CHANs in New York (April2012- ): MOTHER'S DAY 2009 & NIGHT SAFARI

This year, we went into FULL SWING with being in the local school system. Though the country prides itself with the high standards of education and the many success stories of their "achievments" as a nation. We are still struggling with certain things. As I mingle more with the local moms and dads, I found out that WE are NOT the only ones.

ONE major thing I struggle with is: "SCHOOL IS NOT FUN!"
Hey, I can understand when you need to buckle up in the high school years to prepare oneself for real life university etc, but THIS is PRIMARY SCHOOL!! My minuscule effort of homeschooling to SO MUCH more fun than what they offer. WHY? You may so ask? Well for one thing, 10mins is taken out of their recess most days so that the kids can finish up their worksheets, then an extra 5 mins is taken to get them READY for class. A full day's worth of recess is only, wait, let me tell you, a whole whooping 30mins. So in reality, how much time do these kids get to eat lunch, play and go to toilet? A lovely FIFTEEN MINUTES ONLY!!!!

How do kids play? How do they exercise their pent up energies? How do they make friends? how do they even finish their food? We KNOW that Singapore is the HIGHEST PER CAPITA country in this region for kids with MYOPIA (my child included), you wonder why?

Anyway, this is enough whinging....will spread my complaining across a couple of blogs. In the MIDST of all the exams, revision and test. We thought seriously on giving the girls a BREAK. We went out to the NIGHT SAFARI.

Things are SO DARK there that the only thing we could take are pictures of half clothed NOISY men! Sigh! So sorry for the obscenity.

One reason mainly to celebrate the girls for their work, before the exams, as well as to remind them that their worth is not valued upon 100 marks. And that life is NOT all about exams though we spend 80% of the time at home doing revision. We are especially reminding our conscientious Letitia that LIFE does not STOP when we get assessed. We can still have fun and we SHOULD have fun. We got home around 10pm and the girls were soooo tired that they were half asleep even in their showers. When they touched the pillows, we could not even get a response from them....zzzzz! We all had a wonderful time. It doubled up as mommy's birthday present to spend a 'memorable' time as a family! Here the pics.