When is the right time to start tuition?

[cteo101]

When is the right time to start tuition?

when is it too early? i know some parents that start in kindergarten.
In singapore’s competitive education system can the parent afford not to send the kids for tuition?

[try]

Believe in yourself - parents are the best tutors. Teach your children by learning together with them. Materials/advice are in abundance in libraries, kiasuparents forum etc. Another untapped resource nowadays - school teachers!


The best gift one can give to a child is to give them the confidence that they can succeed without tuition.

[2ppaamm]

try:

Believe in yourself - parents are the best tutors. Teach your children by learning together with them. Materials/advice are in abundance in libraries, kiasuparents forum etc. Another untapped resource nowadays - school teachers!


The best gift one can give to a child is to give them the confidence that they can succeed without tuition.

:goodpost: Can't agree more!!!! This is the best gift you can give your child. It is going to be hard, but if you succeed, both you and the child will really gain. Does not matter what your education level is. Just try.

[michyms]

Agree agree with you all! I am a potato mummy, but I am learning Chinese so that I can't teach the kids myself. I tell myself, I can do it, if I want to and I'm doing it (takes time and willingness though)

[ppnqq]

cteo101:

When is the right time to start tuition?

when is it too early? i know some parents that start in kindergarten.
In singapore's competitive education system can the parent afford not to send the kids for tuition?

It's not about the timing but rather if it is necessary and if there is really a need. Many are having tuition, yes, true but we should not just follow the \"trend\". Some have it early because of kiasuness while some others really have a need - the children could not cope and understand the syllabus and their parents could not teach too.

I feel that as long as your child is able to cope, tuition is not necessary. I have relatives and neighbours whose kids are not attending any tuition at all but still able to excel in psle. Life case : One scoring 200+, eligible for Express and another 24X close to 250.

These 2 kids do not have any tuition at all, neither did they attend any enrichment classes when small and their parents are either not educated at all or was chinese educated (the older generation), so they could not teach or guide their kids in their school work at all, the kids had to depend solely on themselves.

So unless your child is really having some difficulty and you are not able to teach, then tuition may be considered.

JMHO.

[2ppaamm]

Depends on your child, and P1 is really a bad time to decide.


(1) If you put him on tuition when he/she does not need it, he will become resentful and 'switch off'. You will get behavioural problems.

(2) If you don't put him on tuition when he cannot cope, he will fall behind and have a really low self-esteem.

(3) If you put him on tuition year round when he needs only someone to teach once in a while, you take the ownership of learning from him and put it on the tutors and yourself. You have a poorly motivated boy. What happened to school teachers?

(4) If you don't put him on tuition and he does poorly for just one test and blames you on it, you have to learn to counsel him, or relent and then go to (3).

(5) If you put him on tuition and he does well. Everyone is happy but you rob him a chance to learn for himself without help. He learns to depend on others. Long term damage.

Decide wisely.

[ppnqq]

2ppaamm, you are only making cteo101 even more confused and at a lost. Lol.


But cteo101, although what 2ppaamm had said may put you in a more dilemma situation, what he said contains some truth too. What I suggest is, if your child is not even in P1 yet, you may try to help him build up some of the basics of the subjects by using some guide books? When he is in P1 and is coping well, you can let him learn at his own pace with some guidance from you, the guide book and assessment books. These should be sufficient for P1 for a start.

JMHO.

[2ppaamm]

ppnqq:

2ppaamm, you are only making cteo101 even more confused and at a lost. Lol.


But cteo101, although what 2ppaamm had said may put you in a more dilemma situation, what he said contains some truth too. What I suggest is, if your child is not even in P1 yet, you may try to help him build up some of the basics of the subjects by using some guide books? When he is in P1 and is coping well, you can let him learn at his own pace with some guidance from you, the guide book and assessment books. These should be sufficient for P1 for a start.

JMHO.

ha ha! I know... but we should not just take the easy way out and just employ a tutor. I think we should really consider very carefully. I have a few friends who outsource their total responsibility by just paying someone to look over their children's shoulders, I think that's really quite bad.

In all honesty, I think to have tuition at P1 is not really good. The child learns to depend and not take ownership of his/her own academic achievements. Perhaps wait till he/she really shows signs that he/she cannot cope? Even if he/she cannot cope, determine if it is only short term and for only a topic or long term, which means general weakness. If it is short term, why make the kid sit there the whole 2 hours for the whole year, some tutors tell me that's the easiest money. Nobody benefits. By nature, kids like to run around and have fun. I don't like to rob the kids of that.

Perhaps I'm lucky enough to be able to cope with my kids' work, so I can help with one or two question here and there in most subjects, even when they are in the university, I provide views, opinions and suggestions. I don't give answers, and I don't judge their answers. Maybe we can start with that? Aim is to help them find answers, not provide them. Most tutors just give answers, which robs our children of thinking and learning. If we are looking at long term education, into the tertiary and beyond, then teaching to learn is more important then teaching them the subject matter. Give the kid a chance to learn himself, and determine what he does not know.

[CloudeeDaz]

try:

Believe in yourself - parents are the best tutors. Teach your children by learning together with them. Materials/advice are in abundance in libraries, kiasuparents forum etc...

ppnqq:

...So unless your child is really having some difficulty and you are not able to teach, then tuition may be considered...

agree :goodpost:

[mommyNg]

Great discussion here! The dilemma here is this, what happens when your child fluctuates in performance, so sometimes can do well, other times not very well? What if your goal is get her to be more consistent? You see, if your child is consistently bad, then the signal is clear - get help if you can’t help the child yourself. If the child is consistently good, then that’s very clear too - don’t need help. So what if the child is not consistent, should I send my child for tuition because I would like her to be more consistent (to be consistently good, that is), and not sometimes 90+, sometimes 80+, sometimes 70+?


Another question is when do you decide if you should send your child for enrichment (not tuition) - that is, not when the child is doing badly, but you are hoping that the child can do better? I think most kiasuism comes from this - wanting the child to do better. For example, a child usually gets 13/20 for compo, this SA2, she surprisingly got 16/20 (with no enrichments or tuition). But the highest mark is 19/20 (child went for tuition). Then the thinking is IF the child has gone for tuition/enrichment, she/he might have gotten higher marks. So to send or not? My inclination is no, what’s the value of the extra 3 marks in exchange for every-week tuition (or dependent learning)?