First Day of school for 2017 (Year 3)!!!

3 January 2017 - Aisyah's first day of school as a third grader!!! Woot woot!!!

The day itself was pretty routine. Early morning drop off. Then I took her up to her class, just to get a glimpse of where her class was (top floor, yikes!) and the seating arrangements - she got center, second row from front, sandwiched between her friends Syafiqah and Syifa - not bad at all. Was briefed about the new curriculum their school would be implementing. A bit nervous, TBH, as they will be stressing more on attribute-based education (ABE) than the conventional KSSR way Malaysians are used to. However, it's a exciting kind of nervous, so we'll see what the outcome will be by the end of the school year. This however, does mean that parents need to prepare their children on their own for the KSSR based exams all Msians are required to sit (at age 12), so I'm foreseeing many nights sitting close to Aisyah and teaching her how to conduct independent study. To prepare for that, I've bought a stack of books for us to go over, just so she doesn't get left out with peers outside of her school. Also, we're signing her up for daily classes in the evening to improve on her Quranic recitation. She can read the Quran, yes, but it does seem like she's struggling most of the time. Hopefully, the class will help her sort the kinks out. When her recitation is better, it will be easier for her to memorize the surah, so less shouting (me) and less crying (her) during our ngihtly Tasmi' session. Pray that we'll have enough time and energy, and most of all, PATIENCE to carry this routine through. Amin.

Still, 2017 seems very exciting thus far. Here's to a fruitful new academic year for Aisyah!