O Levels

JY wanted to enroll into a college and found out that she needed 5 O Level/SPM passes as a prerequisite.
A roadblock! I do so love roadblocks. Makes us stop and think.
JY is at a crossroad now.

She wants to explore her creative side and yet she wants to feed her intellectual mind. She enjoys reading History and Biology as much as working with paints and brushes.
Would having an OLevel cert open up more possibilities for her?
So I asked her "Want to take up the OLevel challenge?"
She said "Why not!"

So the stage was set... next course of action was to get information
1, British Council
There are 2 OLevel exams: IGSCE or GCSE?
As we are not in UK, we have to sit for IGSCE. It costs RM740 per subject and Art is an exorbitant  RM2060

2. Free Exam Papers
 Took a look at what's in store for JY. We had fun attempting the Art paper and lots of laughs with Agriculture paper especially the one on why pants must not be stuffed into rubber boots. It was an eye opener for JY as she couldn't fathom Art being an exam paper and was intrigued at how it was graded.

Next, to shortlist the subjects she wanted to sit for.
Language:
Besides English, she surprised me by saying she would be taking German as well. German? Since when? Well, according to her she was inspired by Tokio Hotel and LaFee as well as makeup artists who narrate in German and Polish. Dankeschön, YouTube!
She has started teaching the boys German too. As she wants someone she can communicate in German with. So from now on she will be speaking to Meme in German.
Today's lesson was numbers 1-100...eins zwei drei......

Sciences:
She was always into Horrible Science and reading a biology textbook we bought on MVDoulus (the floating bookshop) so Biology was a natural choice. I am trying to coerce her into taking Chemistry.

Maths:
She dislikes Maths. But while University Bookstore in Sec14, I showed her an example of a Maths problem and she couldn't beleive it was THAT simple! She has had an imagined fear of mathematics all along. Now to get her to conquer it.
I am trying hard to persuade her that Add Maths is an even nicer subject :) I loved Add Maths, I loved the simplicity and beauty of it and how everything works out in the end.

Art::
Art is an exam!!! Art can be graded?!! That was her initial reaction. Her father is more than happy to coach her in this subject.

English Literature:
Still thinking about this one.

JY has 1 year to prepare for the exam. The countdown begins.......

Ean and Dinosaurs

Does every kid go through a dinosaur phase? I know all of mine did. Now it's Ean's turn to go dino-crazy.
It started off when he insisted on watching 'Sea Monsters' daily. Then we got him another DVD from the Walking with Dinosaurs series.

Meat-eaters vs Plant-eaters.
Ean would line up the plant-eaters, ready to launch an attack on the meat-eaters.
The meat-eaters would always be the villians and would never be able to defeat the plant-eaters who would relentlessly cripple the sharp-tooths with either their spiked, whip or club tails.

Dino puzzle

I thought it would be a good idea to take him to the dinosaur exhibit at the National Science Centre. But once again I assumed wrongly. Han refused to enter the exhibition hall the moment he saw the black drapes he had to walk through. "Scary!" he said.
 I managed to coax him in but Han managed to get the boys' spooked.
Ean was eager at first but the sight of his brother's ashen face and the eerie growls emitted by the dimly lit robotic dinosaurs, soon got all 3 boys clinging to me for dear life.
JY coaxed the boys to release their stranglehold on me. She held their hands and told me "They have cold clammy hands, Mom"
Han and Fai looked around to ensure the dinosaurs did not make any sudden movements.
It was more House of Horrors than an educational dino exhibit.

Nice bones. If only they were real.

DH took the brood  to Dinoland in Gentings a few days later while I had a breather and caught a movie with Meme. The boys said it was better than the dinosaurs in Science Centre and they weren't nearly as terrified this time around.
I'm glad they had a good time with their father .
I had a good time too, watching Spidey in 3D while Meme snoozed in my arms :)