2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy
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janet_lee88:
Hi Janet,
Hi Daisy,Daisy.p:
He loves to play computer and watch TV and I've told or more like scolded him to \"wake up\" umpteen times. :nunchuk: :nunchuk:
There is really no need to apologize...I am facing the same headache as you too. My son loves to watch Youtube, all nuts about that animal kaiser thing and Wii. I've nagged, scolded and talked to him nicely that PSLE is ONLY 9 months away. So what, after 1 day automatic doing some work, he is back to square 1 the day after. I'm stressed out :frustrated: over his lack of worry and concern...already losing sleep every night worrying what to expect next year and he doesn't seem to bother at all :mad:
Math tutor was so angry last week because he was dreaming and forgot his P4 Math. I really feel like strangling him.
I think we are stressed out maybe because we're handling boys and they are like that. They will listen to you seriously and nod their head to whatever we tell them. This will work for 1 or 2 days then it will get dried out. Then we got to start with our nagging again :rant: . Another 9 more months and school is going to start next week. Have to go into a real serious business by setting strict rules. :rotflmao: Sometimes strict rules also don't work for them. Just keep fingers crossed. :xedfingers: -
Chenonceau:
Sorry to intrude, my kiddos have not experienced P5 yet but from what I understand from a few parents who have 'been there, done that', the name 'supplementary classes' is just a term the school coined for extended school hours, it's definitely not meant to be supplementary but core lessons ... at least it's for P5 through maybe term 1 of P6 until all the topics within PSLE are covered... this is for my sons' school. That's why, what covered from 1.30 - 3.30 pm is a continuity to what was covered in the morning school hours. If the kids don't join in the extended school hours, it's like taking time-off/pm leave from the normal school lessons and the kids (even if they read well in advance) will not know any specific teachers' instructions and always have to rely on other classmates to find out about new homework given / what's covered/ announcement/etc. Of course, I can also imagine this can pose some inconvenience to the teachers involved if many kids in their class opt out.
Yeah lor... that's why I pulled him out. He went for about 2 weeks of supplementary classes. I asked him to list out on a piece of paper the things he learnt each day, and when I saw that in the same 2 hours, we could cover 5 times more at home, I pulled him out.janet_lee88:
My son attended the twice weekly suppl for the whole of this year.
After every suppl, I asked him what was taught and he gave me the same answer, 'Exactly like what goes on during school hours' :yikes: . This isn't supplementary right ? To me, 'supplementary' means that the teachers should be teaching stuff out of textbook and giving the students some worksheets. What's the point of teaching from the syllabus ? It's stupid.
I teach him myself, so I know. Also, when we work at home, he learns so effectively there is no need to revise. He just doesn't forget. This way, he gets more time to play. I think play is more important than supplementary classes.
I know different schools may operate differently, but if your child is in a school that do extended school hours like my kids', would you still keep your child at home and not attend the 'suppl lesson' ? -
Picolo:
...but if your child is in a school that do extended school hours like my kids', would you still keep your child at home and not attend the 'suppl lesson' ?
Yup!! I would... and I have. I do know that Teachers cover parts of the syllabus in these extended school hours because the Teachers told me. Still, because we learn faster and better at home, keeping him out of supplementary classes still made sense to us.
The syllabus is meant for a half day session. If Teachers cannot finish in the normal school hours, then extra time given just indulges the system with MORE time to be inefficient. My son is young. He gets tired, like every other child... and I still want him to have a childhood. If the system is inefficient, I have to step in to protect my son. -
smartmummy:
Is any school starts from P3?My son's school has supplimentary for P3.I struggled with him.Cos he too tired and have no time to revision.He had one day for Maths and one day for English.I heard other schools has remedial class.That is acceptable.I feel wast of time for this supplementary.There were four days in a week he stayed back.cos one day CCA,one day MO.
