During our previous issue, we talked about how to create a positive learning environment. Today, we will share with you some tips on how to encourage your child to enjoy learning and become a lifelong learner.
Ten Tips for Encouraging Joyful Learning
Parents can make learning into a truly joyful experience. By injecting some creativity and thoughtfulness into your child’s learning experience outside the classroom, you can develop your child into a self-motivated and engaged learner.
a) Making your child’s study more inviting: Adding more colourful murals, changing colour of the lightings, putting comfortable chairs and hanging colourful curtains could transform a sterile study room into an inviting space to learn and study.
b) Finding pleasure in learning: Once you have redecorated your child’s study, you should learn more about his/her interests. Your involvement and efforts to tailor his/her learning to these interests could motivate an entirely different kind of learning, where motivation comes from within and no outside force or coercion is required. For instance, if your son loves cars, think about how to weave cars into his learning process. One way is to use the speed of his favourite car and your family car to teach him mathematic concepts of speed, distance and time.
c) Creating things: Children like to make things – By allowing them control over their work and creating something original using their minds and hands, they achieve a tremendous sense of pride and achievement. It also empowers and encourages the child. For instance, if your child likes drawing and painting, get him/her to paint a picture or make a craft as a gift for family members or friends. To build your child's imagination further, you can encourgae him/her to write a story or poem based on his/her artwork and include them in a gift card. Whether it’s a painting, a model or a powerpoint presentation, you should inspire and encourage your child bring his/her own ideas and creations to life.
d) Showing off good work: When your child has done good work, don’t be shy to ask him/her to share it with your family. If he/she has drawn a beautiful picture, you may want to put it up in the wall in the study room or in the living room. If he/she wrote a touching story, you may want to ask him/her to recite it to your family after dinner.
e) Taking time to experimenting: By keeping students at their desk most of the time, listening to lectures, reading textbooks, filling out assessment books, schools sometimes stifle the grand ideas that are innate in young children. You can help your child re-ignite his/her creativity by allowing him/her experiment with hands-on activities or encouraging him/her to try different methods to solve the same problem. Using different objects or work of arts to explore different perspectives will also help your child expand his/her learning capacity and willingness to experiment. During this school holiday, try surfing the web and look for simple experiments to conduct together (one good idea will be to build a solar-powered microwave oven).
f) Letting your child choose: You can help your child by allowing your child to pursue his/her interests outside classroom. It is possible to promote joy in learning when there is some ownership. Instead of planning what activities he/she should take up, try listening to his/her interests and allow him/her to pursue these interests. Similarly, during holidays, instead of packing him/her off to memory enhancement programmes or more tuition, try letting him/her decide the topic. You can then help shape his/her ideas into purposeful inquiry-based learning. This sense of ownership will not only motivate him/her to learn, but also help nurture his/her curiosity and find joy in learning.
g) Reading good books: Everyone loves a good story - by immersing your child in a culture of good books, you can surround him/her with joy. Students today already have tons of reading to do from school. You can help your child pick up reading by encouraging him/her to read books just for pleasure, including not so serious genres, such as action-adventure books, fantasy, or even non-fiction on topics he/she loves.
h) Going outside: Students today spend an inordinate amount of time in school, tuition centres or enrichment programmes. Sometimes, your child may need to take a break and take in some fresh air. During weekends, instead of packing your child off to his/her tuition classes, take a field trip and bring him/her outdoors. The botanical garden is a good place to get close to nature and at the same time, learn about science and biology. For younger children, Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is a good place to visit. For older children, it is not inconceivable to let them plan a weekend trip out for the family, allowing them to learn about responsibility at the same time.
i) Offering different activities outside the classroom: Professor Howard Gardner’s work on multiple intelligences has illuminated parents and educators on the uniqueness of each child and the need to provide opportunities to use their varied strengths and interests. Unfortunately, in our efforts to improve test scores and to get into good schools, we tend to de-emphasis non-academic activities, such as physical education and humanities. If your child has a special affinity for visual arts, music, theater or sports, remember to leave some time for him/her to participate in these activities and let him/her experience some joy.
j) Having fun together: Being a parent is a tough job, but if you can create a joyful learning environment for your child, you can also experience the joy in teaching them and learning with them. You can also create a stronger bond by having fun learning together.
By Ms Angeline Tong and Ms Brenda Yeow
Showing posts with label Practical Tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Practical Tips. Show all posts
Friday, November 14, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Practical Tips for Positive and Joyful Learning (Part I)
In this issue, we take a break from the “Helping your child excel in the 21st century” series to bring to you some practical tips to develop a positive learning environment for your child and inject joy into his/her learning. Parents may find these tips useful while planning activities for the upcoming school holidays or preparing for the new school term.
