2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[Chenonceau]

Peony:

Ahhhh... I like this definition. And also how you assess which one to choose.


Will take what is useful and decline those that are not.

Thanks, Chenonceau!!

:welcome:

[beanbear]

How to motivate DS to work hard on his own? Wanted to ask him to read this thread so that he will understand how stressful and lack of time he will have next year!


He loves to play computer and watch TV and I've told or more like scolded him to \"wake up\" umpteen times. :nunchuk: :nunchuk:

Hi Daisy.p, I can relate with your stress & anxiety. As working mum I also struggle with fatique and trying to squeeze in time for my children. If not for my maternity leave during this Nov-Dec holidays I would not be able to help DS1. I've had to neglect my newborn baby in order to prioritise DS1's revision. Painful decision but i felt it is necessary. I also felt very overwhelmed trying to motivate my DS. After failing his maths in SA2, he still did not find initiative to do revision on his own.

After reflecting a while, I realized that I need to examine my own beliefs about my children and the system I have in place at home. These are some beliefs I have and how I've tried to translate them into actions with my children:

1. I believe that all children are motivated to do well but not necessarily motivated to do revision. Why because revision can be boring. Children are motivated by enjoyment and fun. Hence as a parent, I need to inject some fun into revision. Not every aspect but some of it. For eg, I would attempt some of the exam/assessment questions myself and turn them into a little competition between my DS & myself and put the timer for 5 mins per question. DS was thrilled that he was competing with his mama. When there is serious revision to be done, I make sure DS knows he has timeslots for play as well. His hard work is rewarded with play. Finally, I track his progress and give him specific feedback on what he has accomplished. When your child knows he has made progress, it is very motivating. If he keeps feeling he is trying and yet failing or not making progress, he will be demotivated. Focus on Progress rather than results.

2. Children are motivated by parental encouragement and concern - why? because they really want to please their parents - our love is their fuel for their emotional well-being. I look for specific strengths that my DS displays during the revision. For example, he may demonstrate good visual skills, good use of vocabulary or good analysis of the questions, etc. I tell him and he feels good about himself and he knows I'm appreciating his strengths. I'm no angel, I assure you - when I scold my kids, I can be very harsh. But I balance it out with lots of hugs and conversation about non-work stuff so that our relationship is spiced with laughter and endearing moments. My belief is if I don't fuel my child's love-tank, his motivation to do anything (including revision for PSLE) will dry up.

3. Children need to be taught explicitly how to revise, set goals, manage their time. I often assumed or wish my children know how to do all these things but these are really skills which need to be taught explicitly. How do I then help him learn these skills? Explicit demonstrations and explanation of what I want him to learn. When I get DS to revise a topic and I want him to learn a specific exam strategy, I show and then tell \"why\" and \"how\" it's done.

4. Enthusiasm and Motivation is contagious. I realize that if I show enthusiasm for what my children are learning, they will \"catch\" it. I need to show persistence in doing some of those difficult exam questions so that they will learn persistence by seeing me model it. If I show interest in their topics, then they will also desire to find out why their mama finds it interesting. I must admit, I started studying P5 syllabus these past weeks out of panic because I realized DS was behind in his understanding of key concepts. At the start of the first 2 weeks, I literally put in hours studying. My children saw that I saw down and pored through pages of their work, and when i started setting them work, they realized that if their Mama was working hard and taking responsibility for learning, they better take their learning seriously. I found that it was important for my children to SEE that I appreciate their school work is not easy to understand and it takes effort to learn.

5. Revision is a Habit to be cultivated and structures need to be put in place for it to become a habit. Children's attention is also short so I need to put in place schedules that allow for learning in bite-size and recharging to take place so that energy is kept up throughout the day. I'm a great believer of putting in structures & infrastructures eg time-tables, proper study areas with adequate stationery & equipment. I have inculcated in my kids specific time for study, play, tv, computer, etc. They know that when they must put in blocks of 45mins of study time before they can take 15min break. Computer time is restricted to 45mins for each block and only allowed twice a week even during holidays. TV time is allowed maximum 1 hour per day during holidays and only 30 min during school days. Even when I'm not in the house, my children know these are the rules. Most importantly, in order for something to be a habit, I must hold my children accountable for their actions and follow through with appropriate punishment or reward for their behaviour.

As my maternity leave is coming to an end and work starts in Jan, I'm mindful that I need to be even more disciplined about imparting revision skills with DS. I believe it's shared responsibility because of at this age, he still needs me to help him do his revision. I believe I'm investing in important lifeskills that will take him through his educational years in the future too.

[janet88]

Daisy.p:

He loves to play computer and watch TV and I've told or more like scolded him to \"wake up\" umpteen times. :nunchuk: :nunchuk:

Hi Daisy,
There is really no need to apologize...I am facing the same headache as you too. My son loves to watch Youtube, all nuts about that animal kaiser thing and Wii. I've nagged, scolded and talked to him nicely that PSLE is ONLY 9 months away. So what, after 1 day automatic doing some work, he is back to square 1 the day after. I'm stressed out :frustrated: over his lack of worry and concern...already losing sleep every night worrying what to expect next year and he doesn't seem to bother at all :mad:
Math tutor was so angry last week because he was dreaming and forgot his P4 Math. I really feel like strangling him.

