Thanks, Dnls_mum. Have been checking almost daily, though not much luck so far. Hopefully will get lucky nearer to the date.
I did think about moving to another ryokan in between, but that would be logistically challenging, and waste precious time too as I don’t have too many days in Kyoto.
Posts made by Busymom
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RE: Travel: Japan - General
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RE: Travel: Japan - General
Imp75:
Thank you, DNLS_mum!Dnls_mum:
[quote=\"Imp75\"]Just curious why do we need so many days at Kyoto? I budgeted 1 dat at north south east west each so max 4 days. Also will kids be bored with Kyoto?
It all depends on what type of traveller you are. The type that take your time or move quickly from place to place. I feel it is a city with lots of walking and so I need time to sit down and relax for a coffee, a dessert or just watch the world go by.
E.g., we spend half a day at Nijo castle alone, going through the place thoroughly with the assistance of audio guide.
Will your kids like it? It depends on your kids. Mine will prob have an overdose of temples after a while. But DH and I love it.
Me and my hubby are also the chillax kind, the last time both of us went together, we ended up being so tired b/c we were chasing after ourselves covering the places so this time with kids, definitely will take it slow and take in the scenery and enjoy the wonderful bistros along the way.
My concern is really the kids, while we know we adults will enjoy the sights and sounds, I am not so sure about them. Besides Gion district, I am not sure what else may interest them.
Kids wanna stay at capsule hotel for experience, I am quite wary as I read that most capsules are not allowed to be locked from within or has no door. Sounds very insecure for me.[/quote]What is a capsule hotel? My kids want to stay in traditional Japanese room, hence no choice but to book ryokan. Hopefully they will have no problem with the food. -
RE: Travel: Japan - General
Dnls_mum:
Thank you! Found something from this link but have to pay through the nose :moneyflies:
Kyoto is a popular destination. You can search http://www.japanican.com to see what is available.Busymom:
Thanks, Dnls_mum. Unfortunately both of them are sold out for the period I am looking at. :gloomy:
Do you happen to know of others? -
RE: Travel: Japan - General
Thanks, Dnls_mum. Unfortunately both of them are sold out for the period I am looking at. :gloomy:
Do you happen to know of others? -
RE: Travel: Japan - General
Does anyone have good ryokan recommendation for Kyoto? Preferably easily accessible via taxi or train. TIA.
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RE: NDP 2016
I would like to have a white pack if there is a choice. Thanks, Chief.
Funpack with Money Champ Board Game (worth $86)
1. Hquek
2. MommyNg
3. Pen88n (white one pls)
4. Auntiexxx (red)
5. Fantasylandsdream
6. Imami (red)
7. MrsKiasu (red one if can)
8. Phtthp
9. rains (red one, can?)
10. Busymom (white)
11. cool_hi
12. FMXA04
13. bluesclue
14. NerdyMath (red)
15. mom2two
16. SS2
17. Pp62
18. purple (red) *Thank you!*
19. lynntan15 *Thks*
20. jj1111 *thanks.*
21. Joyymum - (Red) \"Thank You\"
22. CMF \"Thanks!\"
23. Blessedwife - red if possible *Thank you*
24. Motherof2LovelyBoys - red if possible - Thanks!
25. aloyboy
26. coolbreeze (red pls, and thanks!)
27. desmin
28. Lenny08 ( Thank you! )
29. alng (red please, thanks so much, chief!)
30. Moochi (red if possible, thanks!)
31. monsterlim
32. nhps2012
33. ellehcim (red if possible, thanks)
34. portia13 (red please, thank you!)
35. Koalamummy
36. Nerov
37. bowling
38. PlatypusAsia
39. dunma
40. weoseek (red pls)
41. floundering
42. pacetone
43. lostbunny
Only Money Champ Game
1. BigDevil
2. starlight1968sg
3. barney
4. mummyv[/quote][/quote] -
RE: NDP 2016
NDP 2016 fun pack
1. Hquek
2. Mummyng
3. Pe88nn
4. Auntyxxx
5. Fantasylandsdream
6. Imami
7. MommyNg
8. MrsKiasu
9. Phtthp
10. rains (red one, can?)
11. Busymom
:please: -
RE: Principal of PCF Sparkletots is doing little to help the vic
pirate:
Not the same people and not the same situation.Notice how people can have doubts about the admission of a 13 year old, but have no doubt about the admission of a 6 year old. See how even when there is a CCTV recording, people can have doubts about whether a 13 yo molested a 12 yo, but have no doubt when it is alleged that a 6 yo molested another 6 yo.
