It's now final, H is going to Reception

We've finally made up our minds. Payment's been issued, so there's no turning back. Our little big boy will be going to Reception next year. Have we made the right choice? We'd never know. But we'd like to believe that we've made the best choice we can based on our circumstances.

When I went to pick H from Po-Po's house yesterday, I told her we've registered H in the international school. Po-Po's really supportive of our decision, but Gong-Gong thinks otherwise. His exact words, "Why are you wasting money? He's a smart boy. Just send him to a chinese school and save the money for university". There's really no point arguing with my dad, so I just let him nag on, "All of you went to a chinese school and you all turned out alright...." blah blah blah...

There are of course pros and cons for the different education routes you can take. There's not one perfect option. Different people have different experiences and hence different perspectives, but one should never generalise. Some kids will thrive in any environment, others won't. You just have to pay attention to and really understand your child - his personality and his learning style. Will H cope well in a chinese school? He probably would since he's a fast learner so I don't think he'd struggle academically. But will it bring out the best in him, maybe not.

So I'm really happy with the decision, except that I have to now bid farewell to my early retirement plan *sob sob*

When should you start learning ABCs and 123s

I have often blogged about H and it's time I talk a little about my little girl L. Hubs at times passes comments that at L's age, H already knows his phonics and numbers extremely well. Perhaps it's high time we start teaching her? I normally just brushes it off by saying "It's ok she's only 2. She'll start learning when she's ready".

Being siblings, H and L are as different as day and night. H displayed keen interest in letters and numbers from a very young age. And being extremely inquisitive and borderline obsessive, he will go on and on the same subject for weeks. L, on the other hand, has not really displayed the same interest in letters or numbers. She loves stories, but if you so much as try to teach her letters or numbers, she'll lose interest and walks away. She's however, extremely articulate for her age. She can hold conversations and even argue with you. Her ability to comprehend is also amazing. For example, I'll read her a new book once and ask her questions about the story and she would be able to answer me correctly, which means she really understands the plot. Once her teacher from Tweedlewink actually asked if L has photographic memory. And she's always listening to other people's conversations although she seems to be busy playing. Once I had a leaking pipe and the plumber failed to rectify it despite several attempts so I got rather frustrated and vented to my dad when he came over. We were talking over the gate while the kids were playing outside. That same evening, L asked me, "Mommy why did you say the plumber was silly?" Then she answered her own question, "He didn't fix it".

So I'm confident that L will pick up her ABCs and 123s when she's ready. For now, I'm just happy for her to play, sing and dance. I'll perhaps only start worrying when she turns 4.

International school search (part 2)

While attending a birthday party yesterday, we were told that Sri KDU has recently introduced its international primary school. We were really excited. We went to its Open Day a while back (for the private school - national curriculum) and were rather impressed. In fact, hubs wanted to register H there and then but I stopped him cos it was way to early to make a decision on H's education. That must have been 2 years back. After that, we've kind of decided to put him in a chinese school (thank god we did not pay the registration fee) until a week or so back.

So we had to go check the school out today. For similar fees, Sri KDU definitely has better facilities. We had rather high expectations when we went to the school, but was rather disappointed. No doubt the facilities are top notched, but somehow we did not get the same assurance we got from the other school, i.e. we're not too convinced about the academic side of things and the teachers' quality. Perhaps it's to do with the marketing lady we spoke to, who does not seem to know much (yes, they don't have an admission department, only a marketing department). Perhaps it's also to do with it being very new (only started in Sept 2012 with 3 classes - Year 1, Year 2/3 combined, Year 4/5 combined).

I guess our choice of school is clear then.

Our search begins...

Today we visited the school we're planning to send H to. It's not like we have many choices, since there are only a handful of schools befitting our criteria. Our requirements are quite simple, really :p

1. Location - must be conveniently located, i.e. either near our house or near our workplace. We're not about to sit through rush hour traffic in the morning just to get H to school. I'm already dreading the ungodly hour we have to get up. Waking H up will also be a problem
2. Compulsory Mandarin subject - we still want H to learn Mandarin. He may not end up to be as proficient as those kids attending chinese schools, but I guess knowing the basics is better than knowing none
3. Emphasis on Asian values - while we want H to be exposed to an international curriculum and the 'international' way of teaching/learning, we still want him to be grounded in the Asian values, e.g. having discipline, respect for others, etc.

So back to the school. We're pretty happy with what we've learnt, we felt that the school provides a good balance between being international yet somewhat still rooted in the local values. Teachers are a mixed of locals and expatriates. We were assured that they do not compromise on teacher quality, we were also assured that there's no drilling - we want our kids to be active learners and not just memorise, memorise, memorise! We looked at the books and the curriculum seems interesting (way more interesting than what we used to learn in school). Although there is a strong focus on the academic-side, there is equal emphasis on the non-academic side (whew!).

However, the school building is rather old and the facilities aren't as swanky as some of the other international schools. They should really do something about this, but I guess they're good enough for reception/primary years so we aren't too fuss at the moment.

Now I have to prep H for the admission assessment next week. Since parents are not allowed to be in the room with the kid, I'm not sure how he will take it. He may start crying and decide he doesn't want to do the assessment. Stress... stresss... stress... I'm still not sure how to prep him.

international school

It's been decided (I hope this time it's final) that H will be going to an international school. Despite our preference for him to have a solid foundation in Mandarin and a solid grounding in Asian values, i.e. to attend a public chinese primary school, we've decided on the next best option due for the following reasons:

1. A chinese school may not be conducive for a child like H. He's very inquisitive, he loves learning and is full of imagination (strengths) but he's also very shy and passive (weaknesses). We need an environment that will not stifle his strengths while developing his weaknesses.
2. We do not want to stagnate his learning. If we were to send him to a public school, it will be another 2 years (year 2015) before he enters primary one, just to start learning the things he already knows. He'll either be bored to death or lose interest in learning. The school we're considering implements Year 1 british curriculum for their reception year. This will be great for H since he won't have to repeat learning what he's already mastered.

Next step is to take H on a tour of the school and have him sit for the admission assessment. It's really really a last minute decision. Apparently the kids who've registered are already collecting their books, uniforms, etc this week and orientation is scheduled on the last day of December. Here we are still researching for schools. But just to prep H, we've told him that he will be going to a big boy school next year. He's pretty excited and asked if he can see the school, so that's a good sign. But I can't seem to stop worrying if it will be too much a culture shock for H to be in a big school. For starters, he has to start waking up early (much much earlier) as school starts at 8am and he can't be late (he used to be always late for school since we're not too bothered, it's only a preschool). Then he has to adapt to the long school hours since school only finishes at 2pm (he sometimes still naps after lunch so that has to change). Then of course he has to get used to the large school environment, being picked up and dropped off at the school entrance and making his own way to the classroom, etc.

Alternatively, we can just keep him at home as initially planned, and let him start Year 1 in Spetember 2013 instead of Reception in January 2013.