manorway:

lag:

my boy is in k1 this yr and i follow this thread with interest. I am a FTWM .My boy is in full day cc. So far he only has swimming ( sat morning ) and chinese S&D ( thursday night ). I am trying very hard NOT to put more things on his plate!! It is very challenging..


Is it a boys' thing? He doesnt like to attend any activites.. Ask if he wants drawing class.. NO.. wants music class..NO.. anything also NO.. he is only interested in going playground...watching tv and playing with his toys..

I want to expose him to music..wondering is it too much to ask if i enrol him into YJC on friday weekday night.

Sat afternoon and evening are reserved for grandparents. Sunday is a day i am trying very hard not to touch...

I think some boys are very interested in classes, whereas some girls also reject doing anything unfamiliar. So not really a 'boys' thing'. If the child is not keen on a class, may be hard to expose them to it unless parents insist. But how many kids really know what is good for them? What they like may not be good for them, and what they dislike may not always be bad for them. If you feel that you just want to expose your child to music, why not? If he has talent, you can nurture. If no interest or talent, you can drop later. Here is a great read (http://domesticgoddess-ourworldmyworld.blogspot.sg/2009/07/nature-or-nurture.html) that inspired me when I was in your shoes years ago.

MrsKiasu:

meeleng:

Hi All,


My DD is in K1 now. She’s not in any enrichment classes, because I didn’t want to overstress her. But I was talking to my friends (all parents) yesterday and they were discussing about the enrichment classes their child took. There’s so many! (Piano, abacus, performing arts, etc)

Now, I’m scared my DD will fall behind and am thinking of enrolling her to abacus class and music lessons.

Is this a good reason to be enrolling her to classes? Or am I just paranoid? I feel like I’m doing this more for myself than for her.

Do you all also send your DD/DS to classes because of this?

I don’t know what to do. :roll:

This is such a familiar situation :oops: my younger dd same age as yours just started her piano lesson. Academic ones not yet attend.

meeleng:

Hi All,


My DD is in K1 now. She’s not in any enrichment classes, because I didn’t want to overstress her. But I was talking to my friends (all parents) yesterday and they were discussing about the enrichment classes their child took. There’s so many! (Piano, abacus, performing arts, etc)

Now, I’m scared my DD will fall behind and am thinking of enrolling her to abacus class and music lessons.

Is this a good reason to be enrolling her to classes? Or am I just paranoid? I feel like I’m doing this more for myself than for her.

Do you all also send your DD/DS to classes because of this?

I don’t know what to do. :roll:

meeleng:

Hi All,


My DD is in K1 now. She’s not in any enrichment classes, because I didn’t want to overstress her. But I was talking to my friends (all parents) yesterday and they were discussing about the enrichment classes their child took. There’s so many! (Piano, abacus, performing arts, etc)

Now, I’m scared my DD will fall behind and am thinking of enrolling her to abacus class and music lessons.

Is this a good reason to be enrolling her to classes? Or am I just paranoid? I feel like I’m doing this more for myself than for her.

Do you all also send your DD/DS to classes because of this?

I don’t know what to do. :roll:

meeleng:

Hi All,


My DD is in K1 now. She’s not in any enrichment classes, because I didn’t want to overstress her. But I was talking to my friends (all parents) yesterday and they were discussing about the enrichment classes their child took. There’s so many! (Piano, abacus, performing arts, etc)

Now, I’m scared my DD will fall behind and am thinking of enrolling her to abacus class and music lessons.

Is this a good reason to be enrolling her to classes? Or am I just paranoid? I feel like I’m doing this more for myself than for her.

Do you all also send your DD/DS to classes because of this?

I don’t know what to do. :roll:

meeleng:

Hi All,


My DD is in K1 now. She’s not in any enrichment classes, because I didn’t want to overstress her. But I was talking to my friends (all parents) yesterday and they were discussing about the enrichment classes their child took. There’s so many! (Piano, abacus, performing arts, etc)

Now, I’m scared my DD will fall behind and am thinking of enrolling her to abacus class and music lessons.

Is this a good reason to be enrolling her to classes? Or am I just paranoid? I feel like I’m doing this more for myself than for her.

Do you all also send your DD/DS to classes because of this?

I don’t know what to do. :roll:

lag:

my boy is in k1 this yr and i follow this thread with interest. I am a FTWM .My boy is in full day cc. So far he only has swimming ( sat morning ) and chinese S&D ( thursday night ). I am trying very hard NOT to put more things on his plate!! It is very challenging..


Is it a boys' thing? He doesnt like to attend any activites.. Ask if he wants drawing class.. NO.. wants music class..NO.. anything also NO.. he is only interested in going playground...watching tv and playing with his toys..

I want to expose him to music..wondering is it too much to ask if i enrol him into YJC on friday weekday night.

Sat afternoon and evening are reserved for grandparents. Sunday is a day i am trying very hard not to touch...

jetsetter:

lostkitty:

[quote=\"jetsetter\"]

Could it be because Abacus is something that cannot be taught during a preschooler's nap time?

In any case, you need not worry too much. Abacus isn't something that you should waste your time on. Have they gone into the 口诀 yet？ It's still quite straight forward now, but will get more tedious when they advance to addition and subtraction of any number beyond 9 represented by 1+4 beads. You'll start to wonder why you need to memorise an additional set of add/sub combis just to do a simple arithmetic question when you could do that by memorising the basic number bonds! Whilst it teaches the child on place value, which is good, it also wires them to count differently. They might run into prob when they learn how to add/sub vertically. They might forget to borrow, transfer because in their mind, they can mentally add/sub using those Abacus 口诀.

