Teach Less, Learn More

[cantbearit2]

Chenonceau:

Of course... we can do it. I have no doubt that our family can manage Math... not sure about Chinese but we will try. We help him... it can be done. But not every daddy or mommy is educated enough to pull this off.

I oso educated leh(though not top 2% lor, hee....) but definitely can't coach my DD. I noe e ans (i dun mean Science hor) but juz find it so hard to explain it to her. Some parents in KSP like Tamarind or BUDS R really gd, they can come up wif great ideas 4 teaching a certain topic but I juz dun have it wif me. I got a lot of tips fr reading their thread and am still learning how to teach. It juz make me mad to tink we have 2 do e teaching of extras. 4 parents like me, I dun even noe wats extras. I will juz b following the textbks and prob buying some assessm bks for DD to do. Follow the syllabus? yes I can do. Extras? Sorry not sure whr to begin wif.

[cantbearit2]

insider:

The fault lies with human's hearts...the common weakness of unable to resist herd instinct...

Maybe I can give one example and ask parents here how would you decide.

Child A - average ability, PSLE score 228 with no tuitions at all but with some coaching at home on things that he doesn't know.

Child B - average ability, tuition from P1 to P6 for all four subjects, Learning Lab included, with a total tuition fees of more than $20,000 for those 6 years, PSLE score 242.

The difference is 14 points.

Would you go the Child A's path or Child B?

I am OK with Child A of course...

If my DD can do without enrichment and still attain 228 in your child A eg, it will of course b my preferred choice. However not all child can attain it without external help lor

My colleague's nephew scored 230 for his PSLE last yr wif plenty of external enrichment. I really can't imagine without enrichment, wat will his score b like??? Less than 200???

Some pple might feel 230 is not fantastic but for me, it's gd enough for my DD. However in order to achieve tis, i find tat even hard to attain without external enrichment based on my DD's ability. My DD is pretty gd in her motor skills but definitely not in the academic dept.

[Funx3]

cantbearit2:

My DD is pretty gd in her motor skills but definitely not in the academic dept.

Meaning Sports? Dance? Musical Instruments?

[cantbearit2]

QuiteKSMum:

My thinking is that if your child can function well without tuition, cope with CCAs, etc, then that's truly your blessings. But there're bound to be many who are not in this happy situation. They do not have tuition cos they want their their kids to do exceptionally well; but just well enough to go into \"decent enough\" schools.

IM one such parent lor. :oops:

We all have our preferred choice of sch. Some sch may juz gif us v bad impression. In my days, we do label some sch as being ah lian or ah beng sch. Thus i hope 2 influence my DD in some way or other to choose e sch which I deem of positive influence (of course it's no guarantee as all sch may have their fair share of black sheeps; agn depending on how u define black sheep).

If her T-score is too low, she will not even have a choice does she? In order to score an avg T-score, my DD needs to work v hard too. She's more a sports person than academic.

[smurf]

honestly, I dun even know what is the sch for anymore.

[cantbearit2]

insider:

Think 'decent' schools require a T score of min 240 and 'good' schools min 250.

There are limited number of 'decent' and 'good' schools (real or perceived) here and most kids have to settle for 'average' schools.

When MOE said most kids can cope, I think it means most kids can make it to an average school.

It is impossible for MOE to say most kids can score min 240 to go to 'decent' schools (real or perceived).

If one can settle for 'average' schools, then the pressure will not be as great.

Err....dun tink we can define \"decent\" here as yur \"decent\" may not b my \"decent\" (my \"decent\" dun even need min 240) & vice versa. Confusing??? Paisay... :oops:
Tink quiteksmum is saying our expectations may not b high. To achieve tat expectations, it may even seem diff for some of us wif avg kids wif e current education sys.
Hope I din confuse anyone further....
:clubmyself:

[cantbearit2]

Funx3:

cantbearit2:

My DD is pretty gd in her motor skills but definitely not in the academic dept.

Meaning Sports? Dance? Musical Instruments?

Yup, sports. Tats y read e Gymnastics thread & saw yur hectic schedule....Incredible!!! :udawoman: :udawoman:

Still tinking wat to sign her up. :? Ask her, she keeps shuddering her shoulders & say dunno. :faint: :faint: She says she loves to run, jump, basically not to stay still. :slapshead: :slapshead:

Any tips for me??? i noe IM :offtopic: Hope chief dun delete my posts.

[Chenonceau]

cantbearit2:

insider:

My experience in teaching primary school maths.


When I first realised that primary school maths was very different from the way I learnt maths in my primary school 17 years ago, I 'grumbled' a bit about how come need to be so 'troublesome' to draw models etc to solve such simple questions, how come can't use algebra, etc. Then later I got to understand the objective is to teach mental skills via 'long cut' instead of 'short cut'. I got over the initial shock and subsequently can guide my two elder kids more 'calmly' and in a 'matter-of-factly'.

I think parents have to accept the changes and don't take it that the maths are very difficult/tough themselves first coz I think this mindset may affect their children in receiving maths in a more positive manner.

