2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[sharonkhoo]

ScaredyMum:

Can't help feeling disappointed with DS CA EL results (others dunno yet :xedfingers: )... He made some good progress last year after SA1 but this CA he plunged again... :sad:


Whole night I was angry, depressed and worried. Haven't get the papers back yet so dunno what went wrong (careless or really dunno). I retired early last night to avoid blasting at him. I am \"afraid\" I may blast at him or cane him when I see the papers.

I promised him I will bring him out for a \"one-to-one-date\" during the March hols (not counting another weekend out). Now I am considering if I should break the promise to \"punish\" him for the lousy work he produced. What do other parents think? Do you all let your P6 kids take a break during the Mar hols or still study as usual?

Did he put in hard work before the tests? Has he shown to be willing to ask questions to clarify the issues he is unclear about? Were the tests unrealistically tough? I would hesitate to judge a child's performance purely on results. If he has tried his best, punishing him will just show him that trying hard isn't worth it. Of course, if he has been lazy and not shown good attitude, then some penalty may teach him a lesson.

My daughter prepared for PSLE in 2011 while we were overseas as we only went back to Singapore 3 mths before the exams. I generally let her have some breaks completely free - as far as I recall, she had a couple of no-work weeks around CNY and also another couple in June as we were on our way home. The rest of her vacation time I would generally ask her to put in a couple of hours a day before having the rest of the day free. Breaks are good for kids as their minds need refreshment and relaxation too. My deal with my kids is that they work hard when they are working, and then I will give them some completely free time. So far we've found that a good system.

[Nutty mum]

ScaredyMum:

Can't help feeling disappointed with DS CA EL results (others dunno yet :xedfingers: )... He made some good progress last year after SA1 but this CA he plunged again... :sad:


Whole night I was angry, depressed and worried. Haven't get the papers back yet so dunno what went wrong (careless or really dunno). I retired early last night to avoid blasting at him. I am \"afraid\" I may blast at him or cane him when I see the papers.

I promised him I will bring him out for a \"one-to-one-date\" during the March hols (not counting another weekend out). Now I am considering if I should break the promise to \"punish\" him for the lousy work he produced. What do other parents think? Do you all let your P6 kids take a break during the Mar hols or still study as usual?

I believe most parents once had this experience before, ie \"angry, depressed and worried.\" So you are not the only soul out there.

IMO, before you do anything nasty, please look at the EL paper first to determine if the English teacher/school has intentionally set a higher standard paper, how the children fare in his class, are they also getting similar low marks, how perhaps have a chat with this EL teacher to find out yr DS's recent performance.

As for my DS who was P6 last year, there were no breaks during March as there were pretty much to catch up like revising subjects that he did not perform well and also pile of HW from school to do to prepare for the PSLE.
But having said that, pls take not that every child is different.

[ScaredyMum]

I haven’t seen the papers so not sure if the questions were genuinely tough. His attitude has improved abit from last year, but still not good enough. He still takes abit long to complete his work, not fully focused and slacking abit here & there. I dunno how you all define working "hard", how hard is hard… or depends on individual?

[buds]

ScaredyMum:

Haven't get the papers back yet so dunno what went wrong (careless or really dunno). I retired early last night to avoid blasting at him. I am \"afraid\" I may blast at him or cane him when I see the papers.


I promised him I will bring him out for a \"one-to-one-date\" during the March hols (not counting another weekend out). Now I am considering if I should break the promise to \"punish\" him for the lousy work he produced. What do other parents think?

I haven't seen either. I don't have information yet either. Mebbe i oso scared to know. Aniwaes, the school arranging Parent-Teacher-Conference one of the days... so... :xedfingers:

I'm not sure about other parents but i have by far kept to promises best i could because i value promises... like they say... a promise is a promise. Yes, even if the other party does not keep to the other end of theirs (promise).

As a child, I did not like it if promises to me were not kept. As a child, I didn't understand why we can't do as promised on that very day even if i was next promised we will do the next day or another day for that matter. I just didn't geddit.

