Home Provision Store

I have mentioned this to CP and YP before - sometimes, I feel that the school thinks we have a provision store at home. The teacher would quite often suka suka, last minute set the children an assignment involving assembling something using various materials that are not commonly found at home. And the children will be required to hand up that assembled thing the very next day.

It was very frustrating for WY and me because most of the time, I would not be able to give WY all the materials which he asked for. So WY would often not be able to complete on time the task set or to hand up the assembled thing as required the following day. Although WY would usually reassure me that it would be ok to hand up the assignment later, it was always very tormenting to know that the assignment could not be done immediately only because of the lack of materials.

This was especially bad for WY's morale, I think, because most (if not all) of his classmates would somehow be able to meet the challenge. And poor WY would have had to 'share' with his classmates their assembled thing which the teacher would have them discuss in class.

So, I decided to stock up many items at home. Anything which can possibly become 'needed' at short notices. So things like art & craft glue, plain & coloured ice-cream sticks, long & short satay sticks, clips of varying sizes, ribbons of varying width & designs, 'vangard' papers, A4 coloured paper, origami paper, plain & coloured beads, buttons of different colours & sizes, different types of strings & threads, labels of varying shapes, big & small stickers are all now available at home.

I also make sure now that we have some balloons, paper & plastic cups and plates etc etc at home. Sometimes, I also keep a handful of kitchen towel rolls (which are more firm than toilet rolls) on standby. Several metal & plastic boxes are also put aside, in case they are needed. I also have several pairs of gloves amongst the 'provisions' at home.

So, I guess you could say, to a certain extent, I do seem to have started some kind of provision-store. Although this makes some places at home (such as the store-room and kitchen) a little more crammed and messy, it beats having to scramble to get the various materials needed at short notices. Sometimes, it would not be feasible to even try to go to buy the materials during lunch hour the following working day because there would simply be no chance to do that!

Some time last year, I gave feedback to the school and teacher and told them that they should refrain from this kind of super-short notice stuff. And there seems to have been some improvement. So far this year, there hasn't been any more of such last-minute rush to amass various materials to assemble something.

No more, that is, until about 2 weeks ago. WY told me after we picked him up from CH school on Monday evening, that he needed to make a model of the respiratory system. And that this model would be needed one day after the following day. The materials required were: a PET bottle, a straw, a clear plastic bag, a balloon, plasticine and some rubber bands.

Oh, man! I went through the list and saw to my own surprise: eh, I have every item needed, leh! Hahahaa....

What a relief it was, that WY was able to complete fixing that model of the respiratory system the following day at CH school (we brought the materials to CH so that he could do this more 'leisurely' in the afternoon rather than in a hurry at night). And he was able to use his model in class during lesson and have it handed up to the teacher at the end of the lesson.

I think that sense of being able to complete everything on time, show and share his model with his classmates during class and handing it up to teacher for comment/assessment at the same time as all the rest of the class, is VERY IMPORTANT. And I share WY's sense of satisfaction for this assignment. :)

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Yesterday, WY had his piano exam in the morning. He went to school after that and then went home (not CH school) after dismissal. I had taken leave and so was at home to revise his CL with him.

After we completed what we could cover for CL, WY brought out his Science Activity Book and showed me the assignment he was to complete: to make a stethoscope (ha?!) to measure the pulse rates of a baby/young child, a child his own age, an adult and an elderly. And then he was also to use this handmade stethoscope to measure his own pulse rate while at rest, while walking and after running on-the-spot for several minutes.

The handmade stethoscope is supposed to look something like this. Materials needed: 2 plastic funnel/cups/bowls, plastic tubing & tape.

My heart sank when I saw the list. It is almost incredible but we have funnels (of varying sizes, in fact!) and tape. But we don't have any suitable plastic tubing! (Our water-hose would have been too coarse for this!)

So, how?!

Suddenly, WY got up from his chair, dashed into my bedroom and opened the drawer of my wardrobe. Then, in a split second, he was back and said excitedly, "Mama, we can use this, lah!"

Aha! Yes, so this was what WY used eventually to complete his measurements. Hahahaha..... our 'provision store' is truly well-stocked, hor?! We even have a real stethoscope! Hahahhaa.....

After dinner, WY lined up his 'candidates' for measurement: 'young child' = WF (who was more than willing and happy to oblige), 'child his own age' = WY himself and 'adult' = me. Actually, 'elderly' = Mother but Mother had already gone back to her place by then, so we ended up with an estimated pulse rate for 'elderly'.

啊，有了这么齐全的 'provision store' (we even have ready candidates on standby!!)，还有什么可以难得倒我们的？！ Hahahhaa.....