A 13 yo is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty, while a 6 yo is presumed to be guilty until proven innocent.
It is wrong not to let a 13 yo attend some camp, but it is perfectly ok to suspend a 6 yo from childcare.
I have come to the conclusion that in a spat involving children, the one with parents who make the loudest and most emotive noises wins.
One is admission to the IO who is a stranger to the 14yo, the other is admission to his childcare principal or teacher whom he should know well.
One has an eye witness, the other could be your word against my word (no doubt the police subsequently said that the CCTV recorded the act itself, but this wasn't clear at the start).
And one big difference, the parents of the 6yo have not bothered to check if he did it or not, and if he did, was it purely a plank or something more sinister as some are inclined to think. That's the missing link here. No one knows his side of the story, except that his preschool said he admitted to it.
I do, however, agree with you that a 6yo or a 8yo (if they aren't matured enough or intelligent enough, sorry to say this), could have very unreliable recollection of events, which makes their statements or admissions very unreliable. When asked leading questions, could give the kind of answers that the adult is looking for. (I am back to the old point where a minor should not have statements taken from him without the presence of someone whom the minor is familiar with).
I have personally witnessed an incident in my ds' childcare. I was hanging around after a celebration. Most parents had left; I hadn't as my ds was unwilling to remain in cc after the celebration, but I told him no one was free to look after him at home that day. He started playing some cars with 2 other children. Soon, a couple more children joined in and the original group of children had to share the cars around with each having 2 cars. One particular girl (A) liked a car that another girl (B) was holding, but B refused to give up that car. After some time, B wandered off, leaving her cars behind. Meanwhile, A took over the car that she liked. About 5 mins later, B returned. B wanted the car back but A refused to give to her. B tried to snatch it back and at this point, it was starting to get physical. I alerted a teacher who was nearby but speaking to a parent. She asked the 2 girls what had happened and guess what, B who was the one snatching the car, was very quick to say that A snatched her car. :roll: A, on the other hand, was not as eloquent and when the teacher told her nicely that she should not snatch her friend's toys, she just nodded silently.
By the way, these children are 4yo. But B is clearly the intelligent and more \"matured\" one while A is no match for B. :razz: -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
cherryc:
Don't think anyone is being defined by a 3-digit at this moment, secondary school is a new starting line for all.Probably we can list out the pros , cons and the concerns we have.
Pros:
1) no one will be defined by a 3 digits for the rest of their lives which may limit their potential
2) a chance for moe to change all the different affiliation points for diff secondary school
3) no need to chase the last point
4) spread out the top talents
Cons
1) may need subjective criteria which may be unfair
Concerns
1) underprivileged kids may lose out
2) parents may be more stressed to outsmart the system
3) they may not select the best students for the respective IP programs
By the way I see the edu minister making a few announcement tdy on Trpt . I Thk he is stretched too thin....
Cons
Thought many have brought up various cons on this thread?
2) how to compute overall points for those who are exempted from MT or whatever subject
3) how to treat students who take foundation papers for various subjects
4) parents and children will be more stressed because they probably need to be \"special\" to differentiate themselves from others, so more time needed to train to be \"special\"
5) non-academic enrichments will be viewed as trying to get one leg up against others when it could have been pure interest or aesthetic reasons
6) how to determine top 10% for IP/3rd language
7) parents and PSLE students get more stressed because sec school posting becomes less transparentaffiliation to sec school has become even more important, p1 registration would see more parents rushing to schools with sec school affiliation
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RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
sushi88:
Maybe you should check why NYGH wants leadership as a core for DSA albeit it actually makes no sense. Their job is to produce the leaders, being a top school.
Erm, I don't have the answer.. The school lacks student leaders? Or they want to groom student leaders? :scratchhead:Busymom:
[quote=\"sushi88\"]
The short answer is if MOE insists in emphasizing DSA via leadership quality as an option, then explain to us why such DSA is required by the schools, i.e. the rationale? If there is no requirement by the schools especially top schools, it is clearly just a subjective ticket for schools to suka suka admit anyone they know or like.... what meritocracy?
To answer the question in bold, I ask you one.
Do you know why today such schools who admitted kids with leadership qualities need them?