When i was older, i could slowly compromise if mumsie was taken ill we could postpone an outing. Or if daddie had to fork out :moneyflies: for the wreck that happened to an appliance in the house, i could wait for that new school shoes.

I have not broken promises to my children before because i intentionally wanted to punish... at least not that i remember (must ask my kids later and reflect :nailbite:) because the effect of that kinda broken promise will hurt deeper than the punishment intent. With PSLE only months away, i hope to show her that come what may and despite how she failed to keep to the end of her bargain (hopefully not :xedfingers:) i am a person of my word. I make good of my promise and all this time my \"word\" alone is enough to show the kind of person i am... which is what i hope for her to be... someone reliable and someone trustworthy that i hope she can be. I hope to set the right tone towards motivating her to the big exam. Still work in progress and still hoping...

Having a few children just means that one on one dates are rare and are special. Results aside... i would love to have one on one with each of my children if i only could. I try though. When three of my kiddies are asleep, DD2 and i would be studying together (sacred time for her cos she doesn't get it often due to her self-motivation and fair results) and once in a blue moon we play games alongside one another on my iPhone and her iPod.. like Scramble and sorts. When only DD1 is awake, I sit with her if she has homework just for support presence and if she doesn't we chit chat abt school, frenz, latest music/dance or fashion.

My 1 on 1 time with chubs is during the day, when little dragon_boi is taking his nap. We read.. do work.. play trains.. or role play. After which when chubs takes his nap and his bro wakes up, I play soft-blocks and cars with the little one plus sing rhymes from our books. If lazy, or tired.. i turn on the Mother Goose rhymes dvd and we sit together eating bb biscuits or our favourite - chocolate!

It's just one date right? Of course not including the weekend outing.

You still have the rest of the other days to tekan him. :evil:

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys.php Here's a virtual huggie for you in the meantime (while waiting for the full results).

[BigDevil]

Arrghhh!! I made a boo boo!!


I was trying to merge a rouge Math Q&A thread into the main Q&A thread,
but because I have this \"2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy\" thread opened at the same time, it got merged instead!!

Please continue your discussion here while I sort out all 950+ pages... :faint:

[ScaredyMum]

Thanks "bud", yeah cancelling our date will not only hurt him, I reckon I will oso feel hurt and probably regret my decision after that and live in remorse/guilt again.


How else will you "punish" or encourage/motivate your DC if they dun keep up to expectations?

[buds]

BigDevil:

Arrghhh!! I made a boo boo!!


I was trying to merge a rouge Math Q&A thread into the main Q&A thread,
but because I have this \"2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy\" thread opened at the same time, it got merged instead!!

Please continue your discussion here while I sort out all 950+ pages... :faint:

Firstly .. cos you gave me a shock you know. :rant:
I was thinking what happened! :shock: Suddenly reduced to 2 pages via? :faint:

950 pages uh?

Dunno how about now but the old system only allowed like what... 10 or 20 post merges at a time? :scared: So.... :xedfingers:

[BigDevil]

I gave myself a shock too! :yikes:

Followed by :stupid: :slapshead: :stompfeet:

Any idea how many pages was the original 2013 discussion thread?

[TheAnswer]

I have a question. When your kids results dip, do u blame your tutor?

[Mama Mania]

ScaredyMum:

Thanks \"bud\", yeah cancelling our date will not only hurt him, I reckon I will oso feel hurt and probably regret my decision after that and live in remorse/guilt again.


How else will you \"punish\" or encourage/motivate your DC if they dun keep up to expectations?

Please dont \"punish\" him if you see his efforts put in preparing for the CA. Honestly, it's really a rush into CA and kids are still not too bothered about it yet.

Try not to get too emo over CA and take it as a warm up exercise to PSLE. As for me I don't look too much into the grades scored but the difficulty level of the paper and the child's strength in and effort put into the subject. If you keep harping his poor grades in CA, he may feel very disappointed with himself especially if he had put in the effort. Getting good grades now and being complacent or over confident is worse. There are still 2 more \"ëxercises\" to go, SA1 and prelim, so not to worry too much about this CA. Hope you feeling better.