PMR results out on Thursday 22 December 2011

Hope all the 2011 PMR candidates do well. Their results will be out on Thursday, available from schools after 10am. Or via SMS. News is from The Star: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/12/19/nation/20111219163600&sec=nation

How to entertain children and get your magazine fix

Other than getting a discount member card for MPH and Popular, we're trying to save some cost for books by joining the local library. The one we frequent is Penang Georgetown branch, with Children's Library too. Even though most of the books are not super new like in bookstore, but they are fairly new enough for school going children. Of course if the children are younger I wouldn't be thinking of using library books. You know, sometimes quite difficult to control young children rubbing their eyes or nose after fiddling with used books. So when the children are younger I buy them new books for them to read. However now that they are older, and after finding out the library actually have quite a lot of choice for children, I bring them there to increase their knowledge.

They enjoy going and also playing there. I get my magazine fix there to save myself a lot of $. Even though the magazine selection is not the newest, but there are some copies of fashion and finance magazines to feast my eyes on. There are also lots of books but need to scout them out rack by rack on stuff that you're interested. There's local magazines as well as foreign English magazines. If you're not after the freebies that comes with the magazine, this is a alternative option for just reading and contents. One can read newspapers at the library too.

For those who like to purchase books or magazines, there's also the tax deduction limited to RM1000 but need to remember to keep the receipts. AND must keep the receipts and tax filing for a good 7 years in your record. My occasional splurge is books for the children, as we get tax deduction and they can increase their knowledge via books too.

Speaking of tax deduction for books and magazines, it reminded me that 2011 is coming to a close soon and we will need to start filing taxes for 2011 in a couple of months. Time to start getting those receipts in order.

Since I only want some entertainment and do not mind the advertisement nature, I also read the free Pearl magazine given by Jusco to Jusco card members and Pop Club magazine given by Popular to Popular card members.

Geronimo Stilton cartoon on NTV7 at 11:30am!

Photo taken of our own Geronimo book

Imagine our surprise when we saw Geronimo Stilton cartoon on NTV7 today! Good thing it's in English! It's a coincidence, and we manage to only the last 10 minutes of it. Will be watching out again for it tomorrow.

The Geronimo Stilton book we own is purchased at the Popular Mega Bookfair at Straits Quay. And it's at 25% discount. Wouldn't be buying such an expensive book if not for the discount.

Update 16 December 2011: Geronimo cartoon is still on at 11:30am. Kids were laughing away while watching. Wonder if it's a daily affair for the school holidays? The Star's program guide has disappointed me a few times so not going to trust it.

Update 21 December 2011: Geronimo is not on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Update 6 January 2012: After the school holidays, I think they are only showing Geronimo cartoon on Saturdays at 11:30am.

Pemberian Baucar Buku 1Malaysia (BB1M)

Refer to this from Treasury website for details on the RM200 book voucher. The vouchers will be distributed by the schools/colleges/universities. All the bookstores are encouraged to participate and they can claim back via BSN. However I wonder which are the bookstores that actually will participate though. The vouchers are valid from 1 January through 31 March 2012.

This link has FAQ on the BB1M and also FAQ on the BR1M. Check it for eligibility:
http://www.treasury.gov.my/pdf/bajet/FAQs_BELANJAWAN_2012.pdf

Update: Looks like major bookstores like Popular and MPH accept the BB1M vouchers. MPH just advertised they are giving RM5 book voucher for every RM100 nett purchase.

Massimo sandwich loaf with wheat germ

The new bread in town. There's been quite some hype with this new brand called Massimo. We found it at Tesco and bought small pack to try. The children loved it! Usually they don't like the bread crust but for this one, they ate everything. So we got a big pack next. The small pack costs RM2.50 and the big pack is RM3.50. 

Celebration

When it comes to special events like concerts, graduations, weddings, festivities like Christmas and Chinese New Year and even birthdays. Every seller wants a piece of the celebration pie. Unknowingly, some parents' spending for children tend to go overboard, and we didn't realize it until we do a tally of our spending.

