MOMMY CLUB - Yr 2007 P1's (Yr2000 Millennium & Dragon Babies)

wa...finally see some posts! recently i was chatting with a friend who's daughter is taking PSLE this year. we agree that besides distance, it's also important to look at the school uniforms when choosing secondary schools coz some are quite ugly ;p
 


Hi Rains!

My kids are having their main papers from today too. But I heard that some schools have already completed everything.

How old is your younger one now? Are you planning to go away for the Dec hols?
 
Yes yes! A friend was just telling me that her school has finished all the papers! I wonder how the school did it. Wouldn't that mean the teachers have less time to finish the syllabus?

My younger one is 3 now. Will send her to N2 next year. Boo hoo ... I always feel melancholic about my kids going to school and being thrusted into a mould designated by the moe system.

No, I don't intend to travel during Dec. Normally I 'hibernate' during Dec because I don't like cold weather. And don't ask me to go Australia. I am not that keen on ang mo countries yet.

Yourself? Going anywhere?
 
I think it is quite common these days for teachers to rush through the syllabus in order to commence on revision as early as possible. This is especially true for P6 since prelims are in Sept. I suppose it is good for the brighter kids or kids with tuition, but for those without, they may have conceptual errors.

Put your little one in a playgroup for 2 to 3 hrs a day to start off. If u can afford to read to her daily, she will be able to pick up reading skills quickly.

Yes, we are gong off to Australia as soon as hols start. Didn't go anywhere in June this year.
 
Hi Jess,

Isn't it uncanny that I was just saying I am not going to Australia and in the next post, you said you are? Enjoy your trip anyway! Is it f&e?

I'm not keen to put my kid in a school or playgroup. In fact, I'd wished I don't have to put her in N2 if not for the fact that I feel that N2 is a bridging stage.
 
wow...very soon we will hit the "4-letter word" year. time passed so quickly...this thread was started when our kids entered P1, now here we are. i have to say i'm not looking forward
happy.gif


DS barely passed his MT exams this year although we spent the entire SA2 revision focusing on this subject. it's going to be a stressful year ahead :S
 
Hi Wen,

Does your son get tuition on MT? I hope to find one this year so that my kid gets some additional help. My kid is more of a language person so I am more worried about her Maths and Science.

She's the lowest, if not second lowest, for Science in her class for SA2. Really worrying. She doesn't read her Science textbooks so she answers the Science questions using layman terms and English way. And she can't answer recall questions simply because she doesn't even have her content!

Even for her languages, she's not excellent. She's just average across her subjects. Really worrying!
 
Rains, yes he goes to a learning centre near our place for one-to-one MT tuition. Started in July this year as I find he's not benefitting from the group class. His foundation is weak so progress will be slow.

Among the 4 subjects, Science is the only one without tuition. He has no problem with the content but always lose marks in open ended questions. In fact he failed that section during SA2.

I'm looking for a Science class for him next year to focus on process skills / open ended questions (if there's one). I would have let him try vitamindzscience but it's too far for us. His school is using their booklets.
 
Thanks, Wen, for your recommendation on the psle survival guide.

I think it's nice to have insight on how other parents deal with psle preps although for some strange reason, I have a deeper sense of loneliness and helplessness after reading the book - helpless because I don't know how I can motivate my kid to study hard. She's alot like the boy protagonist ie. messy room, unmotivated, very slack etc. The only difference is she doesn't get into boy-sort of trouble.

I hope she wakes up soon enough to get serious about studying.

Oh oh, I just changed her LB class because I felt that the teacher was ineffective. He is an equally slack teacher who doesn't check that his students finish their assignments, so much so that my kid would get away with not doing any work. In fact, I haven't seen her done any work at all for the past one year. She seems to be afraid of the new teacher. The first day she attended her lesson, she came home and started doing work!
 
