Any parents of gifted children here ?
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tamarind:
I must say I share your views on this... Which is why I am very hesitant to sign my son up for all sorts of enrichment classes.
I totally respect your decision to send your child to enrichment classes. Many other parents are doing the same thing. My point is that enrichment classes are not the most important factor in developing a child's potential. Personally I think that 2 things are most important :
- ability to learn on his own
- parents' attention.
My son currently goes for K1 classes at Growing up Gifted for half a day from Mon - Fri... So far I'm happy with the curriculum there and the knowledge that they impart in him.
On Sat... He goes for right brain training at iGenuis for 1.5hrs... His course is ending soon and I'm contemplating on signing him up for some mental maths courses.
Other than these... I want him to still have his own free time to play and do the stuff he likes doing without our intervention.
When my boy was 2... I would point out to him the various car brands on the roads or in the carparks... So it's no surprise that he can recognise any car brands on the roads now.. From your normal Toyotas/Mazdas/Hondas to Porsches/Ferraris/Bentleys/Bugattis. Anyway now he is asking me to go to the specifics with him on the exact brand and model of the cars we come across... Sort of a joke between the 2 of us... He says he'll buy me a Maserati to race along side his Porsche when he grows up :lol: ... So I'm keeping my fingers crossed to see if I get my keys to my Maserati before I'm 6 foot underground :roll:
To some extent enrichment classes do help... But more importantly... For a child to be able to grow up to harness their fullest potential... My personal take is the following is of equal or more importance:
- Always encourage and support their inquisitive minds. Kids are curious by nature... They start to lose this attribute when they keep asking the adults around them but gets put down instead. I make a point to search for answers that I may not know and make it a group activity that we do together.
- Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence. With these two attributes, the kids will then have the courage to go explore this world on their own. Parents can only be with their kids up to a certain point in time. So I find that it is important to equip them with the right skills/values for them to go \"fish\" on their own. One thing I forbid in our household is the use of derogatory remarks... Especially like using the word stupid on another person. We use other words like someone is being silly or if I have made a mistake... I'd be saying like ... Oops silly me etc. I tried not using words with negative connotations like NO or WRONG etc... Not easy most of the time... I guess we are all doing our best at being the \"ideal\" parent :oops:
Oops... Of cos my son also has music lessons provided by mummy dearest at home
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gifted:
As a parent that would be a wise thing to do... I think we need to constantly emphasise to our kids (especially the high achievers) that it's alright to fail or not do as well. More importantly would be how to pick themselves up when they fail and do better next time round
One thing for sure is that everyone in the family must have a very positive mind set and have to learn to accept that she is no longer among the top. I have to constantly reminder her that is alright to fail in any test and she can make it if she tried harder next time.
... Kids need to know that there is acceptance regardless of how they fare as long as they have put in the appropriate amount of effort and done their best.
One thing I could never understand about our local schools' context of being gifted... To me it's so narrowly minded that as long as you do well in your academic subjects and score well in it... You are gifted. :roll:
A kid's gift could be in so many areas or faculties that could not be ascertained or assessed by mere grades/results on the report card.
If my child is bad at academic subjects but has a gift in the arts, music or even sports... How does the current education system reconcile that? What I cannot and do not understand is the way kids are streamed into a particular education route simply based on academic results... :?
Seriously I'm not sure if I want to put my child through this narrow-minded type of labelling.
On my part as a parent... I guess the onus is on each individual parent to help the child uncover or identify where their gift lies and then for the parents to provide the necessary support to help them harness their gift
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ZacK:
...One thing I could never understand about our local schools' context of being gifted... To me it's so narrowly minded that as long as you do well in your academic subjects and score well in it... You are gifted. :roll: ...
Ditto. Amen. So say we all. -
ChiefKiasu:
It's unlikely that MOE will review their position on allowing locals to enrol in International Schools... If so, I'm sure most parents in the financial position to do so would choose to take their kids out of the local school system... :roll:ZacK:
...One thing I could never understand about our local schools' context of being gifted... To me it's so narrowly minded that as long as you do well in your academic subjects and score well in it... You are gifted. :roll: ...
Ditto. Amen. So say we all.
