Enrichment class for a K1 kid

[SP Mummy]

Hi all Parents,


Is it too late to learn phonics now for P1?
Please advise. Thanks.

[Imami]

SP Mummy:

Hi all Parents,


Is it too late to learn phonics now for P1?
Please advise. Thanks.

I think so (that it's too late to learn phonics for p1) but then, better late than never! At my age, I am learning phonics with my child's books. So in a way, it's really better late than never since I really benefited from the knowledge.

[Imami]

Mummyprincess:

Hi,


My gal, K1 also has a number of enrichment. I tried not to occupy her on weekday nights as she has 3 hours lesson at kindergarten.

Saturday morning - ICR
Saturday afternoon - Piano lesson
Sunday - Berries

I thought of letting her join ballet but she has no interest in it. So, I wonder if K1 is considered too early to learn abacus at CMA?

I personally thought k1 is a nice time to start, if one really wants to embark on cma.

[phtthp]

SP Mummy:

Hi all Parents,


Is it too late to learn phonics now for P1?
Please advise. Thanks.

if you think your P1 child need help in reading & pronounciation, go for it.

don't care what other people said.
at the end of the day, what's most impt is your child able to read well, by himself independently; can read & understand what the question(s) asking.

i'd seen P1 Catholic High boys struggling with their daily school work.
why? because their foundation at K1/K2 wasn't built right / properly; they can't read. Hence when come to P1, they struggle with great difficulty. In the end, every answer for English / Maths homework to be sumitted - got to spoon feed him one by one, by the student care centre teacher. This is heart wrenching, pitiful poor boy !

[Imami]

I have a colleague whose then k1 kid was with a full time cc from 7am till 6.30pm forom mon to fri and then every weekday night is filled with enrichment - Chinese, art, abacus, piano, icr. On weekends, there two lessons on sat - piano and one more, could not remember. And Sunday swimming. The only off evening is thurday but that’s home work day!


As colleagues, we talked about it and all of us raised concern about the child being over stretched. But she insisted her child said he enjoyed himself and would want to continue. However, she also added her child was a pleaser-will do anything to please the parents.

One day, when the child was in k2, he suddenly blew his top at the mum - saying she booked him on so many classes that he had no time to play (which was true). She felt like lightning had struck her.

Now, this child was in pri sch already, still have enrichment classes but kept to 2 on week nights and two on weekends.

[phtthp]

poor boy. He’s very tired, over burnt by his mum

[DesertWind]

This mother is totally unwise. She guilty-conscious in over-scheduling her kid but gave the excuse that her son is actually enjoying all these activities! The poor boy is only K1 won’t know how to protest. Thank goodness in K2 he actually protested. I thought this is still going on and eventually sooner or later if it carries on into primary school, the poor boy may be burnt out beyond recovery already.


Thank God the little boy protested early!

[phtthp]

in my child's kindergarten, got 1 grandfather pick his grand-daughter up in school told me, \"my grand daughter has Enrichment everyday, from Monday - Saturday. My daughter-in-law insist that she has to.\"


when i heard this, :nailbite:

[a child]

Hello,


I was just randomly browsing through KSP and I read a bit of this thread. Basically I just wanted to offer my own opinion/experience. I’m currently in Secondary school, so hopefully the experiences are still relevant.

Anyway, I was one of those kids who had zero enrichment except swimming. Zilch. None. Swimming was because I had lung disease/allergy problems when I was younger, so swimming was for health reasons. And the swimming pool is literally next door to my house, barely a 5 mins walk. Those lessons were on Saturday morning, and other than that I had nothing. None. Especially no academic enrichment.

What my parents chose to do was to instill in my a love for reading. We went to the library once a week and we’d borrow the maximum 8 books - and I’d finish everything then.

Other times I would play in the playground. I played downstairs everyday, twice everyday actually. My schedule was something like 9-6 CC, 6-7 playground, then dinner, then playground, the shower, then bed. I slept 12 hours a day. I played 3 hours a day at the playground - I’d cycle around with my friends, we’d climb monkey bars (on top of the monkey bars), play catching, whatever. Those days, I never fell sick once. It was a carefree life. If I didn’t have anything to do, I’d find something to do. Read. Watch TV. Play in the playground. Anything.

I mayn’t have learnt any real knowledge, but I learnt how to play with friends, socialize, be carefree and happy. And I was quite sporty - we’d play basketball and badminton and go cycling and everything, we never seemed to run out of things to play. I played in that playground daily till around P4. My view is really that there’s time later to study. When they’re young, they ought to play. Learning something first doesn’t mean you’ll have a brighter future. Because when it comes to working age, none of these matter. What matters in the attitude in life you’ve instilled - and that comes form play and the simple joys in life.

I don’t believe it when children say that they love doing worksheets - after all I am barely out of my childhood yet, so I guess my words count for something. I certainly don’t, and even when it came to primary school I’d sulk when asked to do work. Children ought to learn to play. It’s not natural for them to want to study, and there’s no point asking them to sit down and study anyway. So what if they can sit the stillest in P1? I ran around in class first few weeks of P1, but certainly I’m fine now.

In life, don’t be so caught up in the rat race to do things the first. Life is deep and cannot be measured by knowledge and skills alone. And in life, not everything has to be efficient. If you never wasted a second of your life doing things just because you like it, you want to slack, you want to waste, then I’d say it’s a sad life. Some have mentioned that because your kids are watching TV too often, or playing too much, enrichment would be better time spent - but those aren’t natural. Naturally your kid wants to play, and you’re instilling artificial growth, trying to speed up your child’s natural growth. Most of your child’s time should be spent preparing for primary school, should be spent learning - well, that’s kind of short-sighted actually. Life goes beyond that. Time spent playing, bonding, is certainly not time wasted, in fact the creation of memories and right life attitudes are things your children may remember and be thankful for for life.

I’m not saying that the way I was brought up is the only way, that the enrichment way doesn’t work. I never said that. What I’m saying is that I was brought up the way I did, I never had enrichments, and I’m doing fine right now. This way works. I didn’t do great in lower primary but I caught up, and right now I’m in a good school, I love learning, I love life, and I still play (albeit in a different way). I wouldn’t change one bit of how I live (except maybe the sleep part).

This is a very poorly written article, and I probably would fail if I submitted this piece for grading. However, I hope that this opinion from a child that’s really lacking in here would be helpful(:

[jtoh]

Great post, a child.