Rains, I have to admit I'm not done reading the guide but already feeling inferior. Coz compared to the book's mommy and many PSLE mommies, I am not actively involved in my son's academics. That's fine if he's an ace student but he's not. He needs much 'pushing' if he's to score better but unfortunately I'm a lazy mom who is not disciplined herself ;p I'm also soft-hearted and give in to his requests to play games/watch tv.

Anyway I believe everyone here has 'upgraded' to kiasuparents by now. There are plenty of useful tips we can pick up from experienced forummers there
happy.gif
 
Haha, Wen, you make this thread sounds like an abandoned ship. I'd be its robinson crusoe if it is
happy.gif


Kiasuparent forum's parents are really very zealous. I wish I'm half as zealous. It gives me alot of pressure and guilt for not doing as much for my kid. It takes alot of discipline indeed, and patience and love, to be such parents though. But those parents are really admirable. I'm trying to emulate their love and patience for their kids although I'm still very short on temper when coaching my kid.
 
Hi VQ,

My kid did fine. She got into her affiliated school. Hope your girl pick herself up again quickly. She still has a long way to go.
 
Rains congrats! VQ how are you?

My son is happy with his results, i like it that he manages his expectations well :p His is a low t score which kinda puzzled us when compared to what i thought were ok grades. He doesn't really have a dream school but prior to this we did have a school in mind though it is now not possible.

Nevertheless we didn't let it affect us and were still able to choose secondary schools quickly (limited choices haha). We are totally excited about his move to secondary school
happy.gif
 
Grades are not a reliable indication. I know of quite a few who are puzzled by the grades versus scores as well. A student who got 3As and 1B got a score (210+) lower than 3Bs and 1A (220+). That I thought is quite unusual.

I'm excited yet apprehensive about her secondary school life, like when she first went to P1. The trip to school would be a slightly longer journey than her trip to primary school. Need to take a bus and climb overhead bridge after the Mrt too! I hope it doesn't tire her out.

The syllabus at secondary school level is very different from what we had 20 years ago eg. History. Hope she can help herself! And hope what we have decided for her would be what she would thrive in.
 
Rains, at least you know the school she's going to attend. This is how affiliation works? Or is it because her score is way higher than the minimum COP?

We've started browsing secondary guidebooks in the bookstore just to have a feel of the syllabus. Yes, history looks different from what we were used to. Let's enjoy our few weeks before school reopens!
 
Wen,

The principals from her primary school and the affiliated school had explained to the parents and students three times in total this year how the affiliation works - meet the affiliation cop inclusive of HMT and put the school as first choice. My kid is 4 points above the cop so should be safe.

I am still reading kiasuparents stuff - about sec school life. They mentioned about source-based questions and another type of questions for History. Sounds foreign to me. I hope it's at least closer to literature. I'll go check out the guidebooks at popular too!

Heard from a friend who tutors sec one kids that most of them have problems with algebra. She suggests starting the kid on algebra first as most of them take half a year to grasp it.
 
Yeah I'm reading the kiasuparents sec school thread too. Did you let your gal continue with Learning Lab? I withdrew my son from LL and he's now left with MT tuition. He's keen to join back the English at LL but I'll have to know his schedule for next year before we arrange anything else.

I realise they have more English-based subjects next year onwards so might be good idea to brush up his English. Maths I'll probably let him manage on his own and see how he does during mid-year.
 
Ya, I have withdrawn her from TLL too. I thought of letting her manage English for a while first and see how.

I'm more worried about her Maths. Previously my husband was teaching her but he says he got no ip resources and doesn't know what and how they teach and test. He has asked me to source for ip Maths tuition but there seems to be extremely few who offer it in the market. When I find one, for some reason I feel that the website is smoking parents by using impressive but ambiguous phrases, or the centre is too far.

Has your son decided what cca to take up? I read that clubs and societies don't earn you points beyond the 20 mark, which is crucial for kids at secondary level. But I don't know how useful ccas are for ip programme. I find the whole ip stuff very frustratingly mysterious. There are so many things I don't know.
 
