tuition Archives - Kids 'R' Simple

Eye Level Centre – Our Verdict on the English Lessons

Attending Eye Level English classes is really the very first time that my kids are exposed to an academic enrichment centre. Because of the “taste” of chance to spend time for extra-curricular academic assistance, they gain much in terms of knowledge as well as appreciate their freedom of no tuition. But having said that, 2 months after our last lesson at Eye Level, my kids still talk fondly of Teacher Jdrea and her lessons. They even told me that they do not mind continuing the lessons after the sponsorship! I certainly did not expect that! I guess that speaks volume for their experience with Eye Level!

Topics covered

After the Diagnostic Tests, Missy 12 was recommended to start from Eye Level English Level 6 and Master 10 to start from Eye Level English Level 5.
In case you are curious on what is taught, here are the topics!

Eye Level English Level 5	Eye Level English Level 6
Sentences	Verbs
Punctuation	Sentences
Parts of Speech	Punctuation
Vocabulary	Vocabulary
Reading Comprehension	Text Patterns
Informational Text	Informational Text
Literature Analysis	Elements of Literature
Research Skills	Genres
Writing	Writing
Figurative Language

What we like about Eye Level English Lessons

Independence

I believe when a child takes charge of his own learning, he will be responsible for the consequences of his efforts. I truly think that hand-holding for learning cannot achieve much and will cause more harm than good in the long run. The last thing I want to hear from any of my kids is that they are working hard for ME than for themselves!

I like that Eye Level trains the students to be independent even from small details like taking their own homework from the shelf to giving the students an “air-time” for one-to-one consultation to clarify what they do not know with the teacher. The best part of it is the full attention dedicated to the student during the one-one teaching. This, perhaps, constitutes a great part of success in Eye Level curriculum.

Duration

The duration of the lessons is well-timed to allow students to focus at best within 45 minutes. Even though it may seem short compared to other enrichment centres, slow and steady wins the race in the long run. You cannot force to cramp knowledge by extending excessive hours beyond what the students can absorb. Thus, the duration is just right.

Drilling on Comprehension

Yes, my kids complain on the numerous Comprehension practices during lessons and homework. I am totally with Eye Level that Comprehension practices are much to be appreciated in terms of training understanding, exposure to a bigger word bank, getting used to Grammar and sentence structures, etc. Painful as it may be, exposing to more Comprehension passages help in the long run.

However, Comprehension practices are not all there is in the curriculum. There are much more learning in the basics of English, like Quotation marks, Capitalisation, Tenses, etc that may seem trivial at Level 5 and 6 but totally helpful to correct previous inherited mistakes.

Learning at Own Pace

In my opinion, the allowance for students to learn at their own pace is paramount. The reason that many fall behind in normal school hours is because lessons are conducted to a class of varying learning abilities and intellectuals. If a child were to send to an enrichment class and similarly fall behind in the class pace again, this child will be deprived of proper learning and a chance to grasp fundamental concepts.

Eye Level curriculum tackles this aspect very well. The teachers cater to the learning pace of each individual student, allowing them to advance only when they have mastered learning concepts and are comfortable to move up. So, if you are a Kiasu parent who is looking towards a fast pace teaching, then Eye Level will not be a suitable option. Like I mentioned, “Slow and Steady wins the race”. Learning takes time, and mastering takes even more time.

Little Gesture Motivates

Another thing I like about Eye Level is more on Teacher Jdrea, whose practices I hope, are a representation of all Eye Level teachers. Instead of marking a cross on wrong answers, she put a circle instead. This serves as an encouragement to students in their learning journey. This may seem to you an insignificant thing, but I see it as an important gesture to boost a child’s confidence and motivates him/her. A cross, to me, especially when it is drawn in exaggerated dimensions, can be intimidating and demoralising. I certainly would not like my boss to draw crosses on my proposal when I present to him. What’s more, a child.

