Singapore Mighty Math and Singapore Mighty Science: Fun Ways to Learn

This is good news for the “*kiasu” moms out there. Singapore Mighty Math and the Singapore Mighty Science are now in the Philippines. Super thanks to The Great Leap Academy for bringing them here.

The Singapore Math program is becoming famous around the world. In fact, many schools are now adapting the Singapore Math in their curriculum. The framework and methods of teaching are so different that it results in getting consistent top ranking scores of its students in Singapore. The teaching style is significantly different over the traditional math curriculum.

Why Singapore Mighty Math?

The development is progressive and appropriate for children. Children learn more using visualization. The teaching method of the Singapore math first comes with the topic presentation and then followed by visual, abstract progression. The concept is being explained first before they are being taught how to do Math. One reason most Singaporeans ranked first in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Amazingly, some US schools even followed the same teaching method to improve their Math standards. 

Mighty Math teachers here in the Philippines were personally trained by experts from Singapore. Adapting this kind of teaching would be a great relief to you because you need not re-translate the topic to your child. Your child would definitely enjoy the learning process as he progresses through series of stimulating fun activities (not just worksheets) developed appropriately to their speed and ability. Let us say that in this learning method, no child is left behind!

Is your kid ready for a fun scientific challenge? Then this is the right one for him or her. Singapore Mighty Science is one great way to teach children about science and its relevance in the world they live in. What is the significance of science? Are we able to explain to our kids how science got into our lives? Understanding won’t be that hard for the student if we know how to explain about how the human lives relate to science. 

Just like Singapore math, the Singapore Mighty Science is an extraordinary learning system that combines sophisticated Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology with the inherent excitement of hands-on manipulatives to engage and motivate the minds of the students. Students will not just learn scientific principles, they will also create their own science models, robots and objects that move, and find their own way around obstacles. Through this, they understand science and sharpen their analytical skills in a fun way. Students will surely learn alot! 

Each student will have its own science and robotics kit. The Singapore Mighty Science structured lesson will guide them how to use remote controls, motors, and IR sensors. Each student is expected to build at least 8 guided science projects which they can take home.

The Great Leap Academy has been recognized for its international academic and artistic enrichment programs. The center has handpicked the introduction of singapore math and the singapore science to appropriately structure the mental ability and practical skills of your child. Learning is not just information. As we say, we all learn from experience. How do you think you should manage your child’s imagination to explore and invent?

*Kiasu is a slang term for moms in Singapore which means “competitive and afraid to lose out”. They do everything just to win. Are you a “kiasu” parent? 

Benefits of Music and Movement To Children

What happens to the child’s brain when listening to music? Don’t you know that each component of music affects different parts of the brain? If you remember it right, during pregnancy you were asked to speak or let your baby listen to music when he was still a fetus in your womb. At 5 months, the fetus could already respond to music by moving to the beat. This suggests that any prenatal exposure to music facilitates fetus development. When multiple intelligence becomes functional to a child during its development stage outside the womb, the single most important, effective tool any mother can use is music. Any child could easily connect to music.

A study reported that a child is able to develop its language and speaking ability a whole lot faster through music and I can attest to that. Little D.C. was exposed to classical music everyday and every night with no fail ever since I found out that I was pregnant. He came out 8 lbs, with clear skin (not wrinkled) and with one tooth. I was shocked at 1 year old, he was able to sing the chorus of Somewhere Over the Rainbow in tune and could speak straight with about 40 words. At nearly 24 months he can talk to everybody in paragraphs already. Now 3, oh goodness, he has a very strong memory and you can talk to him both in Filipino and English like a 5 year old kid. Yes, he became bilingual, though not very good in Filipino yet but he can go to a fastfood counter, order a meal in tagalog and pay for it.

Verbal intelligence and comprehension skills are his strongest area. He’s both a listener and a talker. He learned new words at a very rapid pace, could understand complicated questions or instructions and did not go through the babble stage. I did not teach him anything formal. But, we listen to classical music together, I sing to him, dance with him, play instruments with him and eventually enrolled him in one of the recognized music and movement program in the world for two semesters.  I strongly believe that music supported that development.  Music is one teaching style any mom should acknowledge that could best enhance the learning aptitude of a child. It is a live the experience, enjoy the learning process, and obtain positive outcomes kind of child development tool.

Movement

The music’s natural partner is movement. This nonverbal response could make the child dance and move all muscles of the body, which is centered on the vestibular system development. Experts highlight the importance of movement in the beginning years to prepare the brain ready for learning. How do you think music, without much effort, could stimulate the best dance movement? Though dancing is not little D.C.’s strongest, he loves it!  

Educating for Life: Homeschooling with Passion, Purpose and Confidence

As a passionate homeschooling mom, I had developed a very intense bonding with my son. I am able to get closer to him while enriching his strengths and supplementing his weaknesses. We move as fast or as slow with our learning process and I am able to customize my teaching method. Homeschooling is both fun and a challenge. How about you, how do you raise an achiever? If bonding rings a bell to you, you would probably attend this upcoming homeschooling conference on September 6. 

This event is brought to you by The Learning Basket, Manila Workshops and UNILAB. Veteran and passionate homeschoolers will speak about Educating for life, Homeschool 101, Nurturing the Love of Learning and many more!!! Mark your calendars and make sure you don’t miss this event. You may register at www.homeschoolingconference.com. Hope to see you all there. 

Unschooling my Preschooler: What Does Unschooling Mean?

