Parents, not enrichment centres, are key to result

[Chenonceau]

ksi:

Chenon, at a personal level, I am confident your son will do well for PSLE. You have done a lot to get him to a good level of competency for this exam. Whatever you have done also matches his ability due to your good understanding of him so you will yield the results.

:hugs: I hope so. I really hope so.

Then again, like I said before, how well he eventually does is not important to me. Some mothers I know called me last year. They thought my DS took PSLE last year together with theirs. Their sons got into Hwa Chong or RI. The pressure is of course strong to want to set the same expectations for my son too. DD went to a top school. Husband and I have had strong academic track records. Our circle expects a lot from DS.

But I made very clear to all who called that my DS may not be as bright as their children, and I am unprepared to push him further than he can go. As long as he has tried his best, and I can tell you that he is trying his very best, whatever the result, I will still be very proud of him. I already am very very proud of him because he has matured so much... and become a real little man. In moments when I get frustrated that the school is so unhelpful, it is my son who hugs me and says \"It's ok Mom. We can do it. You just have to help me and I just have to work hard.\" And I can tell you that for sheer work ethic, I have yet to meet an equivalent of my son.

I've done some preliminary screening of secondary schools. I picked one school for each band of 10 right down to 210. This also is my way of letting DS know that it is perfectly fine to score much less than 250. This PSLE is tough... but man... it forms character.

[corneyAmber]

Chenonceau:

It really doesn't matter to me how other parents experience heuristics so referring to how other parents also agree with you is not convincing to me, even if it may make you feel vindicated in your opinion.


We differ in our opinions. That is all. We can agree to disagree or we can try and see if there is common ground and that the diversity means that we both see one reality and if we merge and agree, we will both be the richer. If you don't believe in heuristics, then don't use them and don't allow your child to learn them. All I am doing is sharing my own experience with these resources. I was very puzzled as to why my son failed Paper 2 in early P5 when he had mastered everything the school had taught.

I turned to a Mother whose son took PSLE in 2011. She in turn gave me the heads up on the resources her own GEP son used to pull his Paper 2 from Fail to almost full marks. I thought these resources useful and my heart ached for kids with no access to such resources. So I decided to share... and I proposed that these resources should be documented for all children in MOE textbooks.

Even if you don't agree with me, and I am perfectly willing to accept that since you're really good at Math, you see other ways that bypass the need for such resources. It's perfectly fine. But I am NOT good at Math. My DS was much helped by these heuristics, and I assumed that other kids, without Mothers good at Math would also benefit.

The intent behind the sharing is honourable. You may not agree but I hope that you will honour my sharing for what it is. Pure and selfless sharing. I have nothing to gain by sharing so much and everything to lose because I create competition for my DS.

Treat me as playing the devil's advocate. I respect the honourable move by you for enthusiastically sharing what you have benefitted from the resources that you have chanced upon.

If you mention from fail to full marks, then it is a major issue in teaching in school, is GEP teaching so bad huh?

If you mention 80 to 90+ but with resources for those 2-3 tough questions to reach closer 100, then that is another story.

I am just being your 3rd eye to send you warning signals if some part of the debate can be taken wrongly. Personally, I have absolutely no benefit to win this argument either, my objective is never to win. In fact, I enjoy reading what you have been posting, just that when some logic fail to click in my mind, I will surface my views, I hope you don't mind my straight talking.

I am happy to close this case with agreeing to disagree.
Most importantly now is I sincerely wish your ds all the best in his PSLE with all the good efforts you have put in as a mother. I know it is hard being a mum these days.

[Chenonceau]

jedamum:

Chenonceau:

What I would suggest is that in lower primary, you work on mechanical calculations. Build speed and accuracy with mechanics of counting - multiplication, division, addition and subtraction.Build a strong foundation in computational skills before you hit P5 and P6. I wouldn't pay attention to heuristics at all before P5. The exams don't need these.

thanks for sharing.
what is 'mechanical calculations' and 'computational skills'? +-x/?
my boy's mental calculation is not so good. he is pretty visual, so need to work out on paper (affecting his speed).
i have pm-ed you. thanks.

Simple calculations with big numbers. 4 digit long division. 4 digit multiplication. Long addition. As you practise these, your child will develop naturally the mental heuristics to do these fast. Focus on these in lower primary. These develop a Feel For Numbers.

If your child reaches P5 slow in these calculations, then you have a double whammy. Give a strong foundation in computation and in P1 to P4 concepts FIRST.

[corneyAmber]

Chenonceau:

ksi:

Chenon, at a personal level, I am confident your son will do well for PSLE. You have done a lot to get him to a good level of competency for this exam. Whatever you have done also matches his ability due to your good understanding of him so you will yield the results.

:hugs: I hope so. I really hope so.

Then again, like I said before, how well he eventually does is not important to me. Some mothers I know called me last year. They thought my DS took PSLE last year together with theirs. Their sons got into Hwa Chong or RI. The pressure is of course strong to want to set the same expectations for my son too. DD went to a top school. Husband and I have had strong academic track records. Our circle expects a lot from DS.

But I made very clear to all who called that my DS may not be as bright as their children, and I am unprepared to push him further than he can go. As long as he has tried his best, and I can tell you that he is trying his very best, whatever the result, I will still be very proud of him. I already am very very proud of him because he has matured so much... and become a real little man. In moments when I get frustrated that the school is so unhelpful, it is my son who hugs me and says \"It's ok Mom. We can do it. You just have to help me and I just have to work hard.\" And I can tell you that for sheer work ethic, I have yet to meet an equivalent of my son.

