Teach Less, Learn More

[Chenonceau]

QuiteKSMum:

Chenonceau wrote : [quote]It wasn't at all educational or helpful to anyone... and I made an undignified spectacle of myself right through. The only thing I am proud of was the apology and that was at the end. I should actually have apologized earlier.

Hey Chenonceau,

I don't see any un-dignified words/actions by you! You were putting your views across wh. generally represent some of our views - at least I tend to agree with most of yours... except the part on pre-teaching... But we parents are able to evaluate ourselves our own needs & circumstances, no need to feel apologetic that you were \"leading\" us on the wrong path...

Son did his PSLE last yr and don't think we really pre-teach him before (except maybe a little for Maths - wh. was his fav...he himself were interested to learn & went ahead to read up on his own...so pre-teach but by himself...). But we were lucky in the sense DS's pri sch did not really set papers wh. were so much off (ahead) of what's being taught in class that we needed to pre-teach. Of course, there were a couple of \"stretched\" qns for every subj but we understand that those were mainly to separate the really top students fm the avg mass. I still don't know what's Unitary/Units Transfer method (DH guided him - I'm clueless abt Maths) thou I already knew of its existence last yr thru print advertisements. Checked with DH whether we needed to get that (kiasu ma, no harm getting another \"resource\") but was told not necc... Until these recent posts & I asked him whether we knew (& used) the UTM method, his reply was no.

Even without using UTM (of course DS sch, wh is a neighbour sch, did not teach this mtd), son managed to get an A* last yr. BUT I knew he put in many hrs practising the sums (with no complaints as that's his fav subj) & DH is around to guide him thru those challenging qns.

Just to share abt the sudden increase in std from P4 to P5...Digging back his results, I can see that yes, at P5 CA1, his overall % dropped to 77%. SA1 dropped by a further 1%. But then I see the drop is only abt 2 - 3% from his P4 SA2 results. Analysing his results now, could see that for our case, the highest drop was from P3 to P4 - a drop of more than 8%! I roughly knew why this big drop in P4 - I had returned to work after spending more than 6 yrs at home with him - the long hrs at work & too tired to coach played a major part... Hence at P5, when the opportunity presented itself, I did not hesistate to quit again as I knew he needed much closer supervsion at home by me. IMHO, PSLE preparation definitely starts from P5, to leave till P6 is v.risky....

By end P5, with closer guidance fm me, he managed to up his % by 4% and thereafter maintained it till end P6. Those who are gd in calculations can prob get his end sch results - abt 80%. To DH & I, this is a pretty gd score...thou we're not truly confident that he'll be able to get into his/our dream Sec sch. PSLE he did much better than we expected and scored amongst the top 10% of his cohort ...we were totally over the moon on results day .... :love: . We could see that DS was v.proud of himself as the last 2 yrs of his efforts had finally paid off.


Generally, DS's sch Ts comments over the yrs had always been in the line that he's inquisitive & eager to learn new things. From P5 onwards, comments were like \"determined to succeed & works towards fulfilling his personal goals\". Hence, IMHO again, other than academic, parents must somehow motivate the child towards self-motivation...then everything would be easier to fall in place...

Just by 2 cts... hope it's not :offtopic:.

:celebrate: :celebrate:[/quote]Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I can't tell you how comforting your words are. I guess we will just have to encourage him and motivate him and love him a lot from now till PSLE... and work with him closely. He is a very serious and conscientious boy and is used to scoring in the 90s. He is not used to 70-ish kind of marks... and so he cried after he marked his practice exam. That upset me... It's good to look ahead with you through the words that you wrote.

Comforting. Thank you.

[Chenonceau]

chamonix:

I'm trying very hard to keep my post counts down so that I won't hit the GM status. Maid or Chief, can transfer my post counts to Chenonceau? Please?

Hah? Why? There is something about GM status that I dunno about? Like maybe... more responsibility? I'm allergic to responsibility.

[Chenonceau]

Funx3:

Chenonceau:

Now, can we go back to goofing around? I need to goof around with someone 'cos I am still stressed by SA1.

The brighter side of things though... is that I have made it to Brown Belt. That's a little closer to Grandmaster :lol: .

Ha Ha ....
It's Good To See U Back to Good Spirit Again!
Congrats to Reaching Brown Belt ....
Am Sure in a Short While U'll Be knocking on the Door, to be Welcomed with :grphug: into the GrandMaster Club!
Cheers!
:lol: :lol:

:celebrate: :thankyou:

[Chenonceau]

QuiteKSMum:

Hi All,


A sudden idea occurred to me - those who are afftected by schs' \"policy\" of setting tests/papers on as yet \"unlearned\" topics - instead of feedback to MOE ( still can do concurrently thou), why not give feedback to the school advisory board first...much closer to home ground...

Just my 2 cts again...

:celebrate:

Hmmm... this makes sense eh? Maybe this is not every school's practice. I had thought every school the same... but that really may not be. Hmmm... a thought. :idea:

[Chenonceau]

Vevey:

Oh ya, shld merge the threads. Think I'd missed THAT \"stimulation\".