Especially for the school holidays, I find it getting harder and harder to hold our budget together. It is easier during the usual school days when the activities are fixed and we stay at home most of the time. Little princess spend a good 6 hours at school with at least 30 minutes on the road travelling back and from home.  Little prince spend about 5 hours at school or slightly more if he goes early. But with more free hours during the holiday, we're finding it easier to succumb to our wants. It does take a lot of willpower to hold back from spending more. Suddenly there is a need to have breakfast at McDonalds' or KFC. Dinner or lunch out seem more delicious than what we cook. If we go for short trip, everything's about convenience, and that comes at a price. No wonder the King didn't want to travel so much with the family. In fact, eating out is really expensive, one adder is the service tax that had been increased from 5% to 6% effective 1 January 2011. All these fancy places you see are all charging for the nice furnishings and comfortable ambient. Even going grocery shopping to hypermarkets like Tesco and Giant, we tend to spend more liberally to enjoy some special foods during school holidays.

Something I can still be insistant on, is not spending on things I don't deem as important. Such as for children's concert, we were requested to look for dresses, shoes, hair accessories. I don't mind paying a little for the occasion but do not ask me to go scouting all over the place for something that might not even be used in the occasion.       

Spare school shoes

We should not be buying things just because they are cheap or on sale. But we do see a need for a pair of spare school shoes for the children, especially we have experienced so many weekend activities for the SJK (C)'s. So this promotion comes in handy and the quality is not too shabby either. Other than school shoes, there's also school uniforms on offer at Tesco. They've marked down their prices for this weekend to compete with Giant.

Photo from: http://www.tesco.com.my/

Highlight of little princess' school UPSR results

Went to pickup little princess for holiday camp today from her school. Saw the school's UPSR results for 2011. Looks like more students getting A's compared to last year. There are 31 students with 7A's, 17 students with 6A's and 14 students with 5A's. Congratualations to the school and hope they keep their fighting spirit!

Back-to-school shopping begins!

It's the beginning of back-to-school shopping. Promotions from Giant, Tesco, Parkson all in newspaper ads today. Planning to buy another pair of spare school shoes for princess, and another pair of school shorts. Already heard from another mom that Tesco's school shorts comes with elastic band which is more convenient for primary school children. She also mentioned their super cheap school shoes are actually not comfy. As a spare, need to buy a much bigger size. Will have to wait till the last week of holidays before any actual buying as the children grow so fast.

In fact, if missed the back-to-school shopping season at the hypermarkets and supermarkets, it will be difficult to find uniform stuff except at the speciality stores. I actually prefer the Kimnovak school uniform as they look nicer, especially for secondary school girl's pinafore. I think other school paraphernalia can get from other sources depending on pricing and comfort level. But next time, princess will have Kimnovak pinafore for her secondary school, that's for sure. When I didn't have Kimnovak pinafore last time, I used to envy the girls who wore them as it looked much nicer and smarter.

Local trip spending

We came back from a short local trip. After tallying our spending, I found that we had actually spent much more compared to what we budgeted. Food made up the bulk of the spending, followed by souvenirs. We should not be eating so much restaurant food. Maybe next time we will have one restaurant meal for lunch and one simple dinner. We also had expensive tea-time and mid-morning snack (cakes and desserts). In other words, we overeat during this trip.

I should not take hubs' words for granted about enjoy while we can, yet he comes back complaining about us overspending. His purchase of souvenirs for office staff is expensive, and he bought way too much local produce IMHO.

Lesson learnt, when you have expensive eating habits, limit it to only one meal per day when travelling. However hubs keep saying we must enjoy now, which distracts me from trying to be "frugal on a trip".

Uses of the RM100 student cash aid

If you are from well-to-do family, do you decline the government's offer of the RM100 student cash aid? Would like to suggest that this amount to be donated to the school after accepting the aid if you do not need it. After all, the school that your child goes to is the one who nurtures and educate them. In fact, why not top-up more donation to the school next year as donation to school are going to be tax deductable in 2012 (base on Budget 2012). Definitely the school will appreciate any kind of donation especially the SJK(C)'s.

Got the RM100 student aid

Little princess told us to go to her school to give our signature. However when asked what is it that teacher wanted, she is not able to elaborate. When the Boss went to her school, he was told it's the RM100 student aid. Parents have to sign accept or reject for primary school (I think). So far, all the parents he saw accepted the aid. Definitely any help for school will be welcomed ya. The cash aid for students is disbursed through school for Year 1 to Form 5 students. For those starting Year 1 in 2012, they will get the RM100 student aid later. Heard that secondary school students just get a memo and the RM100 is passed to them. Most school would have completed giving out the student aid by now as it's last day of school!

