Theo's Progress
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Theo doesn't have any problem with reading. But one of the most difficult things for me to make Theo do when he was not yet going to school was to practice writing. I didn't want his study sessions to become traumatic for him so when I sensed that he was already getting irritable, I stopped. At his young age, I preferred to encourage rather than discourage him. I was generous with praise when I see him form those letters with his Mongol, although I knew that he still needed a lot of practice to be able to write beautifully and evenly. But he easily gets tired and bored of repetitive tasks. So the tendency was to be satisfied with those uneven letters and not improve, simply because he did not like to practice.
In school, he couldn't get away with those uneven letters, practice seatwork exercises and more practice included in his assignments. Now he writes evenly and I'd say a hundred percent more beautiful than before, in barely a month. So, even if I sometimes feel that the school might be giving my baby a lot more than he could handle, eventually I am thankful that their style has been effective so far.
STUDYING IS FUN
We are also developing some study habits and so far, a consistent schedule. Theo goes to school at 1:00pm. He usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30am, eats breakfast for an hour (sometimes longer -- hehe he's very slow especially during early morning. He's still lazy to eat by himself so I still have to feed him. If not, he won't eat hmp! That's because he prefers to do other things with his hands (like tinker with his toy cars, write, draw, pounce on the computer keyboard, etc) than to use them for eating. sigh. Anyways, he has a deadline. I told him he should be able to eat by himself before he turns 5!) At 9:30 he's already excited to take a look at his books and answer the exercises there. Sometimes he doesn't want to stop until we haven't reached the last page. lol. For some of the subjects, he has already finished all four chapters when in fact, they are still on the first. What I'm happy about is that he is having fun doing his lessons. Thank God for this attitude. I guess the one thing that he just didn't like was having to write the letters/numbers over and over again.
HIS WATERLOO
I check his quizzes and seatworks (and there are plenty ... too plenty for a nursery pupil hmmm) and I'm very happy and proud to see that he always gets perfect scores, except for spelling 'EARTH' without an E or maybe without an A. Well, he's got his weaknesses too ... and that's for drawing and coloring. Ever since, I knew that he was not very much interested in coloring because when I buy him coloring books, he didn't put much effort to finish a page or to color nicely. He'd rather remove the crayon wrappers or break the crayons and mix water color in a glass than use them on drawings. During his first two weeks in school, it seemed he always needed to overstay in class because he wasn't finishing his drawing and coloring activities on time. So, I gave him some pointers on how to hold his crayons properly and how to color faster. Then i also tried to make him practice coloring at home. I guess he followed my pointers because lately he's always one of the first to come out of the classroom.
TUTORIAL PROGRAM
One of the unique styles of Theo's school is an optional tutorial program. For just an additional P1,000.00 (plus a little more - can't remember the exact amount) a month, the students get to extend for 2 more hours of teaching/tutoring. This is considerably a lot cheaper than hiring a private tutor. The mothers whose kids are enrolled in this program say that there are more activities done during the 'tutorial' than during the regular class. Also, the kids do their homeworks there instead of bringing them home, so they could just play when they get home and don't need to think of their homework. Hmm. I'd say I'm quite skeptical to enroll him in that program. That means 2 more hours of free time for me but 2 more hours away from my baby and 2 hours less bonding time for us.
We enjoy studying together and it's fun for him when I watch him answer his book exercises. His confidence soars when I applaud him for his correct answers and he sees me grinning from ear to ear and feeling proud for his achievements. No, thanks. My four-year-old doesn't need to stay longer than what he does now. I'm not sure if enrolling him in the tutorial program will be more of an advantage or disadvantage for him. But I am sure that at his age, he still needs to be with his parents more. The 2 hours regular class plus almost 2 hours of studying in the morning with his Mama, I think is enough for now. CFA is right. Just let him play. Four hours of continuous serious studying in school might just make him grow tired easily. Besides, when I kid him that I'll enroll him in the program, he vehemently says NO! So, I won't pass on the responsibilty of helping him with his assignments to a tutor. I'm happy to keep that job :)
Theo doesn't have any problem with reading. But one of the most difficult things for me to make Theo do when he was not yet going to school was to practice writing. I didn't want his study sessions to become traumatic for him so when I sensed that he was already getting irritable, I stopped. At his young age, I preferred to encourage rather than discourage him. I was generous with praise when I see him form those letters with his Mongol, although I knew that he still needed a lot of practice to be able to write beautifully and evenly. But he easily gets tired and bored of repetitive tasks. So the tendency was to be satisfied with those uneven letters and not improve, simply because he did not like to practice.