[janet88]

Chenonceau:

Compulsory means that the children MUST go unless the parents say otherwise. That has been my interpretation since beginning P5. Kekekekekeke! :evil: I tend to evaluate supplementary classes on a case by case basis. I ask for the content that will covered. If the content is vague, then I decline. If the aim is to cover the syllabus, I also decline because my son would have already self-studied the syllabus from the books I give him.

My son attended the twice weekly suppl for the whole of this year.
After every suppl, I asked him what was taught and he gave me the same answer, 'Exactly like what goes on during school hours' :yikes: . This isn't supplementary right ? To me, 'supplementary' means that the teachers should be teaching stuff out of textbook and giving the students some worksheets. What's the point of teaching from the syllabus ? It's stupid.

[fifiyeo]

Chenonceau:

Compulsory means that the children MUST go unless the parents say otherwise. That has been my interpretation since beginning P5. Kekekekekeke! :evil: I tend to evaluate supplementary classes on a case by case basis. I ask for the content that will covered. If the content is vague, then I decline. If the aim is to cover the syllabus, I also decline because my son would have already self-studied the syllabus from the books I give him.


Last year, he attended 1 supplementary class of 2.5hrs on Chinese compre skills. He found that useful.

I wanted to do the same to attend only the relevant suppl classes. Asked the form teacher so many times what was taught and she couldn't answer me except that they really do teach. I heard from DS and another classmate's mom that most of the time, there will be kids clowning around and everyone will start to get distracted or even join in.

[Chenonceau]

janet_lee88:

My son attended the twice weekly suppl for the whole of this year.
After every suppl, I asked him what was taught and he gave me the same answer, 'Exactly like what goes on during school hours' :yikes: . This isn't supplementary right ? To me, 'supplementary' means that the teachers should be teaching stuff out of textbook and giving the students some worksheets. What's the point of teaching from the syllabus ? It's stupid.

Yeah lor... that's why I pulled him out. He went for about 2 weeks of supplementary classes. I asked him to list out on a piece of paper the things he learnt each day, and when I saw that in the same 2 hours, we could cover 5 times more at home, I pulled him out.

I teach him myself, so I know. Also, when we work at home, he learns so effectively there is no need to revise. He just doesn't forget. This way, he gets more time to play. I think play is more important than supplementary classes.

[fifiyeo]

janet_lee88:

Chenonceau:

Compulsory means that the children MUST go unless the parents say otherwise. That has been my interpretation since beginning P5. Kekekekekeke! :evil: I tend to evaluate supplementary classes on a case by case basis. I ask for the content that will covered. If the content is vague, then I decline. If the aim is to cover the syllabus, I also decline because my son would have already self-studied the syllabus from the books I give him.

My son attended the twice weekly suppl for the whole of this year.
After every suppl, I asked him what was taught and he gave me the same answer, 'Exactly like what goes on during school hours' :yikes: . This isn't supplementary right ? To me, 'supplementary' means that the teachers should be teaching stuff out of textbook and giving the students some worksheets. What's the point of teaching from the syllabus ? It's stupid.

I think schools and teachers are just pressured to have suppl classes.

[fifiyeo]

Yeah lor… that’s why I pulled him out. He went for about 2 weeks of supplementary classes. I asked him to list out on a piece of paper the things he learnt each day, and when I saw that in the same 2 hours, we could cover 5 times more at home, I pulled him out.


I teach him myself, so I know. Also, when we work at home, he learns so effectively there is no need to revise. He just doesn’t forget. This way, he gets more time to play. I think play is more important than supplementary classes.[/quote]


Sure agree with you. At home there is no distractions and the amount of work that can be done is way more.

[Zekezachzoom]

I think for p6, most teachers will use the suppl class to rush finish the syllabus so that they will have more time to do revision later. My DS mentioned that in the supple classes ( 3 times a week) in p5, teachers will cover some syllabus, so most likely it will be more so for p6.

[beanbear]

I suppose some families rely on the schools to help especially if they can’t afford tuition or time to help their kids.


I had the same reply from DS after each supplementary. Using time to do homework in class rather than at home. Sometimes, it’s teaching new things but many times, it’s doing worksheets. If that’s the case, he’s better off at home.

I guess it’s time for Parents to hold the teachers more accountable for the use of our children’s time especially if it results in a silly vicious cycle of fatique, demotivation, and confusion. At the end of the day, if my child is not learning the concepts the first time round during school curriculum time, then doing more of the same thing with 40 children is not going to help. The variables have not changed. Large class size, same teacher, same teaching method. How to produce different results? There’s a saying "Insanity is doing more of the same thing and expecting different results."