Kids and KUMON - The Closure.

I already knew both my kids were gold Maths student and Bronze English student for Kumon when I took them out from that program. As expected, we were not invited during the ASHR 2011 ceremony as the kids already quit by the time the ceremony was held... huhu!

Last month, I received an SMS from an unrecognized number :

The SMS sounded very general kan? Made me wonder... ramai lagi ke yang quit other than my kids?? Hmmm....

And I was thinking... Should I or should I not go and claim the award for the kids?? Penting sangat ke?? But her last sentence in the SMS which was not displayed in the above pic (tak cukup space!) was "Kindly give it to your child because  it was awarded for his or her hard work. Thank you very much". Which I think is so true... they do deserve the award after their hardwork!  But I really did not feel like seeing Ms Jaya's face again :P So I just kept quiet and ignore the message.

Today, Izzat came home from school and brought back something which surprised me! He said these were passed by Ms Jaya via his friend, Amir Hafizudin :))

Izzaty's - GOLD for Maths and BRONZE for English

Izzat's - GOLD for Maths and BRONZE for English

Ohh... thank you so much Ms Jaya :) *ikhlas tak ni?? :P* Congratulations Izzaty and Izzat! Mama is so proud of you! ♥ I guess these would be your LAST awards and certs from Kumon... huhu! :( Mama dia lak yang sedey...:P Ye lah... dah bertahun2 dengan Kumon tau... and for 4 years I had the honor of being a proud parent seeing my kids receiving awards during ASHR Ceremony :((

I wonder if the kids are missing their Kumon class and homeworks.... hmm... Nay.....I don't think soooo...!! :P

A letter to KUMON Malaysia

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to share my disappointment with Kumon Bukit Sentosa which I think has mistreated my child.

My kids (daughter 12 yo, son 9 yo) had been with Kumon since they were 5 years old and both of them are now Gold Maths students. Along the way, they got bored doing the kumon worksheet which I totally understand as they have been doing it for years! But I do not want them to quit Kumon cause by joining Kumon, I do not have to worry on their Maths grades in school. They have been performing very well in school! Thanks to Kumon! I have been a Kumon supporters for years now!

But, I have to admit that I have not been monitoring their homework lately and yes, they probably had not done their homework properly lately. Yes, I also admit that I had given Ms Jaya, their Kumon instructor permission to 'cane' them whenever they are not behaving (I know she had caned my son a few times and just kept quiet about it) but what I did not expect is for her to cane my son and leave a mark!

And that really has pushed me to the brim! How could Ms Jaya treat my child like this?? No wonder both my kids were requesting to quit Kumon!

I also have other things to complain about Ms Jaya... but I am not going to list down all my dissatisfaction here. Suffice to say that many parents are quite disappointed with Ms Jaya but dare not complain or say anything as we do not want our kids to quit Kumon. After all, there's only one Kumon Center in Bukit Sentosa and we have no other choice :(

With regrets, I am taking out BOTH my kids out of Kumon Bukit Sentosa with immediate effect :(

Enraged mom, Bukit Sentosa.

Ten.Ten.Ten

10.10.10

Such a nice number, don't you think so?

Did you all catch the wedding of our first astronaut on TV?? He is super-duper cute... I have to say ;)

While everybody was busy talking about the handsome astronaut getting married on 10.10.10 at Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque in Putrajaya... we were actually at the Putrajaya International Convention Center for our kids' KUMON ASHR ceremony :)

It was our first time in PICC... wow... very, very impressive! We like! There were so many activities going on at PICC on 10.10.10 and there were lots of people wandering around! The funny thing was... we did not know that the reception for the 'wedding of the year' was going to be held at the very same place :D

Anyway, this year KUMON ASHR ceremony was so grand! More students were honored to be there this year compared to the previous years. Since the ceremony was canceled last year due to the H1N1 outbreak... the KUMON completers for last year were also awarded this year... so they have lots of completers on the stage as well! Sangat, sangat meriah! :)

This year... Izzat's BFF Hedzry who happened to be our good friends - Nani and Dwen's son, is also a gold student... his first time attending the ceremony! Congratulations Hedz!! Aunty tau Hedzry memang hebat!!! :)

The kids - Izzaty, Izzat and Hedzry. (Most right tu anak someone else yang juga nak bergambar.. hehe.. paham2 je lah kan!)

The kids queuing for AHSR students registration.

We wanted to perform our Zuhur prayer first before entering the hall... unfortunately, by the time we reached PICC and sent the kids for registration, the ceremony was already about to start....