Before we discuss the guiding principles for crafting a positive learning environment, it is important to understand the power of words. What you say to your child and how you say it is critical in creating a positive learning environment for him/her and allow your child to maximise their learning potential. For this week’s entry, we will be focusing on the use of communication to create a positive learning environment.
Take a moment to reflect on the times when you were a student – how did your parents and teachers talk to you? What kind of words did they use and what were their tones? Did that make you feel motivated or insecure, and even angry? As parents, it is critical to understand that your words would shape your child’s learning. According to research by renowned developmental psychologist, Vygotsky, words can affect your child’s learning in the following ways:
a) Affecting a child’s sense of identity: imagine how a child would feel if he really likes singing and a parent, instead of offering praises and encourage, asks the child why he is so noisy and wasting his time on singing and not on his maths homework
b) Helping a child understand how he/she is doing: naming a specific attribute could actually help your child develop his/her interests or talents. For instance, if he/she drew a very nice picture, you may want to encourage him/her by specifically naming an attribute that really attracted you – for instance, you can praise him/her on the vivid colour combinations
c) Influencing parents’ relationship with a child: To a child who has just quarreled with his cousin, one can say “stop quarrelling with your cousin or I will punish you” or one can ask “I saw you quarrelling with your cousin. Can you let me know what had happened?” The latter would build a trusting parent-child relationship versus the former, which is one based on threats.
Five Guiding Principles for Positive Communications
How then can you ensure that your words support your child’s learning and create a positive environment? There are several guiding principles that can help you:
a) Using a kind, straightforward tone and be direct: It is important to say what one mean, but in a kind tone. Avoid sarcasm or indirect comparison to win compliance. Sarcastic language like, “ which part of sitting down and keeping quiet don’t you understand” will embarrass a child and create mistrust and resentment. Instead, you can be firm and just tell the child to sit down so that everyone in the family can enjoy the show together.
b) Focusing on actions: Focusing on action will point towards desired behaviours rather than attitude or character. This is especially important for young children, who tend to be concrete thinkers and may not be able to understand abstractions. An example of an abstraction you may want to avoid is to tell your child to be respectful. Instead, ask him/her to treat others with kindness by helping their friends when they fall down or carrying shopping bags for their grandparents.
c) Keeping it brief: Young children find it hard to follow long sentences. More often than not, before you finish your long sentences, your child will be thinking about other things and have lost focus. Thus, it is important to speak in shorter sentences to allow your child to absorb and understand what you are saying and expecting.
d) Using silence: Using silence after asking your child questions could actually help him/her craft a more thoughtful response. While a 3 second pause may seem very long, it allows an open space for your child to think, rehearse what to say, and can solicit a higher quality response. This also teaches your child that a true listener will attempt to understand the other party’s questions, before formulating a better response.
e) Expressing confidence in your child: If a parent is able to demonstrate faith and confidence in the child, he/she will be more likely to live up to the parent’s expectations. Spare no effort to notice and comment on positive behaviour in a calm tone. Be specific in your observations, such that it will provide hard evidence on why your child should believe in himself/herself.
Look out for our next entry in a fortnight’s time, where we will be sharing with parents, ten tips for encouraging joyful learning in their children.
By Ms Angeline Tong and Ms Brenda Yeow
Before we discuss the guiding principles for crafting a positive learning environment, it is important to understand the power of words. What you say to your child and how you say it is critical in creating a positive learning environment for him/her and allow your child to maximise their learning potential. For this week’s entry, we will be focusing on the use of communication to create a positive learning environment.
Take a moment to reflect on the times when you were a student – how did your parents and teachers talk to you? What kind of words did they use and what were their tones? Did that make you feel motivated or insecure, and even angry? As parents, it is critical to understand that your words would shape your child’s learning. According to research by renowned developmental psychologist, Vygotsky, words can affect your child’s learning in the following ways:
a) Affecting a child’s sense of identity: imagine how a child would feel if he really likes singing and a parent, instead of offering praises and encourage, asks the child why he is so noisy and wasting his time on singing and not on his maths homework
b) Helping a child understand how he/she is doing: naming a specific attribute could actually help your child develop his/her interests or talents. For instance, if he/she drew a very nice picture, you may want to encourage him/her by specifically naming an attribute that really attracted you – for instance, you can praise him/her on the vivid colour combinations
c) Influencing parents’ relationship with a child: To a child who has just quarreled with his cousin, one can say “stop quarrelling with your cousin or I will punish you” or one can ask “I saw you quarrelling with your cousin. Can you let me know what had happened?” The latter would build a trusting parent-child relationship versus the former, which is one based on threats.