Come to think of it... This may actually be a win-win situation for all if MOE does relax this ruling... Then parents would not be subject to P1 registration stress becos the demand for enrolment into local schools will drop
Personally being an output of the local education system... And especially the way the local system is geared towards... Our kids are taught to be exam smart... To score well on paper... But can we consider them to be bright and able to think out of the box to derive solutions? My take is... hardly so :!: -
ZacK:
I totally agree with you there! I heard the reason MOE does not allow locals to enrol in international schools is for nationalistic purposes - the children in these schools are not required to sing the national anthem and recite the Singapore pledge.It's unlikely that MOE will review their position on allowing locals to enrol in International Schools... If so, I'm sure most parents in the financial position to do so would choose to take their kids out of the local school system... :roll:
Come to think of it... This may actually be a win-win situation for all if MOE does relax this ruling... Then parents would not be subject to P1 registration stress becos the demand for enrolment into local schools will drop -
ZacK:
Erm.. I think MOE recognises these other non-academic gifts and is coming up with ways of developing these kids such as by setting up specialised schools like the sports school and the arts schools.One thing I could never understand about our local schools' context of being gifted... To me it's so narrowly minded that as long as you do well in your academic subjects and score well in it... You are gifted. :roll:
A kid's gift could be in so many areas or faculties that could not be ascertained or assessed by mere grades/results on the report card.
If my child is bad at academic subjects but has a gift in the arts, music or even sports... How does the current education system reconcile that? What I cannot and do not understand is the way kids are streamed into a particular education route simply based on academic results... :? -
For sports area, usually the kids are talent spotted. This usually happens when the school joins inter-school competition. Some kids with natural abilities will be contacted & will be groom outside of school context.
Out of the box thinking skill. Hmm…at A level, we have to sit for General Paper. When a topic is open for discussion, I can just hear a pin drop & nobody have any opinion on the subject discussed. We happily sit & wait for the teacher to feed us with the necessary paper, book list & read memorize from there. Drive the teacher crazy. -
wwcookie:
These special schools are available only to those classified as \"gifted\" ... I just feel that there shd be a curriculum that is applied uniformly so that the general population of kids will benefit and not just the privileged few...
Erm.. I think MOE recognises these other non-academic gifts and is coming up with ways of developing these kids such as by setting up specialised schools like the sports school and the arts schools.ZacK:
One thing I could never understand about our local schools' context of being gifted... To me it's so narrowly minded that as long as you do well in your academic subjects and score well in it... You are gifted. :roll:
A kid's gift could be in so many areas or faculties that could not be ascertained or assessed by mere grades/results on the report card.
If my child is bad at academic subjects but has a gift in the arts, music or even sports... How does the current education system reconcile that? What I cannot and do not understand is the way kids are streamed into a particular education route simply based on academic results... :? -
EN:
I do not have any personal experience but I have heard that students are awarded marks if and only if they solve a question in a particular method... So if answers were derived using other methods. They are not awarded marks??!! Not sure how true... I'm sure there is more than 1 way to arrive at a solution ... And in everyday life, there are 101 ways to get things done.
Out of the box thinking skill. Hmm...at A level, we have to sit for General Paper. When a topic is open for discussion, I can just hear a pin drop & nobody have any opinion on the subject discussed. We happily sit & wait for the teacher to feed us with the necessary paper, book list & read memorize from there. Drive the teacher crazy.
If this is really the type of environment that our kids are subjected to... I wonder how then will they be able to think out of the box? Is there any surprise then that as adults... We tend to see situations in a 1-sided manner :roll: -
The kids that are in the GEP not alway must be the top student of the class or top of the school when they are in the mainstream. Not my girl??
Some of the kids that I know of that was currently in the GEP dun score BAND 1 in any of their subjects when they were in the mainstream. Even their parents also wonder how their kid was being selected. :?
The GEPers are enriched with skills such public speaking, leadership camp, computer (Dreamweaver), etc.
Although I find it taxing but somehow I find it very interesting. Taxing is due to the work that are assigned to the kids are topics that are taught in secondary school or higher level and sometimes we, parents also cannot solve it. All their work are awarded based on the originality and creativity of the work produced. They are asked to create toys related to science topics they are taught. Imagine you are being shrink and write a story about visitng an animal or plant cells. They are asked to write about the characteristics of the main characters of the book 'Charlotte Web' etc. All their teachers are specially trained to cater for their needs. Isn't this something different from the mainstream?? :roll:
However, we are told that they will not score very well in their PSLE because they will only be 'trained' 3 months before the examination.
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