I've no idea about the IP thingy since it wasn't in our agenda all along. But O level or IP, I think the kids may not have much free time to attend outside classes. So maybe you can observe first and not stress about it yet...for all you know she may excel in it.

My son is interested to join scouts, so most of our school choices are partly determined by the availability of this cca. Hey you are more informed than me...I didn't know about the points for cca.

I feel cca should be based on the kid's interest, otherwise it will become a chore for them and another 'subject' to work on. However I heard from my ex boss whose son is in RI that it's the cca that choose you and not you choose the cca. I suspect this only applies to top schools ;p

where the rest of mommies? VQ appeared and disappeared haha
 
Ya, I know secondary school life is going to be very busy, but my kid is not a Maths or Science person, so we had hoped for her to 笨鸟先飞.

I feel so out of touch with secondary school stuff so I also need to 笨鸟先飞 - read from ksparents forum about what it is all about.

For her primary school cca, I let her be. But at secondary level, the kids are going to commit a substantial amount of time in their ccas, so I thought might as well make it worth the time and effort. No point investing so much time and effort and in the end come to nought.

Scouts is good. Read that it chalks up the points very quickly. That's two points in the bag already for your son
happy.gif


The rest of the mummies - maybe like what you said: graduated to ksparents and never come back!
 
All the best to you and your girl in the new environment. We've all graduated to secondary schools after tackling PSLE
happy.gif
 
Thanks, Wen! All the best to you and your son in your new academic journey too! Ya, how time flies! They were such babies when we started this thread!

Hope the other mummies will remember this thread one day and come back to say hello!
 
i posted n c nobody reply.. so i seldom come up liao.. i thot all mommies dont come up here anymore...

anyway, i jus came back fm Korea. VERY COLD!!

my girl score better than her ideal sch lowest COP, so she is safe too! she is able to study HMT next yr.. she is very happy...

her maths n science score better in PSLE than her usual. she was shocked too.. but she is not satisfy with her T-score... she targetted to get a higher score... she was nearly in tears when she came home after the results release day.. we told her its ok, she can still try to do better in secondary sch..

as for CCA, my girl wanted to join Netball... which CCA get more points? i am not aware of this issue...
 
hello VQ...congrats and good to know. is the ideal school mixed or all girls?

we usually don't travel during December holidays as we find it way too cold for us in many places. never been to Korea coz each time i consider it i will end up in Japan hehe.
 
Hello VQ!

It's good to see you again!

Were you not with your girl when she received her result? I would have died of curiosity if I had to wait at home.

Sports and uniform groups are good for getting points quickly and getting enough points to have the two-point deduction at O level eg. If the child gets 6 points for 6 subjects, he can have 2 points deducted from the 6 points, making it 4 points, if his cca got A1 or A2 (more than 20 cca points). However, for sports, I read that only those in school teams get to go for competitions and thus able to get many points.

My kid is not a sports or uniform person. We hope she will join a uniform group to train her for independence and discipline, but even when her favorite senior is in it, she doesn't seem keen.
 
Rains, i didn't want to look Kan-cheong, although i am.. cos my girl is already very nervous n both my DH n i kept on ensuring her that no matter what results she got, life still needs to go on... if bad results, she will need to double-up on her results... if good, she will still need to continue to be good n not being proud of it when she gets to secondary sch.

Wen, Japan n Korea r very near.. dont they? my girl like to be in a mixed school.... both DH n i wanted her to mix with boys too, not only girls..

we didn't want to stress her too much...
 
Haha ... Seems like all parents said the same thing to their kids the night before the result released. My husband was telling my kid during dinner the night before,"If you don't do well, it's not the end of the world. Study hard when you go to secondary school."

My kid asked us,"Then why did you tell me it's the end of the world (before taking the psle)?"
 
Hi mummies, long time no see.....
Time to wake up after nua so long.....

My gal din get into her dream school... But ok... Life continue on....

