[Hougang/Punggol/Sengkang] Preschools
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Thanks for elaborating, mum2jj!
Temperature-taking - guess Singaporeans are more kiasi
Sounds like the school gets parents more directly involve in learning on a daily basis, encouraging parent-child bonding time. Singaporeans undergo a lot of stress on a daily basis. Parents would expect the child to know all these when they come home, especially if they are attending full-day childcare instead of having to spend time doing all these. It is worse if the child would be assessed on these homework... -
No artsy, it’s on weekly basis only. Cannot be daily lah, can die man. Actually, workers in China work longer hours and generally suffer more work stress than Singaporeans. One of the reasons I returned home is because Singapore is more pro-family than China.
Our stress comes from kiasu-ism, how can a child remember everything automatically, it is not practical nor reasonable. That’s our problem we want everything to be done quickly and education is not something you can rush. Yes, the child will be assessed at the end of each term, and my boy is only average. Why are we stressed if we see low marks, at least it reflects the truth. You get what you see. Education is a journey.
Just yesterday, I see my SIL fret over my nephew’s homework, that he had copied a word wrongly when doing his chinese "zao-ju" taught by my mum and only got 3stars instead of 4. But the thing is, he is only K2 it’s natural and normal not to know how to write that word. So what if he copied correctly and got great assessment at the end of the term, he actually doesnt know how to write most of those words in the first place, who are we kidding? -
Can’t agree more…
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Is MMI SK really that bad? I jsut started my boy on 2 weeks trial this week. I can’t exactly trust what he says because he prefers his old school which we can’t go back to due to geographical reasons. Today is the first day that he cried before we left the house. Sigh…
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Planning to send my kid to the above ctr and would greatly aprreciate any feedback. Thanks
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well said, mum2jj!
I also think we’re often so focused on marks/grades that we miss the whole point of education. It’s more important for our kids to learn and to enjoy the process of learning. Education shldn’t be just abt memorising, copying words correctly and getting gd grades.
Of course as a parent, i want my kid to get gd grades so that he can get into a gd school, have better chance at getting a gd job in future, etc. But i keep reminding myself that what’s most important is for him to learn, enjoy learning, and to grow in knowledge, develop gd thinking skills, communication skills etc. At the end of the day, these will help him in life alot more than fantastic grades. -
Thanks Fuzz, it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race and miss the forest for the tree. Nobody likes to be seen as slack, as not doing enuf for your kids, but what if we have gone in the wrong direction in the first place? Don’t we all wish never to see the day when it suddenly dawned on us that what we have sacrificed and causing much misery and pain to our kids were all in vain? I don’t like what I’ve seen mainly in 2 areas:-
1. The endless assignments: from school, from enrichment, from parents, be it writing practice or requiring cognitive thinking.
2. Parents who "air-brush" their children’s homework, telling them what answer to write, how can the kid learn? How can the teacher tell who are the truly brilliant ones?
So even if your kid got into a good school becoz of the stellar air-brushed grades, he may suffer becoz he will struggle. I myself don’t take well to pressure, being constantly at the bottom of my class erodes my confidence. Some may never recover from the trauma of being inferior.
You are also instilling the wrong values, that it’s alright to sacrifice other aspects in life to reach your goal (good grades) – this is what they see in China in a lot of top universities, brilliant undergraduates who are selfish, inconsiderate, not charitable and not civic-minded. Worse of all, they don’t know how to handle any set-back, and an important part of learning, is to learn from mistakes. -
hapydino:
R u v sure? DS1 graduated from Blk 303 PCF last yr & some of his classmates opted to transfer to the new centre near Fernvale Pt (same principal) when it opened early last yr, & Chinese & Malay were taught leh.hi fellow parents
am having difficulty finding a kindy for my daughter (born 2007) for next year.. so far am on 3 waiting lists namely YCK Chapel, Kinderland and Sunflower..
there is a PCF near my place (Fernvale) and was told they only offer Tamil as 2nd language?!?!
no wonder past yr been seeing this grandpa bringing 2 toddlers take bus to nearby Serangoon North for kindy..
hopefully can find a kindy soon else have to opt for half day CC to get the 3 hours nursery 2 which is going to be expensive factoring in nanny, half day CC and school bus..
Anyway DS2 who just turned 3, has been w Kindertots in Fernvale Pt since he was 19mo upon a friend's recommendation.
Other than no in-house toilet (due to building constraints), I like the enthusiatic & caring teachers. The sch is also v flexible & able to accommodate my timing (i need the whole a.m. free for DS1 & to do housework etc) by letting him attend N2 Chinese b4 the starting of his N1 class (no Chinese lesson).
Details here: http://www.kindertots.blogspot.com -
Hi Vevey
My DD was with KinderTots for 1 year (2009)… 2010 i switched her to AppleTree in Fernvale Link…
She was with Teacher Adil when she’s in KinderTots… Only good point i can think of is Teacher Adil is generous with her HP number and I can sms her for updates and she will ‘entertain’ me…
AppleTree is totally different… and they only offer N1 so now on the lookout for next year’s kindy (N2 to K2)… -
mum2jj:
You are also instilling the wrong values, that it's alright to sacrifice other aspects in life to reach your goal (good grades) -- this is what they see in China in a lot of top universities, brilliant undergraduates who are selfish, inconsiderate, not charitable and not civic-minded. Worse of all, they don't know how to handle any set-back, and an important part of learning, is to learn from mistakes.
I can't agree with u more. I think this is something alot of parents have neglected in recent yrs, n thankfully i think we're more aware of this now. hopefully we will remember that these basic values are more important than stellar grades.
i teach older teens, n this is what i've observed. they are more confident, outspoken n creative than teens of my time - which is great. but many of them are also pampered, have poor work ethics n expect things to be handed to them on a platter. don't get me wrong. i'm v fond of my students and they have many strengths too. but i find that they lack some of these basic values. And at that age, it's a bit hard to help them change.
that's why i think it's so important to lay the right foundation for our kids from the start. but yes it's a struggle trying not to get caught up in the rat race cos we always want the best for our kids!
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