Hi Smartmummy,
DS1 started compulsory Supplementary class in P3. Once a week till 5pm, and after that, he still have homework to complete. I told my son the teachers are being ridiculous. He gets on the schoolbus daily at 6am, comes home from CCA and Supp class at 6pm. its a 12hr day for him. How can a young mind function after 12hrs of work? Even as adults, we will feel drained. -
Picolo:
Sorry to intrude, my kiddos have not experienced P5 yet but from what I understand from a few parents who have 'been there, done that', the name 'supplementary classes' is just a term the school coined for extended school hours, it's definitely not meant to be supplementary but core lessons ... at least it's for P5 through maybe term 1 of P6 until all the topics within PSLE are covered... this is for my sons' school. That's why, what covered from 1.30 - 3.30 pm is a continuity to what was covered in the morning school hours. If the kids don't join in the extended school hours, it's like taking time-off/pm leave from the normal school lessons and the kids (even if they read well in advance) will not know any specific teachers' instructions and always have to rely on other classmates to find out about new homework given / what's covered/ announcement/etc. Of course, I can also imagine this can pose some inconvenience to the teachers involved if many kids in their class opt out.
Yeah lor... that's why I pulled him out. He went for about 2 weeks of supplementary classes. I asked him to list out on a piece of paper the things he learnt each day, and when I saw that in the same 2 hours, we could cover 5 times more at home, I pulled him out.Chenonceau:
[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]
My son attended the twice weekly suppl for the whole of this year.
After every suppl, I asked him what was taught and he gave me the same answer, 'Exactly like what goes on during school hours' :yikes: . This isn't supplementary right ? To me, 'supplementary' means that the teachers should be teaching stuff out of textbook and giving the students some worksheets. What's the point of teaching from the syllabus ? It's stupid.
I teach him myself, so I know. Also, when we work at home, he learns so effectively there is no need to revise. He just doesn't forget. This way, he gets more time to play. I think play is more important than supplementary classes.
I know different schools may operate differently, but if your child is in a school that do extended school hours like my kids', would you still keep your child at home and not attend the 'suppl lesson' ?[/quote]
Actually I would if my kid is in your school. If not for the fact that it's not healthy socially for kids to be home schooled, and results are all that I'm looking at, I'll have my kid home schooled and we can loads of extra time to explore lots of other interesting stuff.
I strongly believe kids can do well or maybe even better just being tutored at home if results are all that we are looking at. My DS come from one of those \"branded\" top schools but over the years I see his teachers changing all the time and often leaving the kids confused! -
silverhorse:
smartmummy:
Is any school starts from P3?My son's school has supplimentary for P3.I struggled with him.Cos he too tired and have no time to revision.He had one day for Maths and one day for English.I heard other schools has remedial class.That is acceptable.I feel wast of time for this supplementary.There were four days in a week he stayed back.cos one day CCA,one day MO.
Hi Smartmummy,
DS1 started compulsory Supplementary class in P3. Once a week till 5pm, and after that, he still have homework to complete. I told my son the teachers are being ridiculous. He gets on the schoolbus daily at 6am, comes home from CCA and Supp class at 6pm. its a 12hr day for him. How can a young mind function after 12hrs of work? Even as adults, we will feel drained.
With a 12hr shift, most of us adults will be sleeping behind the computer at our desks! Hahahaha...... :rotflmao: So what do you think the kids will do? They get tired and distracted and they need to act out....then drive the teachers crazy! -
fifiyeo:
Yup. From the time she was in P1, I always felt that my DD learnt from \"home\" and only attended school to socialise. Hence, when school got extended to almost daily and homework (given by school) was too much, her results slipped as there was no time to learn (my definition - real/effective learning)
Actually I would if my kid is in your school. If not for the fact that it's not healthy socially for kids to be home schooled, and results are all that I'm looking at, I'll have my kid home schooled and we can loads of extra time to explore lots of other interesting stuff.
I strongly believe kids can do well or maybe even better just being tutored at home if results are all that we are looking at. My DS come from one of those \"branded\" top schools but over the years I see his teachers changing all the time and often leaving the kids confused!
In my case, real learning comes from home. Am not fixated with results. If I was, she would not be in school at all. -
After his well deserved rest, I have managed to get my DS to embark on his journey to psle next year;) here are some of the stuff that we have achieved so far…
1. Weaning him off slowing on his "screen" time… He used to jump from one screen to another (from xbox to iPad and to iPhone). I have limited him an hour of screen time a day now. We don’t usually watch tv at home, so that’s a plus.
2. We read through the p5 知识报to beef up his vocab every night before he sleeps. We did some oral and exercises in there and he is more receptive in doing that as there are some interesting articles that he enjoys reading (eg. 破案一分钟）
3. I get him to jump straight to do the past psle exam questions ( his school has given him the old version 2005-2009 booklet). From there I would be able to identify which area is his weakest. Topics that are not taught, I will get him to read up first and try the questions again. I have covered some p6 MATHS topics with him along the way ( algebra, circles)
4. His weakest link is still his languages, hence, I am running through the grammar, s&t, getting him to do a compo per week.