Feedback

As mentioned in my first post, I love the feedback given by Teacher Jdrea at the end of each lesson. Parents and Teachers should work hand in hand to complement each other in terms of educating a child. With that, I greatly appreciate that parents are given feedback on their children’s weaknesses and strengths. That helps me in identifying and focusing on the necessary areas of weakness.

American English

After singing so many praises of Eye Level, one thing I am not so in favour of is the American English that Eye Level is using for their English curriculum. As Eye Level originates from Korea, their books and lessons are all taught in American English. This is opposed to Singapore’s English which uses British English. As a result, I was afraid that my kids would be confused between the two. Schools do not allow American English to be used in examinations. Hence, I put up a request to Teacher Jdrea that whenever she comes across a part of the English language that uses American English, to explain to my kids the equivalent in British English. She was kind enough to accommodate to this request.

Soon, I found out that perhaps my fears were unfounded. My kids seemed to be able to differentiate between American and British English without difficulties. It could even be a plus point, like what Teacher JDrea said, for them to be exposed and know the difference between the two. After all, kids, by nature, are excellent in adapting to changes and differences.

Then, I was told a GOOD NEWS! Daekyo, the parent company in South Korea, is in the midst of reviewing the syllabus to replace the American English Curriculum with British English Curriculum! More details will be out as soon as they have firmed it up! That means my only concern on Eye Level English Class will be eliminated!

I have written our verdict on Eye Level English Curriculum, now is a chance for your child to experience for himself/herself!

GIVEAWAY!!!

Thanks to Eye Level Singapore, I have the pleasure to host a very generous GIVEAWAY for Kids R Simple Readers!
Not 1 or 2, but 5 lucky readers will get a chance to attend a ONE-MONTH FREE LESSON with a choice of Math or English at Square 2!

Contest details:
Prize – 1 month free lesson to 5 winners (choice of Math or English at Square 2)
Giveaway ends – 28 July 2359
Announcement of winners – on facebook post and this blog post

Steps to participate:
– Answer this question on the facebook post: Give 2 reasons why you think Eye Level will benefit your child.
– Complete the steps in the Giveaway App below.

1 Month Free Lesson @ Eye Level Square 2 x 5 WINNERS

Winners Picked!! Congratulations to all of you! Eye Level personnel will be contacting you via email soon!

Joanne Ho
Denise Yu
Olimomok
Anita Kaur

More information on Eye Level Centre:
Fees: $140 for 1x per week lesson; $180 for 2x per week lesson
Website: Eye Level Singapore
Facebook: click here
To enquire: call 6397 6117
To find a centre near you: click here

Click here to read my first post on how the English lessons at Eye Level is conducted!

Disclaimer: We were invited for 8 English lessons at Eye Level @ Square 2 for the purpose of this review. I would like to thank Daekyo Eye Level Singapore for the pleasant experience that my kids had in attending the lessons. I am happy that they have positive feedback and enjoyed their time while learning new things.

Learning English at Eye Level Centre

Hey! Didn’t I advocate no tuition for my kids? Didn’t I say I place absolute trust in MOE teachers to teach our kids well enough to excel in PSLE? Well, indeed I did and we are still going the NO-TUITION way towards PSLE, just in case you wonder. But while we are doing the revision on our own, it is a good opportunity to review an Enrichment centre’s program to learn good tips and tricks so that we can use them at home, just like what I shared about the MCE workshops’ precious takeaways!

Hey! Didn’t I advocate no tuition for my kids? Didn’t I say I place absolute trust in MOE teachers to teach our kids well enough to excel in PSLE? Well, indeed I did and we are still going the NO-TUITION way towards PSLE, just in case you wonder. But while we are doing the revision on our own, it is a good opportunity to review an Enrichment Centre’s program to learn good tips and tricks so that we can use them at home, just like what I shared about the MCE workshops’ precious takeaways!