Preparing for the new school year

Ok I admit I'm a little kiasu. Like most parents I do not want my children to be left out when they start the new school year next year. So here's what I'm going to do with little prince and princess during the holidays.

Princess:
- Revise Year 1 Mandarin, Maths, Moral Studies.
- Start preparing for Year 2 Maths and Science. Was stuck after the first chapter of Maths and Science as it is all new things to her, so I think will focus on strengthening her grasp of Year 1 work such as recognize key words and learn how to interpret questions.
- Also start work on her English grammar and reading as it seems to be deteriorating from lack of conversational practise as compared to last year.
- Work on method for composing better sentences in Mandarin and BM with subject and object, improve on her weakness for this.

Prince:
- Work on conversational BM, English and Mandarin in preparation for the goverment assessment next year.
- Prepare according to syllabus of Kurikulum Standard Prasekolah Kebangsaan (KSPK)
- Start work on Maths workbooks which is written to meet KSPK criteria
- Ensure he knows Mandarin characters in KSPK and also can recognize key words in question paper
- Go through Moral Studies values in Mandarin as he learns this in English at his kindy, maybe leverage on princess' workbook for Moral Studies.

Some of the above will be for the holidays, some will have to extend over to the new year. However definitely there will be time for play and cartoon. Hopefully can balance up their work and play time.

Internal school competitions

Here's to record down children's school activities for memory sake. Next time will jot down in family calendar so that they will be more serious and learn to be all-rounder.

Date	Day	Activity
22-Jan-11	Sat	Chinese caligraphy competition, new year card design competition
19-Feb-11	Sat	Current events quiz
30-Mar-11	Wed	Chinese caligraphy competition
4-Apr-11	Mon	Chinese story-telling/poem reading competition
23-Apr-11	Sat	Mandarin singing competition
7-May-11	Sat	Drawing competition
8-Jul-11	Fri	Maths competition
26-Aug-11	Fri	Pertandingan Bina Ayat/Menulis Karangan (Sentences/essay writing competition in BM)
5-Sep-11	Mon	Sentences/essay writing in Mandarin
19-Sep-11	Mon	Spelling Bee Contest (Year 1 - 6)
20-Sep-11	Tue	Short Essay Writing Competition (Year 4-6)
5-Oct-11	Wed	Pertandingan melafaz pantun, bercerita dan syarahan
25-Oct-11	Tue	Patriotic Song Singing competition

Recounting Year 4-6 student school activities

Alright alright, in a few more years princess will be in upper primary school. By then, maybe I don't have the energy to record down what are the long string of activities that students have. So while I am still young and able *smirk* here is what I got from princess' school memo's. Also trying out function of copy-and-paste table here. These activities are for princess' school and for reference only.

Date	Day	Activity	Remarks
5-Jan-11	Wed	Taklimat PEKA SAINS	Year 4 -6
11-Jan-11	Tue	Start extra class for Year 6 (all classes), Year 4 and 5 (last 2 classes only)	4 hours per week, parents pay monthly fees of RM30
12-Jan-11	Wed	Taklimat Menulis Karangan BM	Year 4  and 5
19-Jan-11	Wed	Taklimat Menulis Karangan BI	Year 4  and 5
26-Jan-11	Wed	Taklimat Menulis Karangan BC	Year 4  and 5
9-Mar-11	Wed	Year 4 and Year 5 motivational talk
12-Mar-11	Sat	Holiday extra class for Year 6 (all classes), Year 4 and 5 (last 2 classes only)	4 days with total 16 hours class
14-May-11	Sat	Previous year UPSR results excellence prize ceremony	Those with good UPSR results from previous year invited back to school to get a prize
21/6/2011 to 23/6/2011		UPTP (1)
24-Jul-11	Sun	Pre-UPSR talk	Students pay RM27.50 to attend
2/8/2011 to 4/8/2011		UPTP (2)
13-Aug-11	Sat	Year 6 UPSR motivational talk
17-Aug-11	Wed	BM motivational workshop	At other school
30-Aug-11	Tue	UPSR motivational workshop	External
13-Sep-11	Tue	UPSR exam	3 days
23-Sep-11	Fri	Meet Year 6 parents	Explain method to fill up secondary school application form
27-Sep-11	Tue	Seminar on secondary education
12-Nov-11	Sat	Graduation ceremony	There's a dinner arranged for Year 6 students
14-Nov-11	Mon	Local attraction travel	For Year 6 students
17-Nov-11	Thu	UPSR results	Result slip availabe 10am onwards from school
8-Dec-11	Thu	Year 6 students get secondary school placement announcement	Back to school for this memo
15-Dec-11	Thu	Year 6 students report to secondary school	Only 1 day
29-Dec-11	Thu	Year 5 students gotong-royong	Half day

