Wan Qi is going to be 5 soon. So fast, I kept saying to her this few days. I miss the cutie small small you, I would say. And she will pretend to be a baby crying. haha.
Back then when she was a little girl, I always set some targets like Wan Qi being able to do 40 pcs puzzles by the age of 2. Being able to recite Chinese poems by the age of 18months. Being able to use chopstick byt the age of 2 and bla bla. My mum said thats why I age fast. Ya but I cant help it owing to the nature of my job as a teacher. Nowadays, children are so smart.
I was shock to see my Primary 1 students reading Mr Men stories in class. Or even thicker books like The series of fairies books that are so popular with my students.
Hence, I started to read Roald Dahl's books(my favourite author during my childhood time) when Wan Qi is 3yrs old.She didnt reject it but wouldnt read it on her own. So I figure its a bit too tough. I just read it to her for entertainment purpose.Then I decided to buy a set of Mr Men. And she loves it, she thinks its funny. Then I bought some thicker books when she is 4. But she didnt read on her own. So I just left in the lower shelf, hoping that she will go and read it by herself when she wakes up at 6 plus or 7 every morning to do reading aloud(which I am proud of but also sick of it cos she is so loud that she wakes me up)Finally, after lying on the shelf for a few weeks, she started reading them. And thats it, she started reading the thick books that my students are reading. She reads Enid Blyton now, Nancy Drew, The fairy series, Scardey cats, and last few weeks Roald Dahl. However, for Roald Dahl, she will read just a few chapters and she will pester me to read it for her. Yesterday, we finally finished Matilda but at 12 midnight. She doesnt want to stop as she is too curious about the ending. That's the thing about Roald Dahl's books, one simply cant stop from reading it.
So tala, Wan Qi is able to read on her own by the age of 4.
For Chinese, she is able to read on her own too. Now she is reading Journey to the West simplified version and with the help of HAN YU PIN YIN. I have not taught her HAN YU PIN YIN. But she will try to use phonics to help her use the HAN YU PIN YIN to read the chinese characters. And if she didnt get the sound correctly, she will think about it and correct herself. She is able to read our Primary 4 textbooks with some help. I must say she can recognise and guess the characters quite well in context.
But for writing, she seems to be not doing so well. It took her a 2-3 days to remember simple chinese characters like 4,5. She is better in her English spelling though. Within minutes, she is able to memorise all the 10 spelling that I gave her.Thanks to Auntie Sharon I guess. :> But oops sometimes she still cannot distinguish between a u and a y which makes me very angry.
As for abacus, we had stopped her from going as we didnt see any progress. So we just coach her at home. She is able to do sums using abacus till 90 plus. For mental calculation only within 20. But sometimes she will also forget if we didnt let her practice.
As for English, I let her do comprehension, grammar and rearraning sentences. Have not gone into compos writing yet as I am not very confident of doing a great job. Hopefully there will be a good enrichment centre that can do this job. Or perhaps I should let her read some model essays now just to start the ball rolling. haha.
So much for academic, she is learning swimming from her daddy. But frankly speaking we are too lazy. This year she only went swimming twice. But she knows how to use the swimming board now and even tried to play "water polo" with some of the older sisters there by using one hand to hold the board and the other hand to throw the swimming hat to her new friends.But once a while, she will miss and sink into the pool. Luckily, I bought the arena swim suit where there is a "leash" that is attached to it. So Wan Qi dont have to drink too much pool water.:P
I was hopping for Wan Qi to learn ballet from Singapore Ballet Academy but have not receive any news from them yet. I guess I need to call them up instead.
Many enrichment are put on hold. I guess I am not as hardworking as when Wan Qi was young. Simply too tired to go for enrichment.
Oh but she is attending art lessons in cc which is quite atrocious. Previously,she will draw a person with "flesh", after attending the art lesson, she draws skeleton man. I asked her why she told me because they have nothing to eat thats why turn to skeletons.Gosh, this girl. I am afraid she is just not an artistic person.Think will just stop her art lesson.
So she will just have one enrichment which is the phonics lessons and ending soon too. By then think her only enrichment will be ballet. Cos we like to spend time playing with her during weekends.
I hope Wan Qi will continue to be a happy learner. Thats my wish for her. :P
5 comments:
Wanqi is very smart. But I feel so stressed for her and perhaps for mother you too after reading what she has been taught since so young.
wow stress me liao...
Guifen, remember the reminder for yourself in fb! :D
Frankly speaking, I am glad that my hubby is rather relaxed about such things, and we both have similar thinking about developing and guiding our kids, hence I always prevent myself from reading too much about what other kids are taught and trained. That can be crazy and stressful for me. I just want my boy and girl to develop and learn at their own pace, I have faith they are able to learn when expected and when they are ready. Your kids are very smart too, just like Wanqi, so dont be stressed. :)
no lar...just a general comment blisstan. :)
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