Our Visit to Eye level

Our Visit to Eye level.

       We were invited to visit Eye Level to find out more about their programme. The first thing that struck me was that the staff were very helpful in giving information. Moreover, the environment is very clean and conducive. 

Eye level's main philosophy

    Eye Level's main philosophy is to encourage self-directed learning. This means that Eye Level has a systematic and individualized programme to help each child learn in their own pace. Moreover, each child's learning progression depends on their ability to understand a topic and their pace of learning.  

Using the Progress Chart to Monitor the Self Directed Learners

What really impressed me is that although each child's learning is self-directed, the teaching staff actually closely monitors the progress of each child using the progress chart. The progress chart clearly shows what the child has learnt and what he or she needs more practice on.  

The progress chart shows the number of booklets for each topic and the teacher will mark, assess the child's performance and check his understanding in each booklet before deciding whether the child is ready to move on to a more difficult level for the topic.  More practice will be given to those who needs more time to understand a particular topic. 

     

The Lessons

       For older and more independent learners, work is assigned to them and they are expected to complete the task before returning to the teacher to receive feedback. Of course, should they encounter any difficulty, the teacher is always ready to assist them. The teacher is strategically located in the middle of the room, always ready to answer questions or to give feedback to the individual student. 

Photograph of one of the classroom- a row of individual work station for students on the right side of the room. 

The individual work station. 

  For younger children who need constant supervision and more help from the teacher, they will be seated in "an island". This seating arrangement is to ensure that younger children can be monitored closely and be on task. When they become more independent learners, the teacher will "upgrade" them to the individual work station. 

Their Programme

They have a range of programme for children of different ages and for the different subjects. Below is a quick summary of some of their programme. 

For more information, you can visit their official website or call up their centres and their friendly staff will be more than willing to assist you.

Giveaway and a limited period Discount 

1. Sign up and complete a free diagnostics test to receive a free copy of "The Giant's Pants".

For the first 20 readers who sign up and complete a free Diagnostics Test, you will receive a copy of the book " The Giant's Pants". 

The Giant’s Pants is the Global Grand Prize winning story out of more than 1,000 entries that participated in the 22^nd Eye Level Literary Award. 

2. Get a 20% discount off the first month when you enroll your child.

For the first 50 readers who sign up to enroll your child in any of the programme, you will get a 20% discount for the first month. Just quote "Raising Our Successful Children" to get the discount.

You can visit the link below and sign up immediately.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/iamthekey_raisingoursuccessfulchildren

or to call 
Mr Nicholas Seow at 8777 7224 for more information. 

A new beginning..Twenty Sixteen

A new beginning..Twenty Sixteen 

Reflecting on year 2015

Reflection is a way to bring closure to the past year and to help us focus on what to do for the next year. We have to grow each year. We have to grow individually and as a family. 

2015 was a year of achievement for us.

a) I survived being a Stay-at-Home-Mum and I manage to design a game SingaPlorers as part of the SG50 celebration to help children and Singaporeans learn about Singapore's nation building story. This is an achievement to me as I always wanted to design a game and publish it. In fact, the blueprint for the game was done in 2010. I am happy that I am finally able to accomplished my wish in 2015 and glad that I'm still contributing to the society in ways that I can.

b) I managed to organise a charity event involving 7 families ( 9 adults and 10 children). This door to door food distribution to senior citizens at the end of 2015 was an opportunity for us to contribute to society and for our kids to learn about compassionate. 

c) The children are learning and developing well. This itself is already a great achievement to me. All I wish is for all the children to be happy and healthy. It is a bonus that Natalie has performed well in 2015 and achieving in the different aspects of school. Emmanuel has shown tremendous improvement in his ability to read and do his mathematics. Faith is discovering more and more each day. Also, she has become more independent. More importantly, the siblings have grown much closer together. 

d) Daddy decided to do a little "career switch" to be able to spend more time with the family. I greatly appreciate this. His decision to switch from a upper management role to a senior teacher role is not one that many people would make. However, to him, family is his priority and he proves it with his action. I am greatly touched. As he always says " you work to live, not live to work". Hence, Daddy is spending a lot more time at home and taking up more daddy duties like teaching the children maths, piano and bringing the kids for outdoor play more often.

A new beginning..Twenty Sixteen 

Twenty sixteen is truly a new beginning for our family in many ways.

Emmanuel started his primary school journey, Faith is going to school for the first time and Natalie is in a new class and learning a new subject- Science. 

For my hubby and I, we are entering our 10th year of our marriage life. In a blink of an eye, we are really married for nearly 10 years. Marriage is not easy and being together happily for 10 years is really an incredible achievement.  

For me, I am entering into my 30! Yes, I am going to be 30 years old this year.  As I look back at my life at this point in time, I asked myself, what have I achieved? My answer is simply "Natalie, Emmanuel, Faith, my hubby and my happy family". Anyway, for this year, I really want to start or try something new. I'm not sure what it is yet. But I am truly excited. 