To think we all moving to sec school so soon
 
Hello Dor! Mine got 2nd choice "Chua Chu Kang Secondary" as expected. I sent in appeal form to his 1st choice just to try our luck but at the same time bought uniforms and textbooks etc for the school he's posted to. If good news comes it will be a bonus...otherwise life goes on
happy.gif
 
Hello Wen,
i know of someone who got into "CCK Sec"

i saw her new uniform.... faint.. so big... dun know how to alter....

btw, are you all going for any tuition? kekeke.. i know abit fast... but i think i need to get one for Eng..

any recommendation?
 
The uniform is kind of problematic. The should n sleeve area ok but then it is a bit too long for X so looks sloppy. It's banded at the waist but that area is too tight. I'm stretching it over a chair for him haha.

So far only chinese tuition but not started yet. Will see how he cope first half of the year. He mentioned he wants to go back learning lab English as he likes the lessons...see how...not sure if they'll take him.
 
Hi Dorothy,

I am thinking more about Maths tuition, but a check with other sec one girls at the registration day suggests that secondary school life would be too busy for tuition.

I am hoping that my sleeping beauty will wake up very soon so that I can channel my resources to the younger one for her ballet, piano, Chinese and swimming lessons.

My kid's uniform is fine. They come in sizes starting from XXS and she fits most XS and S sizes
happy.gif
but the vendor thought it strange that we got XS for pe t-shirt and M for pe shorts!
 
hi Rains, ya loh...I thinking of starting her on both Eng n math..cos I will to focus on the younger one....

WA..yr younger one got so many stuff...keke...
 
Actually she only got ballet and Chinese now. But we want her to pick up piano and swimming. Remember I bought a piano for the elder one? She gave up learning it after grade 1 so it's a waste to let it be a white elephant.
 
Wen, so X went to CCK Sec until ur appeal confirm. so when will that be?

btw, my girl went to Chung Cheng High. she is so happy she can take Higher Chinese next year. she told me she LOVES her new sch so much.. cos the sch is so Chi-na with a big KOI pond...

the only trouble for her uniform is, we got to remove her metal buttons everyday for laundry... otherthan this, she loves her sch, PE attire, uniform, etc.... she commented they r so COOL...

i worry for her maths & science.. although she got better results for these 2 unexpectally during PSLE. but we think she is only good luck... she has already started her tuition in early dec. cos i think at least she got into contact with what she is going to expect during sec sch for these subjects. she told me during her 1st lesson, the terms the teacher gone through with them are so "Alien" to them... she is at least at ease, she had gone thru some so-called "orientation" of them...
 
Yep he'll attend CCK Sec as usual...until we receive call from appeal school. They say can run up to 2nd week of January...and if there's no call from them by then means unsuccessful.

Your girl has friends going new school with her? I don't see any of X's primary schoolmates in CCK Sec. He planned to join Scouts as CCA (follow his papa) and we'll see how he cope before we arrange for other subjects' tuition.
 
she has frens with her in the same sec sch... frankly speaking, i dont really like it. i prefer her to hv a batch of NEW frens... but at least not too bad, she is the only one who is not with a same fren in the class...

my girl planned to join Netball. i went up to the sch website. they dont hv many achievements or compeitions... n i think back during the sch open hse... i saw their volleyball team(both boys n girls), Fencing, basketball, NPCC, etc.. but i did not c Netball team... normally, they will "Show-Off" their very best CCAs, dont u mommies think so?

i m afraid my girl might not be able to get enough points for her CCAs.. so i ask her to join Volleyball but she is not interested... her frens ask her to join international dance with them... u know, i will say NO n luckily my girl is not interested too... so she said she wanna join Choir... i said OK, u can try...

i m glad my girl thank me for sending her to tuition before her sec sch starts...
 
I realise there are 2 Chung Cheng High...they seem far from each other leh. If you didn't move house, I assume she attending the one closer to your home?

Well, talk about different attitude...mine thank me for giving him a break during the hols. X is very laid-back and while he is a happy and contented kid, I find he is not realising his full potential academically. I hope he develop self-motivation to do well in secondary school.