UPSR results out on Nov 17

According to The Star news, UPSR results will be announced on Nov 17. Now, this is considered fast as the Year 6 students just sat for their UPSR exams in Sept. I wonder how is the secondary school application like, will take note of it as little princess school doesn't have a secondary school. So the children will have to apply to other schools after their Year 6. This is something we didn't think about when we enrol little princess in the school. All we thought about is that it is considered near and it is considered an ok school, not too stressed, not too slack, not too competitive but competitive enough.

Kindy teaching syllabus to be updated for next year

I'm not referring to the government's pre-school syllabus. It had been updated since 2010 as far as I know. I'm referring to the one used by little prince's kindy. Just receive news from the kindy principal, that they will have revised Maths and Science syllabus next year. I'm now breathing a sigh of relieve as it will make coaching him easier. He is lucky to be able to learn the new syllabus. Little princess did not have some portions of the Maths at kindy last time. It's so hard to teach her about money, measurement and shapes. Luckily the kindy books will be updated for next year as little prince will need all the help he can. More about little prince and the coaching he needs in another post coming up.

RM100 student aid to be disbursed soon

Saw news article from Sin Chew here: http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/226122?tid=1
Seems that the RM100 student aid will be disbursed via school and parents/guardians need to sign no matter they consent to receiving the student aid or not. According to the news article in Mandarin is 接受或拒絕都須簽名. We have not receive any notification yet, so still waiting for information from princess' school. Only one more week before school holidays so hope the process will be smooth. For those who are going to Year 1 next year, seems like they will get the RM100 student aid only when school reopens.

The new start

I'm moving over the posts related to children as the other blog is getting more congested and scattered. This would be easier for my own reference too.

Still in learning stage how to manage these 2 blogs, wonder if I could just export some of the posts over to here?? Try, try and try again.

Been viewing my other blog for some time and couldn't find any button to export the posts I want over here. Sigh... so manual??!!!!

PTPTN might not provide living expenses?

News on TV and online had chairman from PTPTN saying they might not provide loan including living expenses in the future. It's still in discussion stage with the Government (which Ministry?, not very clear in the article) and the PTPTN highlighted many borrowers did not pay their loan, thus it's limiting their ability to provide full loan to future students.

I hope PTPTN will reconsider as students do really need help with living expenses as well so that they can concentrate fully on their studies. Especially nowadays a lot of studying opportunities are away from home and thus living expenses loan is big help. I would hope my children would get loans that includes living expenses as they might study at a place away from home in the future. With inflation shooting up (not creeping, mind ya), we middle-class parents need as much help as possible. After all, we are a sandwich generation that needs to take care of elderly family members and also the children (not one child, typical families have 2 or more children nowadays). It's not only the low-income group that needs help.

PPSMI soft-landing?

I think so-called "soft-landing" is for those currently in standard 2 and above. For children in standard 1 year 2011, they are already studying in mother tongue and not in English anymore. There will be more news and updates on the "soft-landing" as mentioned by Education Minister later.

http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/225464?tid=1

http://www.sinchew.com.my/node/225461?tid=1

PPSMI decision stays

From all the raging news online and in print, looks like we have to say goodbye to PPSMI. It was with heavy heart coupled with dismay when I know of it. This meant a lot to us as our children will not be exposed to Maths and Science in English (except at kindergarten level). There is a blogger mom who said that she will continue buying reference books in dual-language to teach her kids the terms in English. I think it's a superb idea. Next time there is a member day's sale at Popular, I'm going to sweep some of the revision books in dual-language. Should I be as crazy as to buy up including revision books for secondary school or just primary school? :p Hubs will kill me for the overkill.