Five Guiding Principles for Positive Communications
How then can you ensure that your words support your child’s learning and create a positive environment? There are several guiding principles that can help you:
a) Using a kind, straightforward tone and be direct: It is important to say what one mean, but in a kind tone. Avoid sarcasm or indirect comparison to win compliance. Sarcastic language like, “ which part of sitting down and keeping quiet don’t you understand” will embarrass a child and create mistrust and resentment. Instead, you can be firm and just tell the child to sit down so that everyone in the family can enjoy the show together.
b) Focusing on actions: Focusing on action will point towards desired behaviours rather than attitude or character. This is especially important for young children, who tend to be concrete thinkers and may not be able to understand abstractions. An example of an abstraction you may want to avoid is to tell your child to be respectful. Instead, ask him/her to treat others with kindness by helping their friends when they fall down or carrying shopping bags for their grandparents.
c) Keeping it brief: Young children find it hard to follow long sentences. More often than not, before you finish your long sentences, your child will be thinking about other things and have lost focus. Thus, it is important to speak in shorter sentences to allow your child to absorb and understand what you are saying and expecting.
d) Using silence: Using silence after asking your child questions could actually help him/her craft a more thoughtful response. While a 3 second pause may seem very long, it allows an open space for your child to think, rehearse what to say, and can solicit a higher quality response. This also teaches your child that a true listener will attempt to understand the other party’s questions, before formulating a better response.
e) Expressing confidence in your child: If a parent is able to demonstrate faith and confidence in the child, he/she will be more likely to live up to the parent’s expectations. Spare no effort to notice and comment on positive behaviour in a calm tone. Be specific in your observations, such that it will provide hard evidence on why your child should believe in himself/herself.
Look out for our next entry in a fortnight’s time, where we will be sharing with parents, ten tips for encouraging joyful learning in their children.
By Ms Angeline Tong and Ms Brenda Yeow
Thursday, October 9, 2008
How to help your child excel in 21st century? Part II
How to Help Your Child Excel in the 21st Century – Part II
Educating your child beyond core curriculum – Mastery of 21st Century Themes
In part 2 of our series, we will discuss how parents can help your child develop important life skills as you help complement the core academic foundations, that is well tackled by our current education system. While the Ministry of Education in Singapore has long realized the importance of “Life Skills” and has been actively redesigning the curriculum to incorporate the inculcation of such skills into our children’s education, parents can play a much bigger role in developing these skills outside of mastery of core subjects.
As we have discussed during our previous post, there is an urgent need to weave multi-disciplinary themes in the 21st century into your child’s learning. These include a broader global awareness (critical in an increasingly global and connected world), financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy and civic mindedness. Today, we will share some practical tips on how parents can help develop your child into a confident person and make him/her a self-directed learner, a concerned citizen and an active contributor.
Global/cultural awareness
One of the key themes in the 21st century is globalisation. As the economy become more global and employment become more mobile geographically, the workplace will likely become more multi-cultural than it is today. It is important to instill a strong global awareness and cultural sensitivity to help your child integrate well into their workplace and contribute effectively, both as a team leader and a team player. How then can you help your child develop such skills? Here are some practical tips that can be both fun and educating for your child:
a) Newspapers: One good and economic way of inculcating global awareness would be through newspapers. By inculcating a strong reading habit, your child will be able to pick up not only general knowledge, but also becoming more aware of the happenings around Singapore and the world. For younger children, you can let your young child look at the colourful pictures in the papers and let them describe the picture. Read the captions aloud with him/her to familiarise him/her with newspaper reading. For older children, you can ask them to go on a scavenger hunt and look for certain news items or sections for specific coverage (example a newspaper report on Thailand), do further research on the web or in the library and then share the findings with the whole family.
b) Museum visits: Heritage and Cultural Museums often come with unparallel richness around unique cultures and heritage. Bringing your child early on to a museum could expose him/her to different cultures at a young age and develop his/her natural curiosity in other cultures. You may want to find an interesting fact about a certain culture and artifact before hand and challenge your child to find it during your visit. For instance in the Singapore Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place, you might want to challenge your child to find out which culture actually sold their members to other tribes in exchange for gold to make jewellery (Hint: The answer is in the Mary and Philbert Chin Gallery). You can then discuss with him/her the differences between our culture and the particular culture as well as how the culture has evolved over time.