Heard of Eye Level? Let me introduce to you that Eye Level originates from Korea 41 years ago!! What a long history and still going strong must show something for sure! There are 18 centres in Singapore islandwide. It specialises mainly on Math and English. Eye Level caters to all students of different learning abilities and pace. That’s one thing I like about the flexibility of progressing according to the students’ needs. Eye Level also encourages self-directed learning and one will see that the students here are encouraged to be independent and everything is kind of systematic and has its own place.

Eye Level’s curriculum takes students from the basic motor skills needed for reading and writing, through the building blocks of Grammar, to the more complex concepts that allow the mastery of verbal and written communication.

What Makes Eye Level English Different?

– Fundamental Language Skills : consists of basic language arts and reading with vocabulary.
– Individualized Program : allows students to begin at the point where they are able to work independently with confidence.
– Interesting and Fun : helps to foster students’ interest in reading, writing effectively, and approaches it in a fun, creative way.

Eye Level English guides students in the mastery of English language proficiency through in thematic approaches, repetitive practices, and strategies that combine listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Here are the topics the English program covers:

Environment

Eye Level Centre at Square 2 is located at Level 4. It has 2 rooms, one to conduct Math lesson and the other for English. There is a waiting area outside with benches for parents to lounge around waiting for their kids. Not only that, it has a low shelf with toys and books to entertain little ones too. I think that’s very considerate.

Diagnostic Assessment

Prior to the first lesson, Missy 12 and Master 10 had to take a diagnostic assessment test on a booklet. This is to gauge their level of competency to determine which level they should start with.

Each Eye Level lesson has a duration of maximum 45 minutes. I am totally pleased with this duration as I have learnt from my #30minrevision that kids’ attention span is really just that short. Eye Level recognises that and thus 45 minutes is sufficient to grasp the kids’ full attention and efficiency in learning.

Self-directed Learning

On our first lesson, we signed in attendance via the Tablet at the reception. We were greeted by the friendly Teacher JDrea whom my kids took an immediate liking already when we first met for diagnostic test. She spoke clearly and softly and has a warm smile. I liked her instantly too! I always believe if the kids like the teacher, they will tend to excel in the subject. Considering this is the first time the kids attended an academic enrichment class, I was glad that they had a good experience and thus, would continue for the next 7 sponsored classes. My worries about their reluctance to go for their first academic enrichment class were unfounded!

The kids were brought into 1 of the 2 rooms in the Eye Level Centre at Square 2.

All students have to take off their shoes upon entry and the next thing they do is to find their marked workbooks from previous lesson from the shelf with their names. Then they will each go to their respective study desks which are divided by partitions for privacy. They listen to audio and do assigned exercises.

There is an English curriculum to follow through. Every lesson targets to complete 2 exercises per workbook which is to be brought home as homework. And each workbook has 4 topics and that makes it 1 workbook to be completed within 2 lessons.

Teacher’s guidance

During the 45 minutes of lesson, each of the kids is assigned another booklet to be used in class. They are to complete the selected exercises and go to Teacher JDrea to go through their mistakes. This is a 1-1 session of 5-10 minutes whereby the student will have full attention of the teacher to guide him/her through the topic to ensure the student understands the mistakes made. This is akin to what I have done during our weeknights’ 1-1 #30minrevision where I assign Missy 12 to complete some exercises and go through her mistakes right after that. But the difference is that we have now a proper English teacher to help her in her English as opposed to me, an amateur, self-taught English tutor!

Feedback to Parents

You know what? I love to talk to educators, instructors, trainers and facilitators! I get to learn lots of knowledge and even get refreshed and corrected on what I had learnt before! Each time I talk to Teacher Jdrea, I learnt something new in English. I never knew I have got some simple Grammar rules wrong! Sometimes, I feel a tinge of regret that I had not read enough books and spent more time on language. But, it is never too late to learn now, alongside my Missy 12!