5. Just got the 2011 test paper from Jeremy, my DS has completed some ca1 papers.
I am starting it slowing so to build up his stamina for this long and stressful journey. A lot of encouragement has to shower on him along the way. He will have a very hectic term 1 as he is also in the school team and the national competition is around late march. His coach is expecting him to train 3 times a week when school opens. I just hope that he is able to cope and not stress out too fast;) -
Chenonceau:
I agree that if the kid is going to be tired and not able to absorb much during the extended school hours, it serves no purpose to keep him in school for supplementary classes. If the teacher is not providing much value-added coaching during the supplementary classes, the kid should not put in the extra effort to stay back in school when he does have the choice to spend his time wisely at home.
Yup!! I would... and I have. I do know that Teachers cover parts of the syllabus in these extended school hours because the Teachers told me. Still, because we learn faster and better at home, keeping him out of supplementary classes still made sense to us.
The syllabus is meant for a half day session. If Teachers cannot finish in the normal school hours, then extra time given just indulges the system with MORE time to be inefficient. My son is young. He gets tired, like every other child... and I still want him to have a childhood. If the system is inefficient, I have to step in to protect my son.
But I am not sure if it is fair to say that MOE is being inefficient to allow schools to conduct supplementary classes beyond school hours; I view it as them given the schools the choice to implement it, and the parents also have the choice to withdraw the kids from such classes if they insist; I have a few PRC and Indian friends with kids studying in their own countries, and the kids have fixed long daily school hours that stretch from morning till about 4 pm, and of course, it’s not just for the fifth and sixth year of primary school. In these two countries, the schools and parents don’t have the choice to pull their kids out of afternoon classes as and when they deem fit.fifiyeo:
Home schooling is not for my family even if it’s not unhealthy socially, cos I still rely on the school to give the discipline to cover the topics. Leave it to my own devices, I’ll probably let my kid play wholeheartedly for the first 4 years and crumb the 5.5 years of work in the last 1.5 years leading to PSLE.Actually I would if my kid is in your school. If not for the fact that it's not healthy socially for kids to be home schooled, and results are all that I'm looking at, I'll have my kid home schooled and we can loads of extra time to explore lots of other interesting stuff.
I strongly believe kids can do well or maybe even better just being tutored at home if results are all that we are looking at. My DS come from one of those \"branded\" top schools but over the years I see his teachers changing all the time and often leaving the kids confused!
I also do not have the will, time and resources to read up well in advance to coach my kids. But after DS1 finishes PSLE, I would probably have acquired some necessary skills in the process of revising with him, so that DS2 will not need to attend supplementary classes at all from the start and still strive. DS2 has low energy level as well as concentration span. For kids like him, it is important not to keep him in school for too long unnecessarily.
For DS1, I'll let him attend the supplementary classes and watch who's not there :rotflmao: if the smarter ones or those with discerning parents are not there, then I'll know what to do... -
Picolo:
Oi?? :scratchhead: ... I don't believe I said MOE is being inefficient to allow schools to conduct these classes. I'm sure these supplementary classes work out well for some parents, and the MOE has no business not allowing it. I said that I myself wasn't keen to indulge any inefficiency.
But I am not sure if it is fair to say that MOE is being inefficient to allow schools to conduct supplementary classes beyond school hours; I view it as them given the schools the choice to implement it, and the parents also have the choice to withdraw the kids from such classes if they insist;
...
In these two countries, the schools and parents don’t have the choice to pull their kids out of afternoon classes as and when they deem fit.
...
For DS1, I'll let him attend the supplementary classes and watch who's not there :rotflmao: if the smarter ones or those with discerning parents are not there, then I'll know what to do...
Actually, supplementary classes are compulsory (both for the teacher who teaches it, and the students)... The only reason that I can get away with it is that my DS' turned in better results after we started to skip. We don't have a choice either. I pushed the issue because we were desperate. :frustrated:
For my DS, the results were vastly different BEFORE skipping supplementary classes and AFTER. I didn't look at the smarter ones. I looked at my DS' own results. At first, I was a bit worried. Now, I am certain that it is the right thing for us to do... so here we go again for P6. :evil:
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