KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

Despite having what seem to us to be pretty good tutors my children are still struggling with some subjects. They both started secondary school in the tops sets but in the last year or so they seem to be struggling especially in maths and sciences. We have changed tutors, tried withdrawing privileges and offering incentives but nothing seems to be working. Has anyone any idea?

1. the heart is not there, lost interest

2. seemingly good tutors become no good is just a symptom, or could be a reflection of the child's heart being not in the books,

3. other distractions, BGR

I find that the top 2 reasons for children failing at school are too much work to do and/or a lack of understanding causing falling behind.

I would suggest that the too much work part could be helped with good organisation strategies (see below for tips) and the lack of understanding part could be helped with some training in good learning skills. One crucial area our children get very little instruction in at school and there is very little tuition available in is learning how to learn - learning the skills, techniques and strategies of the world's best learners?

Simple training in good learning skills can make a huge difference to a childs information processing, understanding, retention and coping with the rigours of school.

Start with Organisation:- The Top 8 Organisational Strategies for School Students

1) Get a wall chart of the whole year, pin it in a very visible place
2) Put on it all the dates for your year – term/semester dates, all holidays, major sports/cultural/social events, tests, exams
3) Make another, smaller timetable of your week with all lessons and regular events noted, pin it near your wall calendar
4) As soon as you get notice of a new assignment, put the date in your phone calendar and transfer it to your wall calendar as soon as you are home
5) Work out what the main stages are for completing the assignment (eg. researching, reading, planning, writing, checking) and your estimate of how many days each stage will take
6) Break down the assignment into a series of deadlines ( eg. for finishing the researching, the reading etc.) mark the deadlines on your wall calendar
7) Every evening make a ‘to do’ list, including the tasks from your wall calendar and give yourself a deadline for each one
8) Always get started on the easiest one and when finished move to the most challenging one and then back again
The solution to procrastination is organisation