Off to Penang

Little Boy worked really hard last year to master things his school did not teach but still tested. I don't have words to explain to you how hard he worked. Amongst his feats of inhuman diligence were...
(1) writing entirely from memory 5 X 2000 word Chinese compos...
(2) completing Onsponge 5 in one week...
(3) completing Onsponge 6 in 2 weeks...

Ohhhh... Little Boy worked so hard last year that if I listed out all that he did, someone might clap me in jail for child abuse. I think I pressed the accelerator pedal all the way down to the floor, coming this close to punching a hole in the floor board.

This year has been marked by 2 long breaks. He took 3 weeks off in February and another 3 weeks off in May.  His exam results in the February exams suffered greatly because he was unprepared. His exam results in May suffered a little because by then, he had managed to get more practice under his belt. The 6 weeks of rest days have helped him replenish his energy levels for work. Where many parent-child pairs are losing steam and beginning to feel tired in June, Little Boy has in the last 2 weeks attacked the PSLE preparation with a ferocity befitting Attila the Hun.

I got roundly yelled at last week when I switched onto Mr Brown's podcasts whilst he was doing a Chinese exam practice. I was upbraided yesterday because I wasted 1 hour of his time after lunch making him wait whilst I shopped for t-shirts. He has worked hard and well for the past 3 weeks and so, I am enforcing another set of rest days. I need to keep resourcing his spirits and energy levels so that by Aug-Sept, he'll feel like he was on steroids. So, I am dragging him off to Penang for a few days. I'll stuff him with food and make him walk around the town.

So... for those of you who place orders for Petunia's book in the next few days, do understand if I don't email you your order confirmation till a few days later.