Teach Less, Learn More

[IJJ]

Janet, you are not alone. Mine comes back with Maths homework almost everyday and some days, more than 2 sets of maths worksheets. Plus other subject homeworks...really hard to slot in anything.


When kids are too tired (they start school so early), their productivity and concentration are naturally low. I empathise with these poor kids.. Just weeks ago, one day mine came back to share with me that her recessmates were full of grievances on having tuitions almost daily. She said even w/o any extra classes (she only has her mom constantly on her back), she already find it hard to breathe and enjoy life on weekdays. :roll:

[janet88]

IJJ:

Janet, you are not alone. Mine comes back with Maths homework almost everyday and some days, more than 2 sets of maths worksheets. Plus other subject homeworks...really hard to slot in anything.


When kids are too tired (they start school so early), their productivity and concentration are naturally low. I empathise with these poor kids.. Just weeks ago, one day mine came back to share with me that her recessmates were full of grievances on having tuitions almost daily. She said even w/o any extra classes (she only has her mom constantly on her back), she already find it hard to breathe and enjoy life on weekdays. :roll:

Maths alone, even if just 2-3 pages can take up 2 hours esp when he is so tired after school...no productivity. So I get him to sleep first...but prob is he refuses to get up after 1 hour.

I plan work for him everyday but they are secondary to his school hw...will just reduce to what is more impt...instead of whole Eng practice, I'll cut down to OE comprehension. Pumping him with too much work will not be effective.

[corneyAmber]

As I have no time to read through all the posts, I pick up certain nuances of the discussion and what I can say is I am having similar experiences as Chenonceau. I have this same issue whereby the teacher gave alot of drilling homework of simple repetitive work instead of teaching new and required concepts to tackle the exam questions. My mind also questions 'Why?" Maybe there is a good reason, if only someone can explain.


Though my child is doing ok in school, I am not without fears and problems. Why? The prescribed way of answering for exam and its marking scheme is a constant nightmare to me. The unknown/unexpected is actually the most fearful.

Is a "B" and "C" good enough for me? Absolutely no. Why? It is because this is primary school, the building blocks to future advanced learning. If the understanding is "B" and "C", by the time it gets to secondary, it will be "D" and "F". This is generally true…only some late bloomers may have different outcome. Study is a journey for most people and sprinting for some only.

The volume and content of what they are expected to know now is definitely a few notches more than before.

[Chenonceau]

ksi:

As I have no time to read through all the posts, I pick up certain nuances of the discussion and what I can say is I am having similar experiences as Chenonceau. I have this same issue whereby the teacher gave alot of drilling homework of simple repetitive work instead of teaching new and required concepts to tackle the exam questions. My mind also questions 'Why?\" Maybe there is a good reason, if only someone can explain.


Though my child is doing ok in school, I am not without fears and problems. Why? The prescribed way of answering for exam and its marking scheme is a constant nightmare to me. The unknown/unexpected is actually the most fearful.

Is a \"B\" and \"C\" good enough for me? Absolutely no. Why? It is because this is primary school, the building blocks to future advanced learning. If the understanding is \"B\" and \"C\", by the time it gets to secondary, it will be \"D\" and \"F\". This is generally true....only some late bloomers may have different outcome. Study is a journey for most people and sprinting for some only.

The volume and content of what they are expected to know now is definitely a few notches more than before.

ksi... thanks for understanding!! :snuggles:

I have been admiring your avatar for a long time. It's super cool. Sorry... :offtopic:

[janet88]

ksi:

Is a \"B\" and \"C\" good enough for me? Absolutely no. Why? It is because this is primary school, the building blocks to future advanced learning. If the understanding is \"B\" and \"C\", by the time it gets to secondary, it will be \"D\" and \"F\". This is generally true....only some late bloomers may have different outcome. Study is a journey for most people and sprinting for some only.

For P1/2, I do understand there is a transition from kindergarten to primary school...however, I cannot accept B or C bcos it is easy at this stage. Come P3, the child will face the first jump and if I am ok with B or C, then she will go to a D. What's next ? With the new system in place ie no CA/SA in P1/2 (SA2 in P2), I am learning all over again.

Education is a long journey and parents have to learn and adapt with each child. That's tough bcos there are 2 components - change and child's character.

[corneyAmber]

Chenonceau:

ksi... thanks for understanding!! :snuggles:

I have been admiring your avatar for a long time. It's super cool. Sorry... :offtopic:

kekeke I having the jitters of SA1 now...trust me...it feels worser than doing exams myself in the past so I empathise with you.

As for the avatar, go get one too...it is very telling....my state of mind now is 'now you see me, now you don't'......fluctuating.... :lol: If you need help, you can refer to this thread to get ideas and also how-to-load one http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9693&start=3240

[corneyAmber]

janet_lee88:

For P1/2, I do understand there is a transition from kindergarten to primary school...however, I cannot accept B or C bcos it is easy at this stage. Come P3, the child will face the first jump and if I am ok with B or C, then she will go to a D. What's next ? With the new system in place ie no CA/SA in P1/2 (SA2 in P2), I am learning all over again.

