Archive for January, 2010
Giving your Child a Holisitic Education
Education today is focused more on educating individuals to be able to relate to themselves and society. A lot of reflection and self analysis are encouraged among students.
It is nowadays not good enough just to memorize and regurgitate what has been taught to you. You would need to analyze and explain the rational behind your choice and support it with evidence you have researched prior to you presenting your case.
To be able to think strategically and analyze rationally the problem laid out before you is not an easy task for an adult least a child. Getting to the crux of a problem and understanding it is already mind blogging enough.
Being able to think through and consider all possibilities plausible is quality that is expected of a great leader.
How then are we able to cultivate such a mindset in our child?
- Give your child time and space.
Showing signs of being bored or irritated with your child who is struggling to find the answer will make them want to give up without trying. Give you child ample time to source for the needed information with minimal assistance.
- Do not spoonfeed your child with information.
Searching for information by oneself is something that shouldn’t be robbed from a child. Information gathered through a child’s own resources is more readily absorbed than have information just placed at their feet.
Spoonfeeding also breads laziness as they would expect everything to be given to them on a silver platter.
- Allow your child to make mistakes and grow.
To expect perfect results from a child every time is simply unrealistic. As if many life lessons are learn from experience. Sometimes we do not give a child the opportunity to falter as we want to spare them the agony of failure. You may think that you are doing your child a favor
by sparing them from the pain but in fact you are doing them an unjust as you are robbing from them a learning opportunity. - Teach them to think out of the box. There may not be a “model answer” for every question or project that one is faced with. Different solutions may surface depending on the angle you are looking at. It is like you looking through a prism. Light hitting the prism at a different angle will produce different colors of the rainbow. The answer maybe easier then one had expected it to be.
- Teach them how to reflect on their actions. For each action there is a consequence be it for good or bad. Being able to reflect will allow one to self assess what has been done properly and what needs to be corrected. If the child is able to self reflect it will greatly increase their ability to understand their surroundings and how complex problems can be broken down and simplified.
Weekend Reflections- Kids Work
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Ryan recently brought home this piece of artwork which he had completed in school. It was made from recycled material as the theme was on “Going Green”. I like the idea of the kids using scrap material which they recycle.
Roy too did a few different drawings in school
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Roy’s drawings look very appropriate for display for the coming Chinese New Year which we will be celebrating in a few weeks time.
What have your kids been doing lately?
Tackling Personal Goals
Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/aheram/409863531/
It’s nearly the end of January and I start to reflect on the goals that I have set for the year.
Certain projects which I have started at the start of the month are progressing fine while others may have to be temporarily suspended given the change in our current situation.
Even with the best of intention plans can get wayward due to fatigue and lack of time. As it with the changing work and home environment I feel that it is important for me to review what I need to get done.
I had initially planned for more posts over here at Dominique’s Desk but with so many events happening simultaneously at work it would not be possible to keep up with a 3 to 5 post a week. A more realistic posting schedule maybe 2-3 post a week.
I definitely would like to post new articles if I do find the energy . With the start of the 5R-2010 project my energy level has been dipping. Hopefully it will be back to normal soon.
