Inspired to write this entry after reading Munirah’s thought on this. You may read it HERE.
Well, here’s my thought.
IY turns 5 this year.
Which means the registration for the big school will be opened some time in March. We have determined the Sekolah Kebangsaan for him to go to. It ticks all the criteria we want. Location wise it’s dekat dengan rumah and it’s a good school. Good school tu penting coz that determines the circle of friends. Coz I believe friends play an important role. The school is also my alma mater. Used to be an all-girl school now dah co-ed. So ada sentimental value la sikit.
Anyways, the SK we chose is a Prestasi Tinggi kinda school and you know what that means lah kan. It equals to susah-nak-masuk-kena-exam-bagai kinda school. I detest that. It’s not that I’m not confident IY can pass with flying colours whatever exam test you nak kasi dia. Tak kisah la apa pun markah dia. Standard 1 je pun. Come on! I just don’t agree with the system. But who am I to fight the system kan? It’s like the saying if you can’t beat them, terpaksa la join them.
And another concern of mine is of course the logistics. Both of us are working parents. I don’t have the luxury to spend too much time to be my kids’ supir during working hours. FYI, my working hours is flexible. That means I will need to compensate the time I was away running school errands by either coming earlier in the morning or balik lewat in the evening . I have to be fair to my boss. Mana boleh jadi biskut Chipsmore kat office kan? Therefore, we need to schedule our time for the school runs. No, school bus it’s not an option. Even if it is, nobody is at home. Siapa nak siapkan lunch dia? Siapa nak tengokkan dia bersiap for his Sekolah Agama petang pulak? Ahaa, that brings me to the next topic – sekolah agama or KAFA or whatever Islamic additional classes to compliment the SK syllabus.
After all that, malam after dinner they have to sit down and do homework pulak. Confirm dah flat dah masa tu. I heard ada yang tuition lagi. Tuition? Standard 1? Are you kidding me? I know Gee won’t agree if I mention the word tuition for IY. Definitely a no-no.
I’m looking into alternatives now.
Adni Primary is in my list. School runs are only twice a day. Plus meals and solat all covered. Syllabus cover both conventional and islamic. The school starts at 8 and ends at 4. He will have ample time to rest before homework time after dinner. But all that convenience comes down to one issue – costs. Can we afford a private school for IY (and to be fair, Z too?). Big question mark. We are looking at the long-term costs. Eleven years of schooling. Darab 2 for Z. Tu belum anak-anak yang seterusnya lagi (if any). Darab 3, darab 4, darab berapa! *pengsan sekejap*
Whatever it is, we will still register IY to the SK for now. We still have 2 years to think and sort out the financials if we decided on the alternative. Sambil tu tak putus doa supaya murah rezeki mereka nak dapat the best education for dunia dan akhirat. Anak-anak saham akhirat kita kan. We can plan all we want, the rest Allah will decide. Just go with the flow what Allah has in store for us.
P/S: Me and Gee were products of SK, SRA, tuitions, naik bas and all that jazz. We turned out okay je kan? Tapi kenapa bila anak sendiri, I tak okay pulak? When I think back of my schooling years, I cringed! How the heck did I survive all that?
-Pu3-
Our Journal:This is us 
Ur mom kan ada? The school van can drop iy off there in between school hours? If not transit at a nearby nursery. Many of our frens do that. We are planning sek rek and petang sek agama. The other option try to befriend with ur neighbours and mommy yg nak same school with iy and plan a rotation schedule for pick up and send off. I dah rekki van driver dah since last year and jumpa my opismatenya abg yg drive a school van.(last resort) And if emergency tok-tok la we seek for help. I dunno about yours mine berebut nak amik anta cucu sampai pening ooo! 🙂 i pun takut ni! May Allah guide us the best way In Shaa Allah.
We are trying our best not to kacau the grandparents. Yes kalau ada emergency/sekali sekala boleh mintak tolong but not as a routine. My mom next year my sis dah abis form 5 so she’s done with the school runs. Kesian kat dia. Nak rest pulak.
Haaa pening ye bila tok tok berebut nak pick up cucu? Hehe! Good luck to you dear.
Apa pun kita tgk lah nanti. Mesti Tuhan dah plan elok2 dah ni. It’s just a matter of time for us to find out.
put3, maybe i tak baca habis ke atau terganggu dengan berita-berita semasa, but KAFA classes sangat bagus. SEbab ada UPKK (Ujian Penilaian Kelas KAFA) masa darjah (haha darjah) 5. Nanti bila form 1, tergerak hati nak masukkan dia ke Sekolah Menengah Agama or Sekolah Tahfiz, result UPKK tu dapat membantu selain UPSR (ada lagi ke UPSR in future?) & other special test untuk masuk sekolah tu.
