Hectic days

Dh has been back from his European and Usa trip for 1.5 weeks and was a sick boy. He had a busy few days after arriving home. That didn’t help when I was very busy with the kids. He’s such a baby when not well. Thank goodness his partner is here for 3 days from SG and I don’t have to be at his beck and call this week.
I changed Justin’s tuition. Totally pulled him out of the tuition place he was in from kindergarten and placed him at another one. His Chinese and BM were not improving and seemed to get worse. Dh said something’s gotta be done. I said I don’t know what to do. I’m trying a real tuition ctr not just a kindergarten giving tuition. Friends said this might be better. I’m so frustrated. The girls struggled w/Chinese and BM but did ok later. This boy just refuses to speak in Chinese and BM. He’s told us he wants to go to a real school were people speak English. Oh lord. His teacher said he’s having a hard time in Mandarin class. Now he has tuition on W, F, and S mornings. That means he’s out of the house with school uniform and then I take him to lunch and then straight to school. I cry for my boy. He just turned 8 and to have so much pressure. I feel so helpless. Dh is adamant his children go to a Chinese school. Justin will have to stick to this schedule until he improves. He’s starting real golf lessons this week. Dh said he’ll take care of that to show him daddy also wants him to do what he likes. My maid is leaving end of next week. My agency said no maids are available right now except one Cambodian and some Philippinos. I would settle for a Cambodian, but was advised against it by the agency. I really can’t justify getting Philippino maid. And I don’t want to pay RM1200. That’s way too much for someone to do your onlybthe hse

chores. I do everything else. We were told no Indonesians maids are available until maybe after the Raya holidays. the 2 counties of MY and Ind has not agreed on a suitible salary for maids. I was considering Vietnameseand then was told I would have to pay RM900. that’s quite steep too. Dh said we can afford it, but I would have to give her more chores. I like to do a lot of things myself. I don’t know. We will try not having a maid for a couple of months and I said everyone will have to step up and have to be more efficient and manage their time better. we’ll see how this works out.

Aly’s busy year…

…and it’s only August.  Her Chinese school is so kiasu(wanting to be first), std 6 has tuition(tutoring) M-S.  Most schls only have compulsory tuition 3 times a week.  All these tuitions(extra classes are for the std 6 UPSR exams).  Students in Malaysia in std 6 all take this national test before they enter secondary school.    Besides that, dh and I put her in private tuition for Mandarin, Math and Bahasa Melayu.  I know, poor girl.  In the beginning of the year, I really didn’t know how she would coup with 12+hrs of schl.  She seems to be adjusting quite well.  In order not to overwhelm her so much,we had to suspend her piano lessons until after the UPSR.  There  was no way to fit it in on Saturdays.  The weekdays are schl, schl tuition, and private tuition.  She was home before dark only on Tuesday at 4:30pm.  I couldn’t possibly drive to PJ and back on a weeknight.  She didn’t want to give up swimming classes on the weekends or Chinese orchestra, so had to cut piano until she was less busy.  Now, she’s good enough to join the swim team and she has to practice 3 out of 5 days.  I’m never going to get any rest either.  The thing is, we don’t wnat to discourage her.  She’s really fast in the pool and she’s a very competitive person.  She has to bear with this schedule until the UPSR is over.  At the end of September, she’ll have lots of free time.  After those exams, the school doesn’t really give them any class work.  From my friends who has older kids, they said it’s quite relaxed.  Some kids take games and gadgits to school and some don’t even show up at all.  For Alyssa, she’ll go back to piano and maybe some enrichment classes.  We’ll see.  She got accepted into Tenby after taking the assessment test.  We will check if she needs to prepare for any courses that maybe was not offered in a Chinese school.  She might need a little help in geography  or other subjects.