Sunday, December 21, 2008 De la Cruz-Busto: Preschoolers By Li-an de la Cruz-Busto Choices
OVER the weekend, my son got two medals -- one bronze medal he got from his reading class and a silver medal from a soccer tournament with children his age. More than my son, it was actually us, as parents, who are immensely proud of what our son has achieved in just a little over a year.
I could say our son can be among his reading class walking advertisement of his reading program after we enrolled him when he was five years old. The intention of signing him up then was primarily for the preschool entrance examination to an exclusive boy's school. I wanted him to be able to read in the shortest period of time as reading was part of assessments done on would be enrollees. Thus, I was desperate for my son to be able to read well so he could be competitive with other children and to get ahead of others is really tough, as the school race is indeed getting tougher.
Only a day after turning five and upon my prodding, my husband and I enrolled our son in the reading class that he still attends until now. The purpose was to prepare my son for the test. For two months, I was engrossed in my son's reading class I failed to realize that the entrance tests given to would be enrollees was not all year round as with some schools.
By the time my son learned how to read, I missed the cut-off date of the exam. I was so focused on my son's progress in reading because I wanted him to be able to read basic instructions in preparation for the exam, I forgot about the exam. I was disappointed with myself for not inquiring more about the entrance test. But we were not short-changed as our son got into another good school.
Of course, like other parents, it is our dream for our son to be among the crème de la crème, if possible. Preschool entrance tests are said to be so competitive that only 350 of around 6,000 pass.
But on the one hand though, I realized it was a blessing in disguise. My son went on with his reading class without any pressure, particularly from me as I had earlier become too occupied with my son passing the entrance test.
Now, a year after enrolling our son, we are amazed at his advancement. He reads very well now and he has also developed in himself the habit of reading children's stories. In fact, as I was writing this piece, he was behind me reading the first few lines.
And he asked me why I was writing about him. I told him that's because I am very proud of his achievement.
His fascination with reading goes even when we are on the road... he reads the various billboards that we passed by. Beyond just reading is the development of his spelling ability. He's impressive, not that I'm his mother.
Now because he enjoys what he's doing, he wants to enroll in the Mathematics program in the same centre where he takes his reading. I was surprised he had taken it upon himself to take the Math program. More surprising because I am very poor in the subject, which explains my dislike of it when I was still in school.
I thought his reading program was enough because he gets to answer the program's sheet daily and it takes him about 15-20 minutes to do that. It is also very tiring for me as I sit down with my son in a one-on-one session to make sure he finishes the sheets within the time frame given and finish them right. If he misses to answer the sheets, these would pile up and becomes a tedious backlog for both my son and myself.
But I could not really complain because programs like these make life easier for parents like us, particularly for working mothers. Good thing tutoring has worked both ways -- helping both parents and children remove the frustration of schoolwork and homework.