I gave my nephew tuitions on all subjects 17 years ago twice a week for about 2 hours/session. He comes from a broken family with minimal family support except me and he is an average child. He got an 'A' for his maths.

My daughter (studious) and son (ultra playful) got an A+ and an A for their PSLE maths respectively with minimal coaching from me = maths is manageable if an 'A' is an acceptable score for you and the child.

So overall maths is manageable if parents stand by to support their child (parents need to learn all about models, unit transfer, themselves first) at times of needs. All have to accept that the teaching of maths have changed and with a mindset change, the perception of it is 'difficult' will change then it will not be so difficult.

I presume this maybe a case of 'resistance to change' that makes the learning of primary school maths a chore for many (you change your mindset, maths 'suddenly' may become 'easy'...)

insider, it's not the new way of doing Maths tats putting me off. It's e whole \"teach less, learn more\" crap tats getting on my nerves. It make me feel 4d under privileged kids out there. Not being noble but as a parent, I felt frustrated 2b contributing to e no. of being a tuition nation too.

The yes-woman rears her head again... EXACTLY.

[janet88]

Funx3:

janet_lee88:

[quote=\"Brenda10\"]
Yes, we can understand. :hugs:

Hey MOE, are you there ? If you are, please listen to our problems and do something !!!

Think Mrs Yu-Foo is in on the 3rd Week of Every Month at Toh Yi Gdn ....
Can't remember if it's Wed or Thu ....[/quote]Aiyoh, she is out-going MP liao and O.R.D mood. No point asking her anything. If there is no election, you think these MPs will be out shaking hands at coffee shop and markets ? Actually I don't a damn about politics but I'm very very unhappy with the MOE system. All the crap about doing this and that in schools but at the end of the day, kids and parents suffer.

[Chenonceau]

cantbearit2:

cimman:

I can relate with you on that one. I first noticed the problem when my kid was in P3, it is more obvious in P4. The difficulty level of the exam questions and the work problems that were done in class were of a different category. I did query the form teacher of this discrepancy, and the answer was that the school needed to seperate the exceptional students from the average ones and those difficult problems were designed to do the job.

If it was juz 1 or 2 questions, I would have understood their intentions but tats not the case for my P3 niece.

Apparently her test paper had lots of questions which can't b answered by juz studying her sch textbk or doing some math assessm books. Needless to say, she failed tat paper & it was a blow to my hardworking niece and her mom. Her mom even commented she couldn't understand how some of her classmates can get near perfect score lor. When she saw tat paper, she suddenly awaken to e fact tat more has 2b done outside of sch stipulated academic curriculum. I can't help but felt her frustration.

cantbearit2, you've said it so well. 7 years ago, when schools did not assume that kids will have help from parents and tutors, neither my husband and I even learnt the unitary method, and we kinda knew the model method only because we had a workshop on it. Seriously, I've never heard of unitary method till now. I was that bo-chap and there really was no need. I left it mostly to my daughter because it really was her business. And I wanted her to take accountability. My role was that of motivator-encourager. Also, she could cope because teachers did not assume that she would know things they had not taught. I don't believe in learning my kids' work so that I can teach it. It's not my job. It's the school's job, and my kids' accountability.

Last year, my son requested to be taught P5 Math because he said all his friends were being taught already. I asked \"What for? Better work on your Chinese, and find time to play. School will teach P5 math next year.\" I now regret those words because it has been a mad scramble indeed to rush through all the skills required for SA1. I can understand if up to about 8 marks of 100 are allocated to test such skills (not taught) in order to discriminate amongst students, but no... 25 out of 60 marks require these un-taught skills.

Clearly, such a marks allocation indicates that the teachers setting the paper assume that children have access to external help.

The thing is, if my kids do poorly because they have goofed off, they deserve it. And I am not above sitting there and :laugh: :laugh: But my son has been uber-conscientious. If he fails it will not be because he has goofed off, but because he is being tested on skills that teacher did not teach, but he is still expected to know. After working hard, and still failing, he will be completely demoralized and come away feeling very discouraged. I am determined to protect him from that.

Happily, with the help of Onsponge and 3 weekends of intensive coaching, we've cleared the math hurdle. He won't fail. Might actually get 80+ if he makes no careless mistakes. As for Chinese, I am mentally preparing him for less than ideal marks. I will follow Peony's advice \"Son, we will lose this battle... so we can win the war. Don't feel bad. We have time to work on it. Mustn't lose hope yeah babe? Mustn't give up. It ain't over till it's over.\"

On almost every count, I have had to intervene more now with my son, than with my daughter, 7 years ago. He needs more emotional support because he is facing tests of skills that he has never learnt in school. He needs more instructional support because he is facing tests of skills that he has never learnt in school.

Worse, these skills... so wonderfully documented in Onsponge appear nowhere in the uber-simplistic textbook.. Parents have to pay more to buy basic content schools assume children have mastered without being taught in school.

What are schools for? Why buy textbooks?