2013 Sec 1 Discussions

[TheAnswer]

janet_lee88:

Hi Answer,

You are a wonderful and dedicated mummy...I am sure your son will do well under your coaching.

He is doing well now. As long as his results maintain, I can continue to relax. I just gave him a list of creative phrases to learn this morning. He needs to find time to learn them.

[mummy so kiasu]

TheAnswer:

mummy so kiasu:

[quote=\"ammonite\"]
Uh, my kid is onlY in p3 leh. :oops: I just kaypoh here for a while. I cannot imagine doing any more from now until PSLE, much less secondary school. Come to think of it, my parents didn't have to do any of such handholding in the first place.

My parents didn't hand hold me & my siblings too. Tuition was uncommon too. Time has change. Parents are more involve nowadays & school standard is also higher.

How is your ds P2 results? You could out source if you are unable to teach. But still have to give spelling & tingxie. I spend about 2 hours a day with my P2 everyday. She has tuition on Chinese which is her weakest subject.

2 hours a day? That is a lot. My P2 DS only does 1 hour of work every weekday. The rest of the time is his to manage whatever he wants.
He has good results to show so I just slack.[/quote]I am not so lucky. My girl is unable to focus & she is a slow worker. Work that can be complete in 1 hour, she will take 2 hours. Every kid is different. I think Janet will understand my girl & my situation better.

[mummy so kiasu]

TheAnswer:

mummy so kiasu:

[quote=\"ammonite\"]
Uh, my kid is onlY in p3 leh. :oops: I just kaypoh here for a while. I cannot imagine doing any more from now until PSLE, much less secondary school. Come to think of it, my parents didn't have to do any of such handholding in the first place.

My parents didn't hand hold me & my siblings too. Tuition was uncommon too. Time has change. Parents are more involve nowadays & school standard is also higher.

How is your ds P2 results? You could out source if you are unable to teach. But still have to give spelling & tingxie. I spend about 2 hours a day with my P2 everyday. She has tuition on Chinese which is her weakest subject.

2 hours a day? That is a lot. My P2 DS only does 1 hour of work every weekday. The rest of the time is his to manage whatever he wants.
He has good results to show so I just slack.[/quote]I am not so lucky. My girl is unable to focus & she is a slow worker. Work that can be complete in 1 hour, she will take 2 hours. Every kid is different. I think Janet will understand my girl & my situation better.

[janet88]

Hi mummy so kiasu,


I know how you feel…we are in the same boat.
Even at P3 this year, I have to go back and forth to make sure she doesn’t forget what has been taught and also to reinforce new stuff being taught.

[ammonite]

mummy so kiasu:

Your dd seem to be doing fine, except for Chinese. Maybe you want to send her to Chinese compo class. Don't have to stress yourself or your girl at the moment. Have to go full force in P5 & P6. Not much of choices, every kid & parent has to go through this critical or kiasu stage. You can choose to out source.

Actually his Chinese deserves the most praise because he pulled it up from band 3 in P2. He had a late start in literacy because of his learning disabilities so we look at his progress, not the scores.

His eyes tire easily too. One hour is good enough for both of us on days when he has little homework and it is mostly spent on Chinese. We do not chase after school exams, so I do not actually use textbooks much and do not follow exam dates much, at least for now. The only thing is to make sure he gets enough sleep and remember to bring his pencil case. It was a lot harder for us in P1 and 2 when I had to sit with him for long hours because of his learning disabilities, just to finish his homework. Now that I don't have to sit there to be his personal cheering squad, I certainly don't want to!

[ammonite]

mummy so kiasu:

I am not so lucky. My girl is unable to focus & she is a slow worker. Work that can be complete in 1 hour, she will take 2 hours. Every kid is different. I think Janet will understand my girl & my situation better.

I think I have experienced both ends in one child, and also contrasting my two kids. When a child is slow it is really dreadful, sitting there forever. I had to really sweat over ds1 before he was given the correct help for reading and writing. But I intuit that doing short periods of work should be better if a child is slow because fatigue makes things less productive. homework cannot be helped most of the time (though I did ask the teacher for extension) but for actual learning, I try to find the most efficient ways rather than sit there for hours. Dreadful. And believe me,I have sat there for hours for very simple pieces of work that were well within my son's mental abilities, but beyond his visual and physical abilities.

[sharonkhoo]

ammonite:

I think I have experienced both ends in one child, and also contrasting my two kids. When a child is slow it is really dreadful, sitting there forever. I had to really sweat over ds1 before he was given the correct help for reading and writing. But I intuit that doing short periods of work should be better if a child is slow because fatigue makes things less productive. homework cannot be helped most of the time (though I did ask the teacher for extension) but for actual learning, I try to find the most efficient ways rather than sit there for hours. Dreadful. And believe me,I have sat there for hours for very simple pieces of work that were well within my son's mental abilities, but beyond his visual and physical abilities.

Same here! Had a lot of difficulties with one child, and had to handhold a lot for P1 and P2, and over the years, have learned to see when she is getting too tired for work to be productive. In the early years, we did work in 15-30 mins spurts. She has built up her stamina and concentration over the years but is still weak in those areas for her age. The younger child has been a breeze because she does almost everything under her own steam, and works hard and fast.

[janet88]

Coaching methods...even if it is well-planned, also depends on child's character for it to be successful. It is not one-size-fits-all :frustrated:

My daughter has short memory...she can remember one min and the next it can be forgotten...her P1/2 years were painful.

Though we speak English at home, preparing for the exam is a totally different thing. Thought my son would not have any problems with English...but how wrong I was.

[fifiyeo]

janet_lee88:

Sorry to say this...going full force at P5 is a bit late...if Chinese is weak like my kids, start early...I started kids when they went to K2. The only foundation son has in primary school is Chinese...I spent quite a bit of time coaching him on top of having tutor (just once a week).


English is another area to build foundation on...with 3 subjects (English, Math and Science) using English, I have to admit I am kiasu with my daughter now. Son has kinda grasped English at Sec 1...last year was uphill struggle.

Agree with Janet. We both just went through hell past 2 years so to gear up only at P5/6 is too late. Actually I think we weren't even that relax to begin with but the jump from P4 to P5/6 is just a bit too big.

[fifiyeo]

mummy so kiasu:

I am not so lucky. My girl is unable to focus & she is a slow worker. Work that can be complete in 1 hour, she will take 2 hours. Every kid is different. I think Janet will understand my girl & my situation better.

My DS no.1 also like that so I know what you mean. I had to devote so much time that I had to completely stop working just to sit next to him to make sure that work was done. This is a terrible problem in P5/6 when the work just comes back in piles.