When the lesson ended, Teacher JDrea would give me a summary of what the kids had learnt for the day. She bothered to explain in details on each topic of English Grammar that they had covered. I find that very useful to me as I got feedback on which areas each of the kids was weak in and needed more practices. With that, I am able to focus more on their weak areas during our own home revision.

Homework

As Eye Level encourages self-directed learning and independence, naturally there will be homework to do. To be frank, the kids were not so keen to do the homework assigned. Who loves homework anyway? They found that there were many Comprehensions to do in the workbook. As much as I could feel for them, I appreciate the many Comprehension practices because it helps to train the kids to understand Comprehension passages and learn how to answer them. By reading more passages, it helps to boost their understanding and exposure to sentence structure and Grammar rules. Only by doing more of such Comprehension practices will one improve the Comprehension segment of the exam paper.

Reward

I have heard of many enrichment centres dishing out expensive rewards. I am not so sure if that won’t make the kids materialistic and consequently send the wrong message to these young ones. But Eye Level did it just perfectly. Each of the students is given a reward sticker board. They need to collect about 20+ stickers before they can fill up one board and get to choose a reward gift on the gift shelf. I look through the rewards and they were mainly practical stuff like stationery and small toys. The value of these rewards is not too pricey but enough to motivate the kids to work towards collecting them. I am definitely not for expensive rewards and find such high value rewards tend to desensitise the kids’ idea of what a reward should be. Even for me, I give my kids a small gift of their choice that is within the budget of $20-$30 for the hard work they put in for the whole academic year. I don’t believe in expensive rewards as a motivator.

Assessment

Before a student proceeds to the next level and a new skill set, an Eye Level instructor will give the student a level test to evaluate if they have achieved mastery of the current material. This constant monitoring of the kids’ competency with close teacher’s guidance during the 1-1 sessions, allowing learning at the kids’ own pace, plus the Feedback from Teacher to Parents and vice-versa are really the strong building blocks to effective learning. Many Enrichment Centres hold big classes which makes learning at own pace impossible. Further, 1-1 sessions are limited or none. With such comparisons, I come to appreciate Eye Level way of helping the students to learn effectively.

Well, stay tune for my next post on more information on Eye Level English Curriculum as well as our verdict of Eye Level Centre!

More information on Eye Level Centre:

Fees: $140 for 1x per week lesson; $180 for 2x per week lesson
Website: Eye Level Singapore
Facebook: click here
To enquire: call 6397 6117
To find a centre near you: click here

Disclaimer: We were invited for 8 English lessons for the purpose of this review. It is a good first time for the kids on academic enrichment class and we have many takeaways in terms of gaining knowledge and intangibles which I shall share in my next post. All in all, I am glad that they have a good experience with Eye Level!

PSLE Student English Workshop by Marshall Cavendish Education

I think by now most of you know that I am exploring ways to teach my own P6 girl since she does not have tuition. In fact, I am looking at whether there are tuition centres for parents like me. Mummy Ed knows me well for sure, and introduce me to the series of Parent Workshops by Marshall Cavendish Education (hey, I am sure you have heard of MCONLINE!). It has all levels from P1 to P6 Coaching Workshops meant for parents to attend. I am definitely most interested in PSLE Parent Workshops!

But before I attend the PSLE Parent Workshops, I realized that they have PSLE Student Workshops too! Hence, I decided to coax my girl into skipping her art classes to attend the English Workshop since the dates worked out well for us. Each of the Student and Parent Workshops consists of a 2-part series, meaning that you have to attend 2 Saturdays for each subject upon sign up, usually from 9am to 3pm or 430pm depending on which subject it is.

In the English Student Workshop over 2 Saturdays which my girl and her friend had attended, they learnt the following:

The 5 Deadly Character Flaws – crafting a story from the inside-out!
- At the heart of every good story lies a flawed character who wants to/learns how to change.
- The 5 Flaws: Greed, Laziness, Anger, Envy, Pride
Unexpected (yet logical) plot twists!
- Identity shifts, unexpected consequences, defying the reader’s expectations
The 1-2 Punch Method of Combining Sentences
- Strategy for Synthesis & Transformation
The importance of asking the right questions (at the right time) – what is “right” anyway?
- Tenacity in asking questions – even if it means stinging your ego
- Situation Awareness – Jump out of your inner world sometimes!
- Classical Cases of People Asking the Right Questions who changed the world!

