Depressed over p3 results

[kaitlynangelica]

I really don’t know what to do…my P3 gal’s results has been going southwards.

Its really depressing when I read how most kids are still getting band 1.

For SA1, she had band 3 for three subjects.

Has tuition for all subjects but it doesn’t seem to be improving. In fact its getting worse

Worse of all, she doesn’t even seem worried.

Short of intensifying her tuition, I don’t know what else to do.

[Niedino]

kaitlynangelica:

I really don't know what to do....my P3 gal's results has been going southwards.

Its really depressing when I read how most kids are still getting band 1.

For SA1, she had band 3 for three subjects.

Has tuition for all subjects but it doesn't seem to be improving. In fact its getting worse

Worse of all, she doesn't even seem worried.

Short of intensifying her tuition, I don't know what else to do.

Hi kaitlynangelica,

Just a few questions that might help you out.

1. Has your child's results always been like that? Was she in the learning support program? If it has been consistent, then perhaps she might need to build up her foundation concepts first.

2. Do you suspect her of having a learning disability, e.g. dyslexia. It might be good to test her. There is no stigma to being dyslexic and early detection may help.

3. Does she work hard and yet get bad results or she is under-achieving? If she is simply unmotivated, then some motivation techniques may work for her.

Hope it helps!

Niedino.

[kaitlynangelica]

Hi,


Her results were okay in p1.

She started going southwards in 2nd Semester P2. I guess I got too complacent. I thought she was okay…until I realised that she had difficulty with things like

zuowen
chinese oral ( now carries 30% )
English compo sucks too
English compre she doesn’t know how to paraphrase
Has difficulty understanding problem sums ( although its better now )

My big fear is that she will end up in a lousy school…sorry to be offensive but a neighbourhood school. That is, she can’t even meet the cut-off for the school she is in now.

Someone please tell me its alright…she doesn’t have to be in the top ten schools like others.

I don’t think she is dyslexic. She reads well.

Can you suggest some motivational strategies?

[Suz855]

Hi, just spend more time with her, show an interest in her work n try to praise her for her effort … Kids have natural curiosity to learn things … Once they show interest … The results will come naturally … Have fun

[kaitlynangelica]

Dear all,


Thank you for your replies.

I am not quite sure what is the problem but I think its a mixture of

1) Carelessness
2) Lack of Maturity which I attribute to her being an only child
3) Lacking in mental discipline which leads to carelessness. For eg, when doing addition of fractions, after bring down to the simplier fraction, she will add back.
4) Lack of understanding of the seriousness of the whole matter.

She now goes to enrichment centres for Science, Chinese and English. Her Maths tutor recently stopped teaching her because she is off to Uni ( was an A Level Student ).

And honestly speaking, I don’t find that private tutoring helps. Maybe I haven’t found the right tutor yet. This is off-topic. But yes. So far my tutors have given me nothing but trouble. They are either

a) Changing the timing
b) Or they just stop teaching suddently due to various reasons

Also, 1.5 hours a week once is not sufficient. An industrious child will continue to put in effort by way of revision or assessment books. A tutor is there to clear the doubts.

I really wish I could be a bochup parent…I know some whose kids are failing all the ( at least 2 out of 4 subjects ) and they continue to sleep peacefully at night. They are perfectly alright even when the kids go off to Normal Technical ( perfectly normal kids with no learning disabilities ). They logic ? Things will fall into place eventually. And often, these families have 2 to 3 kids, lack financial resources to provide additional help but simply don’t care! Now that never cease to amaze me.

[janet88]

kaitlynangelica:

I really don't know what to do....my P3 gal's results has been going southwards.

Its really depressing when I read how most kids are still getting band 1.

Son experienced this drastic drop when he was in P3. It's the first jump from P2 to P3, with the introduction of Science and depth of Math.
A child at P3 is not going to feel worried. Even my son at P5 was bochap then.

[kaitlynangelica]

Ya boy…tallking about tutors…let me see:


1) First Chinese tutor stopped after a few months, saying she had to go home suddenly for good.
2) Got another one that after two lessons told the agency that she couldn’t handle my mischievous gal
3) Got a science tutor that after 3 months ( thankfully after SA1 ) said she couldn’t make ends meet and wanted to look for a full-time job.
4) Had a new chinese tutor that I finally sacked cos
- Always change the day. Excuses given were like, grandfather had fallen down, she had sprained her ankle, she had fever and diarrhoea la…
Or she would come one hour late! Saying that her previous student’s parents had asked her to stay another hour.
5) The last one was the maths tutor that just left as she is off to SMU.

At the moment, am resorting to the CD-ROM My home tutor to teach her.

And yes. I need a tutor like I need a babysitter as I have no time ( Am working ) and need someone to sit beside her to make sure she does revision daily.

[mummyv]

hi kaitlynangelica


I tend to agree with simkhoo that what you and your child is experiencing is normal. Children do not seem to share parental concerns about marks. My own child and my friend’s children even up to O level age don’t agree with us on the seriousness of school results affecting their futures. While I have no magic solution, let me share my thoughts on this.

If tutors are the problem, axe them and do it yourself together with your DH if possible. No one is more vested than you in the outcomes you hope to achieve with your child. No one possibly understands your child better than yourself. It is going to be difficult but it is doable. You will have to spend a lot of time understanding where the issue is, how to plug the gaps and tutor the child.

First is "sell" the idea of no tuition, balanced work-play lifestyle with your child. The plus is if you do it yourself, you can work on area by area to achieve small victories that could motivate her. What I find helpful is prefix times to go thru work with her and prefix times for play.

At P3 level, I gave my child around 3-5 pages of worksheet a day. After work and dinner from 8-9pm we will go thru the worksheets, corrections and schoolwork revision. Carrot here is if child can finish early, playtime comes earlier. Caveat here is to slowly up the volume of your work to be achieved close to exams and totally break from work post exams to pay child back for the hard work. What my child’s teacher shared is even if your child is doing school work, an adult that sits next to the child quietly supporting the child is better than leaving the child alone to do homework. It’s more of the emotional connection.

However if DIY is not your cup of tea and your have to get tutors, you need to understand your child’s learning style. Mine is playful and loves group tuition over one on one.

Don’t despair. You still have time to fine-tune your strategies with your child before the teenage years.

[sleepy]

kaitlynangelica:

Ya boy.....tallking about tutors....let me see:


1) First Chinese tutor stopped after a few months, saying she had to go home suddenly for good.
2) Got another one that after two lessons told the agency that she couldn't handle my mischievous gal
3) Got a science tutor that after 3 months ( thankfully after SA1 ) said she couldn't make ends meet and wanted to look for a full-time job.
4) Had a new chinese tutor that I finally sacked cos
- Always change the day. Excuses given were like, grandfather had fallen down, she had sprained her ankle, she had fever and diarrhoea la....
Or she would come one hour late! Saying that her previous student's parents had asked her to stay another hour.
5) The last one was the maths tutor that just left as she is off to SMU.

Why not send her to a tuition center instead? At least less occurence of these sort of irritations. Confirmed lesson can start same time each week

[kaitlynangelica]

Yes. I have sent her off to tuition centres now.

-Chinese
-zuo wen
-Science
-English

Except for maths which I feel needs one-to-one attention.

I was recommended a maths tutor recently but its rather expensive at $45 an hour. Still consiering whether to take it up or not. I will be totally :stupid: if after that still no results.

But having said that, I have come across a lot of parents that spend tonnes on their kid's tuition and the kids are

a) not grateful
b) still not doing well