RMO Day 6 - School at Home — Daily Dose of Chemo

We have a couple of boys in the household - Idlan is 16 and Irfan is 14. Idlan has his I-GCSE coming up in the next few months, but with the curfew in the UK, it is unclear if his papers would be postponed. Anyhow, he was advised to get himself prepared for the examinations.

When the news broke about the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 in Malaysia, their school made the decision to close early for the Easter break. That last day of school was Monday, 16th March. On the same day, the PM announced that Malaysia would be under Restricted Movement Order from the 18th. So, his schooling at home started a day early, and his school would be closed until the end of April when they return for the Summer Term. A total of 51 days of holidays!

But the school was strict though when it comes to continuous learning. The regular school schedule still went on, with the students communicating in a virtual classroom, using Google Classroom and Google Hangouts. And they took it very seriously.

They were ready when the timetable said so, and only took breaks during the designated time, causing headaches for Anita since she had to prepare them food.

Idlan would use the family TV area while Irfan used the main dining. So, they could talk away without distracting one another. So, where would Anita hang around? Well, it looked like it would be either the kitchen or the bedroom for her. Luckily there is a TV in the bedroom with ASTRO. The boys also used a separate internet node, so they would not run out on bandwidth.

This also causes a problem for our maid as she can’t use the vacuum cleaner until the boys had their break. We also decided that during the RMP, Idlan’s tutor would not be coming to the house. I think he had studied hard enough during the school hours, he would need some rest.

On the whole, I am quite impressed with the dedication the boys were showing. Idlan especially looked to be geared up for his exams, although I do understand his frustration with the decision of whether the exam would go ahead as planned or not is still up in the air. He was supposed to have his Bahasa Malaysia Oral Examinations this week, but that had been delayed.

He had been telling me ho much he was looking forward to A-levels, and he is worried if that would be pushed back. I assured him that it would be fine. There might be a slight delay, but the exam would continue still. He would be alright as long as he keeps up with his revisions. Hopefully, in the coming few days, the plans would be finalised, and we can concentrate on the home stretch before he is sitting for the papers.