c) Research prior to and after family trips: Another good way of developing a global or cultural awareness is to leverage your family trips to other countries. By asking your child to conduct specific research around the places of interests using the internet or libraries, you will allow him/her more involvement in the trip. (For older children, encourage them to plan specific portions of the trip). Your child can also look at the places of interests that you are visiting and investigate why they are popular as well as the significance of the particular monument to the local. Before the trip, allow him/her to do a presentation to the family to share his/her findings with their “travel mates”. After the trip, you can ask your child to develop a scrap book combining photos taken from the sights, his/her research and his/her thoughts about the places you visited.
d) Research projects during school holidays: If you are not going for an overseas trip, you can still get your child to do simple research on different countries during the school holidays. For instance, you can challenge your child to map out the various voyages of Magellan and research on the different countries along the way. Ask him/her to design a quiz based on the information and plan a family night where your child could be the host of your unique history/geography game show. Other interesting family projects may include planning for a “China Day” or “France Day”. All activities for the day will surround the country that the family has chosen; i.e: food, costume, language, music, places of interest, crafts, etc.
Economic, financial and business literacy
Economic, financial and business literacy is another of the core multi-disciplinary themes in educating a 21st Century professional. While it may seem complex at the onset, it offers significant opportunity for your child to learn about Mathematics, English and even History.
a) Budgeting on grocery trips: By involving your child during your trips to the supermarket, you can help your child develop both numeric skills and basic financial sense. This will be most relevant for younger children. First, let your child know how much you will want to spend during this shopping trip and go through with him/her your shopping list. When you are at the supermarket, let your child calculate the amount of money left after picking up each item. You can encourage him/her to warn you when you are over-budget. When checking out, allow your child to make payment and accept change back from the cashier.
b) Budgeting during oveseas vacations: Another way to instill responsibility and money sense into your child is to encourage him/her to budget for what he/she wants to spend on a family trip. For instance, if he/she wants to budget $50 for the trip to buy things, ask them to set aside a small sum of his/her pocket money every month. Nearer the trip you can encourage your child to calculate the exchange rate and how much in local currency one can exchange into. During the trip, let him/her calculate the amount of money left in his/her kitty after each time he/she bought something.
c) Setting up a flea market store during school holidays or weekends: Another interesting (but not certainly conventional) way of teaching business sense to your child would be to set up a store at a flea market. You can discuss with your child the concept of a flea market store and allow your child to provide ideas around what your store should be selling. Jointly procure or scavenge whatever products you might want to sell and rent a store at the flea market at Far East Square for a weekend. Encourage him/her to be actively involved in the selling and help him/her with the accounts at the end of the day. You can discuss and review how well you have done and what worked well and areas of improvement. Remember, it is the process that counts and making money from the store is only icing on top of the cake.
d) Picking stocks and comparing returns: Another low cost idea that can help your child develop better financial sense is starting a stock picking game at home. Organise a competition at home that tallies the monthly results of each of your picks. You and your spouse can encourage your child to flip through the papers and pick some companies from the share price page in the Money section together with him/her. At the end of the year, compare the results and you may choose to give a gift to the winner. (For older children, you may want to allow them to switch their holdings every month).
e) Research projects during school holidays: Similar to the research project on different countries, you may also want to plan a project for your child surrounding the finance and economic areas. For instance, you can ask your child about how he/she might resolve the developmental challenges that Singapore was facing in the 1960s. For this project, you can leverage resources in the National Museum of Singapore - bring your child to the museum to understand the challenges and problems in Singapore. Ask him/her to conduct research in the gallery and on the web and role-play as a World Bank economist advising Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Goh Keng Swee during the early days of Singapore.
Civic-mindedness
To develop your child into a well-rounded 21st century citizen, it is also critical to inculcate in him/her the importance of civil-mindedness. It will be a very enriching process for your child to participate, together with you, in volunteer work to help the more unfortunate during the school holidays. Discuss with your child what causes he/she would like to support and work closely with him/her during the process. At the end of the volunteer project, be sure to encourage him/her to develop a journal to document what he/she has learnt and his/her feelings from contributing to the cause.
Conclusion
There are many opportunities for you, as a concerned and enlightened parent, to help your child develop key skills outside of the core curriculum. It is also a process where you can help develop your child’s sense of responsibility, teamwork, and a broader understanding of the world. While this will require significant work for parents as well, there are many fun ways to involve the entire family and make it an enjoyable, mutual learning process. Key things to remember - your guidance will be critical in maintaining their interests and be encouraging and generous with your praise. This will help build his/her confidence and eventually training them to be curious, self-directed learners who can navigate the complex challenges and dilemmas facing 21st Century Professionals. In our next posting, we will share some tips on how to help your child develop another set of critical life skills - strong learning, thinking and communicating skills.
