Preparing kids for P5 in 2011
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underthesea:
Did you do P5 SA2 paper or P4? How to do P5 as some of the topics have not been taught in school? My dd can't even do some of the CA2 questions and she refused to do anything work that has not been taught in school!
P5 SA2. I'm quite stubborn about preserving play time. DS MUST NOT study on Sundays (whole day), and Saturday afternoons. Both these slots are unstructured play time. I had to be creative in approaching the material to save him time and still cover enough to tackle exams. To save him time, here are the decisions I took...
Play Days
(1) Since February this year, if I dun have time to cover homeschool work, he pontangs regular school rather than use up Play Days. I think he cooperates because he knows that no matter what the pressures are (and even if I know he could fail), I will not touch his play day. Hence, on weekdays, he cooperates fully with me. I just need to write many many excuse letters to his teachers.
For Math
(2) To save time, we don't do any other assessment except Onsponge, and Math Heuristics' Model Approach to Model Drawing (sorry I forgot to mention this assessment book earlier). You cover these 2 books, you cover all the topics needed for SA2. I don't even look at Topic Lists when teaching my son. Planning a study schedule around topic lists is complicated for a child to manage. I wanted a straightforward schedule that DS can manage independently. So, I threw him Onsponge (& Math Heuristics) and said \"You need to finish this book in SEVEN DAYS. Go and plan how many units you need to do a day.\" Because he generated the plan, he feels ownership and is motivated to get it down. It's a big boy thing to do you see.
(3) For both books, we only do the first 2 questions in each unit. Once he gets the technique, we skip all the other questions. Sometimes, DS will decide to practise 2 or 3 more in that unit because he is not confident. But that was his own choice. There was one unit where he told me he wanted to do all the sums. Again, his choice. I only require him to skim the units and do the first 2 sums only. We had a fight about this. I insisted that he do only 2 and he cried saying that he couldn't remember, and wanted to be sure. So I gave in. DS knows best how much he has learnt. I wanted him to know enough to gain an exposure to tackle CA2 and SA2. We will drill and reinforce in P6. This round, I wanted him to skim all the topics in both books.
(4) Having skimmed both books, I gave him three P5 SA2 Math papers. He hit 95+ for all three so I decided to stop Math and do Science where he seems to be only at 80+.
For Science
(5) For Science, I did not bother with assessment books at all. Again, I ignored Topic List. I refused to let myself be guided by topics published in the syllabus. I chose the unstructured approach instead. I gave him a post-it pad and one exam paper after another. After every practice, we sat down to analyze and identify topics that he needed to read up on. He tagged (with a post-it) each of the unfamiliar questions/topics he wanted to find out more about. Then, he did internet search... borrowed videos from library... and just enjoyed himself. This means he covers much content BEYOND the test paper because as he clicks on one link after another, he casts his net wider and wider. I teach less, he learns more. But that's ok 'cos he thought it was fun. For the first 6 papers, it was slow because there were many unfamiliar topics. By Paper 12, there is hardly any research left to do because he had read up on almost all that SA2 covers plus more besides. Again, I chose to do this because I wanted a study schedule that wasn't too complicated... something DS can manage and feel good about being his own boss. Planning a schedule around topics is complicated. The way i did it, I just told him \"Finish 12 papers. Research what you dunno. What's your plan?\"
(6) I marked every Science practice exam OE with Science Heuristics' LiSC answering technique in mind. So, over 12 exam papers, he has slowly refined his answering technique.
It sounds like we did a lot but we did get in a lotta play too. Cycling and swimming and movies... a spot of cooking... picnics ... lotsa cuddling and training our dog to walk properly on a leash. Played Monopoly Deal and Quoridor till I feel nauseous.
I hope this helps other Mommies.
3 Motivational Strategies
The 3 motivational strategies that are salient in this sharing are...
(1) I give him control over his work by assigning work that he is himself able to easily schedule and...