Kalau kat IPOH, they have SAR (sekolah Agma Rakyat) yang combine dengan transit centre. So from SK ada bus/van hantar direct ke transit centre, siap bagi makan & shower, kemudian terus ke SAR yg terletak dalam compound transit centre tu jugak. Dunno tempat lain bagaimana. Juz to share (maybe bg idea pd pengusaha tempat asuhan sekali to get their SAR license)
Oh bagus la kalau ada transit centre yang combine dgn KAFA. All in one so dia x payah nak pergi ke byk destinasi.
I belum habis research pasal KAFA/SRA tu semua. Nak survey baru the one yg near our home ni.
Thanks for the ideas. Mana tau ada dekat2 sini I boleh la cari.
Pu3…i pun dalam dilema yg sama. my son gonna be 5 this year…plan to send him to SK Damansara Utama. Tapi jauh sikit dr rumah. which means mommy kene send him to school lepas tu kene cari van to pick him up from school. Another school is SK Tropicana, dekat sikit from the house. tp i mcm tak favor sgt in terms of the crowds. Hubby cakap enroll aje SRJK C Damansara. dekat sangat. Seberang jalan aje. Satu hal laa pulak nak hantar dia ke mandarin kindy laa pulak. dah laa homework byk kan sekolah cina ni kan? kelas agama lg mcm mana?
pastu kalau hantar private school…fees nyer punya laa…kalau setakat Iskandar ok laa lagi? Harith mcm mana pulak. Pancit mommy daddy cari duit bayar school fees diorang aje. pening kepala fikir pasal sekolah budak2 ni. do our parents faced the same thing? hopefully we”ll get the answer soon and good luck to you.
Yes dear good luck to all of us!
Salam Puteri & Najihah,
my son goes to SJKC Dsara + SRA TTDI. He never had any initial mandarin introduction in kindy. At first dh register (& dh dpt tempat!) kt SK TTDI but then hubby ckp y x try sjkc? So we enrolled him and alhamdulillah he’s doing fine though we have to enroll him for mandarin tuition. No need to worry too much la..hehe..in terms of hw kt sjkc tu. well it used to be like that ms pki syllabus KBSR but KSSR ni approach dia different. In fact their exams only 2x a year as opposed to budak KBSR yg exam 4x a year. Lama2 sistem exam pun nak abolish. They wanna create students yg critical thinkers and are allrounders ie x just excellent in studies but also in other co-curricular activities as well.
But the good thing about SJKC ni is the discipline level and also the PIBG is quite strong. In terms of discipline tu, once my son got the hang of it (well he wasnt even used to the idea of hw as he was from a montessori kindy) will try to finish as much of his hw in school bila ada free time so kat umah xdela byk sgt. I can leave him to handle his school work + kemas bag on his own though once in awhile kena spot check la. About PIBG tu, because they are strong, byk activities yg costs double (or even triple!) outside are subsidized. So u just have to pay a fraction of the price. I enrolled my son in robotics class which costs only RM180 for 3 months (1 1/2 hours per week) when outside (you can check with the Children’s Technology Workshop for example) costs about RM45/hour!
Of course cons going to chinese school ni is bab agama. They do have agama subject but it’s only a few times a week and it’s not being emphasized so much. So we balance it out with sending him to SRA TTDI which is (to me) very good.
Just my 2-cents. Just wanted to share my personal experiences. This route may not be suitable for all. My advice is just follow your motherly instincts. Insyallah Allah knows best! All the best you guys!
Salam Mus,
Thanks for sharing! Useful info. I was not aware pasal KSSR tu and I am happy that the new system’s objective is not just to excel academically.
I’m sure IY will have to adjust to the homework system too as he never ada hw at Treetop and now Adni.
Thanks again and u are right kita berdoa and let our motherly instincts guide us along our parenting journey.
Good luck to u too!
Salam Musliza,
Nak tanya, your son pegi SRA TTDI after school everyday ke? Do they have classes during weekend?
Salam Najihah,
Yes he goes everyday. SRA TTDI xde weekend classes. Dia under JAWI so samala cam other SRAs. But I do know ada KAFA kat area Mutiara Damansara that do like 2x per week classes and also weekend classes. But the fee is a bit more expensive la.
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Sebab sekolah that Irfan goes to is SBT, the kids had to sit for exam during orientation so that they can be streamed. Gila lah! Standard 1 dah streaming. I remember being streamed after UPSR je dulu. Let’s not get started with KSSR pulak. I’m so pening and confused cos every other week, ada je tukar this and that. Urgghhhh!
Kan? Gile nak streaming budak darjah 1. I mmg tak agree tang tu dari dulu lagi. But what to do. Kesian anak2 sekarang.