School@Home COVID-19

Salam my lovelies,

Today is Day 13 of the Movement Control Order in Malaysia. 

The air is clean, the skies are blue. Alhamdulillah for these beauties.

1. School

We have been learning from home using Zoom, ClassDojo and several other online resources.

We receive daily learning objectives and tasks from class and specialist subject teachers, usually by 8 a.m. then carry them out as best we can, granted that The Other Half and I are not professional teachers.

Girl is using the main dining hall which doubles up as our home office for now.  Bean uses his therapy room as classroom so they each have demarcated work space and privacy.

Girl misses all her performing arts activities and swimming. We do not know if Alice@Wonderland will still happen this June. Swimming Gala does look like it will be postponed to Term 3 while International Day has been cancelled.

Bean misses his school field the most. He misses running as fast as Flash, the poor boy.

They are both great troopers and have not stepped outside except to our rooftop deck for the occasional outdoor/PE time/chalk mural art. The Other Half and I have certainly penciled in deck improvement into our next budget so that it can be more fun to spend time there.

2. Therapy

There will be no therapy from 18 March to 14 April 2020. We paid full fees excluding transport charges. We understand that there are overheads. At this point, Bean is fine. There will be replacement classes via Zoom next time to make up for lost time, inshaAllah.

3. Family Life

The Other Half and I have been working from home for a few years now but we do have to adjust to having the children around us 24/7. Thank goodness they have been great troopers. I cannot praise them enough for being co-operative and compliant.

We also have found ourselves in new teaching profession as School has been closed since MCO came into effect. I personally believe that I need to develop more patience and compassion when it comes to teaching. I forget sometimes that children get frustrated not being around their peers physically.

We subscribed to Netflix for the children to catch up with movies since we have stopped going to cinemas since Lunar New Year 2020. We have staved off Netflix subscription as long as possible and finally reached our threshold on MCO Day 9.

I do the weekly grocery by myself, and don the face mask and disposable gloves. Social distancing, temperature check and controlled number of shoppers have turned grocery shopping into a perceived safer shopping experience but I still take all precautions including sanitising hands before opening my car and driving home, washing all clothes and shopping bags as soon as I arrive home and not touching anything or anyone until I have had a full shower and scrub. I am still trying to find a simpler way of disinfecting all our groceries.

It feels weird that I have been preparing every single breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and supper without losing my cool (yet). Thank goodness for His Provisions and Blessings. I pray that we can all carry on without losing our minds or tempers.

Stay at home and stay safe!

Term 2 of Academic Year 2019/20

Salam my lovelies,

Almost an entire academic term has gone by and I have some brief updates to share.

Firstly, we have commenced fading off shadow support for Bean. It is a milestone for us both as a family and School! His therapist now stands outside his classroom briefly before moving to outside his CCA room then transition home for an hour of debrief and ABA therapy. His official ABA time ends with reward of (usually) 30 minutes of screen time on iPad (with a bonus of 60 minutes TV time while parents cook/shower/get the household ready for bed time). The TV bonus time is not something we are proud of at the moment so we have been nudging Bean to return to board games and outdoor play, weather permitting. He has been a hero throughout. Bless.

Along the lines of neuro-diversity, the School is receiving more students requiring learning support and our aim is to shift the conversation/narrative amongst parents to that of being a community that supports neuro-diversity instead of negative focus on unexpected behaviours (when exhibited). A talk by Director of EAP Malaysia is in the pipeline after COVID-19 social distancing.  I am truly grateful for the opportunity to arrange for this shift of community narrative to one that is focussed on knowledge, science, proactive support and unconditional love. We must leave unproductive coffee talk and negative banter behind. Wish me luck, my lovelies!

Secondly, Girl is excited to have auditioned and succeeded in getting a speaking/singing/dancing role in the inaugural school musical production. This is significant to her because when we left her previous school, we were not entirely sure of the standards of performing arts at this new school. We were not sure if is was going to be "professional" or "Malaysian Book of Records"-worthy. We persevered and so did the Principal together with Head of Performing Arts. Now, Girl is happily rehearsing, raising funds and anticipating a new stage arriving in time for their first annual musical production. One of the best memories we are creating is ... daughter of my former schoolmate is the lead character in this musical! Being able to witness our children rehearse together and inshaAllah perform together this June is surreal. Hopefully by then, social distancing due to COVID-19 is behind us.

The calendared Swimming Gala has been postponed. Games meet in Singapore has been cancelled too.

We have one mural art pending, and this lull has given us longer time to rethink the scope, location and method.

International Week celebrations have been scaled down to minimal participation from parents. We will be sending in washed handmade flags and materials but no food this year. Bean's class will be hosting France and Girl's class will be hosting Republic of Ireland. We have a good amount of cheese from both countries as we had purchased them in early March. Luckily for us we love cheese and often serve cheese platter at supper! Perhaps all that freed-up time will avail me to spring-cleaning, baking, gradening and catching up on reading.

Students will continue to learn. Home-schooling  and distance learning modules are being tested out as we brace ourselves for the worst of this unforeseen pandemic.

COVID-19 has definitely slowed down or postponed some events at School, including those planned by the PTA. We have been creative in our newsletter content the past few weeks. Video compilation of past events, interviews and documents were shared instead of event photos now that there is no event...

We are proud to say that the School has been diligent with temperature checks at drop-off and pick-up, and insisting on us all washing our hands as frequently as possible. Where necessary, travel and contact history were recorded with consent for community safeguarding. Hand sanitisers are everywhere at school. A clear SOP and policy on this subject has been published. We constantly get reassuring updates from the Principal too. So far, alhamdulillah, no cases at our community. We pray for His continued protection and blessings. Aamiin. 

Have a lovely few months ahead and stay safe, my lovelies!