P1 Tution -- Necessary?

[floppy]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2002855\" time=\"1605593800\" user_id=\"2358:

I only started sending my younger girls to chinese tuition from P4 onwards to pick up certain skillsets eg compo and compre skills that I can't teach.

P4?! So late. That’s why can only qualify for the R & H schools. If you have started at P1, they could be studying in Oxbridge by 16 :evil:

[manorway]

It depends on kids’ abilities and parents’ expectations. Tuition and enrichment are different. If kids have poor foundation in kindergartens and struggle with P1 work and parents cannot teach or no time to teach, then tuition is necessary to help kids cope. Whether he needs to continue till P6 will depend on how much can kid learn on his own.


Some parents expect kids to score 100% or near perfect score at all times. Then to these parents, must drill to perfection lah.

[MrsKiasu]

opinion from (almost) the other end of the spectrum…imho… don’t need tuition at P1. It is not difficult for at least my child’s school. My thinking then was so long as the child did not display any issue in learning, they understand the language & can follow instructions… just let them be. they can learn from school. only step in when child tell me I need help in my homework etc…but must have lower expectation lor.

[manorway]

If you don’t expect all stars and praises in P1 or P2 or even P3, then no need tuition at all.


But if you expect amazing results in P3, and kids are slow learners, then it is also challenging to just do nothing and wait until P3 exam period to catch up. May be too stressful for kids.

In my neighbourhood, we knew some kids who just passed their all class tests since P1. Parents did not do anything until P3 exams. In the end, still failed P3 or borderline passes, though parents sent to tuition for all subjects in Feb of P3.

[kylene]

Depends on circumstances?


I sent my DS for tuition in P1 as we had just returned from Australia and I was afraid what he did in kindergarten over there was insufficient for him to cope with the rigors of sg curriculum.

Continued till P3. We stopped in P4 when I saw that he was coping ok (but never top in school or class 😆). But I had to admit I was quite afraid after he stopped the tuition as I hear there’s a big jump from lower to upper primary . Will know the if we made the correct decision next week 🤪

[floppy]

MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2002869\" time=\"1605598508\" user_id=\"43981:

opinion from (almost) the other end of the spectrum..imho.. don't need tuition at P1. It is not difficult for at least my child's school. My thinking then was so long as the child did not display any issue in learning, they understand the language & can follow instructions.. just let them be. they can learn from school. only step in when child tell me I need help in my homework etc..but must have lower expectation lor.

I don’t see the need in tuition at P1. The (academic) demands at P1 is, frankly, relatively low - at least in my kid’s school. Unless the child needs help because of learning disabilities, parents should just relax and let them try. They probably won’t get everything right, but mistakes and (controlled) failures are part of the learning process.

Also, there isn’t a need to set a “lower expectation”. One can continue to have a high expectation but it must be the “right expectation”. There’s nothing wrong in expecting work to be done on time, to be done nearly and appropriately, to be prepared for lessons (ie making sure the bag is packed, learning materials are brought along), etc.

[chickaboom8888]

Not necessarily for p1 as most parents should be able coach. School will have supplementary class for kids who are weak in reading. For English it is good enough to encourage kids to read widely and build good foundation on grammar. For maths, tropical assessment book, just ensure the kids grasp the basic concept well including problem sum. For chinese, ensure the kids diligently revise the word and read textbook passage several time to gain fluency. You can probably save the bullet first and decide if tuition necessarily as they progress to upper primary where question are getting more complex and answering technique/strategy needs to be polished.

[sky minecrafter]

manorway\" post_id=\"2002872\" time=\"1605599031\" user_id=\"9303:

If you don't expect all stars and praises in P1 or P2 or even P3, then no need tuition at all.

But if you expect amazing results in P3, and kids are slow learners, then it is also challenging to just do nothing and wait until P3 exam period to catch up. May be too stressful for kids.

In my neighbourhood, we knew some kids who just passed their all class tests since P1. Parents did not do anything until P3 exams. In the end, still failed P3 or borderline passes, though parents sent to tuition for all subjects in Feb of P3.

👍 Yes, I'd agree that it's a mix of student's ability+ motivation, parents' expectations...

[floppy]

Imp75\" post_id=\"2002855\" time=\"1605593800\" user_id=\"2358:

I only started sending my younger girls to chinese tuition from P4 onwards to pick up certain skillsets eg compo and compre skills that I can't teach.

There are a number of skill sets and techniques that are important to scoring well in exams but not emphasize enough in class eg usage of 好词好句 in CL, good words and phrases in EL, answering techniques for science section B, etc. These are some instances where I think tuition can be especially helpful to coach the kid if the parents can’t teach or help.

[Imp75]

floppy\" post_id=\"2002905\" time=\"1605660341\" user_id=\"97579:

Imp75\" post_id=\"2002855\" time=\"1605593800\" user_id=\"2358:

I only started sending my younger girls to chinese tuition from P4 onwards to pick up certain skillsets eg compo and compre skills that I can't teach.

There are a number of skill sets and techniques that are important to scoring well in exams but not emphasize enough in class eg usage of 好词好句 in CL, good words and phrases in EL, answering techniques for science section B, etc. These are some instances where I think tuition can be especially helpful to coach the kid if the parents can’t teach or help.

Yes to give my girls a balanced childhood, we try not to inundate them with tuition if they do not struggle in the subjects as they also had enrichments outside of sch as well. Chinese for my younger girls seemed more pressing as they were borderline pass in compo only and overall less than 85 at P3. My eldest was in the bicultural class so naturally her chinese was a bit better with more chinese classes or exposure plus she's had 5 days commitment in sports so no tuition for her. In the end we think the arrangement worked out fine. They did not do extremely well neither were they burnt out by PSLE.