I've done some preliminary screening of secondary schools. I picked one school for each band of 10 right down to 210. This also is my way of letting DS know that it is perfectly fine to score much less than 250. This PSLE is tough... but man... it forms character.

It is great to see so much character in your son and even greater to see the support you are rendering to him. In fact, this will supercede whatever he can get from school. I actually believe the family plays a much much more important role in a child's success than the school.

[Chenonceau]

ksi:

If you mention from fail to full marks, then it is a major issue in teaching in school, is GEP teaching so bad huh?

Dunno leh... DS not in GEP mah...

Also, I need to specify that the fail was in Paper 2 for both my DS and my friend's GEP son. Seems like the GEP also dun teach... just like mainstream.

[Chenonceau]

I truly believe in a holistic education. As a research psychologist, I read research every day almost… maybe not the whole paper but I have developed the discipline of regularly browsing the abstracts of research papers. I have to keep current or I am no use to anyone.


Research clearly shows that after a certain point of academic success, any more doesn’t count. That’s why I didn’t believe in the GEP. The whole package needs to come with qualities such as dogged determination, integrity, sociableness, friendships etc… For me, the PSLE is the chance to put my son through some fire. I won’t give him the convenient excuse to say "I am not smart so I won’t do well." I want him to know that it’s ok not to be smart, but if he gives up at this, what will he do when he meets life’s challenges? Make excuses again?

He and I, we will face his PSLE together and coming out of it, he will be a stronger and better person EVEN IF he does not do as well as our circle expects him to.

[Sun_2010]

Chenonceau:

ksi:

Chenon, at a personal level, I am confident your son will do well for PSLE. You have done a lot to get him to a good level of competency for this exam. Whatever you have done also matches his ability due to your good understanding of him so you will yield the results.

:hugs: I hope so. I really hope so.

Then again, like I said before, how well he eventually does is not important to me. Some mothers I know called me last year. They thought my DS took PSLE last year together with theirs. Their sons got into Hwa Chong or RI. The pressure is of course strong to want to set the same expectations for my son too. DD went to a top school. Husband and I have had strong academic track records. Our circle expects a lot from DS.

But I made very clear to all who called that my DS may not be as bright as their children, and I am unprepared to push him further than he can go. As long as he has tried his best, and I can tell you that he is trying his very best, whatever the result, I will still be very proud of him. I already am very very proud of him because he has matured so much... and become a real little man. In moments when I get frustrated that the school is so unhelpful, it is my son who hugs me and says \"It's ok Mom. We can do it. You just have to help me and I just have to work hard.\" And I can tell you that for sheer work ethic, I have yet to meet an equivalent of my son.

I've done some preliminary screening of secondary schools. I picked one school for each band of 10 right down to 210. This also is my way of letting DS know that it is perfectly fine to score much less than 250. This PSLE is tough... but man... it forms character.

Like mom, like son. So feircly caring . :hugs:


And I completely agree with the last sentence - PSLE is a toughening up process for the children ( - provided it doesnt break them though ). It is a step towards the real world.

[metz]

Chenonceau:

ksi:

If you mention from fail to full marks, then it is a major issue in teaching in school, is GEP teaching so bad huh?

Dunno leh... DS not in GEP mah...

Also, I need to specify that the fail was in Paper 2 for both my DS and my friend's GEP son. Seems like the GEP also dun teach... just like mainstream.

Not sure if this is true for all GEP schools/classes, but from what a P5 GEPPER shared with me last year, the programme does teach them more stuff than the Mainstream. According to him, his teacher had covered Algebra and even introduced simultaneous equations. However, they were cautioned to avoid using the method if they couldn't master it.

Onsponge books... yup, he managed to score 90+ in a test after going through the Onsponge book. I won't really attribute the success to Onsponge cos he isn't a very hardworking boy to begin with...

But it left me confused cos I thought GEP doesn't teach Mainstream Maths...

[Chenonceau]

Sun_2010:

Like mom, like son. So feircly caring . :hugs:

And I completely agree with the last sentence - PSLE is a toughening up process for the children ( - provided it doesnt break them though ). It is a step towards the real world.

Kekekekekeke!! I have only one son. I watch him carefully. The fire must temper him, not break him... and I do what I can to strengthen him with my presence and my love.

[Chenonceau]

chamonix:

Not sure if this is true for all GEP schools/classes, but from what a P5 GEPPER shared with me last year, the programme does teach them more stuff than the Mainstream. According to him, his teacher had covered Algebra and even introduced simultaneous equations. However, they were cautioned to avoid using the method if they couldn't master it.

Onsponge books... yup, he managed to score 90+ in a test after going through the Onsponge book. I won't really attribute the success to Onsponge cos he isn't a very hardworking boy to begin with...

But it left me confused cos I thought GEP doesn't teach Mainstream Maths...

Hah? Really ah... Must wait for Piggy to wake up and come on line. Her DS is a GEPper. She might know for sure. Actually, I dun really care if GEP learns more as long as what more they cover ain't in the PSLE.

But if they cover simultaneous equations then the PSLE needs those. And mainstream doesn't cover them. DS is learning himself from a secondary textbook.