CHIJ Primary (Toa Payoh)

[janet88]

Hi bebe,

I have been advising and explaining to my daughter why I do not want her to take up ballet and all those extra stuff after school. She is not academically inclined and her FT has advised me to revise with her everyday. After taking out 2 days for remedial and 3 days to learn EL/CL spelling, what other time do I have to coach ? She must take a nap in the afternoon, or else she will knock out at 8pm. So we revise till about 10.

[bebe]

janet_lee88:

Hi bebe,

I have been advising and explaining to my daughter why I do not want her to take up ballet and all those extra stuff after school. She is not academically inclined and her FT has advised me to revise with her everyday. After taking out 2 days for remedial and 3 days to learn EL/CL spelling, what other time do I have to coach ? She must take a nap in the afternoon, or else she will knock out at 8pm. So we revise till about 10.

Yr gal and my #1 sama sama type..must have plenty of rest, else cannot concentrate..she used to take nap daily but in P2..I slowly reduced the hour of nap and by P4..I can see that she has stopped napping. Now I only allow her 10 min of power nap to freshen up. At night I get her to sleep at 9..so she would expect to stop all study to be completed by then..and will not dilly dally and waste time in the afternoon.
Sometimes, pple will comment that I too kiasu with her..actually they do not understand what I am going through..it is very vexing going thru the same topics with her again and again till the concept is drilled into her brain..otherwise things that I teach today, tomorrow she will forget! I had a hard time teaching her the difference btwn units like cm, m, km..reading the scale...reading the time. And certain heuristics questions..she cannot see it, means she is not ready for it..so I rather let it go and focus on the core topics. I hv to keep myself on toe to make sure that she understands her basic science/maths concepts (And that is why i have mountain piles of assessment books for each subject)..cannot afford to let her confusion snowball..
I am slowly trying to let go..need her to be more initiative and assume responsibility in her study and stop relying on me..I stop giving her ting xie and spelling in P3..and if there is topical test, she shd know that she has to revise the test 2-3 days before the actual test. But I still give her past yr paper occasionally to make sure that she can remember those key concepts..

[beanstalk]

Your kids are blessed to have you around to work with them. There are some kids who have nobody to revise topics with or to pace them, and they just keep sliding back. The current Singapore school syllabus is such that few kids can manage without adult help. A few parents are mistaken in thinking that their children should enjoy their childhood and just play once school is over. Some amount of work is necessary.


I think putting aside results, just the discipline and routine you’ve set up is already beneficial; these are habits that they will need when they mature and have to care for themselves.

[janet88]

Hi bebe,

We are in the same boat...I have piles of assessment books to revise connectors, grammar, past tense, adjectives etc. That's only Eng. What about Math and CL.
People do not understand why we have to revise with them everyday. Prob is my daughter is really slow and keeps forgetting what has been taught. So I have to go backwards and revise what has been taught prev before moving on...this is time consuming and painful. Her attention span is short.
Even simple synthesis like 'and', 'but' for eg has to be reinforced again and again :frustrated:

This 1 week holiday, I have not gone on a relaxed mod with her. She will suffer if I had done so. My son in P6 has daily work too, but he finishes much faster and she complains bcos she is slow.

As for sleep, it is necessary or else school work and revision cannot be done at all. I dread to think of her going to p3 next year. There is science.

[bebe]

janet_lee88:

Hi bebe,

We are in the same boat...I have piles of assessment books to revise connectors, grammar, past tense, adjectives etc. That's only Eng. What about Math and CL.
People do not understand why we have to revise with them everyday. Prob is my daughter is really slow and keeps forgetting what has been taught. So I have to go backwards and revise what has been taught prev before moving on...this is time consuming and painful. Her attention span is short.
Even simple synthesis like 'and', 'but' for eg has to be reinforced again and again :frustrated:

This 1 week holiday, I have not gone on a relaxed mod with her. She will suffer if I had done so. My son in P6 has daily work too, but he finishes much faster and she complains bcos she is slow.

As for sleep, it is necessary or else school work and revision cannot be done at all. I dread to think of her going to p3 next year. There is science.

Science ...she is now learning matter and having hard time understanding e the key term like \"definite\", \"occupies space\" etc.. :gloomy:

[mama_dza]

thanks for all your replies about dance. sounds overwhelming for me. right now my dd is having ballet classes in school but i think i'll stop ballet if she goes into dance. thank god no remedial but kena call from teacher that her maths needs improvement or else thur aft is gone for remedial dd is taking the school bus now but yes, i worry abt transport on fri too, plus gotta ferry my infant and K1 girl from childcare ard that time.


Last year i bought too many assessment books till cannot finish. this year have a few to start off, maybe will buy more in semester 2.

no more honeymoon like in p1.. the questions are getting so much more difficult esp in maths. Is it me or is the English also demanding? so far the exercise she brings home seems easy, but the comprehension and the compo writing looks like it's going to be a headache too....there's an EL test coming up aft the hols for p2 right? i dun remembr seeing any sample paper - only topics covered are mentioned.

[beanstalk]

Yes the English papers are not easy. As the girls move up to higher primary, you will notice that the English papers can be as difficult as those for secondary school students. Despite this, many of the girls can tackle the English papers competently; so don’t underestimate them. The teachers will help them along. Also many of the girls are strong readers so have a good grasp of the language.

[janet88]

Hi bebe,

Yes, I had problems with that topic on \"matter\" too...too much of 'physics' to me. so I :siam: and asked hubby to coach son...same goes for topics like energy this year.

Hi beanstalk,
English is tough at upper primary...especially synthesis & comprehension OE/cloze. :nailbite: Son is in p6 this year.
CHIJ English standard is high...so I really need to brush up daughter's English while she is still in p2.

[bebe]

janet_lee88:

Hi bebe,

Yes, I had problems with that topic on \"matter\" too...too much of 'physics' to me. so I :siam: and asked hubby to coach son...same goes for topics like energy this year.

Hi beanstalk,
English is tough at upper primary...especially synthesis & comprehension OE/cloze. :nailbite: Son is in p6 this year.
CHIJ English standard is high...so I really need to brush up daughter's English while she is still in p2.

I have no where to \"siam\" as hubby is always travels for work.. :sad:

gotta agree that CHIJ has high standard for english..so it is a double whammy for my #1 when she is already weak in other subjects..but my #2 seems to be able to cope well (except her Chinese)..But IJ has some wonderful teachers that support the weakers students..so far, my gals enjoyed the supplementary/remedial classes than the regular class

[Berry123]

mama_dza:

There's an EL test coming up aft the hols for p2 right? i dun remembr seeing any sample paper - only topics covered are mentioned.

Hi mama_dza,
EL test again :yikes:. My dd's teacher never mentioned anything at all :faint: . Any ideas what topics will be covered? Is it tested on grammar, vocab etc... :?:. Thanks.