It’s been a year since my daughters, Lauren (4 years old) and Georgia (2 years old) attended their very first Heguru class. From a mother who had very little knowledge about right-brain education program to almost(!) always knowing the answers to whatever people ask me about Heguru, I must say I learnt quite a lot in the past 12 months too.

In this final post of Heguru Education series, I’m listing the most frequently asked questions about Heguru and of course, my daughters’ overall progress.

FAQs

4. Is once a week class enough or do you carry out home practice?

It is recommended to carry out home practice. At the end of every class, parents receive ‘Parents’ Lecture’ handout explaining the purpose of the special activities conducted, how these activities aid in your child’s development and how parents can replicate the same teaching method at home.

If you are a busy parent,  I believe attending weekly classes keeps us committed and therefore more consistent with exposing our children’ to right brain training activities.

 

5. How do you carry out home practice? How long does it take?

I’m not very consistent with home practise. I try to do it two to three times per week or whenever an opportunity arises. Attending the classes with my daughters gives me a lot of ideas on how to make up games and activities out of everyday things.

I also learnt that a home learning activity doesn’t have to take very long. It is easier to engage young children with short bursts of fast-paced activities. The easiest things to do are speed reading, flash cards and speed counting.

My daughters’ overall progress

Cognitive

Both Lauren and Georgia has excellent visual and audio memory. Lauren (almost 4 years old) surprise me from time to time with foreign language words she picked up from Heguru. She learnt greetings in Japanese two terms ago and just the other day, she greeted me with “Konnichiwa, mummy!”. I thought she remembers the word but not the meaning, but when I questioned whether she know what it meant, she said, “It means ‘Good Afternoon”.

Social & Emotional

Socially, both girls are less shy now. They warmed up to their cousins and grandmother easily when they visited us from overseas.

Lauren has grown from a shy toddler to a confident preschooler who loves to laugh and perform in front of the class. He pre-school teacher describes her as outgoing. She can be quite competitive and likes to win. Often when she is frustrated, I’m able to guide her through the ‘deep breathing’ technique we learnt in Heguru to calm her down and get her focused again and say “I can do it”.

Both girls have shown signs of empathy too. They console each other when either one is upset and say sorry immediately when they accidentally bump into each other. They are also able to pick up on my emotions – which could be quite fast changing these days because of my hormonal pregnant state – and stay away when necessary. Of course, there are times when they still behave like children their age – snatching things from each other and being fussy when they are tired.

Overall

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If you are interested to find out more about Heguru Education, you can find out more here.

 

This article first appeared in The New Age Parents e-magazine issue 2016/Aug-Sep.