(2) I protect his play days completely so that he knows that if he focuses, he can play to his heart's content on weekends
(3) I junk all the topic lists so he doesn't KNOW what topics need to be covered. The focus is on completing the science exam practices and then having fun watching videos, youtube and surfing the net for what I call \"useless info\" but is actually really useful since schools like to test what they don't teach. How do you know what'll come out? The only way is to read widely about Science. He found and read obscure stuff about plague and fleas and rats... See link here - http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/12/famine200712. Then there was something about hydrothermal vents and the bacteria that thrive there... and the tube worms who live in a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship with bacteria... and that carnivorous plant that squirrels shit into...I just have to make sure that I look interested when he reports his findings -
Chenonceau:
:thankyou: for sharing especially on the revision of science. I think I am going to follow your way. To make science fun for my son. Thank you for sharing the motivational strategies too.underthesea:
Did you do P5 SA2 paper or P4? How to do P5 as some of the topics have not been taught in school? My dd can't even do some of the CA2 questions and she refused to do anything work that has not been taught in school!
P5 SA2. I'm quite stubborn about preserving play time. DS MUST NOT study on Sundays (whole day), and Saturday afternoons. Both these slots are unstructured play time. I had to be creative in approaching the material to save him time and still cover enough to tackle exams. To save him time, here are the decisions I took...
Play Days
(1) Since February this year, if I dun have time to cover homeschool work, he pontangs regular school rather than use up Play Days. I think he cooperates because he knows that no matter what the pressures are (and even if I know he could fail), I will not touch his play day. Hence, on weekdays, he cooperates fully with me. I just need to write many many excuse letters to his teachers.
For Math
(2) To save time, we don't do any other assessment except Onsponge, and Math Heuristics' Model Approach to Model Drawing (sorry I forgot to mention this assessment book earlier). You cover these 2 books, you cover all the topics needed for SA2. I don't even look at Topic Lists when teaching my son. Planning a study schedule around topic lists is complicated for a child to manage. I wanted a straightforward schedule that DS can manage independently. So, I threw him Onsponge (& Math Heuristics) and said \"You need to finish this book in SEVEN DAYS. Go and plan how many units you need to do a day.\" Because he generated the plan, he feels ownership and is motivated to get it down. It's a big boy thing to do you see.
(3) For both books, we only do the first 2 questions in each unit. Once he gets the technique, we skip all the other questions. Sometimes, DS will decide to practise 2 or 3 more in that unit because he is not confident. But that was his own choice. There was one unit where he told me he wanted to do all the sums. Again, his choice. I only require him to skim the units and do the first 2 sums only. We had a fight about this. I insisted that he do only 2 and he cried saying that he couldn't remember, and wanted to be sure. So I gave in. DS knows best how much he has learnt. I wanted him to know enough to gain an exposure to tackle CA2 and SA2. We will drill and reinforce in P6. This round, I wanted him to skim all the topics in both books.
(4) Having skimmed both books, I gave him three P5 SA2 Math papers. He hit 95+ for all three so I decided to stop Math and do Science where he seems to be only at 80+.
For Science
(5) For Science, I did not bother with assessment books at all. Again, I ignored Topic List. I refused to let myself be guided by topics published in the syllabus. I chose the unstructured approach instead. I gave him a post-it pad and one exam paper after another. After every practice, we sat down to analyze and identify topics that he needed to read up on. He tagged (with a post-it) each of the unfamiliar questions/topics he wanted to find out more about. Then, he did internet search... borrowed videos from library... and just enjoyed himself. This means he covers much content BEYOND the test paper because as he clicks on one link after another, he casts his net wider and wider. I teach less, he learns more. But that's ok 'cos he thought it was fun. For the first 6 papers, it was slow because there were many unfamiliar topics. By Paper 12, there is hardly any research left to do because he had read up on almost all that SA2 covers plus more besides. Again, I chose to do this because I wanted a study schedule that wasn't too complicated... something DS can manage and feel good about being his own boss. Planning a schedule around topics is complicated. The way i did it, I just told him \"Finish 12 papers. Research what you dunno. What's your plan?\"
(6) I marked every Science practice exam OE with Science Heuristics' LiSC answering technique in mind. So, over 12 exam papers, he has slowly refined his answering technique.
