International School Of Amsterdam

Among the things that I like about life in The Netherlands is Ilham's school, the ISA. The system, the curriculum, the teachers and everything else are different . I'm still not sure whether the difference is good for Ilham in the long run, but for now, I certainly welcome it.


ISA is an International Baccalaureate (IB) School and offers the following programmes

• The Primary Years Programme (PYP)
• The Middle Years Programme (MYP)
• The Diploma Programme

The curriculum is based on subject areas of Language, Mathematics, Science & Technology, Social Studies, Arts and Personal, Social & Physical Education.

The PYP programme is organised around 6 transdisciplinary themes which supposed to have global significance intended to help children engage with their world and the world around them. Students explore each theme through a "unit of inquiry".

The classes at ISA are very colourful, cheerful and decorated with the childrens' work. Apart from the two libraries (one for LS and another for MS & US), each class has its own mini library.

As a parent, I could go into the libraries and borrow books as well. How I love that... When I sent Ilham to school, I would sometimes go into LS library and spend time browsing. There were sooo many books for children... and I found myself wishing I had all these when I was small :) So, instead of reading books or novels, I read books on "ants", "bugs" and realised that there are so many things that I didn't know..........

Kau Ilhamku

Kau Ilhamku..... my inspiration, my love, my son.

I have always wanted to write, to have a blog of my own, but never really feel that I have anything interesting to write or that I can write anything at all! There were times when I thought that I had so much ideas in my mind, so much that words seems to flow easily from nowhere but later, when I tried to pen them down, nothing...nothing at all! I couldn't even conjure up a single thought. How I wished that I could have some photographic gadgets that could perhaps capture what was on my mind at the time so later I could just transfer or transform them into writing....

Time goes by, life goes on, thoughts come and go... So maybe now is the right time to start writing... for myself, before old age creeps up and I forget all these wonderful and sometimes painful experiences. And also for Ilham, maybe one day when he reads these writings, he will truly understand how much his parents love and care for him. Maybe then he will become a better person, insyaAllah.

So, what to write...naturally it's about Ilham, he is my life and how I love him so much. Sometimes when I looked at him while he was sleeping, I would say a prayer of thanks that Allah has lent me such joy. How I wish I could remember every stages and every aspects of his growing up but alas, I am only human....

Thus, I decide to write down these experiences particularly his schooling and life in The Netherlands