Preparing kids for P5 in 2011

[cimman]

all of us are in this pressure cooker environment on this small island. Ourselves, our kids and even our maids who have to slog for English exams.

Well, the June holidays will be behind us soon, and the school term and stress will start again next week.

[janet88]

Peony:

Dear fellow parents of P5-ers,

It's just a few more days till the start of the new semester and I thought I'd share my thoughts and feelings.

Most of us here felt the pressure of the \"big jump\" and for some of us, it was big enough to cause a \"paradigm shift\"... where we took a step back and re-evaluated everything, from our expectations, to the path our kids are treading on.

Yes, this June holidays is to strengthen those weak areas...with time for fun as well. I've never been so eager for school holidays until this year. Our kids in primary school have a LONG way to go...including ourselves. We have to stay sane at least for the next 6 years (I have a daughter in P1).

Hubby transferred to another dept...which means he has to go to office everyday. Anyway, he has given up coaching son in his Maths. Hubby felt negative when SA1 results dipped. Usually I am the one feeling lousy, but this time I have to be positive. If other P5 kids are also feeling the \"big jump\", that means it's 'normal' :scratchhead: We just have to re-evaluate and see what can be done to improve. Feeling negative is not going to help.

[Peony]

cimman:

all of us are in this pressure cooker environment on this small island. Ourselves, our kids and even our maids who have to slog for English exams.

Well, the June holidays will be behind us soon, and the school term and stress will start again next week.

A good reminder that lives are more valuable than exams.

Pressure cooker? so apt.. but I'd want my DD to be in a \"bubble\" that protects her from the heat while she's in the same pot as the rest. I can't change the circumstances but I can change how we (her and her cheerleaders) can respond to it so that she (and us) can keep cool.

[Peony]

Janet,

Just keep at it, am sure your son will improve by the time he hits the exams that really matter - PSLE. All these CA and SAs are absurdly difficult to ensure the kids exceed expectations.

The strategy sucks but schools have been doing it for years.
OK, bitter sceptic alert…

School sets absurdly difficult papers…
- parents of kids who have been doing very well (what more of those who have not!), freak out…
- pushes kids, enroll in classes etc. do all we can to ensure "improve"
- teaches continue to give tough class tests etc.
- parents continue to ensure kids meet these ridiculous levels…

PSLE dawns… kids are fully prepared and hence do well.

Who gets the credit?

We are just pawns.

Sigh… what has P5 done to me? Awaken the bitter in me.

My apologies to teachers. I come from a family filled with them and know like us, they feel like pawns in a big game too.

And sadly, PSLE just gets tougher as kids perform better, no thanks this "system"…

[HappyFaye]

While we are in this system now and we do not foresee any possible better changes in the near future, we make do with what we have and do our best to help our kids achieve work-life (aka study-play) balance.


Just remind ourselves - we are luckier than many people in the other countries.

Have faith! Our kids will turn out well, with the support of us, the kiasuparents

[HappyFaye]

Hi,


Thanks to cwc's recommendation on Little Red Dot (LRD), I found some interesting articles from 大姆指- the chinese version of LRD. My DS has been reading some of the articles with interest like this one
http://www.zbcomma.sg/friday/pages/02nov03tup1.html

I turned the particular article into compre paper and will try to do so for the rest of the articles.

Sad to say we can only get hold of the papers through schools. DS' school does not subscribe to any of the students newspapers. The 'student' newspapers are actually more interesting for their level...

[BeContented]

HappyFaye:

While we are in this system now and we do not foresee any possible better changes in the near future, we make do with what we have and do our best to help our kids achieve work-life (aka study-play) balance.


Just remind ourselves - we are luckier than many people in the other countries.

Have faith! Our kids will turn out well, with the support of us, the kiasuparents

:hi5:

[BeContented]

HappyFaye:

Hi,


Thanks to cwc's recommendation on Little Red Dot (LRD), I found some interesting articles from 大姆指- the chinese version of LRD. My DS has been reading some of the articles with interest like this one
http://www.zbcomma.sg/friday/pages/02nov03tup1.html

I turned the particular article into compre paper and will try to do so for the rest of the articles.

Sad to say we can only get hold of the papers through schools. DS' school does not subscribe to any of the students newspapers. The 'student' newspapers are actually more interesting for their level...

Glad that you find it useful :love:
Hey, you not bad leh, 大姆指....not that easy. My kids language standard a bit weak.....I vomit blood :nosebleed: whenever I try to do the chinese version. So :stompfeet: :rant: that I end up do a lot lesser that I would like to :oops:

[HappyFaye]

Actually I don’t expect much in terms of results now as I am looking beyond PSLE. The problem with my DS is that he has no interest in Chinese so I have to tackle the problem from the root cause. I cannot foresee myself still working with him when he goes to secondary school.


For this whole June holidays, I do one Chinese passage with DS everyday. Get him to read out the passage and throw him OE questions with him verbalises the answers. I reckon that he needs to be able to verbalise and converse in Chinese smoothly before he can write and think in Chinese. So far so good and I do sees his interest in picking up Chinese and Comics books to read by himself now and sometimes can throw out those phrases learnt during our small talk. Good improvement I should say.

With this short time span, I can only focus on his speaking and interest in understanding the meaning of the words and phrases. Ability to write will have to depend on himself le. If continue to do too much (to his standard), both of us will start quarrelling…

How well he can score for the rest of his subjects will then depend on how ‘hungry’ he wants to score. For me - 听天由命. Let nature takes its cause.

[Edureach]

HappyFaye:

Actually I don't expect much in terms of results now as I am looking beyond PSLE. The problem with my DS is that he has no interest in Chinese so I have to tackle the problem from the root cause. I cannot foresee myself still working with him when he goes to secondary school.


For this whole June holidays, I do one Chinese passage with DS everyday. Get him to read out the passage and throw him OE questions with him verbalises the answers. I reckon that he needs to be able to verbalise and converse in Chinese smoothly before he can write and think in Chinese. So far so good and I do sees his interest in picking up Chinese and Comics books to read by himself now and sometimes can throw out those phrases learnt during our small talk. Good improvement I should say.

With this short time span, I can only focus on his speaking and interest in understanding the meaning of the words and phrases. Ability to write will have to depend on himself le. If continue to do too much (to his standard), both of us will start quarrelling...

How well he can score for the rest of his subjects will then depend on how 'hungry' he wants to score. For me - 听天由命. Let nature takes its cause.

Good! Let it be natural as he must want it himself cannot be enforced by others. PSLE is just a starting point and chinese plays a less critical part as a kid moves beyond primary.