Am I doing my ds a disservice?
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Funz:
That's me
Then in forums I read about parents spending time with their kids teaching them to read and they are able to read way ahead of their age
Each of my kids only spent 15 mins a day learning to read, then the rest of the time they are playing. I am not robbing them of their childhood lah.
I believe that most kids, of average and above ability, are able to understand complex story lines from books of about 200 words a page, before the age of 6 years old. We are actually doing them a disservice if we only let them read books of 2 to 3 sentences. That's why many kids do not like to read, because they find the simple books very boring. Teaching kids the ability to read at a very young age, gives them the freedom to learn independently, without the need to wait for mommy to come back home from work to read to them. My 5 year old boy has been reading children's encyclopedia on his own, and he enjoys it very much.tutor:
I agree with youI rather he reserved his 'ammunition' for his secondary and tertiary education than to burn out in primary school. Some parents may not agree with me but I rather he worked at his own pace than getting into a top school and be pressurized and stressed out.
A levels is most important, so that the kids can get into a good university, then university is even more important, because when our kids are looking for jobs, the first thing that employer look for is First Class Honors, Second Class Honors, etc.
I did not do well in university, due to my addiction to computer games :oops: When I looked for jobs, I often had to answer this question : \"You were from RGS ? Why did you do so badly in university ?\" :oops: So sad.
I wonder why parents put so much effort into securing a brand name primary school for the kids, and pushing them to get into top secondary schools. -
tamarind:
That's me[quote]
Then in forums I read about parents spending time with their kids teaching them to read and they are able to read way ahead of their age Each of my kids only spent 15 mins a day learning to read, then the rest of the time they are playing. I am not robbing them of their childhood lah.
I believe that most kids, of average and above ability, are able to understand complex story lines from books of about 200 words a page, before the age of 6 years old. We are actually doing them a disservice if we only let them read books of 2 to 3 sentences. That's why many kids do not like to read, because they find the simple books very boring. Teaching kids the ability to read at a very young age, gives them the freedom to learn independently, without the need to wait for mommy to come back home from work to read to them. My 5 year old boy has been reading children's encyclopedia on his own, and he enjoys it very much.[/quote]Hahaha. Yah you are one of them. Everytime I read what you are doing for your kids for their languages I
Then I feel guilty about not getting them to read or reading to them.
Actually, I am lucky that both kids seem to have picked up my love for reading. DD is starting to cart a book along with her wherever she goes. She is now reading Fantastic Mr Fox which was passed down to her by her cousin. DS is still not able to read independantly but is reading from memory so he will pull out books that I have read to them before and start reading them from memory. I don't have a structure like 15mins every nite. It is as and when they feel like it. Like last week, reading took a backseat cos daddy bought them a new set of lego to fiddle around with. -
BeautifulLife:
You are exactly in the dilemma because of the works of super ks parents.Morning,
Thanks for sharing.
I had always been cool about academic grades all this while....until I realised I am surrounded by mummies who are total opposite of me.
Unknowingly, I had been influenced by them, I guess.
The truth is, it does feel quite worrying when I hear my friends yak about how many tuition and how much assessment books thier kids do daily. Thus I begin to wonder am I cultivating wrong studying habits on my ds. My biggest enjoyment being a stay-at-home-mum, is to bring my 2 ds to the beach, zoo, playground during weekdays when we really bond as a family. I guess the time spent doing all this fun stuff explains why my 2 ds are very close as a family.
I don't know is it due to him being in a SAP school, most of his classmates have numerous tuitions. The boy who got 1st in class, has 2 tuitions daily. I was wondering, he probably may get 3rd(at the worst, cos can see he is very intelligent) without alll his tuitions. So I started thinking, pushing these happy-go-lucky active kids so much just so that they can do extremely well, is it justifiable?