The stage - the pic was taken 1 minute and 57 seconds before the ceremony starts - as stated on the big screen.

After the grand opening and speeches, the award giving ceremony started with the completers as first recipients. Since there were lots of completers... hubby took the chance to go for Zuhur prayer first. By the time he came back, the award giving for the pre-schoolers up to primary 2 students had already started. I hesitated to go... did not want miss my Izzat's turn... but it was nearly 4pm... and I did not want to miss my Zuhur prayer either! So off I went to fetch Izzaty first (need to ask permission from the Kumon staff before I 'kidnapped' Izzaty for prayer). Then we had to go for surau-hunting! Hubby did mention that the surau is at the mezzanine floor... but PICC is so big that we got lost to find the mezzanine floor... boleh?? :P.

It was during the surau-hunting that I noticed a signboard with a picture of our handsome astronaut and his bride at the lobby of the PICC and I realized that their wedding reception was going to be held in that building!!! Wah... what a co-incident that we were in the same building on the same day!! But unfortunately at a different time! :P

By the time we finished our Zuhur prayer and back to the hall, Nani and Dwen told me that Izzat has just left the stage.... sheesh!! I missed seeing my little boy on stage!!!! :( Frust betul..... rasa nak nangis pun ada! :P And lagi nak nangis bila dengar Dwen cakap.. " Kitorang tadi sibuk borak2... tiba2 je nama Izzat kena panggil! Kelam kabut Razak nak ambil gambar!". Aduhai... what can I say..... end up... ada 2 keping aje gambar Izzat yang dapat diambil while he was on stage... and both were taken from the big screen.... (tak dapat jarak dekat!). This is one of the 2 pics taken...

Izzat with Mr Hamanaka (Kumon OCEANA, Asia CEO) on the big screen.

Ayah felt guilty I guess... he tried to make it up by taking lots of Izzat's pics after his award giving.

Izzat after coming down from the stage with his gold award... so proud of you, my boy! *muah!*

More pics of Izzat in front of the stage with his gold award.

Izzat (primary 2) with his BFF - Hedzry Shafri (primary 3).


The proud mommies - Nani (in tudung pink) and yours truly (tudung biru) with the other proud parents. By this time, most of the parents had already picked up their small children and went home. Only parents with bigger kids were left waiting for their kids' turn.

Izzaty was luckier. Ayah, after feeling guilty missing Izzat's turn... was more alert waiting for Izzaty's turn. So more pictures of Izzaty on the stage were taken...

Izzaty's name on the big screen. Both my kids only got gold award in Maths subject... hence the "MATHS GOLD". Those who got gold in 2 or more subjects would have something like... "MATHS GOLD/ENGLISH GOLD" . Hope one day I would be able to see the kids with these accomplishment :)

Izzaty walking nervously on the stage to get her gold award.
Careful dear... you are in your high heels :)

With Mr Usui, Kumon Malaysia CEO.

The happy smile after getting the gold award :)

Bro and sis with their Maths gold awards.... Congratulation dears. Hope both of you could make it again next year.... and the years after :)

Selepas puas berposing in front of the stage... we decided to go back. On the way down.. I told hubby that I wanted to take pics in front of Datuk Muszaphar Shukor marriage signboard that I saw just now... Bila lagi kan? ;) Thought by then Nani and her family would have gone back... but nope... saw them posing in front of the exact signboard!! :) Well, one group pic please.... :)

Nice photo of the bride and groom in the signboard! I so like!! :D

One pic not enough.... another one please! Just me and my girl! *the kepohchis in the family??*


In front of the wedding reception hall. Did you see the glamorous entrance??

We peeked into the reception hall. In front of the entrance there was a barrier to avoid public to enter the reception hall, I guess! But I saw a few people (who were holding the KUMON bags.. obviously they were also from the KUMON ceremony) posing inside (not far from the entrance). And we were like "hey... how come they can go in???" Then suddenly hubby just walked over the barrier and asked us to do the same.... what the....???? Over la pulak laki aku nih!! Nani who was far behind saw us and excitedly ajak I masuk sekali. Oh what the heck.. masuk jugak lah ! :)

...and.... OH MY GOD!!! The reception hall was soooo GRAND!!! I tell you!!! The hall smelt of fresh flowers! The light, the flowers, the smell and everything in the hall were so romantic!!

Izzaty sempat posing... but right after this pic was taken... kami dengan hormatnya diminta keluar kerana tidak mahu mengganggu rehearsal :D Pendek kata kena halau lah... kah kah! :D

Lastly but not least... before leaving the beautiful Putrajaya...

