learning

Shee Yun is always keen to learn new things. She told us that her ballet lessons are too easy and she wanted to learn more. Indeed her level is the very basic level now. After her upcoming exam, she is only going to move to Pre-primary level, and only after that she can move to Primary 1 level. Naam Kheung offers ballet lessons, and the children immediately starts at Primary 1 level, so we are considering switching her to the classes at school, if her current ballet school insists she goes through Pre-primary level first.

18 Feb 2012. Chen Rui in the car on the way to ballet mock exam. They've had two, but we still don't know the exact exam date.

Shee Yun.

She also wants to learn abacus (珠心算), and gymnastics. I have a friend who teaches abacus, but the timing of her classes doesn't fit Shee Yun and Chen Rui's weekly schedule well. They are going to school in different halves of the day, which already rules out many time slots. Weekday nights are no good, because Shee Yun would be tired, and she also needs to do her homework. Saturdays are already quite full. Even Sundays are already in use. We want to avoid loading up Sundays as well. We would have no flexibility for other things, no leisure time. And Shee Yun tells us she also wants to learn gymnastics, which is available at Naam Kheung too. Michelle says it's because Shee Yun saw people doing gymnastics on TVIQ. Michelle checked the internet and found out that the gymnastics costumes are terribly expensive. I was quite shocked at the prices. We will need to find out more from Naam Kheung if Shee Yun persists.

The children's piano teacher Miss Chong thinks that Chen Rui is the quiet type and Shee Yun the bold type, which we found very funny. Michelle explained that Chen Rui is only timid in front of teachers, and is normally very playful and mischievous. Apparently Chen Rui doesn't speak much or ask questions during her piano lessons, whereas Shee Yun often asks questions. I think it's because Shee Yun is inquisitive and eager to learn, and since Miss Chong is so soft, she is not afraid to ask.

I started writing songs recently, and because sometimes I play them repeatedly, Shee Yun remembers parts of them and sometimes hums along. I'm going to try to play duets with her, letting her play the melody while I play the accompaniment. That should be fun. Surprisingly Chen Rui was not interested. She was the one who had suggested forming a band before.

Michelle has taught Shee Yun to pack her school bag herself, checking her timetable and taking out and putting in the appropriate books. There are so many books. At the moment Michelle still double-checks aftere Shee Yun is done with packing. Hopefully soon there will be no need to do so anymore.

Yesterday Shee Yun and Chen Rui asked for an emptied bath gel bottle which I was about to throw into the recycle bin. They also asked for empty Vitagen bottles. They wanted to make a ship out of these. Sometimes they ask for such used items for their handicraft. Chen Rui has asked for ice-cream sticks before, the type that doctors use to examine tongues. She even coloured them. Chen Rui also asks me for cardboard sprues from boardgames, using them as stencils. And the cardboard cyclinder centres of toilet paper too. Once she used these to draw circles, and then from these circles drawn on paper she further elaborated them to became faces. She draws a lot. And also leaves paper and other handicraft items everywhere. We always have to remind her to tidy up.

25 Feb 2012. Chen Rui's desk. This is considered much tidier than normal. Usually only about 10% of the table surface is visible. This photo was taken soon after Michelle tidied it up for Chen Rui, and the clutter was already growing. At the centre are some boardgame sprues that she asked from me.