By Ms. Angeline Tong and Ms. Brenda Yeow
Educating your child beyond core curriculum – Mastery of 21st Century Themes
In part 2 of our series, we will discuss how parents can help your child develop important life skills as you help complement the core academic foundations, that is well tackled by our current education system. While the Ministry of Education in Singapore has long realized the importance of “Life Skills” and has been actively redesigning the curriculum to incorporate the inculcation of such skills into our children’s education, parents can play a much bigger role in developing these skills outside of mastery of core subjects.
As we have discussed during our previous post, there is an urgent need to weave multi-disciplinary themes in the 21st century into your child’s learning. These include a broader global awareness (critical in an increasingly global and connected world), financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy and civic mindedness. Today, we will share some practical tips on how parents can help develop your child into a confident person and make him/her a self-directed learner, a concerned citizen and an active contributor.
Global/cultural awareness
One of the key themes in the 21st century is globalisation. As the economy become more global and employment become more mobile geographically, the workplace will likely become more multi-cultural than it is today. It is important to instill a strong global awareness and cultural sensitivity to help your child integrate well into their workplace and contribute effectively, both as a team leader and a team player. How then can you help your child develop such skills? Here are some practical tips that can be both fun and educating for your child:
a) Newspapers: One good and economic way of inculcating global awareness would be through newspapers. By inculcating a strong reading habit, your child will be able to pick up not only general knowledge, but also becoming more aware of the happenings around Singapore and the world. For younger children, you can let your young child look at the colourful pictures in the papers and let them describe the picture. Read the captions aloud with him/her to familiarise him/her with newspaper reading. For older children, you can ask them to go on a scavenger hunt and look for certain news items or sections for specific coverage (example a newspaper report on Thailand), do further research on the web or in the library and then share the findings with the whole family.
b) Museum visits: Heritage and Cultural Museums often come with unparallel richness around unique cultures and heritage. Bringing your child early on to a museum could expose him/her to different cultures at a young age and develop his/her natural curiosity in other cultures. You may want to find an interesting fact about a certain culture and artifact before hand and challenge your child to find it during your visit. For instance in the Singapore Asian Civilisations Museum at Empress Place, you might want to challenge your child to find out which culture actually sold their members to other tribes in exchange for gold to make jewellery (Hint: The answer is in the Mary and Philbert Chin Gallery). You can then discuss with him/her the differences between our culture and the particular culture as well as how the culture has evolved over time.
c) Research prior to and after family trips: Another good way of developing a global or cultural awareness is to leverage your family trips to other countries. By asking your child to conduct specific research around the places of interests using the internet or libraries, you will allow him/her more involvement in the trip. (For older children, encourage them to plan specific portions of the trip). Your child can also look at the places of interests that you are visiting and investigate why they are popular as well as the significance of the particular monument to the local. Before the trip, allow him/her to do a presentation to the family to share his/her findings with their “travel mates”. After the trip, you can ask your child to develop a scrap book combining photos taken from the sights, his/her research and his/her thoughts about the places you visited.
d) Research projects during school holidays: If you are not going for an overseas trip, you can still get your child to do simple research on different countries during the school holidays. For instance, you can challenge your child to map out the various voyages of Magellan and research on the different countries along the way. Ask him/her to design a quiz based on the information and plan a family night where your child could be the host of your unique history/geography game show. Other interesting family projects may include planning for a “China Day” or “France Day”. All activities for the day will surround the country that the family has chosen; i.e: food, costume, language, music, places of interest, crafts, etc.
Economic, financial and business literacy
Economic, financial and business literacy is another of the core multi-disciplinary themes in educating a 21st Century professional. While it may seem complex at the onset, it offers significant opportunity for your child to learn about Mathematics, English and even History.
a) Budgeting on grocery trips: By involving your child during your trips to the supermarket, you can help your child develop both numeric skills and basic financial sense. This will be most relevant for younger children. First, let your child know how much you will want to spend during this shopping trip and go through with him/her your shopping list. When you are at the supermarket, let your child calculate the amount of money left after picking up each item. You can encourage him/her to warn you when you are over-budget. When checking out, allow your child to make payment and accept change back from the cashier.
b) Budgeting during oveseas vacations: Another way to instill responsibility and money sense into your child is to encourage him/her to budget for what he/she wants to spend on a family trip. For instance, if he/she wants to budget $50 for the trip to buy things, ask them to set aside a small sum of his/her pocket money every month. Nearer the trip you can encourage your child to calculate the exchange rate and how much in local currency one can exchange into. During the trip, let him/her calculate the amount of money left in his/her kitty after each time he/she bought something.