When I picked up the girls after the first session, I was anxious to know if skipping her usual art class for this workshop was a right decision. To my delight, both the girls gave their thumbs up! They enjoyed the workshop tremendously mainly because of one reason: the teacher (Teacher Joel) was a very humorous guy who cracks them up for the entire 6 hours. To enjoy the workshop is really the key to absorbing what has been taught. For this, the workshop is already a success with the right teacher!

The first part of this workshop is teaching them on writing a composition using the 5 character flaws, interesting plot twists, and ending with a funny Coda strategy: MFHD. Guess what it is?! It means:

M:My – Memories
F:Friend – Feelings
H:Has – Hopes
D:Diarrhoea – Decisions

The first two are for REFLECTING ON THE PAST, and the next two are for REFLECTING ON THE FUTURE. This is used for the last concluding paragraph.

IMG-20170204-WA0001 — Photo with courtesy from MCE

IMG-20170204-WA0003 — Photo with courtesy from MCE

During the class, Teacher Joel asked them to act out the character flaws. It really helped them to remember clearly on each point covered in class. And when the students handed up their composition homework the next Saturday, Teacher Joel made a funny remark about my girl’s starting words of “One day,…” which made her laugh hard, and you bet she will probably never use that start line again!

On the second Saturday, the girls returned to the second part of the workshop learning how to work on Synthesis and Transformation questions using the 1-2 Punch Method. Basically, it is about the order of action just like in boxing punch of rapid succession of 2 blows. Well, what a way to describe the method to imprint on the students’ minds. Even I had a deep impression reading about this 1-2 Punch Method. Seriously I was wondering if the handouts were prepared by Teacher Joel too, since the contents are kind of humorous! And there is a TOP SECRET handout that says “For your eyes only” which has a formula table for all kinds of conjunctions.

When I picked up the girls after the end of the second class, they couldn’t stop talking about the class titbits. It is certainly worth skipping two art classes to attend such an interesting workshop and learning these extra tips on English.

Today, my girl had her English Paper 1 CA test. She came back and told me she had used a plot twist and MFHD in her composition. Wow! I thought how timely this workshop is! And the bubbly girl went on to recall what the workshop teacher had taught them and shared the jokes again and again. It made me and Master 10 laugh out loud too! You must know that my girl is a natural when it comes to acting out a scene. I can practically see Teacher Joel’s funny acts through her!

And guess what? She asked to attend another workshop!!

This PSLE Student English Workshop was held over the previous 2 Saturdays and the next upcoming student workshop will be PSLE Student Chinese Workshop on coming 2 Saturdays and Math and Science in March. Here is a summary of the dates, one on Student Workshops and the other on Parent Workshops.

For more information, do check this out and sign up from the 2 links below to enjoy 20% discounted rate. This is bundle of 3 workshops in special rates!

PSLE Student Workshop sign up link: click here.

PSLE Parent Workshop sign up link: click here.

I have attended the PSLE Parent Workshop for English. Click here for my review!

Disclaimer: I was invited to the PSLE workshops for the purpose of this review. As I am writing a PSLE series this year, these PSLE workshops will be a good resource to share with all parents preparing for the big national exam! Stay tune for more!

The Start of PSLE Preparations From A Mum Who Insists On NO TUITION

I have wanted to title this as “The Start of PSLE Preparations From The Laid-Back Mum”. But I am not exactly so laid-back anymore after my girl, Missy 12, failed her Math in P3. I cannot label myself as laid-back since I do teach and revise with my kids one month before examinations. In comparison with most parents, I have done very minimal for my kids’ academic. There is one thing I have stick to my guns and am crossing my fingers that I am doing a right thing, is to insist on not sending my kids to tuition.