It sounds like we did a lot but we did get in a lotta play too. Cycling and swimming and movies... a spot of cooking... picnics ... lotsa cuddling and training our dog to walk properly on a leash. Played Monopoly Deal and Quoridor till I feel nauseous.
I hope this helps other Mommies.
3 Motivational Strategies
The 3 motivational strategies that are salient in this sharing are...
(1) I give him control over his work by assigning work that he is himself able to easily schedule and...
(2) I protect his play days completely so that he knows that if he focuses, he can play to his heart's content on weekends
(3) I junk all the topic lists so he doesn't KNOW what topics need to be covered. The focus is on completing the science exam practices and then having fun watching videos, youtube and surfing the net for what I call \"useless info\" but is actually really useful since schools like to test what they don't teach. How do you know what'll come out. The only way is to read widely about Science. -
jedamum:
Heehee! Jedamum, unconventional Math cannot be me. I'm only good in English lah... Math = 2ppaamm.
pixiedust,pixiedust:
Chenonceau, your boy's motivation level and co-operation with you is amazing. How ? still going to set up that tuition center that you talked about ? :evil:
Chenonceau need not set up tuition center so troublesome.
she can earn more and help more by giving motivational talks!
and also workshops to parents on how to tackle Math Questions (hey Chenonceau, you did mentioned about teaching some students how to solve some math problem the unconventional way, right?
....wait wait wait, or is it 2ppaamm? you 2 are so alike to me! :oops:).
Pixie, I wanna set up tuition centre leh... but I had to write that stupid petition and now I wonder if MOE will decide to pull the plug on the tuition industry. They is smart you know. Maybe they'll come up with some high leverage mechanism that'll put Tutors outta business. Then my investment how? -
PiggyLalala:
:thankyou: for sharing especially on the revision of science. I think I am going to follow your way. To make science fun for my son. Thank you for sharing the motivational strategies too.[/quote] :welcome:Chenonceau:
[quote=\"underthesea\"]Did you do P5 SA2 paper or P4? How to do P5 as some of the topics have not been taught in school? My dd can't even do some of the CA2 questions and she refused to do anything work that has not been taught in school!
P5 SA2. I'm quite stubborn about preserving play time. DS MUST NOT study on Sundays (whole day), and Saturday afternoons. Both these slots are unstructured play time. I had to be creative in approaching the material to save him time and still cover enough to tackle exams. To save him time, here are the decisions I took...
Play Days
(1) Since February this year, if I dun have time to cover homeschool work, he pontangs regular school rather than use up Play Days. I think he cooperates because he knows that no matter what the pressures are (and even if I know he could fail), I will not touch his play day. Hence, on weekdays, he cooperates fully with me. I just need to write many many excuse letters to his teachers.
For Math
(2) To save time, we don't do any other assessment except Onsponge, and Math Heuristics' Model Approach to Model Drawing (sorry I forgot to mention this assessment book earlier). You cover these 2 books, you cover all the topics needed for SA2. I don't even look at Topic Lists when teaching my son. Planning a study schedule around topic lists is complicated for a child to manage. I wanted a straightforward schedule that DS can manage independently. So, I threw him Onsponge (& Math Heuristics) and said \"You need to finish this book in SEVEN DAYS. Go and plan how many units you need to do a day.\" Because he generated the plan, he feels ownership and is motivated to get it down. It's a big boy thing to do you see.
