Can Enrichment Classes replace Kindergarten?

[smurf]

have to weigh the pros and cons? for me, I think kindy is absolutely necessary, because I dun think I can teach as well as teachers. other than teaching, there are so many activities that a child can do in kindy, such as playground time, play sand time, etc…these are interaction with other kids…


if my boy stick with me, I can only do so much…reading, do worksheets, play the same toys over and over again (unless I’ve money to keep buying toys, which I dun have)…

[tweety17]

Hi mum05,


i share the same idea as you.

[maisy]

Hi mum05

My view is that if you are a stay-home mom who is very hands-on, then I think it is fine to replace the usual Nursery/K1 with enrichment, provided you provide reinforcement with the child whilst at home. (since enrichment is only once a week)

But if you are talking about next year, where your child would be in K2, my advice is better to let him stay on in Kindy... reason being he needs to get \"very familiarised with a school setting\" so that when he enters Pri 1 , it won't be so much of a culture shock to him! And I understand that most kindergartens do \"double up\" their teaching curriculum at K2 level to \"prepare the children\" for \"Primary 1 readiness\" ( a term i still find very amusing because I always feel the kindy should prepare the children for life...not simply \"Primary 1 readiness\" ... anyway, that's just some terminology we have to get used to i reckon)

[sleepy]

mum05:

sleepy, actually the main aim to go this route is that we find the 3 hrs in kindy is a waste of time and unless we wanna do away with the enrichments, the kid would be tired esp. as our kid is also learing a musical instrument, so time always seemed to be not enough and we do not wish to 'overkill' the kid at this young age. Thus, this thought - specialised subject teachers(also in group/classroom setting) instead of going to kindy + these classes when what's needed are more achieved by the latter...


(as for sending to a cheaper kindy, we hv our reservations which I don't think it's nice to post in here. then again, it also defeats the purpose)

Both my kids started enrichments since toddlers so I'm a firm believer of enrichment route. I sent them to kindy only from K1 onwards. Prior to K1, they only attend enrichments.

However, I feel that kindy is still useful -for social interactions, learn how to make friends easily, listen to teachers' instructions. It doesn't matter to me which kindy since I do not rely on kindy to teach them the academic stuff. Despites that, they do not feel bored because there are other activities like crafts work, exercise, storytime, playing & chatting with friends. Those simple stuff taught in kindy, just treat as revision. I stream down lots of their enrichments by K1/K2 since sufficiently prepared for P1

My younger one is also learning a muscial instrument. Spent 1.5 hour daily on practising alone

[MMM]

Personally, I feel that a 3 hour kindy prepares the child for P1 routine. This is what a enrichment class cannot achieve. I am also not the Kiasu type where child must be no. 1 :lol: Too many elements is being the no. 1 child and also the sustainability which I do not want to elaborate here.


For us, my K1 currently attends Kinderland kindergarden. She does enrichment classes in LW, J&E phonics, enopi maths, molin chinese. This is on top of chinese S&D, ballet and music lesson. She is enjoying these lessons so far. So yes, the classes she is attending outside kinderland seems to prepare her more. Eg. she is already doing addition in Enopi and able to count up to 100,etc... With phonics and CL class, she is also able to recognise alot more words as compared to kindy. But I feel that kindy does provide that routine and ease of adapting P1 life. Having friends whom you see on a daily basis, learning to cope with friendship and social skills. I find enrichment classes lacking in these area since the intent is to go there to learn and not much to play/ interact with each other. This is especially so for K1 programmes onwards.

My 2 older kids went through the same route though not as intense as my K1 (I was more laid back then) and P1 was easy and at P3 and P2, they are still enjoying school and learning. I feel that kindy plays a part in this in instiling that positive environment and hence positive impression of school. Besides that, I also find that they pick up alot of general knowledge in Kindy which might not be enrichment class specific.

[tamarind]

Hi mum05,

My boy attended N2 and K1. Since he was often ill, I decided to keep him at home this year, so he is not attending K2.

I do not think that kindergarten is necessary. In fact, if parents are able to teach the kids at home, even enrichment classes are not necessary.

In fact, my son was not learning well in nursery/kindergarten. I teach him http://tamarindphonics.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-teach-phonics.html, Maths and Chinese at home and since the beginning of this year, he is already very well prepared for P1(he enters P1 next year).

What is most frustrating, besides getting sick once every month, is that my boy picked up some bad behaviour in kindergarten. For social interaction, I let him attend Berries enrichment class once a week, and Morris Allen once a week. I am happy that he is being taught by native speakers in both Chinese and English. Though his English is already very advanced, I want him to learn to speak perfect English by listening to a native speaker. This is much better than attending kindergarten 5 times a week, and listening to local teachers speak bad English

I often ask my boy whether whether he wants to go to \"everyday school\", that is, attend kindergarten daily. His answer is always NO. In fact, when he was in kindergarten, I knew that he felt very bored because the books are really too simple for him, and as for playing, his toys at home are so much more interesting

[KSP]

Enrichment classes can replace kindergarten on the academic portion but not socialise part. In kindergarten the children spent longer hours together not only for studying but do things together like play, sing along and socialise. I feel this is important as this will prepare them for longer hours and social skills when come to pri sch.

[tamarind]

I do not think that it is necessary to have social interaction everyday since 4 or 5 years old. 7 years old is definitely not too late to start. In fact, when I was in P1, half the class never attended kindergarten. All the kids were able to interact with no problems.


Also, note that there are often kids who behave badly in class. It is not true that kids can always learn good social skills in kindergarten, sometimes kids may behave even worst due to bad influence. The worst part is when there are insensitive teachers, note that it is difficult to find really good teachers.

As for training the child to sit in class for a few hours, or do worksheets for a few hours before P1, I think this may cause kids to burn out before they even start P1 :roll:

[tweety17]

agree with tamarind. My initial worry was social skills too, hence, I sent to enrichment classes. I do not think there will be a culture shock as long as the parent prep talk to the child about what to expect in Pri 1. My worries about social skill and culture shock were unfounded when my child entered Pri 1 this year. I think the most important thing is to manage his or her expectation and tell them the truth about what are the good and bad things to expect. As long as they know what is going to happen and with a positive attitude, i guess they will be able to blend in to the system happily.

[MMM]

Just curious. Have you seen a P1 crying on 1st few days of school? :?


In my impression, this must be a rare sight since kids are exposed to school nowadays prior to P1.

But I did see a couple of them while helping out as a PV during 1st few days of P1.

I am not saying that kids who don't go to daily kindy will find difficulty adapting. Frankly i am just puzzled on why some kids still cry on 1st few days of P1. My point is that things like that still happen.