Exams fever, finally over
I now understand why parents send their kids for tuition...it is an extremely exhausting, mentally draining task to coach the kids in their studies.
For the past one week, Kai was having his exams and I was helping him. From English, Science, Maths and Chinese...it was very tiring. In fact, I must said that Kai was really great in handlng it although there were many times, he just sat there and cried. He was back in school only in March, he missed term one and only did term two work and he was pushed into the cauldron of examinations.
I am not expecting much from him because to swtich from the US cirrulum to the Singapore cirrculum, it takes alot from him. Just like one mummy friend said "treat it as a warm up." Perhaps, also a training for him to handle the difficulties in life. I believe this process will make him stronger.
It has been draining for me especially when it came to Maths problems. Close friends and dh all know that I am hopeless in Maths but during these time, I pushed myself to learn and to me, the killer is the Heuristics (big word) Maths. Give an example -
6 children can sit at a round table. 8 children can sit at a rectangular table. 104 children are seated at 14 tables and there are no empty seats. How many round tables are there?
Well, for some of you, you may have already solved the problem even before you have finished reading this posting, but for me, a 'Math-dropout', this is like rocket science.
DH is an expert with Math or basically he is just very good with numbers. I make sure he explains till I know.(Poor man)
Kai asked why I want to learn, I told him so that I can understand and teach him. I know that to get into the world of my children, I have alot more to learn to ensure that there is no gap between us and that I am not just their mum but also their friend.
Gosh, looks like I need more ginkgo nuts, suppose to be good for my brains.
the new maths syllabus ain't easy...it's not your fault at all. a lot of people who are good in maths also won't be able to solve the problems without the use of algebra or other advance methods.
ReplyDeleteanyway...everytime you see such questions, take note in your mind that there'll be AT LEAST 6 children per table.
so take 6 x 14 = 84 (the no. of children if there are 6 children per table). then take 104-84 = 20. since there are 2 additional children on rectangular tables, this 20 students are the ones seated on the rectangular tables.
take 20/2 = 10. so there are 10 rectangular tables and 4 round tables.
have patience...you'll get better with much practice.
Thank you for your encouragement, Tania. I will press on ;)
ReplyDeletejust drop me a note/email if you ever need help on any of these. the only reason i still can manage some of these mindboggling questions is because i've been giving tuition on a part-time basis for the last 15yrs =) so don't beat yourself up over this...just give the questions to any adults and i can guarantee you that most of them won't be able to solve them.
ReplyDeletei really enjoy reading your blog postings...very heartwarming!! =)
Thank you, Tania.
ReplyDelete