Classes that guide the child to goal set

[zac's mum]

Dunno. When my boy reached P5, during first week of school the new form teacher guided them to all set (academic) goals for themselves.

[zac's mum]

I came across this article. Not promoting the tuition centre or whatever it is.


Just agreeing with the content of the article. Basically when child reaches ~P5 age, maturity starts to kick in. Parent can re-direct the child to consult the relevant subject teachers for clarification, regarding any concepts/study skills/tips that would be helpful for PSLE.

This is good training ahead of secondary school. It’s starting to reach a point when us parents are unable to answer all their academic-related questions already. Better to teach them how to fish...

https://academy.snapask.com/en-sg/post/importance-self-directed-learning-fa5422e8ba80

[san20sg]

I agree self-directed learning will be best. I am very frustrated with my son’s learning attitude at home and I do not want to scold or nag so much anymore, hence looking for a learning center that can help me and help him goal set and self-learn. Not every parent is equipped with these skills to guide the child and I really do not have enough time to help him.


There is more time in his schedule now than when in P5, hence I am trying to find these classes now, so he can cope by himself by P4 and P5 when things are picking up.

[zac's mum]

I understand the frustration. My son was like that in P4 too. We tried to implement/inculcate those goal setting & study skills at home with him, no use.


But in P5 he has suddenly taken a more mature perspective. Maybe it was the several heart-to-heart talks…Maybe it was a 3rd party (P5 form teacher) saying the same things as his parents that made him realize hey, his parents may be right after all…Maybe it was some unofficial developmental milestone that his brain/body grew into, upon reaching this age.

My point is, I doubt paying an external centre to teach it like an academic subject would give u better returns. It might be a waste of money after all your effort.

[sharonkhoo]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2020884\" time=\"1618964450\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2020884 time=1618964450 user_id=53606]
I understand the frustration. My son was like that in P4 too. We tried to implement/inculcate those goal setting & study skills at home with him, no use.

But in P5 he has suddenly taken a more mature perspective. Maybe it was the several heart-to-heart talks...Maybe it was a 3rd party (P5 form teacher) saying the same things as his parents that made him realize hey, his parents may be right after all...Maybe it was some unofficial developmental milestone that his brain/body grew into, upon reaching this age.

My point is, I doubt paying an external centre to teach it like an academic subject would give u better returns. It might be a waste of money after all your effort.[/quote]

I agree with ZM that having an external class may not help. At most, they will lay down some theory and rules, but the child needs to have someone to monitor and encourage (ok, nag) on a daily basis. I also agree that maturity matters - some kids just don't \"get it\" until they are older, so it may be unrealistic to expect it of your child right now, even if it seems that some other kids can do it. I have a mild special needs child with poor \"executive function\", and she still needs help and supervision in her 20s! She's a lot better at it than she was 10 yrs ago, and I'm happy with every little improvement.

If your child can't goal set for himself yet, you may need to do it with/for him for now till he grows into it. Sit him down and plan together, and set little targets on a chart - daily, weekly (no point doing anything more long-term for young kids). The targets should be small, achievable and measurable - read x pages, do x sums, pack bag, pick up toys, walk the dog, etc. Have him tick them off as he completes them, and have a celebration (don't call it reward) when he does everything for a week. The reason for not calling it a reward is that he should feel he does it for himself, not for you. \"Celebration\" will help him realise that you are happy for him, not that he did something to please you. It's hard work, I know, but that's part of the parenting job.

[MrsKiasu]

Just sharing …I have been lax with my younger child since start of P1. Maybe abit difficult to believe, the younger pack own school bags, do hw on own unless she needs my help, remember what to bring to school for cca and enrichment days etc. I only do spellings with her on Sun. All was ok till now…she still do all those on her own but due to lack of discipline in doing revision at home. A little more than a few qns outside the school hw she will give me the face of …ahh so much! Most of her free time still spent on reading but sadly only story books. I have to now try to get her to do work other than given by school.

[sharonkhoo]

MrsKiasu\" post_id=\"2020888\" time=\"1618966343\" user_id=\"43981:

Just sharing ..I have been lax with my younger child since start of P1. Maybe abit difficult to believe, the younger pack own school bags, do hw on own unless she needs my help, remember what to bring to school for cca and enrichment days etc. I only do spellings with her on Sun. All was ok till now..she still do all those on her own but due to lack of discipline in doing revision at home. A little more than a few qns outside the school hw she will give me the face of ..ahh so much! Most of her free time still spent on reading but sadly only story books. I have to now try to get her to do work other than given by school.

How is she doing in tests etc? If she's doing OK, then there's probably no real need to do extra until a few weeks before exams, and just keep to the \"a few questions outside school hw\". I believe in measuring by achievement, not time or quantity. Of course, if she makes mistakes or shows weaknesses, then you should insist that she does extra to work on those areas. I don't know why you say \"sadly only story books\" - I can't imagine why kids would voluntarily read school books if they don't need to, and not all kids like non-fiction. I was a 2-storybook-a-day kid until about Sec 3 when work got heavier, and still read about 4 books a week till I got to JC. I owe a lot of what I know to story books - besides language and vocab, you can pick up a lot of general knowledge that way.

What sort of \"work other than given by school\" are you trying to get her to do? If it's already stuff she knows and can do, it might be boring. If you dress it up to make it more \"different\", it might make it more palatable. Get her to write a story, or a script for a puppet show, make the puppets, and put on a performance. Get her to calculate ingredients etc when baking or cooking. Get her to make a scrapbook (physical or digital) related to a science topic. Some of these would work better for the holidays, but some can be done bit by bit over a few weekends.

[zac's mum]

Some kids definitely need more guidance to structure their “chores”. Eg my son was never able (nor willing) to do his homework, or pack his schoolbag, or revise for exams all on his own. I couldn’t simply throw him a one-liner: “Go pack your bag!” and see him get it done properly. He would just glance at the bag, note that none of the stuff was hanging/falling out & shout “done!” Really roll eyes.


So I had to sit him down & coach him step by step:
- bring your whole bag here
- dump all the contents on the floor
- sort them into one pile per subject
- take out your timetable, what lessons do u have tomorrow?
- take those subjects one by one & place neatly into bag
- what other items do u need? (Pencil case? Story book? Snack? Water bottle?)
- Great! Now zip it up & take it to the bench next to the door!
[Resist the motherly urge to lift a finger to help with any of the above. Use voice & eye power only.]

Similarly for after school routine: kid getting the hw out & sorting & I just eye power at the side.

Exam revision: I have to collate the relevant assessment books & past year papers per subject, put in neat pile, then get him to “attack” them at appropriate time. Can’t expect kid to source for revision materials himself.

[zac's mum]

Oh ya, and kid has his own desk calendar with the exam dates marked out (you can get him to write it in himself). So he can see the dates approaching. List out the topics tested.


Kid never used to care, but now he pays attention to the multitude of academic tips that the teachers mention during lessons. Like he will correct me, saying school teacher says must use this method to solve this type of problem sum. Must highlight this keyword etc etc. None of this came from my nagging (believe me I nagged since P1!)