This year, Missy 12 is taking PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examinations), her first National Examination at a tender age of 12. I am not going to lament why the need for PSLE and why can’t kids just move on to Secondary school without going through such major stress. This post is about how we are going to revise for PSLE on our own, free of external tuition.

If there are tuition centres for parents to teach techniques in answering English Comprehension Cloze, Comprehension, Science open-ended questions, Chinese Comprehension and Composition tips, you bet, I will sign up for it. I will gladly use my time to learn and go back to teach Missy 12, so as to save her time. Perhaps I am unaware of any. So please let me know if you know of one ok?

I must admit that tuition centres or private tuition teachers have bags of tricks and techniques to teach students on how to answer questions. That is the major advantage of going for tuition classes. So by denying my girl to go to such sure-win classes, many have question about my sanity and label me as a stubborn bull. To speak the truth, I am scared too.

Should I stop Missy 12’s new piano classes now (she has recently asked to resume her piano class after 1.5 years of break) when everyone is doing the opposite by taking a year break from any kind of enrichment classes? Should I invest $100+ per lesson to give her a booster in English? Should I ignore her tiredness from 3 times a week of intensive Volleyball training and insist she go to 1.5 hours of tuition multiply by 2 or 3 subjects every week plus 1 hour travelling time back and forth? Or perhaps others may ask why is she still playing sports and going for NAFA art classes during this crucial year?

There are various reasons why I do not send her to tuition classes and why she is still continuing enrichment classes.

FATIGUE PREVENTS OPTIMAL LEARNING

Firstly, she has never attended a single tuition class and forcing her to do it now may backfire her learning interest. If she cannot catch what is taught in class, she may not catch it in another tuition class. Switching off when one has lost interest and simply too tired could happen to anyone. Besides travelling on the road to and fro tuition will deplete all her energy and attention needed in the class.

TRUST IN SCHOOL TEACHERS

Secondly, I believe our MOE-trained school teachers are very qualified to teach the students good enough to do well in PSLE. If not, shouldn’t we send our kids to tuition classes instead and skip school entirely?

STRIKING A BALANCE

Thirdly, I believe in BALANCE. I want my girl to be happy and learn holistically. I worry about her stress levels this year.

On the first day of school, her form teacher wrote down the test and exam schedule from Jan to Sep. I can feel that the teachers have started to emphasize to the students on how critical this year is, and have no reservations in instilling the awareness and stress in them. I am not so sure if Missy 12 feels the stress, but I took a picture of what she jotted down on this schedule and I couldn’t take my eyes off the snapshot of the schedule the next day. I am determined to “wake up” from my laid-back self and do my best to ensure she does reasonably well. It will still be only Mom Tuition and no external tuition. At the same time, I am also determined to balance her stress and ensure she still has a life. So, her piano and art classes and volleyball practices are forms of de-stress in my opinion and should not stop. I will respect her if, at any point of time, she thinks she wants to stop any of them. So far, she has not raised a flag.

REVISION PLANS

Ever since I saw the Jan to Sep exam schedule, I have gone to the Popular bookstore to buy more assessment books. I had chanced upon a parent who taught an unorthodox method to improve English in a short time. I had talked to several mums whose kids have been through PSLE. I have talked to teacher friends. Finally I discussed all my findings and thoughts with Kel.

We came out with a timetable for revision. We worked out how to settle the other 2 kids when I am teaching my girl. We put up a revision plan and teaching method for English, the weakest subject. I shall share details on how we go about revising in another post.

Each weeknight, we will have 30 minutes revision time for English. You may think it is very short. However, I am a working mum. Night time is short and precious. Energy is low, attention span is short. My girl returns late on 4 weekdays in a week from school’s commitment. She will need time to rest and do her homework. She may have questions that need my help to teach her too. Some time has to be catered to that.

