Through my eyes

School holiday has starts next week. I don’t have to go to school until next year. My dad told me that will be about 8 weeks. I don’t really understand what is 8 weeks, so he told me that it is 56 days. What! I don’t get to play with my friends like Jolyn, Ryan and Jaden in school.

My dad told me that he has arranged for one of my Chinese language teacher to come to my aunt’s house to tutor me in Chinese language. He does not want me to forget what I have learned in school. He told me that he cannot teach me Chinese language at home. So, he needs help and he engaged the teacher to teach me twice a week. Each time will be one and half hour.

Anyway, he promised to bring me for vacations and do interesting stuff during the holiday period. In fact, we went swimming yesterday at the pool in our neighbourhood club.

Today is my montessori school concert day. I was excited about it. I get to wear the nice dress that my teachers prepared for me.

After returning from music class, I quickly took my lunch and prepare for the concert. I had my bath and my aunt helped me to dress up. Then, my uncle drove us to the SEGI College for the concert.

During the concert, while waiting for my turn to perform, I was so tired. I went to for ballet and music classes earlier today.

Finally, my turn came. My friends and I went out to the stage to perform. We sang the songs and did the dance our teachers taught us. We enjoyed ourselves. My uncle brought a camcorder to tape my performance for my mum and dad to watch when they return home.

My montessori school is having their concert at SEGI College on Saturday, 6th Oct at 3PM. On this day, I have my usual ballet and Yamaha music classes in the morning. I will be so tired when it comes to 3PM. My mum asked me to skip ballet class so that I have enough rest when it comes to concert time.

In school, we learned three songs for the concert. One ofthem is Do-Re-Mi which I am familiar with after watching ‘Sound of Music‘ with my dad. I practised the three songs in shcool everyday. Sometimes I sang at home and my dad was very happy to hear me singing these songs.

Tomorrow, we will have to go to SEGI College for rehearsals for two days. I will follow my friend’s mum to SEGI College for these rehearsals.

My mum and dad decided to send me to Montessori school so that they can find out more from the teacher what went wrong during the English Spelling test. The teacher gave a very long and lengthy explanation to my parents. Then, they left.

During the class, my teacher told me that the next day is a public holiday and I do not have to come to school. She showed us a flag and told us it is the Malaysia flag. Tomorrow is Merdeka day.

Monday is the day I have to stay back for my additional Chinese class. I will have additional homework to do. My dad and mum cannot help me with my Chinese homework but my uncle and cousin are helping me with it.

Evening will be preparing for my English spelling test on Wednesday. Either mum or dad will go through with me. Sometimes, my aunt will also go through it with me. I only need to learn five words to prepare for the spelling test. I like doing well in my spelling test and the teacher will give me a star each time I get all the five words correct.

Sunday started with my mum reminding me that tomorrow Montessori school will start again. I will be back to school. Meeting my friends and doing homework. I like playing with friends in school but not the homework.

My mum sorted out my schoolbooks and put them back into my school bag. She just wanted to make sure that I have completed all my homework for the holiday. I have completed the mathematics, English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese homework earlier.

Today is the last day of school for this term. Teacher told us we will leave earlier than usual. She just went through our exam questions and answers. She also gave us our examination papers for us to bring back home to our mum and dad.

I had a few stars for my exam and I think my mum and dad will be happy with me. I will know when I show them my exam results when they return from work.

Last week, my Montessori school brought the students to visit a chocolate factory. Initially, my mum was hesitant to allow me to join the study tour. But, my dad is always supportive. He will always allow me to join all activities as long as it’s safe.

We went to the factory in two big orange color buses. We lined up according to our teacher’s instruction and go up the bus in an orderly fashion. Some mothers were at my Montessori school to see my friends go up the bus.

When the bus left my school, I can see some mothers were following our bus in their cars. My friends were waving to their mothers. But, my mum and dad were at work. They told me they have to go to work to earn money to buy milk and pay for my school fees.

In the factory, the manager brought us to see how they make chocolates. Later they let us taste the chocolates which were so yummy. They gave us a few packets of chocolate for us to bring back to our mum and dad.

When I returned home, I shared the chocolate with my mum and dad. They like it so much and said ‘Thank You’ to me.

For the whole of last week, my mum and dad were so anxious about my Montessori school exam. They could not imagine why a Montessori school would need to have exams for 4 to 6 years old kids. Montessori school is meant to be fun learning to develop all round students but I still have exams. And I stressed my parents.

They wanted me to go through my Montessori school workbooks to prepare me for the exam. But I wanted to watch my cartoon shows like Barbie’s Swanlake, Mermaidia and Twelve Dancing Princesses. Not only they want me to study, they still want me to practice my Yamaha electone to prepare for my weekly music class.

I have so much to learn and yet, so little time to play.

Today, my Montessori school teacher asked me to bring my school fee payment schedule to my dad. That’s an easy task to do. Just bring it and pass it on to my dad. When I passed the payment schedule to my dad, only did I know it can bring so much excitement in him. His eyes opened so wide and he probably re-looked at the slip umpteen times.

“What!! It cost you $1,800 for one trimester. Montessori education is so expensive” he said. He went on to tell me how little he paid when he was in university compared to my Montessori school fee. He only paid $450 per semester for university fee inclusive of examination fee and health care plus accommodation. A semester was 18 weeks. His accommodation cost him only $1.80 per day in the university hostel.

My Montessori school fee covers my normal class and additional class for Mandarin. Normal class is from 9AM – 12noon from Monday to Friday. Mandarin class is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the school provides simple lunch before the class starts. No health care, no swimming pool, no gymnasium and no huge libraries. So, according to my dad, this is incredibly expensive.

Well, he is the one who decided that I should be learning Mandarin and master this language because of China. He often showed me the world map pointing to Malaysia, China, England and United States. He told me that he will bring me to visit these countries when I grow up.

If I don’t attend the Mandarin class, I can watch my Barney, Disney’s Princesses and Barbie’s Twelve Dancing Princesses and Swan Lake movies after school.

But, my dad decides everything