Today is the first day of the second school term for school kids after a week-long school holidays. Alycia woke up early and reached school early today. Today is also the first day of Alycia’s computer enrichment class. School hours are also extended by 15 minutes because of the computer class.
As expected, Alycia came home with a bag full of books and homework. The homework is more than usual as it includes the exercises that she had missed out during the 1 week that she missed school when she fell ill. She will definitely be unable to complete all the homework in a day. The Math is as usual really tough for 5-year old kids (in Aly’s case, 4 year-old). Today her Math homework include the following :
1. ascending and descending order within 30,
2. fill in the missing numbers in the ascending order (within 30)
3. rearrange these numbers in descending order (within 30). In this exercise, numbers from 1 – 30 are all jumbled up and the kids are to rearrange the numbers in descending order.
4. fill in the missing numbers in descending order (within 30)
My mum and I are of the opinion that this exercise is really too tough for 5-year olds. Alycia was completely lost as she had missed the lessons when her teacher taught the kids this exercise 2 weeks ago. Now, my mum and I have to take over the teacher’s job to teach her. When my mum taught her, Alycia’s mind was wandering somewhere else. She also complained of being sleepy and there wasn’t any interest shown in her in the exercise. I am really worried Alycia will not be able to catch up as she has missed out too many lessons.
When I bumped into Alycia’s teacher last Saturday, she was also of the opinion that the syllabus taught to pre-schoolers in Alycia’s school is a tad too tough. However, some parents are complaining that the syllabus is not up to standard and that homework is not enough! I really think we should not put too much pressure on our kids. Some young kids in Singapore are already seeking psychiatric treatments for mental problems, as reported in today’s newspapers!
Frankly, do you think that the Math syllabus taught in Alycia’s pre-school too tough or is this the norm in all pre-schools for 5 year olds?
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I really don’t think I studied those when I was in kindy. I really pity the children and also very worried for Ashley cos I don’t have the patience to teach her 🙁
I personally feel it’s too tough too. That’s primary school syllabus. Which kindy is she attending?
Wah ur little girl study which kindy ah so many homework one.
for a 4 yo, that sounds tough.. hope it won’t push her away from liking to study/read..
I don’t think that the sylabus is like that here…anyway, it is a bit tough..
Yup! I agree that its too tough. Learning for a 4-5 year old should be fun, not regimented and full of homework like that.
Yeah Shireen, too tough and too much homeworks really make those kids lost their interest in study. If you can why not choose another pre-school for Alycia that balance in academic & social activities too. Even though academic is important but if our child is not happy with it, it becomes useless, rite? I wonder why this pre-school puts so much of academic subjects in a 5 yr old class? Computer class too? Do they have some outdoor activities too? Just my 2 cents.
isnt it diff to make our decision in sending our kids to the correct school. too tough, kids might hv mental problems and pressure. too easy, we afraid kids cannot catch up. u try to find out if alycia can cope or not if can, then nevermind, if cannot then err. change kindy? i think its ok for a 5 yr old to learn that but not too early ler. mayb around july or aug, not now in march.. which kindy?
do they have replacement class for those student who absent because of sick? my kids nursery got this. as the principal told me, just in case the kid sick for 1 week and cant follow the lesson, they will have extra hour on Saturday for tuition without any charges.
you may ask the principal and check for that.
Barb… I can’t remember studying those things too when I was in preschool.
JoN, SueSue, Wen… the kindy is 3Q MRC, a franchise kindy.
Sting… I hope all these won’t kill Aly’s interest in academic stuff.
Mumsgather…totally agree that learning should be made in a fun way.
Vivian… I don’t think Aly’s kindy has this privilege coz if there is, the school teacher would have informed me. Anyway, I will still ask the principal.
Which kindy does your girl go to? Sounds like a good kindy.
during our time it is definately not that tough….
i remember i started attending kindy when i was 5+ but nowadays ppl tend to send their child to pre school as young as 2. I never know Malaysia school accepts students as young as 2
Alice… i may switch Alycia to Kuen Cheng kindy next yr, to prepare her for primary school in that school.
Alicia…. hey, good to read your comments in my blog 🙂
Different children accelerate at different rates. So whether the syllabus is difficult or not depends on your child. That’s the beauty of homeschooling, we can teach at our own pace. That’s why I believe even though we send our children to school/kindy, the primary teaching responsiblity still falls back on the parent.
For me, is definately too tough for a 4yo kid…
mayb i’m lacking, but Xuan (4yo), she only enjoy play in her pre-school, hardly have homework & after 4 mths of school, she only learn till letter Hh…
whearas Aly oredi number up to 30, i think Xuan don’t even learn numbers yet>>>