Every weekend, we will have 2 parts of revision according to our weekend schedule. First part will be an hour’s revision and second part will be an hour and a half. Saturday will be focusing on Math and Sunday will be on Science.

That leaves Chinese out of the whole revision plan. Chinese is our kids’ strongest subject and it really helps to free up time for the rest of the subjects. It is hard to achieve bilingual excellence. While Chinese is their strongest subject, naturally, English becomes the weaker one. The reason why Chinese is a stronger subject is because we are a Chinese speaking family and my kids watch Channel 8 drama serials, listen to Chinese radio station and Chinese songs. Even though they do not have too much problem with Chinese, they still need to brush up compositions and get the right technique to answering Chinese Comprehension questions.

CHANGE OF ROUTINES TO PREP PSLE

Some routines will have to change a bit.

Sleeping early

This is a really difficult routine to change. Perhaps with one child, I may be able to enforce this with breeze since there are no toddler who runs in and out of the room before bed and no sibling to chat and giggle with long after lights out. I told Missy 12 that a simple way to help her do well in academic is to sleep early, as simple as that. A clear mind is like an empty sponge. It absorbs knowledge faster and allows one to think better. We are trying to have a lights out by 930pm.

No night TV

The kids love to watch the Chinese Drama serial at 9pm to 10pm. This will have to stop. I do allow them to have an hour of TV time in the day time once they have finished their homework.

Less weekend activities

This year, we may have to cut down on our weekend activities for the sake of Missy 12’s critical year. She has lots of homework from Friday school and has started to ask for more time to do homework. The first time she asked for homework time, I was slightly taken aback. The kids are growing up and school work is mounting. I have since cut down on blog events and ensure homework is done before we bring them out. Nevertheless, I will balance revision time with play. Moderating stress is my priority too.

Other siblings

So what do the other 2 kids do when I am revising with my Missy 12? I have decided to task Master 10 to play with Master 5. It works sometimes and it poses great challenges on other times. Master 5 yearns for attention after not seeing me for the whole day. I have even thought of the convenient way of giving the ipad so that he can quietly watch some YouTube videos and I can have some peaceful serious revision time. If you have good ideas on how to handle the other kids, do help me on this too!

To prepare for PSLE which is taking place in September, I will most likely take up lesser blog commitment and cut down on my girl night dates. It is indeed a family examination since everyone in the house has to change routine and adjust in one way or another to give moral support. I will be blogging more on PSLE preparation and my experience on it as we go along. I hope our revision plan works and who knows, I may really send my girl to intensive tuition if nothing works out!

I welcome PSLE mums to drop a comment below or on facebook page to exchange ideas and advice. Thank you in advance!

Till the next PSLE post!

No Longer A Laidback Mum in Academics

Being a mum is a constant learning journey.

Each child is different and I have to craft my mothering skills differently on each child, be it nurturing his/her character or be involved in his/her academics.

I used to think that I will be a Laid Back Mum in Academics for as long as I like and my children will turn out fine studying by themselves, just like how I did it myself. How wrong I was.

After my girl failed her P3 Math exam last year, it was a kind of wake up call that my child may need me to be involved in her studies to some extent. I will not hold her hand forever and still will not load her with tuition and endless helicoptering over her studies such that she will be turned off by me. But I will guide her along when she needs my help or if I see that she NEEDS my help. Children may not know and may not always be so initiative when it comes to academics. I need to be more aware of their signals for help.

Imagine my elation when she came back to tell me she had scored 84/100 for her P4 SA2 Math exam!

This was from a “F” in P3 SA2 Math to a pass of 54 marks in P4 SA1 Math exam to an Ace (in my own mummy ranking) in P4 SA2 Math exam!

Not only that, she scored well across all subjects this time round and her friend actually told her that she should get the BEST IMPROVEMENT award 🙂

Best part is Missy 10 said this one evening when I was at the dining table: Continue reading “No Longer A Laidback Mum in Academics”