OnSponge Maths - Discussion
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I'll try to speak with as little bias as possible leaving others to give their opinions on its worth
It depends on a few things:
- What are you and your child's expectations?
- What your child currently knows and what he / she does not know?
- What support and actions will occur afterwards?
The workshops are focused on problem sums with some fun thrown in to keep the kids motivated. The work is based around learning a number of concepts and associated strategies. Typically we can only get through 3 or 4 concepts per day (about 1 per hour). Each concept will start with \"pre-exercises\", followed by teaching of the concepts and strategies and finishing with 4 - 7 questions to be done in class.
If he / she is already an \"expert\" on all the concepts and strategies, this will serve to re-enforce those concepts rather than introduce them. All problem sums are new ranging from easy to hard (subjective of course). For those kids who are really quick, we will have additional bonus questions that are not distributed initially.
The approach we teach may or may not be different than what some teachers explain in schools depending on your child's school of course. For example, we do not always follow the steps and methods depicted in the books. The books are flat whereas in the workshops we can interact showing tricks, tips, short cuts, hints, etc. or in some cases entirely different concepts not found in the books. Only some of this is passed on to teachers in the schools.
On the other hand, if your child has never been introduced to any of the concepts and approaches, this will be a decent introduction. However, they will need to pay attention to keep up with those that have been previously. For this reason we typically have a number of facilitators assigned in a ratio of 1 coach for each 6-8 students. This allows the facilitators to assist those kids who fall behind in some areas while the main coach manages the class.
When your child returns home, you really need to redo the questions again 2-4 weeks later to re-enforce the learning that occurred. If the child simply attends the workshop, goes home, and never uses the concepts again then it's not really the right workshop for him/her. Like all things we learn (observe, interact, and do) and we must practice (more do). If it is just to learn a couple of tricks and occupy some time, it's better to sign up for a sports programme
I leave it to others to make comments on the worth.
Chris Rogers
onSponge Team
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Have you sent your kids to the onsponge workshop before? How do u find? Can a child grab the concepts well in just 2 days ? Pls share your child feedback here too. Thank u all.
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whywhy:
Have you sent your kids to the onsponge workshop before? How do u find? Can a child grab the concepts well in just 2 days ? Pls share your child feedback here too. Thank u all.
I would also like to know.thank you -
my gal went, she found it too fast and didnt understand a single thing.
she’s an ave kid. for smarter ones maybe they will benefit -
24hr-mum:
Thanks. mine is also average. think maybe not suitable too so need someone else to give feedback.my gal went, she found it too fast and didnt understand a single thing.
she's an ave kid. for smarter ones maybe they will benefit -
My DS, 70+ standard. His comments is the concepts and methods already been taught in school. Also the trainer speed is too fast.
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Oh dear. In that case, I think not suitable cos mine is not that good in math. Thanks, cannotsleep. To be fair, it may work for other kids. I know mine. Will probably switch off
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Mine is about average i guess 65+ on P5 CA. Found a little fast too but the facilitators helped him follow so he could keep pace. What surprised me is that he used some of what was learnt in his homework so I guess he learned. Am sending again for the P5 in June. I went to the post parent briefing and followed the recommendations about redoing the questions again later. He could do most of the questions but needed help with a few.
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I received an email from onSponge about the workshop, and i immediately went to the website to take a look at the details, but i was surprised to see that both workshops for P4 (at Goldhill) were already full. The other venue is too far from my place, so i will give the workshop a miss this time round (again).
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Hi thinkingmath, thank you for taking the time to briefly offer a review of your kids' holiday workshop.. this, in my opinion provides the other side to the coin. :celebrate: I was one of the parents interested in your said workshop for my daughter now in P3, however places were snapped up soo fast I couldn't get an available seat for her at your Goldhill branch for the March one that you organized.
I did leave my email address tho. But oh well, no luck. The East branch too far for this mommy of 3 plus one newborn to travel. 
Would like to find out if an entry test would be helpful to sift through the competency level amongst the same level of children to ensure efficiency of the workshop?
My daughter is in the 90+ range with no tuition. Was thinking that some holiday workshops like yours can perk her up and further motivate her to attempt challenging math sums/problems. She's pretty much a self-motivated learner and loves to learn new things.
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