tamarind:

Windflower, There is no need to feel guilty ! My hubby's father can afford to buy him the complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica, and also any books he wanted. My parents cannot even afford to buy new textbooks for me, I had second hand textbooks. But they allow me to take bus alone to the national library since I was 11 years old. My hubby did not do half as good as me at A levels :lol:


There are a lot of free resources, like the library, and now we have the internet, where you can learn anything, and it is free. Who needs the encyclopedia, when there is http://www.wikipedia.org/ ? http://www.google.com is the fantastic seach engine that will find you anything that you want.

Also check this out :

http://www.mathtv.com/

It is a website that includes many videos of tutors teaching maths. Your boy can learn all the way up to sec 4 maths And it is free

This may be a bit too advanced for your boy now. Checkout the MIT open courseware :

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm

Complete sets of lecture notes are available free

Thank you very much for the websites and info, tamarind. My boy would be thrilled when he comes back later to find out so many websites waiting for him to explore and learn.

tamarind:

ChiefKiasu:

[quote=\"Emelyn\"]...Because of all the private training schools, the truly gifted children are being robbed of the opportunity by those \"trained\" children...

Emelyn, that's an interesting way of looking at it. It reminds me of the long argument I had years ago with a friend of mine who was also a scholar, over how the government should have a specific quota for scholarships for students from low-income families. He was against the idea, because he felt that a true meritocracy should judge purely on ability, and not diminished by the fact that the ability has been attained through exposure to the better education and experiences that the wealthy can \"buy\".

I can't fault his logic on pragmatic terms.

Actually I think that high income families can afford to send their children overseas, even without government scholarship. These students are also more likely to break the bond, if they are bored with the government job they are assigned to after they graduated. There have been cases where students break the bond, and their parents do not hesitate to pay back the government. Some students do not even return to Singapore.

So why not give more chances to students from low income families ? These students are less likely to break the bond, and more likely to serve the country. We will have an even larger pool of highly educated talent.[/quote]Hi, tamarind. This thinking also happened to come across my mind last night. I really appreciate and am also very grateful to the government for providing my boy an opportunity to be in a programme that could cater to his learning needs. Single income families with two children like us have to struggle very hard to meet our ends every month, it's impossible to find extra money to groom or nurture him. For example, whenever we bring him to any big book fairs, he is very fascinated with those encyclopedia sets and you know they cost at least a few thousand dollars. He would sit there and read non-stop with the sales staff at the side pestering us to buy a set for him since he is so interested. I know he longs to have them but he is also aware that his daddy and mummy could not afford it. I feel very guilty towards him, my husband and myself always tell each other that our son should be born in a better-off family with highly educated parents.

This programme is also going to help him in another area in the sense that he would be given opportunities to develop higher level thinking skills and acquire research skills for independent study. As he has a strong inquiring mind since young, he always pops out questions out of nowhere and eagerly awaits for your answer. He also raises a lot of questions in class which results in becoming disruptive to the teacher and classmates.

ChiefKiasu:

Of course you are welcome in our kiasu family. In fact, I'm sure a number of parents with \"suspected giftedness\" in their children will probably be looking up at you for advice.

Yes, you have achieved the Yellow-Belt Kiasuism level There are many more levels to go. The highest we have now is Brown-Belt, led by jedamum. Nobody has achieved Black-belt yet - the supreme KiasuParents nirvana.

Don't say \"advice\" lah. I am always willing to share with other parents who are interested to know some of the characteristics my boy possesses, but please don't ask me which training centre for GEP preparation I sent him to (very sorry, still can't get over my sadness). I am now under his training on editing my posts (he is my editor for all my postings). :oops: So if you discover any errors, it is his fault. Ha ha...

Cheers to jedamum for attaining the highest level of kiasuism in the family!

ChiefKiasu:

Hi Windflower, I reviewed the posts in the http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30 and I don't think you are being maliciously targeted in the least. We are all happy for you that your child may finally be getting the support and attention he deserves from our education system.


Yes, we may be kiasu, but we are all really very nice parents . The naughty ones I have already sent to the principal for caning.

Thank you very much, ChiefKiasu. Actually I really enjoy reading all the comments posted by the kiasuparents here so far, except the hurting ones. I really hope that all the kiasuparents here can regard me as one of your kiasufamily members, despite me being a GEP parent-to-be.

I was also wondering why my white ribbon is changed to a yellow one suddenly, are my eyes playing tricks on me? Does it mean that I am promoted to 2nd level of kiasuism? :roll:

tamarind:

Glad to know we are on the same wavelength. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I think you have every reason to be proud of your son and I think you must have done something very right, by providing the right environment to nurture your gifted son

Thanks, tamarind. It's always so warming to read your postings compared to the others which are so hurting. I was telling my husband when I chanced upon this forum that there are a lot of well-educated parents with high integrity in this forum. I was very hesitant to register myself at first as I feel inferior about my language ability even though I would also like to share my experiences with other parents.

