Reading

I made a promise to both of my kids. I told them that once Hatice can read, i will bring them to a bookstore once a month and they can choose a book that they like (within limit of course). That was what i did. We went to my favourite book store D&R in Bağdat Caddesi. Baddin chose a book that costed 7.50YTL.. but hatice chose a book which only costed 1 YTL per book (i was shocked. ii didn't realise that a book can e so cheap!). And so i told her to choose 7 books of the same group. She couldn't believe her ears. She was so happy...

the books she had chosen

It was of the same series; Ece ve Yüce. Upon inspection, i realised Hatice specifically chose the books with cursive style handwriting. Furthermore, the books are actually for grade one and grade two students. For this month, she will be reading these books till the next bookstore trip. I plan to bring them to different bookstores each time. After all, there are many bookstores along Bağdat Caddesı.

While eating dinner, she also told me that an inspector came to her class today.everybody read something one by one and they wrote something one by one too. Hatice was declared the one with the most fluency in reading while she came in second in writing (Elanur was the first). Aferin kızıma! Keep on reading! keep on writing! During weekends, she keep on practising her handwriting. She is not giving up. Like i mentioned in the previous entry, she aims to beat Elanur and Atakan in writing. Her determination reminds me of myself. I think she will be alright insyaAllah..

Today, while reading at home, i also noticed that she is more fluent in her reading. She *invented* new words much lesser while reading. Of course, being school days and all, i didn't push her to read too much. She gets extremely tired after the homework... Keep up the good work my sweet daughter! I know you can do it! I am right behind you!

Slow as a snail

On Monday, i sent a note (as i always do) of the problems i think Hatice is facing while doing her homework at home. The weekend (done on friday) practiclly drove me mad snce it took hatice 15 mnutes to understand a simple question that by the time she finished her math homework ..as we were moving towards her hayat bilgisi homework, i stopped making her read all the questions and read the questions for her.

Today, her class teacher called me...to discuss the problem. It seems that hatice is slow in doing her work in school..she writes slowly...she finishes her assignment in class slowly that when she couldnt finish everything fast, she had to bring them home as her homework... more work in addition to her normal homework..

It is also a general happening in the class for the students to have difficulties of understanding what they read...

I have noticed that she does her homework slow... she writes slowly too..

The thing is...she realises it too. She kept telling me in turkish.....

*anne... i write slowly because i want to write my best. But i can't finish my work fast. and i still can't write as beautiful as Elanur or Atakan*

i keep telling her to write as beautiful as pssible but at a faster speed. I don't know how to make her write faster. I don't know how to make her understand what she reads coz at times, i don't understand the questions myself...*sigh*..

Her teacher said that next week she will do something ...good luck Nuray Hanım!! Allah size sabırlı versın!.. let us see her development in 2 weeks' time...i hope she will improve by then....

ÇaLIŞ KIZIM ÇALIŞ!!

and she also needs to work on recognising numbers... her big problem so far..i need to think of what i can do for her on this.....she needs to learn recognising numbers fast... maybe baddin can help her on that? we will see...wish her luck!!

Her dede's death and update

May you rest in peace dede...
our family..with her dede..snapped a few years ago

hatice and her cousins singing a specially made song for him (taught by safa)
on his 80th birthday

sapanca 2007

their last summer with their dede..

sapanca 2007

precious moment snapped using the handphone

hatice explaining a movie she watched at the cinema a few years ago...

i think it was *ice age 2*

Her dede had always been a very important part in her existence. In him she seek the love and affection of a grandpa and a grandpa since her baba anne died when she was young and my own parents are far away in Malaysia. She spent most of her lives spending time with her dede.....we used to go to baba very often.....we spent most of our summer with baba in Sapanca every year...and even edremit...a very special place for her....she went there with her dede twice..her existence is with her dede's presence in tow.



When he got sick, i quickly sms-ed her class teacher Nuray Çatman to inform her of the situation, asking her to keep a close tab on my daughter. She did. My daughter had went through a span of depression in class. It was also not very easy on Hatice when her dede was hospitalised for 2 weeks. She went to visit him 3 times there... the first one organised by baddin n hatice's class teachers who went there together with Önder bey and i suppose the school headmaster.....then they went there again twice...on saturday mornings when it was school holiday.




And the fact that it was on that last visit, they (hatice n baddin) got to see him that last morning of his conscious day....... to see how happy he was to see them.....how he looked at them with a wonderful smile and said *çok guzel*......as they kissed his cheeks as they were leaving......it will be a memory that they will carry all their lives....


Again... Nuray hanım were and are there to be a support for my daughter in school despite her heavy teaching workload... for that.... Sizin Hakkınız helal olsun Nuray hanım.. i am forever grateful and foever debtful to you for being there for my daughter when she needed someone to rely on. My debt is also on the other teachers for being understanding on hatice's condition. My daughter feels too much. This is an event in her life she will need time to get through painfully slow. I am glad to know that my daughter is in safe hands...THANK YOU!


This is the eulogy i wrote of her dede and was published in Today's Zaman, an english newspaper...

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=129157

Until this week, Hatice used to sob herself to sleep. Her tears fast falling her beautiful cheeks as her heart misses her dede. She has a picture of her n her dede together with her bro in edremit next to her each night in bed. I have resorted to making my kids listen to the yaasin on mp3 player before bedtime each night. It seems to be working,Alhamdulillah. She is better...

What is her development in school? Well...she has finished learning all the alphabets. She is slowly able to read. Her problem is understanding what she is reading these days. For now, it takes her 15 minutes to understand a simple question in her textbook. That drives me crazy of course since there are many many questions for her to understand each day in her homework. But i suppose i am not alone in this. i am sure many other moms are in my position. İ just need to keep reminding myself to not scream at her all the time...no matter how hard it will be.... Allah...help me pls... :0)


She used to bring home homework mainly on writing n reading... nowadays it is more on maths and lfe knowledge... well..i just need my daughter to understand what she reads first...that i the most important thing now.




On top of that,I have also realised that with my limited turkish, i am finding it hard for me understand most of her homework nowadays. I can ask her dad of course, but he comes home past their bedtime most nights. I suppose from now on, i will be phoning everyone in the family to ask questions on her homework . i do not have a choice. Her education system is totally different from mine and i have difficulty explaining many things to her. I feel sad about that but it is beyond my control. My dear daughter.... please bear with me...u need to understand everything in school properly so that u can do your homework easily at home. You cannot depend on your mom much except for your english....




Good luck my love and dont forget that i will be by your side even though i cant help you much...love you loads.