2013 is coming to an end, Alhamdulillah we made it through with lotsa memories. Making lotsa dua’ 2014 will be even better year for us all. As promised in previous post, i mentioned i will made a post on the decision I made for sending elder 2 for standard 1 sekolah agama KAFA. When i went there end last year to register them, i was told they also have preschool KAFA, but i asked if its okay i wanna place them in primary 1. Although elder 2 were not reading fluently yet…well ya they were 5 when we went for the registration, I didnt expect them to be able to read the textbooks. I was really happy that the principal didnt mind us giving a try. In fact she mentioned, even they cant read the textbook well…insha Allah they will still learn a thing or two during the daily explanation by the ustaz and ustazah. That was exactly what i wanted, some daily “injection” of Islamic teaching. Yes, they were in islamic preschool, but why not something extra if there is opportunity. Hmm, now i sound like a kiasu, gung-ho mom huh? I didnt put any pressure in them (well at least thats what i feel, hahaha). My main reason for sending them is to ease their transition from preschool into primary later in 2014. In their preschool, they are so used to smaller ration in a class, no homework n no examinations. Hoping the exposure of this would help them later in primary.
The only problem we had was the logistic, alhamdulillah we managed. This is the part when people say “are you crazy? they are only 6 years old!” Their preschool finishes at 230pm and their sekolah agama starts at 430pm. Preschool is in Kota Damansara by the time they put on their shoes, get in the car its about 240-245 and we reached home at about 3-315pm. Thats an hour before we leave the house again BUT Uzair finishes his school at 430pm in Kelana Jaya. Thus i have to send them to sekolah agama earlier so i can be in time to fetch Uzair in Kelana Jaya. Thus we usually leave the house at 350pm. Once we reach home from preschool, just enough time for me to solat and get them changed for sekolah agama. The first few months, instead of balik rumah, we transit somewhere (OU / Ikano / Curve) coz i was afraid once sampai rumah, kids liat nak keluar rumah again sbb baru dpt duduk for 30mins or so. Sekolah agama supposedly to end at 630pm but often it ends at 645pm. Their school is in Mutiara Damansara, although its less than 10mins away from my house, but because of the office hours traffic, i need to leave the house by before 6pm, reached there early and wait. If i were to leave the house after 6pm i ended up reaching there at 650pm or later. And by the time we sampai rumah that would be after 7pm. So yes, basically the kids are out from 815am – 7pm. Now you can see why people say im crazy, dont you? But Mashaa Allah these kids are bless with so much energy…if it were not because they were force to go to bed, they ended up sleeping at 11pm. That’s how much energy they are bless with.
As much as i guess, athirah had couple of phase where she didnt want to go to sekolah agama; when it involves lots of writing. We introduce it slowly to her, hoping this exposure will not make her shock later in primary.
When their 1st semester exam started, i didnt even know. Suddenly harith said to me “tadi we had exam”. When i asked the ustaz, apparently dah 2nd day exam, 2 more days to go. Revision was made after maghrib. Super madness, out for school from 8-7pm, balik sambung lagi revision. For the exams, they came back telling me they know the answer tapi dont know how to spell. Harith and Athirah got 9th and 11th placing respectively out of 15 students. I was happy the teachers and principal were okay with it, despite them still have not master reading and writing at that time, they didnt mind having them in primary 1 and not push them into preschool KAFA.
For their year end exam, i was more prepared. Haha, mak budak pulak yg more prepared. Since its too much to get them to do revision at night after whole day at school, thus what we did was revision during the transit. We got the keys to our apartment already by then, but no furniture yet. We transit they, did our revision on the floor. We also did transit at kedai makan, some lil reward makan dessert for the kids.
Ending my post with another instgram related to this subject:
“Last week I mention, i wasnt sure if it was the right desivion to send elder 2 for sekolah agama standard 1 at age 6. first few months were a struggle for them as they have not master reading fluently.
We had our fair share of tears where athirah refused to go to sek agama. We passed that phase with lots chipsmore and vitagen as umpan. They survived their first term exam, harith and athirah got number 9th and 11 respectively out of 13 students.
Alhamdulillah the teachers didnt judge them too early, I was afraid ustaz/ ustazah might say they are not ready for standard one and to go for preschool KAFA.
We did their revision for final exam during the exam week itself. We have 2 hours to kill after preschool. Most days we did revision at our empty new home, twice we had it as a coffee place as reward / motivation.
All the tears and sweat paid off! Harith came home with his report card. Mashaa Allah, he got number 1!
Athirah at number 9. Alhamdulillah.
Funny though, his understanding of number 1 was “Harith dapat number 1 coz harith finish first”.
Lesson learnt, dont judge a child too soon. “
Some bloom later than others.
**photos taken using phone
masya Allah! good job kids (and mom too!)
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