A photo that I got from someone before on nygh DSA 2015 shows that they had 3 DSA categories and the 2nd category is called Academic / Leadership.
If tier 2 or tier 3 schools asking for DSA leadership, I can understand better...so that they can springboard to \"all schools are good schools\" faster by attracting student leaders who should likely be good in studies as well and be role models. MOE could be thinking along this line...to spread the talent around other schools using leadership but will kids take the bite for such schools is another question.[/quote]Because given their culture, they want 品学兼优 students... :siam: -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
sushi88:
Please refer to the thread starter's(superkiasudad) post.
I think the scenario is more likely to be: kiasu parents try to learn and understand what the new grading system is like - then they come to the conclusion that it may not be a good idea to remove T-score afterall. Un-kiasu parents leave it to MOE and believe that new grading system will be better in accordance to what MOE said without questioning what exactly is the new grading system and how it works in detail.Pen88n:
[quote=\"ChiefKiasu\"]
So, by that token, kiasu parents like t-scores? and unkiasu parents don't? Majority of Singapore parents are unkiasu? Or maybe unkiasu parents don't even know or care what is happening and think that removing t-scores means removing PSLE completely. Yay! I also want. :celebrate:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum ... it=t+score
iirc, it is kiasu parents in this forum who want the t-score to be abolished...consistent with superkiasudad's sentiments....his posts showed that he looked forward to scrap T-scores but unfortunately his kid would not be able to benefit from this change.[/quote]This is what I remember too. Lucky are those kiasu parents who have already moved on with their kids now in secondary schools while some of us unlucky ones have to bear with consequences brought by those. :spank: -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
sushi88:
Erm, I don't have the answer.. The school lacks student leaders? Or they want to groom student leaders? :scratchhead:
The short answer is if MOE insists in emphasizing DSA via leadership quality as an option, then explain to us why such DSA is required by the schools, i.e. the rationale? If there is no requirement by the schools especially top schools, it is clearly just a subjective ticket for schools to suka suka admit anyone they know or like.... what meritocracy?Busymom:
What you have written is well and good, but what if DSA academic is removed and instead DSA leadership is introduced? Then leadership would be the only criteria for that group of students, no? Aren't there some schools which currently have DSA leadership? :?
To answer the question in bold, I ask you one.
Do you know why today such schools who admitted kids with leadership qualities need them?
A photo that I got from someone before on nygh DSA 2015 shows that they had 3 DSA categories and the 2nd category is called Academic / Leadership. -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
pirate:
Then distance from school, how? Also do the less than 1km, between 1 and 2 km and more than 2km? :rotflmao:3Boys:
...then affiliation priority how?
I copy from P1 registration last time...
Give them 2 ballot tickets instead of one. :evil: -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
sleepy:
:hi5:Just curious... are there really that many parents complaining about t score and proposing to abolish t score?
Or is it another misinterpretation by the government? :evil:
Some years ago, the edu minister at that time suggested reducing weightage of mother tongue on t score
probably due to parents complaining about the difficulty of studying Chinese
Did i remember correctly that caused an uproar and that idea was scrapped completely?
Eventually it remains status quo
I was just about on the same topic.
Yes, it caused an uproar. -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
dimsum:
If it is gg to be L1R2, first thing i will do is to drop my child\"s Chinese enrichment. His maths and science are stronger than Chinese and he probably spends 60% of his study time on Chinese alone.[/quote]Same here, definitely a lot more time spent on Chinese alone.
:imanangel:pirate:
[quote=\"Pen88n\"]
Then might as well drop MT then - since it is a 2nd language and not featured in your proposed equation :yikes: :faint: :siam:
Wait, by introducing this change, we practically adopted the ex ex MOE minister's suggestion to reduce weightage for MT. And willingly too. :yikes: -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
sushi88:
I can appreciate your concern about scrapping leadership as a criteria to enter secondary school. It is just the suggested means of going to TLL for another course that irks me. There must be something the kids can learn the ropes on their own, and leadership is one of them. If a family has many kids, actually it is the best learning ground, the ones who lose out are at times the single-child families, if they have no extended family to mingle with even.
As parents with boys in coed primary schools, we are just asking for equal opportunity and fairness to be given to boys in the leadership roles. This is even more important now if “leadership” is being considered in secondary school admission. If there are 7 to 8 prefects in a class, why only 1 or 2 are boys? Why every year, only girls are chosen be head prefect? Why the need to have the same girl playing the dual roles of prefect and monitor at the same time instead of giving the opportunity to another student to learn and pick up the skill?bggb:
[quote=\"sushi88\"]Why learning lab? Behaviour learning begins at home.