New goals

Goals give us a direction for the year and help us to stay focus on what is important.  

As a family:

• We are going to learn ice-skating together this year. Ice - skating is new to the children and to Daddy. I hope we will be competent by the end of the year. This is in preparation for our 10th year anniversary trip to Korea (still planning). This is gonna be our main bonding activity and family time for the year. 

Natalie: 

To learn more about science and to discover more on forensic science. 
To achieve band 1 for Science in CA1. 

Emmanuel: 

To achieve at least 3 more levels in taekwondo by the end of the year. 

To achieve at least a band 2 for all his subjects at the end of the year. 

Faith: 

To have more fun. 

To discover the world. 

Mummy: 

To start or try something new this year. 
To organize one charity event. 

Daddy: 

To discover new ways to teach effectively.

Twenty Sixteen is a new beginning..

So what are your goals? What do you want to achieve this year?
Download the goal setting document here to help you and your children to set goals today. 

Nurturing a Heart

Nurturing a Heart 

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

                                                         Ralph Waldo Emerson

Education starts at home and from the heart. As part of our Literature Based Learning(LBL) of the book "The Giving Tree" (the activities for this LBL have not yet been uploaded), I worked with Lion Befrienders and organized a door to door distribution of essential food items to senior citizens living alone. 

Anyway, the main objective is for us to do what we can and give back to society. I want my children to experience the joy of giving. We have previously done a distribution to an orphanage at Bandung and my children were happy that they made other children so happy as well. 

This time, I roped in 6 other mummies - Jacqueline, Ai Hua, Shu Wen, Serene, Veron and Lin Ying to join me. 

The process was rather tedious. We had to hunt for the appropriate food items with the right price. We wanted to give as much as we can to as many household as possible. 

Finally, thanks to the research done by Ai Hua, Jacqueline and I managed to purchase the items for 60 households. 

To make things more efficient, we purchased the items and I had to delivery the items to my house on my own. It was a full car load. 

It was really heart warming that everyone played a role in making this possible. 7 families came together for a common cause. 

Lin Ying [Bumble Bee Mum] , Serene [Xavvy-licious], Xavier (Serene's son) Veron[Confessions of a Mumzilla], Andy (Veron's hubby), my hubby (Augustine) and I packed the items into 60 packs in half an hour.

Finally came 23 December, the day that we are doing the actual distribution. My little minions started work right after lunch at 1pm. The children helped to move all the items to the corridor and waited for Shu Wen, Clara (Shu wen's daughter) and Poh Heng (Shu Wen's hubby) to come help transport the items to the actual venue. 

Finally. all 7 families met at the venue. As you can see in the photograph, we were outnumbered by the kids. 

Anyway, we quickly collected the number of packs and went to our assigned units to do the distribution. 

The children were very good helpers. They were useful in carrying the items. 

Very strong and enthusiastic little helpers. We packed each pack, ensuring that it was light enough for a child to carry. 

Then we were our separate ways  to the different blocks to start the distribution. 

It was a good bonding time for all. 

Everyone did their play and carried what they could. 

Even Faith did her best at helping. She carried a packet of 2.5 Kg rice every time. 

Emmanuel fell down a flight of stairs and hit his back while carrying a sack of rice. He had to sit and rest at the stairs for a while. But after he was able to stand up and walk, he simply stood up and said he wanted to help distributing again. 

Natalie was our navigator. She was in charge of telling us which unit to go to next and she led the way to the unit. She was a little sad to learn that these uncles and aunties live in a small house with no bedroom and some of the houses were in bad condition. However, she felt happy that the food items that she delivered will at least keep these uncles and aunties full for a while.

This photography was taken at .30pm. 1.5 hrs since we started distribution and they are still all smiling and happy. 

At the end of the distribution, while waiting for the rest to come back. A photograph of the tired but happy kids. 

The most amazing thing about the day is that none of the children complain that they were tired or that they didn't want to walk anymore. They were in very high spirits all the way. The only time where they got upset was because they were fighting over who to carry the rice. All the children were very enthusiastic to carry the rice. 

Our final group photograph at the end of the distribution.

I hope our little act brought some joy and hope to those lonely elderly. The whole process was tedious and tiring, but the smiles of the aunties and uncles made it all worthwhile. 

When I came home, I asked the children about their thoughts for the day and they all said they felt happy. 

Happy that they have helped someone and made their day a little better, a little brighter. 

For me, I'm glad I've sparked a little passion and a little light in my children's heart. Now, they find more joy in giving rather than receiving. To me, they have learnt an important life lesson. Nurturing a heart is the most important to me. I plan to make this an annual affair.  

Read about Veron and Serene's blog post on the distribution. 