c) Setting up a flea market store during school holidays or weekends: Another interesting (but not certainly conventional) way of teaching business sense to your child would be to set up a store at a flea market. You can discuss with your child the concept of a flea market store and allow your child to provide ideas around what your store should be selling. Jointly procure or scavenge whatever products you might want to sell and rent a store at the flea market at Far East Square for a weekend. Encourage him/her to be actively involved in the selling and help him/her with the accounts at the end of the day. You can discuss and review how well you have done and what worked well and areas of improvement. Remember, it is the process that counts and making money from the store is only icing on top of the cake.
d) Picking stocks and comparing returns: Another low cost idea that can help your child develop better financial sense is starting a stock picking game at home. Organise a competition at home that tallies the monthly results of each of your picks. You and your spouse can encourage your child to flip through the papers and pick some companies from the share price page in the Money section together with him/her. At the end of the year, compare the results and you may choose to give a gift to the winner. (For older children, you may want to allow them to switch their holdings every month).
e) Research projects during school holidays: Similar to the research project on different countries, you may also want to plan a project for your child surrounding the finance and economic areas. For instance, you can ask your child about how he/she might resolve the developmental challenges that Singapore was facing in the 1960s. For this project, you can leverage resources in the National Museum of Singapore - bring your child to the museum to understand the challenges and problems in Singapore. Ask him/her to conduct research in the gallery and on the web and role-play as a World Bank economist advising Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Goh Keng Swee during the early days of Singapore.
Civic-mindedness
To develop your child into a well-rounded 21st century citizen, it is also critical to inculcate in him/her the importance of civil-mindedness. It will be a very enriching process for your child to participate, together with you, in volunteer work to help the more unfortunate during the school holidays. Discuss with your child what causes he/she would like to support and work closely with him/her during the process. At the end of the volunteer project, be sure to encourage him/her to develop a journal to document what he/she has learnt and his/her feelings from contributing to the cause.
Conclusion
There are many opportunities for you, as a concerned and enlightened parent, to help your child develop key skills outside of the core curriculum. It is also a process where you can help develop your child’s sense of responsibility, teamwork, and a broader understanding of the world. While this will require significant work for parents as well, there are many fun ways to involve the entire family and make it an enjoyable, mutual learning process. Key things to remember - your guidance will be critical in maintaining their interests and be encouraging and generous with your praise. This will help build his/her confidence and eventually training them to be curious, self-directed learners who can navigate the complex challenges and dilemmas facing 21st Century Professionals. In our next posting, we will share some tips on how to help your child develop another set of critical life skills - strong learning, thinking and communicating skills.
By Ms. Angeline Tong and Ms. Brenda Yeow
Saturday, July 5, 2008
How to help your child with homework?
Parents play a critical role in educating their children. The pressure cooker society today is making it more difficult for parents to increase their involvement in their children’s school career. One good way, however, for parents to be more involved in your child’s education is through homework. Research has shown that ongoing parental involvement in homework can provide a solid foundation for children’s learning and attitudes. When you are involved and maintain high expectations for your child's performance in school, regularly do homework related activities with their children, and display a positive attitude toward homework, your child will benefit. He/she will feel confident, enjoy and learn more from school; and understand the usefulness and importance of education and school.
Admittedly, helping your child with homework isn’t the easiest tasks. Many parents are dumbfounded when their children seek help on their school assignments, especially when they have forgotten concepts thought to them years ago. Others find it difficult to motivate their children and bring them away from video games, online chats or television programmes to concentrate on their homework assignments. We have also met overly anxious parents who sent their children to so many enrichment activities that the children hardly have any energy left to complete the homework. Of course, there is always the perennial complaint from parents that there is too much or too little homework. The list is never ending and we hope that through this week’s sharing, we can provide you with some practical tips, on how you can help motivate your child complete his/her homework assignments successfully and develop the right learning habits for life. Parents with children in primary and secondary school should find these tips most relevant.
Before we discuss ways on how you can help your child, we thought it is important to remind parents how homework benefits students - Homework encourages self-discipline and responsibility by providing them an opportunity to manage time and meet deadlines, teaches children to work independently, reinforces what children have learnt in class, and helps develop good habits and the right attitudes.
Showing that you think Education and Homework are Important
Children look up to their parents and it is very important that they know their parents’ care about their learning and think that homework is important. To help your child do well in school, you should first show that you think education and homework are critical. To do that, you could:
1) Begin early in the academic year. Start sharing early in the year inspirational/ success stories of immediate family members/extended family members/close friends, especially people your child is very close to or heroes he/she is familiar with, on how education and good learning habits (through homework) has helped their success.
2) Get child to set targets/goals; plan what to do to achieve the goals; get him/her to own the achievable goals (such as improving Mathematics scores by 10 marks).