To be candid, why worry so much about leadership being taken by the girls at schooling age?
Look around the cabinet and management of the many corporates, are there more women in the leadership positions or men? Things fall into place eventually.
We spend too much of our time fighting all the wrong battles.
At least in my child’s class, I know of some boys who are well behaved and relatively good in their studies but no opportunity! It is definitely not about education at home but a need for boys to attend some courses to teach them how to behave appropriately to create an impression and score points, just like the girls.
Talking about cabinet, majority of the ministers/ ex-minister were from all boys’ school. No?
Why is that so? Why so few from coed schools? The answer is obvious. Boys are being discriminated and hardly an opportunity for them to take up the role.
This is all true account of what is happening in my child’s school and not make-up stories. If MOE officers/ press visit some of these schools and check it out, you know what I mean! Having said this, using “leadership” to enter top secondary schools should be scrapped unless we are advocating biasness and “connection”.
Some present/ ex ministers that I know of:
Teo Chee Hean – SJI
Tharman Shanmugaratnam – ACS
Ng Eng Hen – ACS
Ong Ye Kung – Maris Stella
Tan Chuan Jin – ACS
Goh Keng Swee – ACS
Vivian Balakrishnan – ACS
Lim Swee Say – CHS
Gan Kim Yong – CHS
Tony Tan – SJI
George Yeo – SJI
Mah Bow Tan – SJI
Lee Yi Shyan – Maris Stella
:?
So back to leadership at primary school. Frankly and personally, I am not in favour of a child entering DSA via leadership to gain admission into a coveted secondary school. To me, the primary school is just a good playground for children to learn some ropes of leadership but they are by no means true leaders yet. Also, there are different age kids in primary schools and some being older get leadership positions, should that be a birth right since they are born earlier? Thirdly, for any leader I know, they must be good in something...otherwise what leadership to boast about? So being good in something means good in sports, music, academics etc and leadership is only a side outcome of what they excel in to bring about the leadership capabilities to go on to the next step.
To me, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TALENTED IN BEING A LEADER WITH NO OTHER TALENT as far as DSA is concerned. Gift of the gab, gift of a special talent and gift of networking etc...collectively makes one a leader.
I cannot think of a leader I know who has no other special talent other than just leadership...in fact they are more often or not...multi-talented.
So the girl whom Jetsetter mentioned about getting into an IP secondary school because she was made a leader, I thought her contribution to the school was sports? She won many sports title for the school right? So the DSA looks at her talent first and having a leadership role, just acts as a bonus between two kids who are good in sports and one has leadership and one without... So leadership is like a secondary criteria, not a primary one. And frankly, even if a child has a leadership role but the sports talent is weaker than the other sports person, the talent of the sports person would be desired first. Leadership only features when ALL BEING EQUAL, it is an added bonus. But still I want to qualify again, primary school leadership roles are playground roles, nothing really substantial yet. It is a good playground for kids to try their hands at leadership so I like it when a primary school tries to find a leadership role for EVERY student in a class to lead in something for them to have the experience and grow with it. I am also not for a student given 2 or 3 leadership roles and some have none.
So I agree...leadership SHOULD NOT be a main application criteria for DSA, it is meaningless...you don't need to admit a head prefect from a primary school and try to groom this head prefect to be the next head prefect for the secondary school. In fact, for top schools, every year, tons of head prefects will likely enter the sec schools via PSLE results. It is the exceptional academic one they want to find first via DSA, then if he/she is a head prefect, it is just a bonus.
The list of ministers you have listed, are you telling me they all went into their secondary schools via affiliation assuming you are listing their primary schools? If they did, then the leadership roles in all-boys primary school is also not critical to them since DSA is not exactly required, not because there is no discrimination in all-boys school.
