panic over H's schedule next year

Why is it so difficult to find enrichment classes for 5 year olds in the mornings? I'm now kinda afraid that H will end up in front of the TV all morning when he stops school next year. All the centres I've enquired only have classes in the afternoons or on weekends. I guess there's really no demand for weekday morning classess since most kids his age will be in school. Panic, panic, panic!!!

mental maths - yes or no?

Following my previous post about H's keen interest in maths, I have done some desktop research on the various maths programmes available around KL. I won't be reviewing any of them since I've not personally paid them a visit to find out about their programmes (hence it won't be fair to offer my opinion) but I'll share my perspectives on mental maths / maths enrichment.

There are essentially 2 types of programmes out there - those that teach kids fancy techniques to solve math equations quickly (e.g. abacus, finger counting, vedic), and those that adopt the principle that ‘practice makes perfect’ (e.g. kids are given worksheets during lessons and homework to practise on). Reading off their websites, they all have their own so call unique selling proposition and it’s really quite tempting to enrol H into one of the programmes just to make sure he doesn’t lose out. But taking a step back and my kiasu hat off (I really hate to think of myself as being a kiasu mom), I asked myself “is being able to calculate with lightning speed really necessary?”

I am for one hopeless in mental calculation but that has never hindered my ability to deliver my work efficiently. My brain is just too lazy whenever required to calculate, e.g. after meals with friends when we have to split the bill, I’ll wait for someone to tell me how much to pay or simply whip out my phone calculator. So what I’m trying to say is that it’s a nice-to-have skill but not necessarily critical. Unless of course you want to land yourself that highly coveted investment banking job. That is the only time that lightning speed calculation is required (you’re not allowed to use the calculator) to pass those quantitative tests during the interviews. But then again, normally you are still given paper and pen, so as long as you’re not a math retard you should still be able to pass. 

What is more important I feel is comprehension, critical thinking and reasoning skills. After all, we want our kids to be able to solve problems not equations. There’s really no point in knowing how to recognise symbols and solve equations quickly, but not fully understanding the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  In the real working world, maths is not about doing sums, it’s about understanding the problem statement and knowing how to apply the right math concepts to solve the problem. Kids can be easily trained to solve equations such as 6+2=8 quickly using abacus, finger counting or other techniques, or simply through practice, practice and more practice! However, solving problems require comprehension and thinking skills. You need to know how to construct the right equations in order to calculate. If you can’t do so, there’s no point in knowing how to calculate quickly. An example of a problem statement is: Jane takes 3 hours to travel and starts off her journey at 5pm. If Jake takes an hour less to travel compared to Jane and starts off an hour later than Jane, what time will Jake arrive? By understanding the problem and applying the right math concept, you can then construct the right equation to solve for the answer 6 (o’clock) +2 (hours) =8 (o’clock).

Anyway, I’m not saying that mental maths / maths enrichment programmes are a waste of time and money. What I’m saying is that you need to know what the programmes are offering and decide whether they suit your kids and their circumstances. For us (or me at least), H does not have problems doing simple maths. He knows the basic math concepts. He loves doing maths – sometimes his workbook, sometimes by writing and solving his own equations – and always on his own initiative. So at 4 years old, I think it’s not necessary that he goes through the stress of formal maths lessons and homework. I will continue teaching him at home whenever a teaching moment arises and he should be no worse off for not attending math classes. But just to satisfy Hubs, I will still go visit some of those more well-known centres in December when I’m less busy. Who knows, maybe my perspective will change after that? We shall see…

H's first concert

We are all so proud of our little boy. He had his first concert last Saturday. He fell asleep in the late afternoon and was sleeping like a log we didn't dare to wake him when it was time to leave for the concert. So we put him in the car still sleeping. He slept all the way until we reached the concert venue. We were quite worried that he will throw a fit when he woke up, or be cranky and clingy and not wanting to participate, but nope, he was all up for performing although still dazed from his nap.

We took him to the holding room and changed him. No fuss. He also allowed me to put on light makeup on him. Again no fuss. The teacher then asked us to go to the auditorium. We were again worried that he will feel 'lost'. The holding room was in quite a chaos. Kids were eveywhere, teachers were in and out, and we only saw one of his classmates who was rather cranky and clinging tight to his mom so not a good sign. But we reluctantly left anyway, praying that he won't start crying (he was still in quite a daze). That was around 5:30pm. The concert started at 6pm, but his class will only perform at around 7.20pm so it was a long wait. In between, daddy went to check on him in the holding room just to make sure he was ok.