(3) For both books, we only do the first 2 questions in each unit. Once he gets the technique, we skip all the other questions. Sometimes, DS will decide to practise 2 or 3 more in that unit because he is not confident. But that was his own choice. There was one unit where he told me he wanted to do all the sums. Again, his choice. I only require him to skim the units and do the first 2 sums only. We had a fight about this. I insisted that he do only 2 and he cried saying that he couldn't remember, and wanted to be sure. So I gave in. DS knows best how much he has learnt. I wanted him to know enough to gain an exposure to tackle CA2 and SA2. We will drill and reinforce in P6. This round, I wanted him to skim all the topics in both books.
(4) Having skimmed both books, I gave him three P5 SA2 Math papers. He hit 95+ for all three so I decided to stop Math and do Science where he seems to be only at 80+.
For Science
(5) For Science, I did not bother with assessment books at all. Again, I ignored Topic List. I refused to let myself be guided by topics published in the syllabus. I chose the unstructured approach instead. I gave him a post-it pad and one exam paper after another. After every practice, we sat down to analyze and identify topics that he needed to read up on. He tagged (with a post-it) each of the unfamiliar questions/topics he wanted to find out more about. Then, he did internet search... borrowed videos from library... and just enjoyed himself. This means he covers much content BEYOND the test paper because as he clicks on one link after another, he casts his net wider and wider. I teach less, he learns more. But that's ok 'cos he thought it was fun. For the first 6 papers, it was slow because there were many unfamiliar topics. By Paper 12, there is hardly any research left to do because he had read up on almost all that SA2 covers plus more besides. Again, I chose to do this because I wanted a study schedule that wasn't too complicated... something DS can manage and feel good about being his own boss. Planning a schedule around topics is complicated. The way i did it, I just told him \"Finish 12 papers. Research what you dunno. What's your plan?\"
(6) I marked every Science practice exam OE with Science Heuristics' LiSC answering technique in mind. So, over 12 exam papers, he has slowly refined his answering technique.
It sounds like we did a lot but we did get in a lotta play too. Cycling and swimming and movies... a spot of cooking... picnics ... lotsa cuddling and training our dog to walk properly on a leash. Played Monopoly Deal and Quoridor till I feel nauseous.
I hope this helps other Mommies.
3 Motivational Strategies
The 3 motivational strategies that are salient in this sharing are...
(1) I give him control over his work by assigning work that he is himself able to easily schedule and...
(2) I protect his play days completely so that he knows that if he focuses, he can play to his heart's content on weekends
(3) I junk all the topic lists so he doesn't KNOW what topics need to be covered. The focus is on completing the science exam practices and then having fun watching videos, youtube and surfing the net for what I call \"useless info\" but is actually really useful since schools like to test what they don't teach. How do you know what'll come out. The only way is to read widely about Science. -
I've been reading the SA2 Science for the past 2 days...SCGS and Tao Nan 2009 were tough
Tomorrow I'm going to look at the EL papers. -
Hi Chenonceau
I am really impressed at the rate you and your DS are going! School has started barely a week, and you have already covered most of the topics in SA2! I like the way you plan, guide and motivate your child. But it also requires lots of self-discipline from the child in order achieve results.
I am one mummy who would love to protect my children’s playtime too, hence my kids have never attended any tuition class or enrichment class as I want them to have more free time to do things that they really enjoy. However, I do assign some daily work for them to do as I want them to develop a habit of doing regular revisions instead of waiting till last minute. Now they usually will do their work automatically without much complain.