I cannot exactly put a finger down on the discrimination for boys in leadership roles in co-ed schools because everyone's experience is different in different co-ed schools, since schools are run differently and students' population background are also different. So if this point cannot be factually proven, I rather not use this as a point on discrimination as discussion. Whatever I have stated above shares your same concern to DSA via leadership without touching discrimination. In other words, I agree with you if your kid has a special talent in something, he should not lose out to a girl who is going to DSA using head prefect leadership as a DSA criteria and with no other special talent.[/quote]What you have written is well and good, but what if DSA academic is removed and instead DSA leadership is introduced? Then leadership would be the only criteria for that group of students, no? Aren't there some schools which currently have DSA leadership? :? -
RE: 24 March 2016 Singapore Budget
pirate:
I am not going to have more children now that they are capping my tax relief to $80,000 a year. :stompfeet:
Not referring to tax relief per se, but I have so many friends/colleagues realising that it's so expensive to raise a child after they have had one. They are the better educated lot, who cannot imagine not giving the best to their offspring. They stopped at one.
And of course there are those who decide being dink is even better. -
RE: 24 March 2016 Singapore Budget
Dnls_mum:
I am just as baffled as you are, and wonder why some choose not to see the inequity of it. No one has explained why it is perfectly alright for the 1-child working mother to get an income relief of up to $50k per child as opposed to a 4-children working mother who gets a relief of $20k per child.Busymom:
Sorry to say, this doesn't make sense to me. So those with more kids rightfully should have less relief per child as compared to those with just 1 kid even if they are earning the same income? Why don't they cut the relief per child instead of hiding behind only 1 out of 10 working mothers would be affected?
Which is more equitable?starlight1968sg:
I agree that earn more pay more. That is the right principle. But why target working women with more kids? That is baffling.Earn more pay more, earn less pay less
At the risk of being flamed, I'd say my take on this and run far far away :siam:
i think whoever that came up with this new policy is very very smart :salute: :salute:
1. Progressive tax means tax those who earn more, more heavily than those who earn less. To implement this to the true spirit of a progressive tax structure is to tax the really high income more by eg taxing those who earn $1m and above up to 25% or even 30%. But to do this will really infuriate the rich :stompfeet: . This will be political suicide.
2. By capping the total relief, only 10% of working women will be affected. These are not necessarily only high income, but those with more kids. But these are generally women who are doing reasonably well in their career, not the tycoons or big CEOs etc. But what the government gets out of it is (a) more tax revenue, and (b) the ability to tell the people that they are taxing the high income more and they have implemented a progressive tax structure. The result? The masses are happy that the perceived high income are being taxed more, and the real high income who should be taxed more are not really affected, and only a small percentage of taxpayers/voters (10% of working women) are unhappy. The women just became the sacrificial lambs here to achieve a greater good.
Cutting relief across the board will not work as it will upset ALL women! And more importantly cannot be deemed progressive tax.
So to me, the new policy is never meant to be equitable. It is meant to give the impression of a progressive tax structure being implemented. Once you see it this way, it makes a lot of sense. Otherwise it actually runs contrary to all other policies on bringing up birth rate and asking those who can afford it to have more kids, and seems strange. :siao: :siao:
4 children requires less effort (both monetary and non-monetary) to bring up as compared to 1 child? :?
I do wonder, had the relief per child being cut instead (regardless of the number of children), would some still say earn more pay more?
I for one, wouldn't kick a fuss on it.
In fact, to encourage a higher birth rate, shouldn't they give a higher relief per child for the second or third child, akin to the baby bonus system?
Now, I am going to be flamed for sure for suggesting this. :lightrod: -
RE: 24 March 2016 Singapore Budget
Sorry, Funz, I wasn't saying that you agreed to whatever that you thought that I thought.
It was a lazy way to go back to the discussion on WMCF and saying that the proposed absolute cap doesn't make sense.
Having looked at my post again, it looked like I was addressing you, but I wasn't. My apologies if it has given others a wrong impression of your post.
:imsorry: -
RE: Any Updates As To When PSLE T-Scores Will Be Scrapped?
pirate:
You'll be surprised how the naughty ones could become well behaved when made the monitors
So how? Choose prefects and monitors from the naughty ones? :scared:dimsum:
pirate, we are not referring to only GEP schools. for ALL schools, higher % of prefects come fr the top classes. So good results = got leadership capabilities?
Significantly more girls than boys chosen to be prefects in coed schs. Why? As they are really more guai. But does guai = good leaders? U can take a look at Pei Chun sch thread. One mummy wrote a pretty long post on this biasness.
But don't get me wrong hor. Personally, I feel that using \"leadership\" as a criteria for admission to secondary school is BS.
Computerized balloting is better and more transparent.
And there are those who know how to impress teachers but disliked by majority in class who are made prefects. Well, no one would know of course, except those from the class.