Well the folks who think it's too hard to study Maths and Science in English, it's your loss. Continue with your closed-mindedness, and stay in your own tempurung. We will continue to give and pass down whatever knowledge we have to our children which the group will never be able to do. To look on the bright side, maybe those who cannot follow lessons in English might now stay in school longer and there will be less Mat Rempit after we abolish PPSMI. Scratch that, who are we kidding here? Those who won't study will not matter what is done. Those who are determined to study will make it through some how and some way.

Popular student card

Being kind of a kiasu mom, what do I do when my princess came back with less-than-satisfactory results? By "less-than-satisfactory", I meant she could've done better without careless mistakes. She did exercises at home, she did 2 sets of past year questions - one for her school and one for another school (the one for another school purchase wrong, oh well). For important subjects like Maths, Mandarin, BM, the exercises she did are from the leftover workbooks from her daycare and hand-me-downs from ex-colleague. It was like one or two workbooks for each subject. Still she did some mistakes in exam paper that she did not do during the exercises done just a few days before exam. She also copied wrong words which caused her to lose marks for BM Penulisan and Mandarin Penulisan. She forgot to put units for her Maths (but she didn't make this mistake during exercise) and she lost marks for this subject too. OK OK, so we do not know all the exam results yet. Still it made me rethink my strategy for coaching our princess. She knew she did not meet my expectation and she felt really bad about it.

In order to sharpen her mind during the holidays and prepare her for the new school year, I've decided to go the way of the "tuition teacher method". After some discussion with a friend and looking at how daycare centers coach children, I realize most of them are using workbooks. And I believe they use lots of it. So in my moderated version, I started with one or two workbooks for the holidays. I'm revising the standard 1 syllabus with her, as only one or two publishers have come up with workbooks for the new syllabus KSSR for standard 2. At least when I looked at the bookstores this week.

Which comes to the title of this post, the Popular student card. I saw ad in newspaper that Popular Gurney Plaza is having member sale from 26-28 October 2011 for all books and revision books. This is only for members. However the ad kinda mislead me to believe that new application for member card will have free gift. Because student card application and renewal is NOT ENTITLED :( Oh ok, so it is just RM10 for 2-year membership, only for students age 7-12 years old.

So far the discount I got is RM10.40 for today's purchase. And I got 2 almost freebie, one is mechanical pencil and one memo pad for RM0.10 each with newspaper coupon. So actually the card is fully giving discount of 10% or whatever rebate given by Popular (sometimes they have 20% or 30% rebate) for the next 2 years. This is actually better savings than MPH Kidz Club membership if the title is the same, as the Popular student card is cheaper. However most of the time, the titles available at MPH and Popular is not really of the same genre. If your children need revision books, go for Popular student card if there's a school-going 7 to 12-year-old in your household. Do note that only certain books get discount with the card as "nett-priced items" do not get the discount. "Nett-priced items" are the ones where price tag will say "NETT", for example some revision books are nett-priced items (not all), magazines are nett price items.

I'd be on constant lookout for Popular member sale now that I'm a member our princess is a student member. Those 20% or 30% rebate do add up.

As for Borders, it's out of my target now especially after I bought an Enid Blyton Rewards book at RM16.90 with no discount. I found the same book at Popular and MPH going for only RM10.90. ARGH! My pain when I saw the price tag!

Penang to give RM100 to students for standard 1, standard 4, form 1 and form 4

The news article link here and here. Very glad to have this news as it will help the parents in Penang. Aid will start from next year, 2012. Now I wonder how to get it? :)

RM100 student aid via school?

There's a news coverage by the TV stations that DPM said they will use BSN to disburse the RM100 per student aid to the schools, and the schools will then distribute to students. Makes one wonder how it will happen. No further official annoucements were made on it though. Again, "to be determined". Not that we are waiting for the student aid, but curious about this carrot. There's report that parents can even "opt out". I hope parents don't opt out as it's the only thing that middle class parents with school-going children can get. Even if you're well-to-do, might as well get it and donate it to the needy students instead of 益 the big guys, right?

