italian dinner! I wish Toronto could expand its metro. It is so fun taking trains and so clean. Singapore is commencing another line or maybe already working on it. The blue, downtown line. Despite a packed metro system, the roads are also blocked with heavy traffic quite often. But we would rather be squished on a train then in stop-and-go traffic! Keep up the good work, Singapore!
