Holding back on the Heathdale vs Good News decision

After what happened on Thu night, hubby and I are leaning towards the idea that it might be better to let Beth continue at Heathdale. She seems to be doing so well, has developed a little circle of good friends, and Heathdale does seem to be catering to her academic bent. It would be a bit of a shame to tear her away.

Pity about the fees. It's the biggest push factor.

Transferring school

It's done.

Have put in Jordanne's enrolment application for Good News Lutheran for 2012.

Was going to put in Beth's as well, but we had a couple of questions/concerns about LOTE Chinese, so I'm holding on to her application till I get those issues sorted.

Beth and I had a look at some past exam papers for Chinese as a second language, and surprisingly, she thought she might get to the level where she's good enough to understand the exam requirements and even do well in the exam.

She made an innovative case for staying on in Heathdale: at Year 5, she would be able to see what the students get to learn in Chinese class. Plus, she might even excel because of the headstart she's had through community language school classes. :-)

One of the questions CA and I had was if you need to be in a school that offers LOTE Chinese in order to take it up as an elective for VCE. From the comments of various parents as well as our own observations and research, it seems the answer is NO.

Judging from the kind of LOTE material Heathdale students use for Year 5 onwards, as well as the school policy of 6 months of French lessons followed by 6 months of Chinese, the intent seems to be to expose the student to different cultures rather than to prepare them to eventually sit the VCE. That eliminates the one big reason for remaining at Heathdale.

If Beth is at all serious about taking VCE Chinese, she will most probably have to switch to an intensive Chinese language coaching school (New Century, Chinese Culture School or Xin Jin Shan) that specialises in preparing students to be proficient enough to sit the VCE.

Over the hump

We've achieved a major breakthrough.

After the school tour yesterday, a serious discussion before bedtime and again this morning, Beth has not only agreed to transfer to Good News Lutheran (if accepted), she even suggested transferring in Term 3 2011 instead of Term 2, so she would be able to complete the Naplan test under the auspices of Heathdale.

She even joked about having two different uniforms within one year.

Thank you God. Only You could have worked such a miracle of acceptance and openness in Beth's heart.

School tour - Good News Lutheran

It's finally happening.

Have called Good News Lutheran and arranged to do a tour this Friday 4 pm, which will give us plenty of time for a post-exam celebration lunch on our way back from Carnegie.

Hubby is on leave for the day, so we'll all get to see the school facilities together and hopefully I get to have a chat with the principal too.

How to get a distracted, disinterested child to practise for a piano exam

Have discovered that the best strategy for getting Beth to practise is to catch her in a good mood, keep her that way with lots of positive strokes and humour (no matter how quirky or silly), and have short intensive bursts (such as during commercials for X Factor) rather than long sessions (anything more than 15 min straight) at the keyboard.

It's taken a long time to refine the strategy down to these terms.

The exam's in four days, but as they say, better late than never.

I'm gonna restrain myself from any negativity between now and Friday and just encourage her to offer her best.

She went for her second Solo Festival at Yamaha yesterday. I was so relieved that her performance went pretty well, considering how she's been temperamentally. She definitely redeemed herself after the disastrous rendition of Menuett by Mozart three months ago.

A Peaceful, Conflict-Free Day

Had a good day with Beth yesterday.

The funny thing is, things didn't exactly go as intended. She had committed to finishing her school homework, two practice sessions on the keyboard of 30 min each, bath and Chinese homework.

She managed her school homework fairly easily, except for parts of the math homework. I thought it was the perfect time to introduce her to algebra and the concept of X. Was so pleased that she showed such enthusiasm for learning something new and managed to grasp the concept right away.

Getting her to practise the keyboard was much harder.

She dawdled till after dinner before getting to it, but when she did, she managed to do so with a good attitude and to keep her temper in check, which made it easier for me too. After all, it takes two to have conflict!

She pleaded exhaustion midway through her scales so I wisely (with God-given wisdom and self-restraint) decided to let her defer the practice of the remaining scales to today.

Hopefully, she keeps up her good attitude and we'll be right on exam day (now 10 days away).

16 days to go

Relieved that Beth finally acquiesced to her teacher's suggestion that she have an extra piano lesson on Cup Day.

I was glad she redeemed herself (partly) in the way she played her pieces. Her scales still need a lot of work and I know she hates the discipline of sitting down at the piano and working through those difficult keys.

But if she wants an A+ like she says she does, she has to realize that she can only achieve it through regular consistent effort.