DS1 has performed above average in his cohort during the SA1 but fell far behind his classmates. He feels the pressure and begins to lose confidence. Before the school holidays, he asked me to look for a tuition teacher for him for Maths and Science. I am now in a dilemma as I may deprive him of a chance to achieve better results since I am no expert in these areas but on the other hand I feel he should spend more time reading, resting and playing…So I am still struggling on how to balance. -
rocklee:
If it's any consolation, BOTH my kids were laggards in P1 and P3. It was a deliberate strategy to let them taste a bit of disappointment before the stakes get too high. How old are your kids. Early disappointment is like early vaccination. It strengthens resolve and lets the child know that Mommy is unable to protect them from failure if they choose not to work.Hi Chenonceau
DS1 has performed above average in his cohort during the SA1 but fell far behind his classmates. He feels the pressure and begins to lose confidence. Before the school holidays, he asked me to look for a tuition teacher for him for Maths and Science. I am now in a dilemma as I may deprive him of a chance to achieve better results since I am no expert in these areas but on the other hand I feel he should spend more time reading, resting and playing......So I am still struggling on how to balance.
In P4 and P5, I am careful NOT to allow disappointment because the stakes are high and the child is under stress to perform. Disappointment in P5 can really damage self-esteem because the stakes are higher. To protect their psyches, many children switch off and seek escape in play. They have not developed resilience towards disappointment and it hits them hard in P5 because schools use shock tactics and fail them liberally. The blow is hard enough to cause lasting damage to self-concept and self-esteem... hard enough to cause some children to give up.
Parents then react by pushing harder and harder. Some kids rebel. In other cases, parents can still manage to push through to PSLE but they lose control in lower sec. Motivation can only be developed over YEARS. There is no short term solution.
My kids come into P5 with a clear understanding of the consequences of lack of diligence. They also come to P5 with a rock solid belief that if they work hard enough, they'll make it. These 2 aspects were carefully sculpted into their psyches in P1 to P4. It is achieved through a mix of disappointments and resounding successes.
In P4, both my kids topped the class in one or 2 subjects for the first time. Having experienced disappointment, they know they don't like it. Having experienced success, they know they like it very much. By P5, they are more anxious to do well than I am. They work VERY HARD because they want to. Most parents help their kids score in P1, P2 and P3... postponing the experience of disappointment till P5. Again, I strove to do the OPPOSITE of what I saw was the trend.
I also promise them that they can honeymoon in Sec 1 and Sec 2. Low stakes years again mah... that is GO CRAZY ABOUT CCA years and kinda just scrape through can already.
However, The Daughter, by Sec 1 and Sec 2 was already addicted to doing well in school. She had crazy fun in CCA, but made sure she still topped the class. I reckon that my son, if he does well in PSLE, will also make sure he will do well in lower secondary even if I tell him he does not have to.
The promise of being able to goof off in Sec 1 and 2 is motivating for the PSLE, however. By that time, if the motivation foundation is laid in the child's personality, they won't hold you to that promise, I don't think. -
Hi Chenonceau
I think your kids are really fortunate to have you as their mummy. You are indeed a great motivator.
Anyway, my kids are P4 and P3. Yes, my DS1 was truly disappointed with his results and so he wanted to improve. I just have to find ways and get the resources to help him. Glad to come to this thread and learn from your experience. Thanks. -
rocklee:
The idea was to complete all content teaching BEFORE July term. At least a skim through. Then when DS goes back to school, it is play time. Just a few pieces of work here and there, but the accelerator is lightly pressed during the school term, instead of pressed all the way to the floor like it was in June hols.
I am really impressed at the rate you and your DS are going! School has started barely a week, and you have already covered most of the topics in SA2!
I'll be tackling P6 SA1 in December after spending 2 weeks overseas in a cottage. Again, I will ignore topics and assessment books. By the way, I also ignore CAs. No time to prepare and do so many practices. MUST have time to play. -
rocklee:
Yes, my DS1 was truly disappointed with his results and so he wanted to improve.
Good for ya... half your foundation for a motivated kid is laid... and ready to be the rock hard foundation for the stresses of P5, and right through secondary school. It is not good to push and yell at child through to PSLE. For sure you will lose control and have a rebellious child later. If not in P6, then sometime from Sec 1 to Sec 4, where the stakes are even higher.
Better that they taste disappointment younger.
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