And the aid will be available in December to be in time for back-to-school next year. Continue to wait for "to-be-determined" news.

Update 24 Oct:  http://www.thesundaily.my/news/187525. Seems like parents will be invited to school to get the aid money. I hope we do get our letter. Oh and the remark made about using the aid for example new mobile phone purchase is totally out of line. Are the IQ of people in this country  so low until have to mention this aid is not meant for buying new mobile phones?? Alamak!

Article in The Star: Will You Take The RM100

This article in The Star got me fuming. Yes I would take the RM100 for school children, and why not? We had been diligently paying income tax since started working. The question is, how we are going to get it - will there be long forms to fill, will we have to queue at the appointed bank BSN, is there a due date as we are all busy people? There are so many open ended questions and details are so vague. And will it even be in time for the new school year? Maybe the writer doesn't have school going children or he leaves all the management to the Missus. Even if the school fees of RM24.50 is waived (primary, don't remember the secondary school fees as no child in secondary school yet), there are other fees like computer class fees and payment for extra workbooks for those in Chinese medium school. Perhaps those in Sekolah Kebangsaan don't have to purchase extra workbooks (don't know of anyone close whose child goes to sekolah kebangsaan so not sure of this). After all this "work" to get the RM100, it's only for 2012. It's only a one-off payment, remember?? Let's wait for HOW to get the RM100 specifically.

For those middle class folks whose children are not yet in primary, secondary school or college/university, they really do not get anything. Those who only have babies, or kindy going children next year, life goes on as usual without any goodies. Book voucher of RM200 for college students, let's keep our fingers crossed over how it will be implemented.

History subject for 2014 children?

See these:
1. http://ubkskbtkgemilang10.blogspot.com/2010/10/sejarah-matapelajaran-teras-kssr-2014.html
2. http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/2puad/Article
3. http://www.teo-education.com/teo/?cat=110&paged=2

FAINT. It is still unclear to me if the authourities wanted to make history a subject for standard 1 or standard 4 students or both. Those of us who have school-going children or soon-to-be school-going children sure kena somehow or other. The news was from last year, I was just too busy last year to note the impact to our poor kids.
#1 -- the "history" subject will be based on "unsur kewarganegaraan, patriotisme dan perlembagaan" -- this means only the last 50 to 60 years or so of the country's history from around Merdeka time??
#2 --  To elaborate more, somewhere in the newspaper article, the speaker was quoted as saying "The syllabus will be based on citizenship, patriotism and the Constitution" and "with emphasis on enhancing the understanding of the constitution so as to enlighten students about the country’s nation-building process."
#3 -- how are the 10-year-olds going to ever understand how the country works? Leave this sort of thing to the teenagers by all means! If 10-year-olds can't comprehend, pls do not even expect the 7-year-old's to even know what's going on. Poor moms and dads who try to help with homework during that time would have to mug up on "history" pula.
#4 -- seem more like brainwash session than anything else

As with everything else, how it will be implemented is still a big question mark. From the above links, the newspaper reported "The ministry is promoting fun learning. This subject will see a lot of interesting activities, including trips to historical places, field studies, dramas and sketches."

Historical sites visits, even visits to the Parliment! That was mentioned in one of the links. Kids got better things to learn and do than to be meddling with politics! At local level, if they are to go visiting historical sites, the children would probably just need to take the "Heritage Trail" at Penang. However not sure if that's what the authorities wanted as Penang's Heritage Trail doesn't seem to fit the above "unsur kewarganegaraan, patriotisme dan perlembagaan" . Neither does the British heritage such as Fort Cornwallis, the Francis Light or British-ruled related sites nor the churches or temples. But that's history for you, bah!

About the dramas/sketches as part of history method of learning, I am speechless. Stick on moustaches and pretend to be Datuk so-and-so in "history"??

No Remove class for those with a C in UPSR BM

Wanted to note down what was published in The Star today about remove class.