You're roaming the forum looking for stimulation? :politebleah: Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Vevey:

However, I know of a friend who 1 2 engage a pte, 1-1 tutor to improve her P1 kid's Maths from 93/100 to ??? & another parent who send his kid to 3 prestigious tuition centres for the SAME subjects. (No joke! I also tot I heard wrongly the 1st time, when my friend who is 1 of his tutors, told us. :lol: )

*Gulp* :faint: :siao: Poor kid!! Yeah... I think balance is important too. Sundays are play days. Lately, with the volume and the difficulty of the syllabus, I have had to give occasional unplanned play days just for him to de-stress. Now that we are nearing exams, we're getting less and less intense. After Saturday, we prolly won't be working anymore on school stuff. Whether prepared or not prepared, the 2 days before exams are play days too.

Otherwise, I may have an academically excellent son but he may be a mental case too.

[QuiteKSMum]

Chenonceau wrote :[quote]He is a very serious and conscientious boy and is used to scoring in the 90s. He is not used to 70-ish kind of marks... and so he cried after he marked his practice exam. That upset me...

[/quote]Rem for P6 Maths SA1, son didn't do as well as he expected (low 80s - he's used to 90s for Maths). Even before I knew the marks, I alrdy knew something was not right - on that day, when I reached his sch to pick him up, saw his body language was not the usual one - his shoulders were slumped; he looked defeated. As a mother, when I saw this, my heart alrdy \"pained\"... When he told me his results, I reassured him....how to \"scold\" when you see that your child was alrdy so depressed himself...? In the end, DH (as his Maths tutor) had to comfort him....& he cheered up after a while...but this \"incident\" made him work even harder for his Maths... :celebrate:

[Chenonceau]

QuiteKSMum:

- his shoulders were slumped; he looked defeated. As a mother, when I saw this, my heart alrdy \"pained\"...

Yes... oh yes... oh yes... This is exactly what I find hard to cope with too. I can't help remembering him as a toddler so carefree and cheeky and always happy... always with a plane in his hand zooming away. That was the background noise in our house for a few years.

[janet88]

QuiteKSMum:

Chenonceau wrote :[quote]He is not used to 70-ish kind of marks... and so he cried after he marked his practice exam. That upset me...

Rem for P6 Maths SA1, son didn't do as well as he expected (low 80s - he's used to 90s for Maths). Even before I knew the marks, I alrdy knew something was not right - on that day, when I reached his sch to pick him up, saw his body language was not the usual one - his shoulders were slumped; he looked defeated. As a mother, when I saw this, my heart alrdy \"pained\"... When he told me his results, I reassured him....how to \"scold\" when you see that your child was alrdy so depressed himself...? In the end, DH (as his Maths tutor) had to comfort him....& he cheered up after a while...but this \"incident\" made him work even harder for his Maths... :celebrate:[/quote]Mummies have to become motivational speakers and use more TLC (tender loving care) when kids move to upper pri. Told my son if I don't see effort put in for his exam, I will be very mad :rant: but if he works hard and results are still poor, we will understand.

[Funx3]

janet_lee88:

QuiteKSMum:

Chenonceau wrote :[quote]He is not used to 70-ish kind of marks... and so he cried after he marked his practice exam. That upset me...

Rem for P6 Maths SA1, son didn't do as well as he expected (low 80s - he's used to 90s for Maths). Even before I knew the marks, I alrdy knew something was not right - on that day, when I reached his sch to pick him up, saw his body language was not the usual one - his shoulders were slumped; he looked defeated. As a mother, when I saw this, my heart alrdy \"pained\"... When he told me his results, I reassured him....how to \"scold\" when you see that your child was alrdy so depressed himself...? In the end, DH (as his Maths tutor) had to comfort him....& he cheered up after a while...but this \"incident\" made him work even harder for his Maths... :celebrate:

Mummies have to become motivational speakers and use more TLC (tender loving care) when kids move to upper pri. Told my son if I don't see effort put in for his exam, I will be very mad :rant: but if he works hard and results are still poor, we will understand.[/quote]Yeah, Think Our Kids R Quite \"Auto\" Already.
My Gal's Maths Drop from 80's to High 60's from P5 SA2 to P6 CA1.
But that's OK, as Long as She put in her Best Effort.

Can See that the Sch is already loading them with many Revision Exercises, Apart from teaching New Topics this Term. Am Sure She can Pull Her Socks up ....

I Only Provide Guidance, upon her Request.
I Don't See Anything Wrong in my Gal Getting A Few Big X on her Practice Papers, or HW.
Afterall, to Me, This is Part and Parcel of Learning in School ....
Make A Few Mistakes Here and There, Learn Why Got it Wrong, Do the Correction ....
That's How We Parents learnt in the PAST, Too, Right?

[smurf]

It’s sad right…a child with NO childhood…sigh…is this the kind of life we want for the kids??