A little effort on our part can make a big difference to someone's day. 

I really want to encourage all the parents to bring the kids along and do something to make someone's day a little better. It really doesn't take much. Perhaps, just a kind act or a packet of food for someone in need. 

Parents are doing, children are watching. We can make this world a slightly better place through our simple action. Our children are learning and will pass it on. 

"Strong Foundation, No Tuition, No Enrichment" Strategy in Primary School (Part II)

"Strong Foundation, No Tuition, No Enrichment" Strategy in Primary School (Part II)

So, "Strong Foundation, No Tuition, No Enrichment" Strategy in Primary School (Part I), is it possible?

Natalie has just proven that it is totally possible. 

It took me 8 years to find out if this strategy works. I believe that learning starts from young and not just when they enter primary school. 

I have been missing in action for nearly a month because I have decided to give myself a break from everything- ranging from cooking, blogging, cleaning, etc.... Finally, exams are over for Natalie and we got back her results (or is it mine?). 

Anyway, we are super happy about her results. She did very well for this year. Several reasons why i said she did well. I just want to share my happiness here (I'm not trying to boast ok?) :)

Non academic achievement:

1) 1st in gym talent(Class)

2) 2nd in gym talent (Level)

3) Recognised with Resilience Award.

4) Recognised with an award for showing Respect 

5) Recognised with an award for showing Integrity. 

Academically:

1) Band 1 for all subjects in her SA2 and for her overall results for P2.

2) She had a remarkable improvement in her mandarin. She was only half a mark behind the top student for Chinese. 

3) Her overall average percentage is above 90 marks.

4) Awarded the Edusave Good Progress Award.

More importantly, she did well because she recognized that her hard work and consistent work is the recipe for good results. 

You have no idea how ecstatic she was when she received her results for Chinese. Chinese has always been her weakest subject and the subject that she has no confidence in. 

However, for this SA2, she worked so hard for it. She made notes (Yes, for chinese.. unbelievable!), she redo all the tests that were given for the whole year. She re-learn all the Ting Xie for the whole year and got me to test her. She really made sure that she understood and learnt how to write every single word in the textbook and in the ting xie list. More impressively, she completed 4 assessment books within the month that she was preparing for her exams. 

I totally didn't force her to do at all. I guided her to the steps of how to improve her mandarin, but it was totally up to her to decide whether to do it or not. I needed to push her a bit initially. But once she got into the momentum of revising for exams everyday after school, she just took off on her own. 

Anyway, I would probably do another post on our strategy of revising Mandarin. It is really about hard work. I am so glad that it paid off because we all know that hard work doesn't pay off all the time. So I'm just so glad it did this time. 

She scored 69/70 for the main chinese paper and an overall of 96/100 for SA2. Amazingly, out of the 3 subjects, she scored the highest for chinese in SA2. Previously, she was mostly in the range of band 2. When she got back her results, she couldn't believe it and I couldn't believe until I saw her actual exam script.

Perhaps, because of her tremendous improvement in her mandarin, she is awarded the Edusave Good Progress Award. She will receive her award from a Minister soon.

It is not so much that she won the award, but the award is a recognition of her hard work and a great encouragement to her.    

Hence, for a child who has no tuition nor enrichment, and solely based on her hard work (and mine, of course), she really did do well academically. More importantly, as a parent, I am proud to see her develop and achieving in different aspects of her school life. 

Well, having said so much as her doing well despite the fact that she had no tuition nor enrichment, not every child is the same. I'm glad Natalie did well but I am not sure if my number 2 who is going to P1 next year will do as well. But my hubby and I have discussed this issue seriously and we have come to an understanding that we will stay tuition/enrichment free for as long as we can for each child (as long as they are not failing too badly). We always don't want to stress our child too much. Afterall, 一山还比一山高。 [ There is always another higher mountain.] 

So our attitude is: 

So what if a child is top of a class? 

So what if a child is top of a level?

So what if a child is top student of Singapore? 

There is always someone better. 

So why compare and subject the children to the "race"?  

Perhaps, it's just all in our mind, the mind of the parents. 

After all, quoting my hubby:

" 我们的孩子又不是要考状元."

Our children are not trying to scholars of the Imperial Examinations  (in ancient China). 

And yes, we all hope our children do well, but academic achievement is just one aspect. We should not define our children based on their results. What is more important is giving them a happy childhood and educating their heart. Doing well is really just a bonus for me. 

Afterall, it's getting the children to adopt the right attitude in life that is the most important. It is the right attitude that will bring them far. 

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Other articles on education : 

• Understanding the Different Learning Styles using Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligence

• Basic Rules for Primary School English [Apostrophes, Contractions and Tenses]

• 12 Important Lessons your child needs to learn in Primary School.

• Useful Tips for Preparing for Primary School

• "Strong Foundation, No Tuition, No Enrichment Strategy" in Primary School