There and Back Again

The start of the June holidays means that the term is over. This has been a very eventful term, with my son starting his Primary One journey. The beginning was tough, with his body adjusting to waking up early in the morning. The mental adjustment was even more arduous. His separation anxiety surfaced again despite having attended childcare. Catholic High was relatively easy as he had been looking forward to attending a bigger school. Adjusting to Student Care took a long process. He only stopped complaining around April. Of course, if you read my posts, you will know that there have been challenges along the way. Academic results wise, he is fine. I feel there is nothing much to emphasise. Afterall, when was the last time anybody brought up Primary One results to guage your ability? But I will just show you the comments his teachers made. Just a note, the teachers' comments are usually taken from templates. They judge the students, and then find the word template that ...

I got this rather humourous title from an ex-colleague of mine - a Maths and Social Studies teacher. He posted a picture on my Face Book comment when I complained about number bonds. Interestingly, a Primary School teacher (my student) liked my rant as well. So maybe my thoughts about number bonds are widespread? At least I have proven that two other persons disliked this idea. First, what are number bonds? It is two numbers that make up bigger number.  For example, 6+4=10 or 7+10=17. Apparently, the word was first used in 1920s and it entered the Singapore curriculum in the 1970s. This is from Wikipedia - interestingly that that Singapore was specified. I know for sure that the American Common Core use number bonds as well.  It is pretty basic stuff. The complication, I believe, comes when it is used to add or subtract bigger numbers, like 13-7. One strategy, is called 'making 10'. This is when you break the bigger number into 10 & 3. Then, you use 1...

I thought hard about whether to include this in the blog - it is, after all, a negative reflection on my son. Do I want this memory to be recorded down for prosperity? After some thinking, I decided to include it, but I will not emphasise this entry in social media. If you are reading this, it means you are probably somebody who reads my blog quite often! Last week was my son's Math Amodes (which stands for alternate mode of assessment). To me, an alternate mode of assessment is something non-traditional, like project work, presentation, scrapbook, etc. But in Catholic High, it is still a pen and paper test - not very alternative is it?. It is like calling Madonna an alternative singer. But, anyway. My wife spent some time helping my son prepare for it. She went through the Math files and even got an assessment book so that he can have more practice. By the time he sat for the test, he was very ready for it. As usual, I was waiting for him along the corridor when I saw him cr...

Back in November 2015, my wife enrolled my son in this Math school called Concept Math. He has had been in math tuition before, first in Jelic and than in MPM. I thought Jelic was quite good, it featured self-learning activities that combined logic, math, fine motor skills, inference and a host of other skills. But I am not sure about MPM as it is a worksheet based lesson. And if you have been reading my blogs, you will realise that I am not a fan of too many worksheets. The reason why my wife chose Concept Math was because of the recommendations of her friend whose children are currently studying in the school. Not to mention, his good friend is also studying in the same class! I am not sure if he will enjoy the lessons or the teacher, but I am sure he will enjoy the company of his good friend.  I cannot say much about its programme, this being the first day and the fact that I am not a math teacher by trade (in fact, I stopped taking math as a subject after my 'O' lev...