by Guest Writer James
Introduction
Back in 2018, I was looking for an after school care facility for my two children who were in primary 4 and 5 respectively. As an educator myself, I was desperately looking for something different to offer my children. I did not want my kids to only eat, do homework and play during their after school hours as I find that these 4 hours are very precious to children development.
Then I came across Gummy Cove after school care centre.
Right from the start, I was intrigued by and familiar with the concept Gummy Cove offered. Gummy Cove used the Multiple Intelligence Approach to guide their programmes. The literature on Multiple Intelligence by Dr Howard Gardner was legendary and as an educator, I have read a lot about it. Most importantly, I believed in the Multiple Intelligence approach to education and has actively sort to practice and implement that as a teacher.
In short, the approach states that a human being has eight broad areas that they can develop himself or herself in. In simple terms, these are being Nature Smart, Word Smart, Number Smart, People Smart, Self-Smart, Music Smart, Picture Smart, and Body Smart. A person who is good in sports will be classify as a Body Smart person. A good writer of books will be one who is Word Smart. A tech whiz today will probably has a strong component in the Number Smart Category.
Each of us has a best domain where we excel naturally in that area. Finally, Dr Gardner also believe that all these areas should be developed in order to become more creative and successful in life.
Video: Parent of Skylar, with Gummy Cove since Primary 1
Three Reasons Why Gummy Cove After School Care Centre Will Benefit Your Child
1. Develops A Balanced and Holistic Child
What is a whole life? If we examine our own lives we will find that the activities we do on a daily basis is quite diverse. As parents, we need to do our daily purchases and budgeting. This requires a certain basic level of mathematical skills, which have probably learnt from school. If our job is a designer of clothes, we will probably spend a large part of our day bringing our creative and artistic abilities into action to design the most fashionable and sought after clothes. When we write a report, we will call into action our language skills. On the way home, when we tune into the radio to listen to music we love we are actually tapping into our musical domains.
I think you get the picture. As we navigate our daily activities, we get in touch with a whole range of intelligences that our creator has endowed us with. Everyone has these abilities in varied quantities. The more refined these domains are developed; the more fulfilling will be our lives.
At Gummy Cove, I find that this after school student care centre devotes a lot of resources and efforts to developing these abilities in our children. It is something, many of us, as parents never had the chance to experience outside of school. Spending more time in such forms of holistic education will bode well for our children as they become more whole as a person as they grow.
2. A Direct and Indirect Emphasis on Your Child’s School Work
At Gummy Cove after school care, I find that the teachers also ensure that our children’s schoolwork is up to par. The amazing thing about this is that this form of education is dovetailed quite nicely into their programmes.
For instance, in their Word Smart programme components, this is where their English teachers ensure our children’s vocabulary, spelling, writing and comprehension skills are build, either by completing their school homework or from the extra learning materials given by the centre. Similarly, in their Number Smart programmes, our children spend time working through their mathematics homework and content in addition to related programmes like robotics, which require a high degree of mathematical abilities.
Thus, Gummy Cove does pay attention to our children’s schoolwork in their own sustainable way. The extras they do in interesting programmes actually enhances our children schoolwork. If you allow these type of education to take place over time, our children’s academic performances will also improve in time. I have notice a marked improvement in my children is writing and mathematics results after about half a year. What is more encouraging to know is that my own children has also become more motivated to learn more on their respective subjects beyond what is taught in the school syllabus.
3. Sowing the Seeds of Creativity and Innovation in Your Child
One of the most widely mistook concepts about creativity is that creativity is the creation of something original. In other words, you have to think of something completely new from scratch. Actually, this is not true. Creativity is actually the combination of two or more pieces of existing knowledge that result in something new that benefit society.
I like to give the example from Star Wars here. This science fiction film series is very well known across generations and I am sure everyone know of the character Darth Vader in many of the film series. However, have you ever wonder how did George Lucas come up with this character?
Let me share with you now. Darth Vader is actually a creation from the ancient Samurai warrior and the black knights in the King Arthur legends. Lucas combined the two and today we know of Darth Vader as the Dark Lord in a Samurai like helmet. Therefore, out of two ancient warriors, a new one was created as the villain in our futuristic Star Wars series.
When Gummy Cove develops our children’s Multiple Intelligence abilities, they are inevitable sowing more knowledge in a variety of areas in our children. This type of exposure to knowledge and abilities in our children will ultimate reap creative dividends in the future for our children. You will never know what original creations our children will develop in the future, but I think that they will be well placed to invent something creative in the future.
Conclusion
My own personal journey for a good after school care centre for my children ended with the enrollment of my children in Gummy Cove, who offers a holistic, academically robust and creative education. My only wish is that more of our children in Singapore can experience this form of education. Yes, such quality after school care centres do exist and I urge all parents to give Gummy Cove a call to start a truly sound education for your children.
Jimmy Tong Father of 2 school-going children