The joke is, I signed up my ds for arithmetic math this holiday in E&P despite me having said the above!wahaha. I really was getting very concerned with not doing anything for my ds. The teacher in this school feedback that ds is a very fast-learner and he actually have to \"wait' for his fellow classmates to grasp the concepts. A few times, the teachers dismissed him earlier from the class cos he has done well and had finished his work. That said, please don't interpret it as my ds is very intelligent. Because I don't think he is very intelligent, just that he is a fast-learner and is very focus when learning. He doesn't know beyond what he is taught to know(in terms of academic), just that he picks up very fast whatever is thrown to him. His classmates has been exposed to fractions and P3 problem sums already. So as compared, ms ds is not as intelligent as them. In fact, quite behind. Haha.
This holiday class prompts me again. That's why am confused because it seems like my ds do not really need extra classes. I can leave him to be taught by his school teachers. But that would mean, he will probably be only an average student in upper primary cos his classmates are mostly so well-advanced.....
I suppose we need to take a step back to consider the following scenario in order to know what's best....
Singapore is suddenly hit by 5.1 Richter scale earthquake due to our neighbouring country hitting a high of 10. A school in the east on reclaimed land collapsed completely under this earth-shaking experience. Imagine your kid is trapped underground with this daily-tuition-twice kid, Situ CongMing
CongMing: MingLe, what do we do now? We are trapped but I have to get home by 4pm for my next tuition.
MingLe: Oh I have to get home to go for my daily walk with my mum and my brother.
After a few hours,
CongMing: MingLe, I am feeling faint, what can I do?
MingLe: Just stay awake and think of the countless happy times with your family and you can see them soon.
CongMing: Ok but I have about 5 instances only to recall during the birthdays celebrations otherwise I spend more time with my teachers and tutors...... {Sound fainter and fainter...}
MingLe: CongMing, wake up!! How about getting first in class, that was a happy thing right?
CongMing: Yeah but that is only momentarily....after that it's back to revision for P2 during school holidays.... I don't see the tunnel end for revision but......now I see a tunnel with light that looks soothingly attractive.... {sounds completely faint now...}
You may think this is a :siao: scenario but this is what keeps me on my toes. -
Feel so much better knowing there are so many of you who are like-minded
Funz,
Ds's school teacher said she expected ds to be 1 of her 3 students to score full marks for SA Maths paper. But ds only got 97. I ignorantly replied that the 3 marks were deducted because of careless mistakes(in 1 of the MCQs, ds wrote '1' instead of 'A' for the answer, and in another question, he forgotten the $ sign). You should have seen the teacher's disbelief upon hearing me. She said all these careless mistakes showed that ds didn't do enough assessments at home. I still do not think it is any reason to be concerned over these 2 careless mistakes. Ds is not even 7 years old yet(born in Dec). I mean they are only in P1, give them some room to make silly mistakes....
Was in United Square this afternoon and overheard this very sad conversation. 1 mummy was telling her friend the schedule for her dd who is going P1 next year. Her schedule next year:-
1) Arts lesson in Bukit Timah
2) Private piano lesson
3) Speech & Drama in Julia Gabriel
4) Speech & Drama in Lorna Whiston
5) English & Math in Learning Lab
6) Chinese in Tien Hsia
7) Maths in MRC
Brain development in E&P
I hope her dd can cope with this very hectic schedule. So very sad.... -
WOW! :!: :!: With SO MUCH classes to attend each week, I really wonder how much can the poor child absords. Two S & D classes in different centre, must be very $$$.
Don’t understand how some parents think - attending more classes will make the child brighter and be over the edge compared to others. I know of a K2 girl who spends her sat & sun going to various classes like chinese S & D, ballet, music, maths … the list goes on. (not forgetting other enrichments on weekdays too) When I asked her does she like going to these classes, she said only some of them. Does she goes shopping or to the playground? She answered No with a shrug of her shoulders. (guess she is left with no choice) Literally rob her from a happy carefree childhood. Poor Girl!
I’m ok with children going for enrichment classes but not overboard. Go with the child’s interest or rather what the child is weak at. That’s what I feel. What about you? -
hi girlmum,
Same sentiments. Very sad that her parents forgotten to put themselves into her shoes. They should have at least asked themselves would they want to go for so many classes if they are only 6 years old?
