Try this thread. You'll find a good store of information there.


http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=770

QuiteKSMum:

phankao wrote:[quote]Seems that for HCL students, they advise them to do \"Ming Ti\" compo, but for non-HCL students, they ask them NEVER to do \"Ming Ti\". Just an observation.

True for DS's case (non HCL P6) - T's strict instruction : NOT TO ATTEMPT ming ti compos under any circumstances! :D[/quote]sorry, can enlighten me? what's ming ti? 命题？名题？Something like current affairs vs fictional story?

how can she feel slighted when you are all eating the same thing?

haha, no lah! I’m always the victim, sitting there and declining whilst trying to maintain a smile.


on the one hand, I tell myself, just forget about these ‘deals’ and save yourself the ear ache.

on the other hand, if they can offer the deal, then they should be able to take "no" for an answer. I never force them to offer me the trial what. and their charges are so exorbitant, how to expect people to sign up? if their package is 10X the trial price sure I’ll sign up. I think their cost price must be the trial price and everything else is profit.

jongivy:

Bought a TV and a DVD player through Groupon but the fulfilment party is Courts. Also bought some massage packages. Very satisfied with the TV and DVD I have purchased. But the massage package was not something I would buy again. After the massage, the usual stuffs - they \"lock\" you up in a room and hardsell you a package. But I went prepared so after like 30-45 minutes of hardselling with no result, they let me go.. But I must say this is not Groupon's fault.


Not too sure about the holiday vouchers though. Must check the fine prints, never know there may be hidden cost somewhere else.

wow can teach us the methods of withstanding the intense hardsell pressure?

SAHM_TAN:

Hi tamarind,


How are books pirated?

haha! i got first hand experience of this buying \"lonely planet vietnam\" from a street peddler... pages are photocopied and binding is uneven!

Serendipity:

dimsum:

Hi serendipity, my DS completed the 6 books of SWKD and then I signed up him for Berries K1 classes. After 2 terms, I stopped his lessons because in each term, there were only 1-2 new words in berries readers not found in SWKD. So to me, SWKD is better and most importantly, much cheaper than berries.

Hi dimsum,
Thanks for your reassurance! Glad to know that SWKD can be as good as Berries.

Yay! so happy to hear this too. Am hoping that I can persevere with this. My 3 yr old can read half of the words in the first two chapters (chapters, not books yah)...

Also like this series cos the author emphasises that you should only teach as much as the kid is interested in, at one time. Not to cram more than say 10mins a time for a young kid. So liberating. my kid asks for the book sometimes, so I go through the flashcards / words with her till she says she wants something else. then i just stop.

guess i should be more regular in bringing the book out though. now it's as and when she asks for it. I must be more disciplined and aim for 10 mins everyday!!

tempted to buy the 康氏中文快速识读教程 just to store though she won't be using it anytime soon... heh.

my sil who is the middle child told me not to have 3 kids for this reason too…


even after all these years, they still feel it…

and sometimes I feel very sad when i see relatives when: eldest gets dad’s attention cos she can talk well, baby is in mummy’s arms… and middle child? always with the maid…

the middle children i know are usually fiercely indpt, but they would say it’s not by choice but forced by circumstances… somehow they keep getting left out, drop out of the radar, so they have to be ‘harder’ and numb themselves so that they are more unfeeling / don’t feel so hurt?

nicolenonis:

Hi everyone!


I am actually curious about parents view on present pre-school fees. In the past it used to be more affordable. Now when i look at the prices, it cost nearly $2000.00 per term and that is like 4 months right? So I will be paying lets say... $6000.00 per year. Just a rough guage.

May i ask what are some of your views on this topic?

Would you spend that amount on pre-school? Or do you think somewhere less expensive would be good enough and that these expensive one are just overcharging? (Like how branded goods are almost earning 100% profit)

Hornestly, I would send my kids to the $2000.00 pre-school. Curriculums in those Pre-school seems good. Though of course I would not totally depend on school to bring up my young precious

Parents love their kids and would definitely want to be very sure of how well your precious babies are taken care of while you are away.

I would just like to know what are some parents opinions on this matter

Hmm... $2000 per term of 4 months is expensive? That's $500 a month which is nowhere near the $1100 for chiltern house per month, if you are talking abt high end half day pre-schools (as compared to full day childcare).

Personally, whilst i agree with most of the comments that there is no need to break the bank to pay more than $1000 per month for half day pre-school, there is actually quite a strong correlation at the preschool level between price and quality.

Taking childcare as comparison, the teachers at a $1300+ per month childcare are very very different from those working at a $400-500 per month (both before subsidy) childcare.

The way they speak English (am not looking for perfect queen's english here, not talking abt accent, just basic grammar so that you don't have to undo all the harm done to the child's english in future), the way they control discipline in the class (i can overhear yelling and screaming as I walk past some centres), the cleanliness of the centre (no point sending yr kid to childcare if they are going to get sick for at least one week every month), the student-teacher ratio (some kids can get bitten by others and no teacher even noticed)...

Parents are held to ransom because the child care sector is not regulated enough. Operators make the most money out of parents and the teachers are mostly paid peanuts. this needs to change.

beanstalk:

jnj0910:

So the issue is the children/students... they will compare birthday parties/party packs...
At that age, kids dun know any better and they might \"see no up\" those who have lower \"standards\" of celebration...
young children can be very mean too... so the advice was to help kids fit in better with their classmates etc...

anyway to get round that? :nailbite:

My kid goes to a kindergarten where parties are routine, a few of which are even over the top.

No, they don't compare party packs and they don't make/lose friends based on party fun level or cost. In fact, they can enjoy a party without even liking the host child very much! Attending a party and making friends are two separate issues. All they care about a party is being invited and included, and meeting friends. All they remember (and cherish) is laughing and playing with their friends. The rest (bag, cake, snacks) is really immaterial.

It's probably the parents who feel like they have to keep up. You can choose to let yourself be sucked into the game or not.

Yup agree... think at this age they don't 'feedback' that so-and-so has this huge cake and why can't I too? or so-and-so gave these things in the goodie bag and can i give this too? Think that comes later.

the pressure is felt by (and acted upon by) the parents. sometimes we imagine more repercussions on our kids than what there really are.

maybe also cos they are not very conscious of the value of things. a cheap sheet of stickers is sometimes more valued than an expensive box of crayons, both of which have been given as goody bag items before...