04 May 2010

Pre-School - The most important education that one should receive. Period.

Our second-born, Raha, has been in the Headstart program for almost a year now. Headstart is a government-effort to help children who are classified as at-risk prepare themselves for school. How are we at-risk, you might ask.. Children are considered at-risk if they come from families with below-poverty level income, single-parent families, one or both parents incarcerated, limited English Language proficiency, and a few other factors. So, we fell into the category of being under the poverty level (that tells you exactly how much allowances we are paid... heheh). Anyway, we are truly grateful and syukur Alhamdulillah for all that has been given to us. That's another story.

Raha enjoys school very much, made a lot of friends, and she is doing great in school. The program not only stresses reading, writing, and counting abilities, but also focuses on developing the whole child - their psychomotor skills, social skills, and encourages the children to stay healthy through nutritional programs, exercise programs (they do Yoga sometimes), and also teaches children about their safety (don't let anyone touch them improperly, seat belts, don't put things in your mouth, etc.).

The program's a full day, from 9.00am to 3.15pm. Raha goes to school by bus (a little yellow school bus) that is equipped with seat belts. And, the teachers are the drivers of the bus. She's picked up from in front of our home every school day, which is very convenient.

I would very much like to see the same program being implemented in Malaysia as there would be a lot of children categorized as "at-risk" who are not receiving quality education. We are yet to see the effectiveness of "PERMATA", which is a totally awesome idea if implemented properly. We need to seriously focus on controlling the quality of early childhood education programs to build a strong foundation in our nation's education system.

I thought that this is something that I ought to share to make everyone realize that childhood is valid, and that every child has to go through proper childhood stages. Play is their work. Let them work in an environment that we ourselves would want to work in. Their needs are not to be taken for granted, as what they need and do are valid in itself.

02 May 2010

-Overture-

It's been a while since I have thought about starting to blog.. well... blogging as in expressing my inner thoughts. I have a lot of them, and most often some random brilliant idea pops up and then I forget about it. What a waste. And I am not as organized as many would have thought.. I am probably one of the most disorganized person ever. It's a wonder how I can juggle so many plates in my life. Well, I suppose I could never have done it without the Almighty always answering my prayers. Alhamdulillah...

If you are interested at all in my brain activities, please feel free to follow my blog. We just might learn from each other. We are human beings, and we were built to live in a society. Thus, no one can exist without another... So, it wouldn't be so bad to share our experiences, views, and ideas. Why? Well... I for one am not  trying to change the world, but if I can help or impact another person out there, Alhamdulillah...