One last pic at the beautiful Putrajaya... :)

Wanted to take more pics.. but Izzat was so hungry then.. poor baby... we did not have proper lunch before the ceremony.... huhu!

10.10.10 was such a beautiful day for me! *bliss!*

Syukur alhamdulillah.... I thank Allah for this wonderful gift :) Semoga anak2 Mama akan terus berjaya menjadi 'Gold Student' dan dijemput lagi untuk menghadiri majlis sebegini di tahun2 yang akan datang dan semoga anak2 Mama menjadi anak yang cemerlang dunia dan akhirat... Aamin :)

ASHR 2010 invitation

Yeap... they finally got the official invitation card today! Syukur alhamdulillah, both of them made it again this year as Kumon's ASHR students.







Mommy and kids are so excited!! =) This is Izzaty's 4th and Izzat's 3rd ASHR invitation.. but last year's ceremony was cancelled due to the H1N1 havoc. Hope this year's ceremony would be as grand as ever :)

The ASHR '09 awards

I was in Menara yesterday to sort our things out before officially resume my duty there next Monday. So much things to sort out! Only managed to get out from there about 6.20pm. MasyaAllah teruk nya jam masa nak keluar dari KL.. *sigh!*. I cannot imagine how my life would be beginning next week.... :( Anyway, reached home at around 8:15pm (nearly 2 hours driving!! phew!!!)... kepenatan maxxx!! Alhamdulillah, hubby had sent the kids to Kumon class... thanks darling! Love you! ;)
The kids came back from Kumon class excitedly calling me... ohhh.... dapat hadiah rupanya! :) It's the gold award that they were supposed to receive during the ASHR ceremony that was cancelled last November. How nice!! This is a good motivation for them to study harder!

Nicely packed presents :)

The official letter...

The awards...

The freebies... :)

The booklet..

Izzaty in the booklet... (thanks god they got the pics correctly!). 4th row, 3rd pic from bottom.

Izzat in the booklet... Most bottom 2nd pic from right.

Also in the booklet... my beloved niece... Sara Mizuan :) 2nd row, 2nd pic.. the lovely Sara :)

Kids with their award

Hope they'll manage to get the gold award again in 2010 and years ahead... Aamin! :)

Too much ado about names :)

When I gave birth to my first child... hubby and I wanted to give her a very simple name. Senang!! Tak yah penat tangan tulis nama panjang2 masa isi borang :) We chose Izzaty cause hubby wanted to have 'izz' at the front... sempena my nickname :)

Then 3 years later, when I got a son... I wanted to give him the name "Irsyad" but hubby insisted to have 'iz' again! He wanted to use the name 'Izmir'... tapi tak jumpa la pulak meaning nama tu in Arabic. So he chose 'Izhar'. Errr.... I have nothing against the meaning of Izhar (terang lagi nyata) but... I have a very personal reason for not liking the combination of 'iz' and 'har'. Those who know my history would understand I guess... cause I used to 'date' someone by the name '**har'! :P Anyway, yang pergi register nama tu nanti would be darling hubby right? So punya la takut dia register nama 'Izhar' tu... I relented and decided to chose the name 'Izzat'... easy eh? The male version of his sister's name.... and still have 'izz' in the front... so hubby had no reason to reject the name! Everyone's happy... hehe :)

Izzaty Razak and Izzat Razak... sounds easy kan? And yet... the similarities of their names made some people confused! When I was still on my 60 days maternity leaves, I went to Maybank Rawang to open a Yippie account for Izzat. When I submited the application, the teller at the counter said "Eh Kak.... akak dah bukak account utk anak akak ni!". And I was like "Eh?? Mana ada?? Tu kakak dia lah.. Izzaty!". And the lady laughed... "Ya Allah.. sorry kak!! Confuse saya!". Okay... that was the first!!

Throughout the years... ada lah some minor confusions lagi between Izzaty and Izzat nih.... tapi not so bad lah. But last night.... hmm..... MAJOR confusion I'd say! Hubby went outstation to Kuantan, so that left me to go hantar and jemput the kids to Kumon class. When I was waiting for the kids to finish class... I saw this bunting at Ms Jaya Kumon center... I saw my kids pics. Tapi tak perasan apa2 lagi mula2 tu. Then when Izzat finished his class... he came over to me and asked.. "Mama perasan tak nama dia dah bertukar??" Eh?? I quickly looked closely....
OMG!!! How come they make the mistake???? Izzaty jadi Izzat... and Izzat jadi Izzaty???? Male and female pun boleh confuse ke??? Aduhai... sabor je lah!! Ms Jaya came over when she saw me taking this picture... and I asked her 'How come they mistakenly labeled their names wrongly??" and she explained "Puan Runiza, I have faxed them earlier to notify their error... but still they printed it wrongly! I was so upset with the Kumon HQ". Oh well.... I have no comment. I do not want to make noise about this small thing.. :)

But Izzaty was so upset.... hehehe. Poor girl... :)

ASHR ceremony is cancelled :(

When I reached home today, I saw these letters on the kitchen cabinet...