When I post my concern to seek for advices and opinions from other GEP parents over here, I was trying very hard to be diplomatic in order not to hurt other non-GEP parents' feelings. However, I am still being bombarded with things like \"boasting\" and \"sending my boy for GEP preparation course\" which I definitely have not done so. So far there is only one kind parent (lizawa) who is sincere enough to post her opinions regarding my concern, very disappointing...

tamarind:

Windflower,

Congratulations to you and your boy for getting into GEP

I definitely don't mean that you, or anyone else is boasting. In fact, I guess many other parents think that I am boasting about the abilities of my girl :lol:

I do not speak to any of my real life friends (not those who I chat with in the forums) about the abilities of my girl, because I don't want them to think that I am boasting. But in the internet, since nobody knows us in person, I think we should be free to speak :lol:

Just to clarify, I actually wish that more parents who think that their child is gifted, regardless of whether he/she is in the GEP, can join this thread for discussion

All other parents who have any opinions about how gifted children should be raised, are also very welcome

Thanks, tamarind. If you have read some of the postings on GEP, you would know what I mean and how I feel. I definitely know that you are not a person who likes to boast about your girl's qualities or say someone else is boasting. I think you are just sharing your experiences and opinions with other parents. (I have seeked your advices before on teaching my girl phonics. ) I agree with you that we, as parents, are just proud of our children's abilities and since there's a topic discussing about gifted children over here, we should feel free to share and contribute whatever we know about giftedness.

From my observation, I can conclude that there are actually some GEP parents out there reading this thread but do not wish to identify themselves, in case, being misunderstood as boastful parents or parents who send their children for expensive GEP preparation course. I know that there are such parents around but definitely not all can afford to do so.

tamarind:

EN, I noticed that many parents who posted in this thread have kids in GEP, that means their kids are \"certified gifted\". Other parents who have bright kids who are still very young, probably don't want to say anything, because they are not sure whether their kids are gifted or not. Most parents will say that their child is gifted only when he/she successfully gets into the GEP!

Hi, tamarind and other kiasu parents. In fact I have been following this thread for quite sometime and have learnt a lot from some parents here (especially yourself). I have also realised that I see some of the characteristics of giftedness (mentioned by parents with gifted children) in my boy throughout his growth. However, I am still quite uncertain and also too shy to discuss about him over here. Just few days ago, we were told that he got into GEP.

I believe from my postings here, you would have noticed that I am just an 'O' level graduate, including my husband. Our family of four are surviving on a single income, we have to save and skimp on ourselves to meet our ends every month. Of course, we also send our children to enrichments (Learning Point and Tien Hsia for my boy) just like what other parents in Singapore are doing but definitely not those GEP preparation courses. We understand that if a child is gifted, he is gifted even no training is given.

The reason why I post my comments here today is not because I want to boast about my boy getting into GEP. I am just eager to know other GEP parents in order to learn from them, to find out how they have helped their children cope with GEP.

lizawa:

GEP curriculum should be the same regardless of which school you choose for your boy. So you can look at other factors such as culture, school distance, secondary school affiliation etc. ACS will be a good choice, since there is affliation to ACS(I).

Thanks, lizawa. I am browsing their website now to find out more about the school. The only setback is it's a boys' school which means my younger girl can't get in.

Joy:

GEP results is out this evening...anyone check?I miss the school opening hour but do know that my kid class has two already got in.One is send out to train type, the other one, is has a sis that is in gep.


good luck!

Hi, kiasuparents. I'm in a dilemma now as the due date for the selection of GEP school is this Thursday. May I seek your opinions and advices on which school would be a better choice for my boy? I am also keen to hear from parents of GEP children whether they enjoy this programme. Thanks in advance.

jedamum:

sunflower:

Actually wanted to stop at one (was FTWM then) but my elder girl wanted a sibling.

Although i never had the intention to stop at one, my elder boy 'hasten' the process a bit by throwing tantrum and demanding that we give him a sibling. :oops: In a way, that helps as he dotes on his bro a lot...even when his bro hit him or dismantle his toys, he, though upset, is never angry at him (at least for now). He'll get angry at me instead...for failing to prevent the 'disaster'. :roll:

Your elder boy is so cute and loving. My boy could still tolerate his sister if she hits him, however, if she snatches or breaks his things, he would be super mad and starts to scream and shout at her. :x