Frankly, I want him to learn independently rather than depend on tuition. But I'm not sure if it will work in today's competitive education system. We're prepared to send him overseas for his degree in future as we foresee he may encounter problem getting into local U due to his weak chinese plus stiff competition for year 2000 kids.

Happy New Year and look forward to the start of secondary school years
happy.gif
 
I think most, if not all, parents would prefer their kids to learn independently, but look what happened to parents who believe in such during the psle year. I felt like I almost died. Suddenly I realized how foolish I had been, making my kid do without tuition for so long when other kids had been advancing before her all these years. The psle was stressful and unpleasant to say the least.

But it's also not easy to find good tutors or tuition centers. And the attitude of the kid matters as well. I didn't think that my kid benefitted much from Learning lab altho the resources were good. She didn't hand in homework and no teachers had contacted me for that. I saw no evidence of learning lab materials in her school work or exams. The resources would have gone to waste had I not used them, or attempted to use them.

I hope that being in an all girls environment will make her at least a little competitive and wake up to the reality that she can't be contented to be at the bottom of the rung anymore.
 
Rains, i agree with u... an example of my DD case, i sent her to The Writer's Place for Eng Compo, she absorbed very well n top her writing class last yr whereas my fren sent her son to the same place, he has no progress after 6 mths, my fren pull him out...

i share with u my method, for my DD Chinese Compo last yr, i find a sec3 sch girl who is taking higher chinese, to give my girl at least 1 compo to write per week(she gave my girl at least 3 instead!) my girl has since write very well n her chinese teachers were amazed by her progress... another which amazed me is my girl attitude has change better since she knows this JieJie... although this JieJie is not in branded sch but she has great passion in Chinese..

i find another JieJie fm RJC who is waiting for her 'A' level results(she is a medical student in NUS nw) to assist my DD on her Maths n Science assessment books. my girl improve alot on both subjects.

my girl is very close to these 2 JieJie... she listens to them n take their advises.. of cos these JieJie will come back to tell me abt it... the medical student will not be able to coach my girl as she is busy nw... i gonna find another JieJie... i am happy i made the right choice to hire them, my girl make them her role models.. i think they r close mainly it's bcos their age gap r not too far, so they can communicate well...
 
Wow, where do you find these girls? But your girl herself has very good attitude towards studies. Most kids would not comply to doing even 1 compo every week and yours endeavored to write 3 per week! You are really fortunate to have such a motivated child. I have been wishing for my sleeping beauty to take interest in her studies for years without knowing when it will really happen.

This week is the orientation week and she has met quite a few student leaders that she likes and looks up to. I hope that she will strive to model after them like how your girl has modeled after the hardworking girls.
 

Hi Jess, which sec sch ur child go to?

Wen, my DD's fren got their appeal on the transferring of sch. did u get urs?

Rains, i hope ur DD meet her role models very very soon...

u r wrong, my girl does not hv good attitude towards studies.. her attitude n mood depends on her tutor... thats y i think i must get someone who can communicate well with her...

Chinese compo Jiejie - she is my younger DD's fren's elder sis... i hired directly fm her mom! Heehee.... Jiejie herself is also very good girl... her creative ways of teaching makes my girl like her n looking forward to her lesson. both of them share same interest on Chinese pop songs.. Jiejie will sometimes bring her to the library n recommend her some books to read... or she will take a phase of lyrics fm a song n get my girl to write into a compo. C, so fun! my girl was so happy to write even 5 compos in 1 lesson!! i myself was very shocked too!

Medical student Jiejie- got her thru star tutor. frankly speaking, choose her bcos of her resume... GEP student, straight As n fm RPS, RGS n RJC... i had to face the reality, this is what i as a parent look for, as my DD tutor. if not, i dont know how to go abt it. i m lucky Jiejie has good attitude too... her mom sent n fetched her for my tuition.... good girl right! Hahaha....
 

Back
Top