3) Set aside a regular time for your child to do his/her homework. For a younger child, you can always work with him/her to develop a schedule. Remember to set aside time for his/her hobbies and for fun. For secondary school students, they are able to develop a proper schedule, but it is important that you ensure it is a good one.
4) Remove distractions during homework time – turn off the TV and other sources of distractions, such as loud music, computer games etc.
5) Show your child that the skills he/she is learning is relevant to things he/she will do when she grows up. For example, if you want your child to be motivated learning Chinese, let him/her see you reading Chinese newspapers, books or speaking in Mandarin with other people. You can also share with them what you do at work and how Chinese has helped you (perhaps negotiating a deal with a client from Taiwan or Mainland China). To motivate your child to learn maths, you can always show him/her how maths is useful for you (such as calculating payments during groceries).
6) Besides showing your interests, you can also make homework interesting. You can make time to bring your child to libraries, science centre or museums to do research required for his/her assignment (or just for enjoyment). Draw links back to his/her school work, but also the broader environment – to create a better understanding and awareness of his/her surroundings.
Helping them with their homework, not do their homework
It is important to note that while it is critical for parents to show interest in their children’s homework, they should only give support and not take over the assignments. Remember, the homework is for the children, not for the parents! By doing your child’s work, you are depriving him/her the opportunity to understand, process and use information, and making your child more dependent on you. The following tips could help you provide the right level of guidance:
1) You can encourage good study habits by helping your child manage their time to complete assignments. For example, you can help him/her plan the steps required to complete a big research project. During holidays, you can also select a project that your child is interested in and guide him/her on the steps needed to complete the project. This would not only allow you to provide guidance to help your child break assignments into smaller tasks, it will also be a good time to build and strengthen bonds.
2) You can also talk about the assignments with your child. Make sure that he/she understands the requirements of the assignments, where he/she might have problems and whether you could provide additional resources to help in completing the assignment.
3) It is also important to watch for frustration – it might be time to give him/her a break and continue to encourage him/her that the task can be done.
4) It is important to give praise. Your child needs encouragement from people whose opinions he/she value the most – you and your spouse. Little words of commendation can go a long way in motivating your child to do better!
5) Your child also needs to know if he/she has not done the best. It is, however, to keep all feedback constructive. Instead of telling your child that he/she is stupid for solving a maths problem wrongly, try using statements like “Perhaps you might want to try solving the problem in another way.” Then give praise when he/she has corrected the mistake and explain where he/she gone wrong in the first place.
Keeping a constant eye on homework assignments
As an enlightened and involved parent, you should also constantly monitor your child’s homework assignments. With your vigilance over his/her progress, it is more likely that your child can successfully complete these assignments. The degree of monitoring depends on your child’s age, independence and how well he/she does at school. In general, you should make sure that:
1) You are always available. Primary school children, especially, like parents to be around, so that someone they trust could answer any questions they may have on any assignments.
2) You look over completed assignments to ensure they are completed. Read the feedback that teachers gave after the assignment is returned to see how well your child has done and where improvements is required. No matter how well or badly he/she has done, you should always be generous with time, love, praises and encouragement. It is also important to praise good behavior, such as completing the homework on time, completing them correctly and neat handwriting.
3) However, if your child continues to have problems finishing his/her assignments, you should talk to your child to find out what the issue could be. Give your child extra time and help if he/she has difficulties understanding the homework assignment.
4) While all distractions should be switched off during the pre-agreed homework time, parents should also monitor the number of hours their children spent on TV and computer games. This could be an underlying reason why homework is not completed on time.
Parents should also not hesitate to contact teachers, if they wish to clarify something with regards to the homework assignment or when their children are not able to complete the homework frequently. Homework is not only a good way for parents to be involved in their children’s education; it is also a common platform for teachers, parents and families to improve students’ learning.
By Ms Brenda Yeow and Ms Angeline Tong
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Synopisis of Parents' Seminar - EQ:IQ - How You Can Help Your Child Excel
We have received many enquires from parents with regards to our recent parents’ seminar - “EQ/IQ: How You Can Help Your Child Excel”. Thus, for this week’s entry, instead of our usual response to your questions, we’ll be summarizing the key points from the seminar to benefit parents who were not able to attend the talk. Our Q&A session will resume next week with the question from one parent: “How Can I Help My Child Be Interested in Mathematics?”
Synopsis of Seminar – “EQ:IQ - How You Can Help Your Child Excel”
8th June 2008
National Museum of Singapore
Prior to the start of the seminar, the Speaker, Ms Brenda Yeow (PBM), reiterated the importance of selecting the right yardsticks for a child. She advised parents to be realistic about their children’s abilities. Setting too high a benchmark for the child will only serve to de-motivate him/her. Instead, setting achievable targets will allow for mini triumphs and act as a source of motivation for the child to strive for excellence.