One of my friend, she and hubby are teachers in neighbourhood school. Since her ds and dd turned 4 years old(ds in P1 & dd in K1 now), the kids schedule are:-
1) Weekdays
Berries, Maths Formation(now doing both Maths & Science) , Abacus,
Learning Lab
2) Weekends
Shichida, E&P Brain Development, Speech & Drama in Julia Gabriel,
Creative writing in Morris Allen, piano in Yamaha, MPM Maths.
3) On top of these, my friend buys stacks of assessments books for them.
Overwhelming isn’t it?
I have to salute her for the time she is willing to spend in travelling with the kids to & from point A to point B for classes. Her ds got 1st in SA1 and 2nd for SA2.
She commented that my ds don’t need all these because he is doing well enough on his own but I told her, who knows that her own ds can do as well or maybe ‘only slightly less well’ if he didn’t do so much tuitions.
She said no way will she let ds slacken in work. Being a primary school teacher herself who teaches MT, she said she roughly know what are the topics her ds will tested for SA2 chinese oral. Guess what? She made her ds memorised all the topic that she think may be tested. So her ds has a script to memorise for each topic. She agreed she is being kisau, but she feels that she is doing the right thing. She did the same for her ds’s Written Expression too.
Her ds look so listless everytime I see him. Had hardly seen him laugh or smile. Hardly seen him talking to his mummy…I wonder who can help this poor ds to break free from this overwhelming schedule.[/u] -
girlmum:
Rich Poor Girl? :lol:WOW! :!: :!: With SO MUCH classes to attend each week, I really wonder how much can the poor child absords. Two S & D classes in different centre, must be very $$$.
Don't understand how some parents think - attending more classes will make the child brighter and be over the edge compared to others. I know of a K2 girl who spends her sat & sun going to various classes like chinese S & D, ballet, music, maths ...... the list goes on. (not forgetting other enrichments on weekdays too) When I asked her does she like going to these classes, she said only some of them. Does she goes shopping or to the playground? She answered No with a shrug of her shoulders. (guess she is left with no choice) Literally rob her from a happy carefree childhood. Poor Girl!
I'm ok with children going for enrichment classes but not overboard. Go with the child's interest or rather what the child is weak at. That's what I feel. What about you?
Reminds me of some Hong Kong tycoons who have their doting young sons in succession of their sprawling billion dollar business empires, attending Board of Directors meetings and Management meetings at a tender age. -
My 5 year old son spends his free time with my wife and I, visiting shopping centres; Ikea, Compass Point, City Square, Junction 8, Vivo City, Hougang Mall, Punggol Plaza etc. He will have a shopping centre childhood instead of a tuition centre childhood. :oops:
I am not worried about his studies, maybe not yet. :roll:
Anyway from P1 to P4, his mother will teach him, P5 to O levels/IP I will take over. Take turns. :lol: -
BeautifulLife:
I must say that this so-called teacher is very super extremely KIASU! She is spoon feeding her child. Where is the child's creativity? Crashed & Squashed by the MOTHER. If I am her ds, I would have lost all my facial muscle, no more expressions... let alone laugh or smile. More like a robot. (Yes mom, yr wish is my command) LOL. May know how to educate others but don't know how to self-educate. :stupid:
She made her ds memorised all the topic that she think may be tested. So her ds has a script to memorise for each topic. She agreed she is being kisau, but she feels that she is doing the right thing. She did the same for her ds's Written Expression too.
Her ds look so listless everytime I see him. Had hardly seen him laugh or smile. Hardly seen him talking to his mummy....I wonder who can help this poor ds to break free from this overwhelming schedule.[/u] -
csb:
Hi, ds has yet to start his formal education but I find myself agreeing with much of what the parents posted earlier. Actually, the posts shows that fellow KSparents are very NOT KS
:lol: they are not KSparents for nothing, how can KSparents not be very kiasu?
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