Alahaii.... cancel la pulak.. the kids and I had been sooo looking forward to attend this ceremony.. :( Izzaty dah siap plan nak pakai baju apa dah! huhu... never mind... of course there is hikmah behind this cancellation :)

ASHR invitation 2009

Today.... boths kids were delighted to receive these letters....



One letter was addressed to Izzaty :)

And one for Izzat :)

With invitations cards...

And 6 tickets to go to the KUMON ASHR 2009 award ceremony... woohoo!! :)

Congratulations kids!! Mama and Ayah are so proud of both of you!! *muah!* muah*...
Syukur alhamdulillah.... thank you Allah for such wonderful rewards...

Kumon ASHR & Final Exam Result 2008

Wahh.... been a long time since I got the chance to update this blog!! SO many things happened for the past few weeks... I tell you! No time for blogging!! :( Err... but got time for FACEBOOKing :D

Anyway, The kids had fun during the KUMON Advance Student Honour Reward (ASHR) ceremony at Berjaya Times Square Manhantan Ballroom! :) It's Izzat's first gold... and Izzaty's 2nd (see here for her first ASHR). It was nice to see the kids dressed up formally :) Both kids looked so 'shy2 cat' on the stage when they received the gold medal :) And yess.... I could not help but feel sooooo proud of them *BIG GRIN* :D I was one of many proud parents in the hall!!! :) Thank you Allah... syukur alhamdulillah... for the lovely gift :) These are some pics from the occasion :

The tag IDs

"Look at the camera young boy!", that's probably what Mr Hamanaka said to Izzat.

Izzaty with Mr Hamanaka (Kumon OCEANA, Asia CEO) & Mr Usui (Kumon Malaysia CEO).

Bro and Sis... outside the hall. Hope they'll be here again next year for their next GOLD! :)

Training at Oracle University, Menara Citibank was not so bad!! No... it's quite refreshing... infact I loved it actually... quite a BIG different from the normal green screen of mainframe :) I got the chance to lepak and get-to-know with the GL team - Sue, Shobi, Isma, Suzy, Azizawati, Sally, Ivena, Haw, Shashi and others. It was quite fun... but the travelling was very, very tiring... phew!!! Imagine... I had to leave the house early in the morning to make sure I'd be able to catch the putra LRT by 8am (later than that and I had to join a loooooonggg queue!). Then later... balik pun rushing... coz I wanted to make last minute revision with the kids for their final exam!! The first week was quite a torture! But once the kids finished their final exam... I felt a bit better... at least some burden was off my shoulder... really!! But on the 2nd week... the torture began again... even worst!! The lecturer for our BI Oracle class was from India... so we had some difficulties to 'understand' him.... yeap, he spoke good english... tapi putar belit sket lah... When we asked question... dia putar2 belit... end up.. tak jawab pun the question.... sheesh!! Anyway... the training is OVER!! I've graduated from Oracle U... hahaha! :) Lega babe!!! :)

Hey... school of year 2008 is over!! Kids got their result. Alhamdulillah... both kids got all A's in both sekolah kebangsaan and KAFA. Izzaty managed to secure the first place in both schools... Alhamdulillah... way to go my gal!!! Mama is so proud of you!! *muahh!!* Unfortunately Izzat got 18th in sekolah kebangsaan and 23rd place in KAFA... he probably had to be in the 2nd class next year (2B in KAFA and 2 Amanah in SKBB). I guess it wasn't so bad... I just have to satisfy with that... Don't be upset okay, Izzat?! Next year... we'll try harder.. insyaAllah!! :) Tapi jangan la merajuk bila mama marah..... hehe :) He's mama's manja boy.... that's why!!! :P

Here are some pics taken during Izzaty's KAFA penyampaian hadiah...

Izzaty & friend, Farhana and one of their ustazah atas stage before the ceremony.

From left : Nurul Farhana and Izzaty (both are sharing the 1st place position in their class) and Farhana Zawawi (3rd place).

First place - Well done girl! Mama and Ayah are soooo proud of you!