In case the post is moved, here is the report copied here:

"STUDENTS from vernacular primary schools can go straight to Form 1 without going to Remove class if they obtain a minimum Grade C for Bahasa Malaysia in the UPSR, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.
He said pupils who passed the subject with at least a Grade C and could communicate in Bahasa Malaysia are allowed to go straight to Form 1 beginning from Oct 14 last year."

Heard of another option if BM result is not good, which is to go to private chinese school.

Kindy open day

There's a kindy near our home that I'm interested to send our prince. They're having open day on 8 Oct 2011. There's promotion like 50% off for registration fees and free colouring book. However it might be next year that we might visit as it's not time to change kindy yet. Heard this kindy is quite good and academic-focused.

I'm recording down the Open Day date for reference next year.

Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional (SSPN) update

This announcement is from PTPTN website regarding SSPN:

From 1st January 2012, students that want to apply PTPTN education financing is COMPULSORY to have SSPN account with minimum savings as much as RM20.00.

Public encouraged to make SSPN account opening in Maybank counter to facilitate and accelerate account opening. SSPN account balance's check in the next day can be done in PTPTN website for account opening in Maybank ONLY.        

My thoughts:
Geez, the "running" display of their announcement really make my eyesight go haywire. Wonder why they specifically mention Maybank and why they need applicants to have a SSPN account first? How are the students going to close the account if they failed to get the loan? I couldn't find any information from PTPTN website yet further elaborating this requirement. We only go for SSPN due to the tax deduction incentive.

Friso RM10 Carrefour discount voucher

Friso sent me a RM10 discount voucher for Carrefour. It's valid until 30 Sept 2011 and we'll be using it to replenish the children's milk. Good thing the discount voucher is coming at a time we need more milk stock. Childrn had been drinking Friso milk since the promotion on P2 agent. Friso comes with pre and pro biotic which is good for protection against illness (or so it says).

Popular card

I'm considering to get Popular card, as its student card costs RM10 for 2 years, its like 50% off compared to MPH. Next few years, little princess will need to use more workbooks to prepare for more complex school work and exams. Then again, Popular does not have much choices in terms of books with cartoon characters in English. So still considering, maybe after the MPH card expire after 2 years in 2013? Still a lot of time to think it through. Even though the Popular store at Tesco is not my type at all, the one at Gurney Plaza is bigger and does have more variety that I like. QBM is still a mid-size store, more choices for Mandarin books compared to children's English books.

Now only I think of Popular, why didn't think of it earlier? Kick myself for not shopping around earlier.

MPH savings up to-date

After renewing princess' card, total savings until now is RM11.05. Got back one year savings for the membership card. We'll be needing to buy a pressie for little prince's class party soon and will scout something from there too.

KFC Chicky meal discount

Both Yamaha card or MPH Kidz card gives a discount of 5% for KFC Chicky Meal. I just remember it while going through the old MPH brochure. Still I haven’t used it at all so not sure if still valid, but I just used the Yamaha card recently to get the discount. J

A RM8.10 chicky meal costs RM7.70 before tax with the discount. Every cent counts right? So must remember to show the cards when planning to buy Chicky Meal. Of course can save even more if don’t buy, but if really going to buy might as well get a discount

MPH Kidz Club renewal

Done renewal for princess for her MPH Kidz Club membership. This card offers 10% discount for children’s books. This time the renewal fees is RM20 for 2 years, no promotional stuff. In 2009, there was promotion for us to renew the card for 2 years with RM5 voucher thrown in. In fact, that time it costs me only RM15. Since we always buy books for children as incentive, this card helps to save some cost.

I also just realize that buying Enid Blyton books from MPH is more economical than Borders. I bought one Enid Blyton story book for princess since she did well in exam. It costs RM16.95 from Borders. The exact same book is going for Rm10.90 (and since I have the member card I can still get another 10% discount). GGRRRR…. So mad that I spent 55% more than I should if I’d just waited to go to MPH. I’ll not be buying books from Borders unless very sure MPH doesn’t carry it. Argh….. Even ladybird series is same price, but I don’t have any discount card for Borders and will only get the standard price magazine from Borders if at all.

Class Fees

Princess’ music school fees will be increased to RM100 from July. Wow, really getting more expensive. However we believe in the benefits of exposure to music at early age to develop the brain, memory and concentration. Ballet fees will increase in another month or so due to extra time to prepare for exam.