Unschooling, from the word itself, means not sending your child to the compulsory school as an educational method to learn. Unlike "regular" homeschool, it refuses to use standard curricula. This live and learn together method allows you to teach your child using the conventional way of instructing your child in an on demand basis that you, as a parent, may comfortably bear. Certainly, the interest and questions of the child could lead to reading books or doing projects and activities that may explain more about the interest. Unlike in the traditional compulsory school, the topics of interest in unschooling were not mandated because the curriculum were not dictated.

How does this work? 

My little D.C. asked about how a car runs, his daddy would give him images and pictures of the car as well as explain about the engine. Then we go out to apply what we have learned and check out actual cars and its engine. This hands on approach is a natural way of learning things without any arbitrary authority. As a parent, I won’t pretend to be an expert in anything, but the process unleashes the natural inquisitiveness of my son and allows him to gradually learn what he needs to know when he wants to learn about it and most importantly, at a time he feels ready to absorb new information.

  

A child often gets tired and stressed out doing all the things that were required by traditional schooling. In unschooling, I can set the instruction according to how my son wants to learn. However, this method requires you to make all efforts to actively connect with your kid, knowing what he is ready to learn, and finding the things in the world that might trigger some interest. No one tells your child what to learn or you as a parent what to teach. Unschooling is a kind of homeschooling but a bit different, because homeschooling teaches what was required by the school. The key here is exposure – let the child explore the world and the questions would be raised as he learns about his immediate environment.

Beauty of Unschooling 

It lies in its freedom to let the student pick the topic to learn. No one sets the instruction and crammed up any information to drown in his head. My son figured out things by himself with my help. He learned to think by himself and often times, decide what is important to know at the moment instead of just following a teacher. It is play-based, not structured, and is perfect for preschoolers until age 7. 

In school, sometimes or most of the times, kids are being forced to learn and do homeworks that they do not like. In unschooling, the challenge for both parent and child is the search for the answers. It is a learn as you go way of finding information. The choice and the control reside with the learner in all ways. With unschooling, you do not need to coerce your kid on some imposed educational agenda. I let my son take charge of his interests and choices. My role is like a helpful, supportive mom and a friend. 

The World Is Our Big Book: Why I Homeschool My Son?

As a new homeschooling/unschooling parent, i thought of writing my first blog to answer the most famous question of all time, "Why I homeschool/unschool my son?"  

As early as 1 year old, my little D.C. can sing chorus phrases in tune, can comprehend and speak straight, can name 4 kinds of dinosaurs; distinguish wild animals from tame, nocturnal from non nocturnal and can identify animal sounds.

He learned it not from books, but by visiting different places. Educating at home most of the time is boring, so we go out at times and travel. As I always say, “we have the whole world to teach our child.” 

I am proud not because of his early achievement perse, I am proud because we are able to make learning and achieving most things in a very relaxed manner, in his own time and pace. I actually don’t care if he’s advance or not, what’s important is, he is interested to learn and enjoys it. Who wouldn’t? Our field trip is once a week! J

Homeschooling is increasingly becoming popular here in the Philippines. One of the reasons I decided to teach my little D.C. at home to make sure he gets to maximize his potential and creativity being taught one-to-one personally by myself. Though he has enrichment classes on the side, being his mom, I know best how to make him learn without putting so much pressure on him and on me. 

Why homeschool makes better students?

Imagine a classroom with a maximum of 50 students. Your child would be lucky if the teacher, who would soon get exhausted managing 6 classes a day, could even get near him and see what he is doing. Attention is the key to learning.

Although there is a similar potential of exhaustion by moms, it would not be as intense as the regular teacher feels. This means a mom could definitely nurture and maximize the level and type of input a child could get in any required session. The one-to-one type of parent-child teaching provides the child your full attention and let your child learn at his own pace. With the modified input, your child highly benefits a customized academic environment with an exceptionally effective approach to instruction.

Stress and Pressure

Imagine the pressure on having to wake up at 4am everyday just to make it to a 7am class and coming home at 3pm with 7 home works. Isn’t that so exhausting?

The child must develop his natural ability and creativity without any pressure and stress. Research shows that stress may affect child’s brain development while pressure in early childhood may decrease confidence and self esteem, which may lead to early decrease of interest in learning. Also, children with lower self esteem normally do not socialize and may become victims of bullies. Contrary to popular belief that homeschooling isn’t really set up for socializing, it turns out that homeschooled children have better social skills and fewer behaviour problems than their demographically matched schooled peers.      

Building Self-esteem

As a parent like me, you must agree that love and intimacy affect the learning process of any child. Because I accurately monitor how well he is mastering his creativity and skills, he felt motivated by the love and attention I gave, thus more self-esteem. Considering that he is not in a group situation, he has no fear of making mistakes, which made it possible for me to easily target his pace and his skills accordingly. Our high quality, intimate mother-son level of interaction allows a customized level of individual attention that surpass any teacher-student relationship. Plus, my direct instruction is backed up by a good lunch or snack, which in a lot of ways, ensures an almost hundred percent lesson retention. My technique proves to be exceptionally powerful – food incentive! ;)

Music and Travel as Important Factors

What better way to teach your son science, reading, history, geography, and language? Go travel. How do you enhance his creativity, critical thinking, comprehension and character? Make music together! 

My little D.C. has a wide vocabulary and can comprehend easily because i really believe that reading aloud, listening to good music and creating music together help improve these skills. Not to mention, he's a 3 year old with a very very sharp memory. He still knows where we celebrated his 1st birthday, and all the countries we have been to. Music can help sharpen memory too. Music and travel are very important factors to our great learning experiences which we cannot do more often if we put little DC in a traditional school. Letting your children take part everywhere you go and in everything you do is a must in educating for life.