Education is a long journey and parents have to learn and adapt with each child. That's tough bcos there are 2 components - change and child's character.

Precisely Janet! We are in sync..P1/P2 too easy...P3 with \"B\" and \"C\" then going to a \"D\" is so close..... But having said this, I also want to qualify, expect results of the child realistically. If the calibre of the child matches the expectation, it will help the child.

[Chenonceau]

janet_lee88:

ksi:

Is a \"B\" and \"C\" good enough for me? Absolutely no. Why? It is because this is primary school, the building blocks to future advanced learning. If the understanding is \"B\" and \"C\", by the time it gets to secondary, it will be \"D\" and \"F\". This is generally true....only some late bloomers may have different outcome. Study is a journey for most people and sprinting for some only.

For P1/2, I do understand there is a transition from kindergarten to primary school...however, I cannot accept B or C bcos it is easy at this stage. Come P3, the child will face the first jump and if I am ok with B or C, then she will go to a D. What's next ? With the new system in place ie no CA/SA in P1/2 (SA2 in P2), I am learning all over again.

Education is a long journey and parents have to learn and adapt with each child. That's tough bcos there are 2 components - change and child's character.

I think expecting that your child cannot perform (without even trying to help) is an insult to him/her. It is to do your child a disservice.

Confidence to meet life's difficulties is not developed when parents believe their children cannot amount to much. Confidence to meet life's challenges develops when the child has experienced difficult victories. In order to experience difficult victories, you first must set difficult goals.

IF, after trying, the child fails, then we accept both child AND failure with love and concern. My foster daughter (not my biological daughter) has just been offered a scholarship. We set her the goal of Perfect Score (A for every subject). We told her we believed she could do it. She did not and when her results came back, she came home to cry. We told her that it was ok. It was still good enough results to PERHAPS get a local scholarship and so we patted her head, hugged her and began planning the scholarship interviews.

She is a girl with character, work ethic, very considerate and she impressed the panel so much with her personality and CCA records that she was awarded an overseas scholarship.

If they fail, we love them still the same. But we must not expect that they will fail at something difficult without helping them to try and reach it. My foster daughter told me that the failure to meet the goals we had set for her 'A' level results taught her lessons that she will never forget. These would have been lessons that she would never have learnt if we had told her that we expected little of her.

There are gentle and loving ways of getting children to achieve without damaging them. You just need to know how.

[teh_oh]

ksi:

janet_lee88:

For P1/2, I do understand there is a transition from kindergarten to primary school...however, I cannot accept B or C bcos it is easy at this stage. Come P3, the child will face the first jump and if I am ok with B or C, then she will go to a D. What's next ? With the new system in place ie no CA/SA in P1/2 (SA2 in P2), I am learning all over again.

Education is a long journey and parents have to learn and adapt with each child. That's tough bcos there are 2 components - change and child's character.

Precisely Janet! We are in sync..P1/P2 too easy...P3 with \"B\" and \"C\" then going to a \"D\" is so close..... But having said this, I also want to qualify, expect results of the child realistically. If the calibre of the child matches the expectation, it will help the child.

Hi ksi,
I am expecting my child's first B this SA .
Have been mentally preparing the child because compo component (and compre inference questions) are probably going to pull him down for 2 subjects. Nonetheless, we are keeping the big picture in view. My husband said that not all of us are born with good writing abilities, so be realistic and just do whatever we can.

[janet88]

ksi:

janet_lee88:

For P1/2, I do understand there is a transition from kindergarten to primary school...however, I cannot accept B or C bcos it is easy at this stage. Come P3, the child will face the first jump and if I am ok with B or C, then she will go to a D. What's next ? With the new system in place ie no CA/SA in P1/2 (SA2 in P2), I am learning all over again.

Precisely Janet! We are in sync..P1/P2 too easy...P3 with \"B\" and \"C\" then going to a \"D\" is so close..... But having said this, I also want to qualify, expect results of the child realistically. If the calibre of the child matches the expectation, it will help the child.

My son struggled in P1 for the first term, managed to float quite ok.
In P2, he excelled at the end. We were very surprised but naturally happy for him.
When he went to P3, everything dropped to Band 3. We were advised this would happen and it did. In P4, he did ok in SA2. This year P5, naturally we are facing another crisis of playing a totally different ball game altogether.

For my P1 gal, she has remedial bcos she learns slow. It's tiring and pitiful but I hope she will pick up. I am not giving her any pressure, just do what we can for the first 2 terms esp since no CA or SA. Her school principal believes in a smooth transition from kindergarten, somehow I don't seem to see that 'mentality' passed down to the HODs and teachers :? In short, slow and easy for her in the meantime until son finishes SA1.