In school, he couldn't get away with those uneven letters, practice seatwork exercises and more practice included in his assignments. Now he writes evenly and I'd say a hundred percent more beautiful than before, in barely a month. So, even if I sometimes feel that the school might be giving my baby a lot more than he could handle, eventually I am thankful that their style has been effective so far.
STUDYING IS FUN
We are also developing some study habits and so far, a consistent schedule. Theo goes to school at 1:00pm. He usually wakes up between 7:30 and 8:30am, eats breakfast for an hour (sometimes longer -- hehe he's very slow especially during early morning. He's still lazy to eat by himself so I still have to feed him. If not, he won't eat hmp! That's because he prefers to do other things with his hands (like tinker with his toy cars, write, draw, pounce on the computer keyboard, etc) than to use them for eating. sigh. Anyways, he has a deadline. I told him he should be able to eat by himself before he turns 5!) At 9:30 he's already excited to take a look at his books and answer the exercises there. Sometimes he doesn't want to stop until we haven't reached the last page. lol. For some of the subjects, he has already finished all four chapters when in fact, they are still on the first. What I'm happy about is that he is having fun doing his lessons. Thank God for this attitude. I guess the one thing that he just didn't like was having to write the letters/numbers over and over again.
HIS WATERLOO
I check his quizzes and seatworks (and there are plenty ... too plenty for a nursery pupil hmmm) and I'm very happy and proud to see that he always gets perfect scores, except for spelling 'EARTH' without an E or maybe without an A. Well, he's got his weaknesses too ... and that's for drawing and coloring. Ever since, I knew that he was not very much interested in coloring because when I buy him coloring books, he didn't put much effort to finish a page or to color nicely. He'd rather remove the crayon wrappers or break the crayons and mix water color in a glass than use them on drawings. During his first two weeks in school, it seemed he always needed to overstay in class because he wasn't finishing his drawing and coloring activities on time. So, I gave him some pointers on how to hold his crayons properly and how to color faster. Then i also tried to make him practice coloring at home. I guess he followed my pointers because lately he's always one of the first to come out of the classroom.
TUTORIAL PROGRAM
One of the unique styles of Theo's school is an optional tutorial program. For just an additional P1,000.00 (plus a little more - can't remember the exact amount) a month, the students get to extend for 2 more hours of teaching/tutoring. This is considerably a lot cheaper than hiring a private tutor. The mothers whose kids are enrolled in this program say that there are more activities done during the 'tutorial' than during the regular class. Also, the kids do their homeworks there instead of bringing them home, so they could just play when they get home and don't need to think of their homework. Hmm. I'd say I'm quite skeptical to enroll him in that program. That means 2 more hours of free time for me but 2 more hours away from my baby and 2 hours less bonding time for us.
We enjoy studying together and it's fun for him when I watch him answer his book exercises. His confidence soars when I applaud him for his correct answers and he sees me grinning from ear to ear and feeling proud for his achievements. No, thanks. My four-year-old doesn't need to stay longer than what he does now. I'm not sure if enrolling him in the tutorial program will be more of an advantage or disadvantage for him. But I am sure that at his age, he still needs to be with his parents more. The 2 hours regular class plus almost 2 hours of studying in the morning with his Mama, I think is enough for now. CFA is right. Just let him play. Four hours of continuous serious studying in school might just make him grow tired easily. Besides, when I kid him that I'll enroll him in the program, he vehemently says NO! So, I won't pass on the responsibilty of helping him with his assignments to a tutor. I'm happy to keep that job :)
Labels: Bonding Moments, Pre-school
posted by admin @ 6:16 AM
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