Childcare or no Childcare?

[doratheexplorer]

Hi since you are all talking abt cc education i would like to ask ur opinions cc vs home shooling. currently my kids are in n1 and k1 halfday programme in a childcare centre. I am a housewife and trained in early childhood education too. was wondering if i should teach my kids (esp my son in k1 coz he will soon be going p1) at home and for additional perks just send them for enrichment classes e.g phonics and mental maths. what are the pros and cons. if i take my son out of sch and teach him at home, will there be any problem when he enrols for P1. pse advice thank u all

[foreverj]

hi, actually i think a home-schooled child for kindy should have no prob handling the academics in P1, provided parent is able to devote the time, effort and energy. Moreover, since you are trained in ECE, should have not much problem coming up with a good curriculum.


However, you may need to consider if you have the energy to handle two kids full-time, their eating and bathing and sleeping, vs preparing a comprehensive curriculum, on top of doing the housework and cooking (if u dun have a helper). What I find most efficient, is probably for the kids to attend a good half-day cc or a good kindy and then supplement with home teaching. While they at school, at least u have some time for yourself, prepare the curriculum, do housework, cook for them etc.

The last aspect is probably socialisation - for the kid to get used to all sorts of funny characters u may have in school, how to behave and react in front of them etc. However this socialisation may jolly-well be overemphasized. After all they are only six right? Do consider your kids’ preferences in making your decision.

[doratheexplorer]

yep u definitely have a point in terms of socialisation and that is where i was wondering if i could substitute that by making him attend various enrochment classes where he would have the opportunity to mingle with different groups. Of course he is very attached to his friends in his current cc coz he has been there since he was 18 mths old. I am a sahm and i have my mother in law and a maid at home so i feel kind of not be useful since i am already not contributing any money to the househodl. the least i could do is to save cost and at the same time provide my kids with the best education to my ability.

[foreverj]

hi doratheexplorer, if u have time in your hands, then homeschooling them yourself is a great idea. for one, they dun waste time travelling to and from school everyday. attending enrichment is good to supplement the basics they learn at home as parents may not be best person able to teach everything and they get to socialise with other people.


having said that, as a non-trained person, it's a huge commitment for myself. why dun u start working on preparing some curriculum and do a trial with your kids first before u stop them from cc. u have a better idea if u can cope and how they respond to u teaching them? if they love for u to be teaching them, it certainly makes the separation with their classmates easier

[doratheexplorer]

hi forever i spose will plan out the curriculum 1st and follow up a few trials as what u say. c how it goes. thks for the advice.

[foreverj]

no prob at all! glad i could help

[Christmas]

Childcare may and may not be safe. If you are not at home , the child may break objects,the teacher may also treat the child roughly.

[Lingbel]

Hi

need some advise, currently my girl is in PCF (3 hr program-nursery 4 years old) and I decided to enroll her to full time childcare next year, K1 & K2 cause I found she is not independent enough and shy (perhaps due to not exploring much) and also my mum takes super good care of her, and insist on feeding her rather than letting her eat herself, etc)
I also think she had not been able to learn much in the afternoon, usually after nap, she will only sit down and watch TV.

My concern is will she be able to adopt to the new full time chilcare environment (eg: circle of friends which most of the classmate had mostly be there together since nursery, or perhaps playgroups)

[foreverj]

hi lingbel


there wil definitely be an adjustment period, esp change of friends and teachers. so u may want to consider if u really want your child to go thru that since she’s only left with k1 and k2, esp if she’s well settled in her kindergarten and u r so far satisfied with the school.

frankly, even if the kid is in full day cc, in the afternoon they mainly take nap, then wake up at 330pm, eat tea-break and will start lesson again at 4pm. then wil have another hour of lesson before take school bus home. so in terms of lesson time i’m not sure if fullday cc really has significantly more hours of lesson. since your child is quite old already, u may want to prepare some material for her to do in the afternoon after her nap. that way, she is kept occupied (instead of watching tv) and won’t need to go thru hassle of re-adjustment again.

this is just an idea, u need to assess yourself whether there is really a need to change school. unless u quite sure the cc is quite good, it may be fairly painful for u to change school during the last two years of your child’s pre-school years.

agree on the independence part. but in a way, kids r very smart. if at home your mum continues to do everything for her, she wil just enjoy the pampering. although no doubt she can do things herself in school, she may continue to be like now at home. so this is something u need to be aware and have reasonable expectations of.

hope the above is helpful for your consideration.

[kidsfirst]

Hi,


Would like to know what is the biggest drawing point in sending your kids to the childcare centre? It seems that many parents simply send their kids to childcare centre because they believe that this is the trend of the working parents in Singapore.