Gremly School

Strictly no television and no toys for the Gremlin this time.

We used to be advocates of the television as an effective educational and play medium for our li’l boy, until last week. We used to say “thank you tv!” because it taught the li’l boy English verbal communication, considering he is only confined at home, growing up in a non-English speaking environment. His dad and I would play guess-the-tv-character he’d picked his lines from: Playhouse Disney, Jimjam, Dora =)

You see, the Gremlin had only the tv and toys as playmates, until last week when he started summer writing and reading school.

As it is, the tv has failures. It failed to teach concentration. And it kept the Gremlin hyperactive – he gets bored easily. On his first two days of school, his teacher has these to say:

1) He has short attention span
2) He tires easily at writing
3) He's still struggling on correct pencil grip
4) His voice is loud and chats a lot with his noisy seat mate

#2 was not due to his hated to writing, he actually loves scribbling and even pleads me to write with him. It was more of his fear of being told he’s doing it wrong – like writing from top to bottom, left to write and from blue line to blue line. He wants to do it his way, free-style.

#3’s pencil grip however caught up in a week’s time. It was a matter of practice and being in authority to tell him to do it right. But oh, it involved force and getting mad, and feeling guilty after - on our part.

More than reading and writing, it's #1 that concerns us most. Hence, the tv and toys ban. He should thrive in a boring learning environment.
So far, we saw that the Gremlin loses his confidence when being scolded. While he bows his head scared, we lose our patience. So I’d say teaching our Gremlin is about us making him proud of himself of what he achieves and maintaining our cool whatever it takes.

Waiting for the 7:20 am bus, for the 9:30 summer class

(PS, as I publish this post, the li'l boy's down with fever. We broke our rule and he's now glad watching tv =) )