Post-exams activities

The boys' exams ended at different times. Yang was released from his torture in end September; Kai in early October; Yu finally joined his brothers in slacking in late October. So we didn't do our usual post-exams makan until last Saturday.

Captain Kim!

Aiyoh, so sweet

We asked Yang to choose the spot, since his exams were a major milestone. The last time we were there was June 2025; we have switched alliance to Swensen's Unlimited in the past year... Actually, Yang chose Swensen's Unlimited at first but we are waiting for our free passes to accumulate :p And, better more protein than sugar??

As Yu had a birthday party to attend later, we opted for lunch. Then we shopped, cut hair and read until it was time for Yu and me to leave. In the end, I reached home just before Sito brought the two back.

With a big lunch, dinner was small, except for Kai's - Sito bought some BK back for Kai and Yang but Yang wanted only the fries so Kai had two burgers 😱 How does he remain so slim?? Sito and I couldn't eat, but I was offered a bit of cake when I fetched Yu, and Sito's mouth was itchy so I got him a chicken puff from OCK on our way home.

Biggest "goodie bag" gift ever!

Yu was so funny. I was surprised to face zero resistance/delay in leaving the party. When we walked out, I realised why - he wanted to poop! He couldn't make it back home; we made a stopover at Stevens MRT :p

Yang has been playing Nintendo since after PSLE. Special permission. Kai and Yu have to wait until school holidays start proper. But we still abide by our usual schedule, except that "study time" is not just about studying. 

We're having Yu finish up some leftover P4 papers and practising compos. Kai is practising English comprehension - his weak area - using an assessment book from Popular. They could also read proper books and do constructive things like...

Research! On how to play Pokemon cards

Back in September, Yang shared with us how to play Yu-Gi-Oh cards

Yang's latest piece to to put together interesting facts for our upcoming trip, to share with the grands this Sunday :)

Oh, while looking for photos, I realised we already had a separate post-PSLE makan with Yang the day after his last paper :p That day, we experienced a welcome by librarians at the Jurong library as we were among the first to visit!

Steak at Jack's Place

Reading comics - ok during play time and during study time only if chapter books are done

Actually the three of them could still fit in one bed to read together; Yu moved out when I went to fetch my phone for the photo. They like to hole up in Kai's room coz he keeps the aircon on during study time.

Yu playing chess at Bishan!

He'd been talking about going to Bishan and finally did it after exams were over! Sito brought him to the tournament side to look see and he found it intimidating... Never mind, go play more with strangers first :)

He said he lost all four games but he enjoyed himself - both chess and spending time (alone) with Papa, awww... I think the Macs ice cream at the end certainly played a role in him enjoying himself too!

An elite trainer box?!

Yes... From the outset, Sito and I agreed that we would reward effort and not results. But to give them stretch targets, Sito said that he would open his wallet big big if they attained certain grades - the bar is different for each kid.

Kai did one point better than last year but missed his stretch goal. Yang did so well for his prelims and missed by just one point! Yu wasn't optimistic after his exams but in the end, he got AL5 for year end and overall AL4 for the whole year! 

So this boy asked for Pokemon. Sito and I didn't think much about Pokemon but ok, let him figure it out later in life, like how I figured out that the 偶像卡 I spent so much of my sec 1 allowance on were a complete waste of money!!

One kid got Pokemon, two kids happy!

Actually, we really want to give Yang something..!!! But guess the biggest reward for him this time is learning about the value of hard work. He may not understand it now but we hope he will in time to come...

Playing Pokemon cards using a mix of real and "temu" cards, as the boys call the fake ones

I have few photos of Kai at post-exams activities. He had gone for the Bishan chess tournaments a few times. Sito got him started on meditation in the evening sometimes when I peek into his room at about 8pm, he would be sitting there with his eyes closed... I didn't want to disturb him with a photo...

Just last Thursday, a friend asked Kai out to study maths. Huh?? Did I hear wrongly? No. In fact, that boy brought along a sec 3 textbook, and the two sat at Macs at Marina Square for a few hours, mugging. Seriously.

Kai said the maths was hard. Of course la! Better listen well in class next year! Anyway, sec 3 posting results will be out this Friday. Then we could get him books. Let's see if he will, on his own, pick those up to read for next year :p