Last night, I attended the parent's meeting set by Liam's teachers at Goddard Crescent. It was a first for me. I don't remember them calling for one last year :)
I was actually starting to feel lazy and I wanted to back out the last minute. Not to mention that I was running late since I had to wait for Alvin to get home before I can leave. It was an adult-only event so no kids allowed.
The meeting went smoothly. I was just at the receiving end. Explanations on practices were given until one mum shared a story about his nephew and that caught my attention. A little background, the education system here is a bit laid back (a bit? who are you kidding?! for me, it's way too laid back hehehe). See here in Australia, the primary schooling of kids are set in such a way that the kids are not stressed in school. It is quite laid-back as compared to Manila. I just can't help but compare the system here and in Ateneo (or in most schools in Manila). If in Manila, the whole process of getting and being educated is stressful and tedious here, it is not.
Imagine, kids in pre-school are not taught how to read and write. Formal learning starts when they go to Kindy, in the big school. It was explained this evening that play is actually teaching the kids a lot. We might think that they are just playing, but they are actually learning. The one that was shared which bothered me a bit was that we have to be careful of teaching our kids too much ahead of time because in the case of her nephew who went to Kindy, it was a major issue. The kid got so bored because he already knew how to read and write, as compared to majority of the class that were just starting to learn. He got isolated. (Note: I wasn't able to ask the mum what the school did. Not that I think my son is gifted or anything, but I just wanted to know how the school addressed the concern. Why? In Ateneo, if we see an exceptional or a "fast" kid, there are procedures that we can do to have the kid formally assessed --of course when the kid is assessed to be gifted, passes all the requirements, goes up one or two levels higher it will also have social implications and parents should be ready for that).
Reading the biography of Steve Jobs now is no help as well. There was one part in the book that shared the reasons why Steve kept on doing pranks in school. They were triggered by his boredom. He already knew those things and he wasn't challenged! (Again, I am not assumming that my son is gifted).
It caught my attention because I have been teaching Liam every now and then at home. Not formal and strict teaching ok. Supplemental teaching. I let him practice writing his letters (They have a NSW Foundation Font here). I let him do some maths, because I felt he was interested in it! I am just nurturing his interests. After reading the book "Raising Boys" my whole idea of how to raise my son changed. I got to know how it is with young boys and where they are coming from. I teach him when I feel he is up for it. I can sense when the "teachable moment" is for him. Walang pilitan in other words. It is paying off because rarely do we argue now when I teach him. It is an enjoyable time for both Liam and myself. Sometimes while we play we count from 1-100. Sometimes when he wants a hug, he asks me for a thousand hugs, so we get to practice skip counting by hundreds till we reach 1000. I am just supporting him in his interests. When I ask him to do some worksheets and he says can I just finish one page, I let him just do a page. What am I driving at? I am just grabbing those opportunities, rare and golden "teachable moments," because I feel it's sayang when I don't do something.I am not forcing him. But still, he might end up being advanced with the rest of his classmates when he starts with Kindy.
Now I am scared! Hubby and I actually talked about it last night. I asked hubby about me giving supplemental lessons to Liam. Well, hubby did make sense. Liam is not really advanced. He still needs a lot of practice in his writing and his reading. We can sense that he is good with numbers and we decided to just continue to give those relaxed supplemental lessons every now and then. Observing him as well, we can see that he has this positive attitude towards school so I guess we're on the right track here.
Hay, whoever said parenting was easy?
With these daily decisions, we just have to pray for wisdom and hope that everything turns up okay for our kids and their future!