Moving on, Ms Yeow shared in details, 7 ways parents can help their children excel. They are:
1) Inculcating the right attitude
2) Nurturing his self-confidence
3) Understanding his learning styles and interests
4) Creating a conducive and emotionally supportive environment at home
5) Encouraging and empowering him to set goals
6) Carrying out activities that build strong bonds
7) Enforcing discipline
The talk ended with Ms Yeow sharing a poem with the parents – “What All Children Want Their Parents To Know” by Diana & Julia Loomans. Due to numerous requests after the seminar, we have included the poem below (see below).
Before the seminar came to a close, there was a short Q&A session. I’ll like to highlight one question from the floor. Throughout the seminar, Ms Yeow has stressed the importance of parents spending quality time with their children. One parent asked how they could spend quality time with each child if they have many children. Ms Yeow replied by asking parents to think about having both quality as well as “special” time. Quality time can be spent together as a family, while special time is only reserved for one child at a time. Each child will be allocated a “special time” with mum or dad where they get to do or talk about things. All siblings will have their own special time to avoid perception of unfairness that could result in unhappiness.
We’ll like to take this opportunity to thank the Speaker, Ms Yeow, the National Museum of Singapore as well as all who have helped to make this seminar a success.
The next parent seminar will be in December 2008. More details to follow.
What All Children Want Their Parents To Know
by Diana & Julia Loomans
Teach me to love and care for myself
Through your positive example.
I will learn much more from what you do
Than from anything you could ever say.
Notice me often,
And take joy in my existence,
So that I grow up to feel special
And know that I am loved.
Listen to me
With an open ear and a loving heart,
So that I learn to understand my feelings
And trust that my needs will be heard.
Play with me often.
Let down your guard and be more carefree.
The memories will last long,
And our connection even longer
Focus on what I’m doing right,
And tell me when you appreciate me,
So that I learn to feel worthy
And motivated to do even more.
Tell me more about life,
Your hopes, dreams and successes,
So that I come to know you as a person
And can call you my friend,
As well as my parent.
Synopsis of Seminar – “EQ:IQ - How You Can Help Your Child Excel”
8th June 2008
National Museum of Singapore
Prior to the start of the seminar, the Speaker, Ms Brenda Yeow (PBM), reiterated the importance of selecting the right yardsticks for a child. She advised parents to be realistic about their children’s abilities. Setting too high a benchmark for the child will only serve to de-motivate him/her. Instead, setting achievable targets will allow for mini triumphs and act as a source of motivation for the child to strive for excellence.
Moving on, Ms Yeow shared in details, 7 ways parents can help their children excel. They are:
1) Inculcating the right attitude
2) Nurturing his self-confidence
3) Understanding his learning styles and interests
4) Creating a conducive and emotionally supportive environment at home
5) Encouraging and empowering him to set goals
6) Carrying out activities that build strong bonds
7) Enforcing discipline
The talk ended with Ms Yeow sharing a poem with the parents – “What All Children Want Their Parents To Know” by Diana & Julia Loomans. Due to numerous requests after the seminar, we have included the poem below (see below).
Before the seminar came to a close, there was a short Q&A session. I’ll like to highlight one question from the floor. Throughout the seminar, Ms Yeow has stressed the importance of parents spending quality time with their children. One parent asked how they could spend quality time with each child if they have many children. Ms Yeow replied by asking parents to think about having both quality as well as “special” time. Quality time can be spent together as a family, while special time is only reserved for one child at a time. Each child will be allocated a “special time” with mum or dad where they get to do or talk about things. All siblings will have their own special time to avoid perception of unfairness that could result in unhappiness.
We’ll like to take this opportunity to thank the Speaker, Ms Yeow, the National Museum of Singapore as well as all who have helped to make this seminar a success.
The next parent seminar will be in December 2008. More details to follow.
What All Children Want Their Parents To Know
by Diana & Julia Loomans
Teach me to love and care for myself
Through your positive example.
I will learn much more from what you do
Than from anything you could ever say.
Notice me often,
And take joy in my existence,
So that I grow up to feel special
And know that I am loved.
Listen to me
With an open ear and a loving heart,
So that I learn to understand my feelings
And trust that my needs will be heard.
Play with me often.
Let down your guard and be more carefree.
The memories will last long,
And our connection even longer
Focus on what I’m doing right,
And tell me when you appreciate me,
So that I learn to feel worthy
And motivated to do even more.
Tell me more about life,
Your hopes, dreams and successes,
So that I come to know you as a person
And can call you my friend,
As well as my parent.
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