Finally it was time for the Mulan play.  L kept asking where is kor-kor. Then H came out on stage alone, dressed as the messenger. He walked around the stage, went to the mic and uttered his only line rather loudly, "Order from the emperor. Fa Zhou, Fa Zhou!". Fa Zhou and Mulan then appeared on stage and he handed them the scroll. The next scene was a dance depicting the fight between China and the Huns. H played one of the Hun warriors. The following scene depicted the celebration after China won the war. H was one of the dragon dancers. At the end of the concert, all the kids came onto stage and did a dance and H was dancing enthusiastically. I must say, the teachers really have a way with kids cos I'm really surprised he didn't suffer from stagefright. And why is he willing to perform on stage for the school concert and not during his weekly edudrama class? Hmmm...

Everything went well until the end of the concert when it turned chaotic again. As soon as the last dance was over, I told daddy to quickly go to the front to collect H from the stage. But there were so many people all rushing to get to the front and out, so before daddy could reach the front, we lost H. We couldn't see him anywhere and we panicked. We went outside, he wasn't there, We went backstage, he wasn't there. We went to the holding room, he wasn't there. Finally daddy found him and he was crying cos he couldn't find us. It was really disorganised and pretty dangerous cos the kids could have been taken away by strangers. Daddy then went to have a word with the principal. Least they should do is to usher all the kids back to the holding room and have the parents collect their kids there under supervision.

Well, luckily H only had good memories of the concert. We must have seen the short video daddy took of his performance more than 3 times since I downloaded it on Monday. L loves watching it, and wanted to watch it over and over again, "I want to see kor-kor dance!"

Skip counting

H has a knack for numbers. He knows the concept of skip counting (which is in fact multiplication but he doesn't know that). For him, it's just a game. I'm not sure how he picked this up. It could be imprints from the tweedlewink classes he attended when he was a toddler, or from the "I Can't Sleep" bedtime storybook I read him in which the boy started counting animals to fall asleep - 1 by 1, then 2 by 2, then 3 by 3, then 4 by 4.

Last night, H said he wanted to show me a new game. He drew grids on his magnadoodle board and wrote 1-8 in the first column. The game was to skip count and write the correct numbers in the squares.


Not sure how this can be a game since he's essentially playing on his own. Halfway through it struck him that what he has is in fact a matrix, i.e. the 6th row is in fact the same as the 6th column. Daddy was rather impressed and thinks that we should send him for maths classes since he likes maths. Maybe mental maths? I'm not sure if that will kill his love for maths, last thing we want is to make it seem like work rather than fun. But I guess there's no harm finding out more about how some of these maths programmes are run, then we can decide.

Little Terror on Board

Just go back from Langkawi yesterday, it was a lovely short holiday. On the flight back however, L started acting out. I swear the whole plane could hear her. She got woken up from her sleep when daddy tried to ‘adjust’ her head and her tantrum started. There was no way to placate her.

“I want a pillow” and when I got her a pillow she hit the pillow “I don’t want the pillow like that”

“I don’t want daddy. Daddy go home” and when I carried her she struggled “I don’t want mommy. I want Daddy”

 “I want milk” and when I took down her bag to make her milk she cried “I want daddy to make it”

“I want to buckle myself” and when I gave her the seat belt she threw it away “I don’t want the seat belt”

“I don’t want you to carry me. Put me down!” and when I put her down she kicked and screamed “I don’t want to sit down”

… and on and on and on she went…

You can imagine all the struggling, yelling and screaming while I tried to keep my cool. She then sat on the floor and started bouncing up and down. When I told her she’ll hurt herself that way, she said “I want to hurt myself”. There is just no way to win her over. So although the seat belt sign was on (there was a slight turbulence), I had no choice but to just let her be. One thing I learnt about dealing with strong headed kids like L, there really is no point in trying to talk sense into them while they’re in their tantrumy mode cos they’ll just rebut everything you say.  The best solution is to simply ignore them and let them be until they calm down. So finally I told L calmly, OK you do what you want. She climbed onto the seat, lied down on the pillow and drank her milk. That was all and she was back in her cheery mood after her bottle of milk. So what was that big fuss all about? I still wonder…

Gosh I sure hope this bad behaviour doesn't repeat itself on our flight to Perth this month end!

kids say the darnest things (take 4)

Last night I was a little late getting home. The first thing I did as soon as I got back was to rush H to bed
Me: H, time to go to bed. Mommy will make you your milo milk, then you have to drink quickly, go upstairs, brush your teeth and change, then I'll read you ONE book cos it's late already
H: It's your fault mommy
Me: Huh?
H: One book only so it's your fault because you are late
I established this rule earlier on the number of bedtime stories he gets based on what time he goes to bed (to stop him from dilly dallying) so he wasn't happy that he was only getting one book cos I was the one being late

Arrived early in school today so took H to the nearby mamak for breakfast
H: Mommy, the N-A-A-N B-I-A-S-A  is free <reading off the menu board on the wall>
Curious, I looked at the board. It turns out that one of the numbers fell off so it showed
Naan Biasa  .00