Sports Day With The Malaysian Homeschooling Network

Ayub and his classmates were invited to participate in the Malaysian Homeschooling Network’s annual Sports Day, organized by superhuman and all-round loveliest person in the world, Ms See Ming <3

This is my first time seeing the MHsN in action and I was totally blown away. It’s so uplifting to be in the company of people who accept everyone with open arms. You won’t find any judgment or bad juju with this community. I can see why my late sister, Maria, was such a champion of homeschooling in Malaysia. It is absolutely the strong community spirit.

Anyway, Ayub and I had a blast.

Early morning warm-up session

We reached Taman Rimba Kiara TTDI early in the morning when the air was cool and the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement. Ayub was so happy.

The kids gathered on the field for a group photo. Possibly the most difficult part of the day. So many little ones. I love little ones. Much cute. Very chaos.

Then it was time to sing Negaraku. I was asked to lead the kids on the megaphone sorry no I can’t I sked. After that, it was warm-up time!

Lots of stretching followed by a jog around the field.

Ayub sprints to take silver

After the warm-up, Ayub was already soaked through with sweat. He ran off to play with his friends while the small ones had their events. There was a race for 2 year olds. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I giggle.

As the games were separated by age, Ayub and I cheered on his younger classmates as we waited for his events to start. Finally it was time for the 8yo sprint. Wuuuuu!

I told Ayub to run as fast as he could and cross the red ribbon. He asked how to cross the red ribbon. I said, just keeping running and the people will drop the ribbon. He didn’t quite understand and I didn’t explain clearly. So he sprinted as fast as he could, then slowed down before he reached the ribbon because he didn’t know how to cross it. Bless his little heart.

Ayub came in second.

The boy in yellow was first. He was super super super fast tho.

Look how happy he is running <3 Silly baby.

The team event was the best part

Ayub’s age group had the individual sprint and a team event. At first I was so nervous with the team event because the instructions were so complicated and I didn’t think Ayub would understand what was going on.

But he was wonderful. And the organizers were amazing.

The team event included six kids per team. Each had a different task to complete before handing over to the next person.

You know, Ayub has a lot of trouble paying attention, listening to instructions, understanding instructions, then executing instructions. This game had so many instructions. But he did it. And he even helped explain the rules to his teammates.

Then the next day he had speech therapy and he remembered all the instructions and could explain to his therapist how to play the game. I’m blown away, Ayub. I have to stop underestimating him.

His team took the gold!

Buying slime, cookies, and salted egg chips from the stalls

At the side of the field there were a few stalls set up by the MHsN (I assume), selling a variety of goods and services. There was an amazing little girl who was giving origami classes (RM1 for 1 sculpture, RM2 for 3 sculptures), lots of yummy food stalls, fruit stalls, and this adorable girl selling DIY slime:

A very enterprising young lady, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name, but you’re so cool!

She was selling DIY Slime Kits. Ayub and I were super fascinated. She did a demo for us and allowed Ayub to try it.

I bought two, one for Ayub and one for Sulaiman. We tried to make it at home that night. It… did not go well.

We also bought cookies and salted egg chips (all of which have since been devoured by various members of the household). I gave Ayub money before I had to leave for work and he spent pretty much all of it. He says he doesn’t remember what he bought. I assume it was food.

The medal ceremony!

Ayub received two medals today. A silver for the individual sprint and a gold for the team event <3

The rest of the afternoon, according to Ayub

Once Ayub got his medals, I had to go into work. Boo. So I left him in the capable hands of his teachers. This next part is totally based on what Ayub says happened.

“I pull the rope but we lost because the other team is like so many people.”

“Then my friends call me to go to the woods and we made this thing with the sticks and I stepped on red ants and they came and they bite bite bite like EVERYWHERE!”

The end.

More happy Ayub pictures because I love him