The class was being taught after the teabreak which is after their Nap Time. Classes starts at 4 - 5 pm. Is there a 口诀 for Abacus? I learned before during my Sec sch time but I don't recall there is. Where can I get the 口诀 from? I just don't know what should I do to encourage my LO to continue as Abacus is something useful in future when they go P1. Nxt Wed, she will say don't want to go to sch....

lostkitty:

jetsetter:

Could it be because Abacus is something that cannot be taught during a preschooler's nap time?

In any case, you need not worry too much. Abacus isn't something that you should waste your time on. Have they gone into the 口诀 yet？ It's still quite straight forward now, but will get more tedious when they advance to addition and subtraction of any number beyond 9 represented by 1+4 beads. You'll start to wonder why you need to memorise an additional set of add/sub combis just to do a simple arithmetic question when you could do that by memorising the basic number bonds! Whilst it teaches the child on place value, which is good, it also wires them to count differently. They might run into prob when they learn how to add/sub vertically. They might forget to borrow, transfer because in their mind, they can mentally add/sub using those Abacus 口诀.

The class was being taught after the teabreak which is after their Nap Time. Classes starts at 4 - 5 pm. Is there a 口诀 for Abacus? I learned before during my Sec sch time but I don't recall there is. Where can I get the 口诀 from? I just don't know what should I do to encourage my LO to continue as Abacus is something useful in future when they go P1. Nxt Wed, she will say don't want to go to sch....

jetsetter:

Could it be because Abacus is something that cannot be taught during a preschooler's nap time?

In any case, you need not worry too much. Abacus isn't something that you should waste your time on. Have they gone into the 口诀 yet？ It's still quite straight forward now, but will get more tedious when they advance to addition and subtraction of any number beyond 9 represented by 1+4 beads. You'll start to wonder why you need to memorise an additional set of add/sub combis just to do a simple arithmetic question when you could do that by memorising the basic number bonds! Whilst it teaches the child on place value, which is good, it also wires them to count differently. They might run into prob when they learn how to add/sub vertically. They might forget to borrow, transfer because in their mind, they can mentally add/sub using those Abacus 口诀.

zephyr_bloom:

Have you considered changing a different school? My kid (K2) attends English Enrichment class at two different schools (just trying out). He looks forward to going to one but not the other. The one he loves, he will voluntarily share what he did. For the other which he feels bored, he will just reply me \"it's ok\" and that's it.

lostkitty:

Hi All, need advice. My LO is K1 full day CC and have enrolled her 3 enrichment classes that the CC has offered.


Wed - Abacus (4 - 5pm)
Thurs - Speech & Drama Chinese (4 - 5 Pm)
Fri - Science (5 - 6pm)

Just last night, my LO told me she doesn't want to learn Abacus and going to school this morning. The form teacher told us that my girl seems to prefer 1 to 1 teaching. I ask my LO why she don't like Abacus.

She replied: I cannot.
I asked: Did teacher scolded you? She replied: Yes. (But I doubt that's true cos she still can't differential)

However, my LO give me the idea that she can't, cannot, don't know. All those negative thinking.

In fact, when I teach her the abacus, she knows how to do. But why she said don't want to go to class.

In fact, when I ask her how's school or what did the teacher teach, she replied: I don't know. I was like huh!!!

Can someone advice me how should I go about to encourage her? How to open up communication with her? Thanks in advance.

pepper spice:

Would like to put in my thoughts here - I believe \"a child\" is about the same age as my son. Like \"a child's\" parents, hubby and I did not sign up our son for any single enrichment classes during his pre-primary school days. Even now, in secondary school, his days are tuition-free and enrichment-free. He spent his childhood reading (lots and lots of it), playing with toy cars, dinosaurs, legos, watching Tom & Jerry, Hi-fives, Power Ranger ... and he turned out OK. He is doing OK in school, in fact, hubby \"allows\" him to achieve \"whatever results he can achieve based on his own capability and as long as he puts in effort\". While many school-going children complain of \"time not enough\", my son has the luxury to indulge in his favourite past-times - soccer, reading, catch movies with daddy, outings with friends ... Many times I also wonder whether I am doing the right thing, sensing that competition is so intense here. But I put myself in his shoes. After spending hours in school, after being drilled by teachers in school and returning home so late, is it fair for him if I request him to do more and more worksheets, attend more lessons?


My close friends and people around me also adopt the same attitude as me towards our kids' education, and these kids turn out well-adjusted and doing OK in school too. Maybe we are a bunch of out-dated parents, maybe some might even say we are being irresponsible? But I keep reassuring myself, if a kid is being 逼得太紧, 会有反效果, but if you let your kid flourish on his own (you know your own kid - whether sensible or not), he will be 懂事 and knows he is being appreciated for who and what he is and in turn, tries his best.

Lastly, I would like to appeal to parents to inculate in their children, the love for reading - ie. reading for the love of it, not reading to improve English, reading to note down \"creative phrases\" for compo. After the kids had fallen in love with reading, the improve English and compo parts will fall in nicely. What more, the kids would by then have acquired tonnes of general knowledge from reading. Just my 2cents.