Childcare or no Childcare?
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HI I am new to the forum would like to seek some advice here.
I am currently torn between putting my girl who is turning 3 years old next year to Kindergarten or a childcare centre. I have the option to put my daughter at kindergarten because I am currently working part-time and will be able to fetch her back from her 3-hour class on some days. On other days, she can take the schoolbus back to my mother in law’s house which is just a stone’s throw away from school and kindergarten. By the way, the kindergarten which I have shortlisted is just 5 min walk from my home and 8 min drive from my mil’s house. The school seems to have very loving and caring teachers and I can see that the children are very happy during my visit there.
On the other hand, I have also shortlisted a premium childcare centre that seems to have a very comprehensive curriculum and I am thinking whether I should put her there for half a day first and convert her to full day when she is in nursey level. She will take the schoolbus back to my mil’s house and hubby will fetch her to school daily. I am very attracted by the school’s curriculum.
Both schools have their pros and cons. I am really having a headache over the selection of choice. anyone can help? Thanks! -
princesskaris:
Hi princesskaris,I am currently torn between putting my girl who is turning 3 years old next year to Kindergarten or a childcare centre.
Both schools have their pros and cons. I am really having a headache over the selection of choice. anyone can help? Thanks!
Wow, this type of question very difficult to answer. Because actually it really depends on what you want! Because yes, for kindy, you will really need the home-support to be able to fetch your girl home. For a CCC, you can opt to put her there for longer hours.
If you ask me, my 2-cents worth of opinion would be to put her to the kindy which is much nearer to you since it would be the first time she is going to school is it? Then when she is older you can decide whether to change her to the premium pre-school you mentioned.
Furthermore, the school fees between this kindy and premium school must be quite large. Presumably it is not an issue for you.
Really again the choice is yours!
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desertwind, thanks so much for your reply.. really appreciate it!
Yes, my daughter is attending school for the first time... Think I have more or less decided to put her to the half-day child-care centre since I would prefer a more academic environment. The hours are more flexible and I can bring her there earlier or later, likewise for fetching her home, as compared to Kindy which has a fixed schedule. Finally decided to choose the more academic choice and I can't choose to put her at the kindy during pre-nursery and transfer her to the cc during nursery level because the cc has super long wait list and I need to enrol her during pre-nursery level to secure a place there.
Anyway, hope that I have made the right choice.. wish me luck!
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rachelam:
Hi rachelam, glad to hear that your daughter is adjusting better after only a week. That's great!
Hi Fuzz, I agree with you. My child is about 2 and I sent her to the stamford little genius full day program directly. Like you mentioned, it was really painful to drop and leave my daughter, sort of like what you mentioned - throwing her in the deep end of the pool.
Just a week into her program, my daughter started adjusting better. Quite pleased that Stamford little genius allows me to start off with a full day trial at only $40 per week before considering to switch my daughter to a half day program.
I am looking for a good chinese program. Any recommendations?
Yes I agree that it really helps if the school has a more flexible system of allowing you to do a trial to see if you/yr kid is more comfortable with full day or half day. Some centres can be very rigid and I think that makes things tough for parents who don't know what to expect and don't know how their kids will react and adjust to the programme. I know that such changes/flexibility makes it hard for the school. But personally I feel that if they're more flexible, it's also an indication that they may be more caring and their main concern is the child's wellbeing, rather than just running the business efficiently.
As for Chinese programs, I've heard that Berries is quite good. I find private tuition more effective though. -
dokomo:
Hmm personally I don't like the idea of doing so much colouring! What purpose does it serve? I never heard of any centre doing it twice a day. To me, it sounds like a lazy way out. Easier for the teachers. Just give the kids colouring pencils and some drawings and leave them to do their own thing.Hi Fuzz,
Agree with you, putting them at full day ccc is like throwing them into the deep end of the pool. Btw, do most ccc make the kids do colouring at least 2 times a day generally?
I've read quite a lot about early childhood education and also learnt from friends and relatives who are in the industry. It's actually not ideal to make kids do colouring on ready-made templates. It doesn't teach them creativity. It's better to give them the art materials and let them create their own artworks. -
Fuzz:
Hi Fuzz,
Hmm personally I don't like the idea of doing so much colouring! What purpose does it serve? I never heard of any centre doing it twice a day. To me, it sounds like a lazy way out. Easier for the teachers. Just give the kids colouring pencils and some drawings and leave them to do their own thing.dokomo:
Hi Fuzz,
Agree with you, putting them at full day ccc is like throwing them into the deep end of the pool. Btw, do most ccc make the kids do colouring at least 2 times a day generally?
I've read quite a lot about early childhood education and also learnt from friends and relatives who are in the industry. It's actually not ideal to make kids do colouring on ready-made templates. It doesn't teach them creativity. It's better to give them the art materials and let them create their own artworks.
Never occur to me that colouring may hinder their creativity. Thanks for the pointer.
Btw, I have dropped my kid from the childcare after she attended for 2 days. She has gone back to her previous 2 hours playgroup now. She is much happier there. Have personally \"experienced\" their day to day activities. Felt my kid's time will be wasted if she continues there. Rather send her to 2 hours and supplement with enrichment classes. Actual learning (if there is at all!) is less than an hour. The teachers are mostly pre-occupied with serving the kids meals, cleaning them up etc. Seems short-handed.
Regarding the colouring part, its true its the lazy way out for the teachers. One colouring was held during the english time slot and another colouring held during chinese time slot. Plus the teachers just dump the papers and crayons to the kids and let them colour by themselves without much explaining what is the meaning of the picture or the words that come with the colouring sheet. Then the teachers will be bz with more cleaning up again.
Wonder if i am expecting too much or if this is the norm cos my nephew at another ccc also does a lot of colourings. -
dokomo:
Hi dokomo, 2 hour playgroup and enrichment sounds good. I would do something similar if I weren't working full time!Regarding the colouring part, its true its the lazy way out for the teachers. One colouring was held during the english time slot and another colouring held during chinese time slot. Plus the teachers just dump the papers and crayons to the kids and let them colour by themselves without much explaining what is the meaning of the picture or the words that come with the colouring sheet. Then the teachers will be bz with more cleaning up again.
Wonder if i am expecting too much or if this is the norm cos my nephew at another ccc also does a lot of colourings.
Regarding twice a day colouring, I definitely don't think you're expecting too much! My boy attends childcare and they hardly do colouring. I have a few friends who are in the childcare industry and I've seen their weekly timetables and asked them about their daily activities (when I was researching for childcare for my son). Never seen colouring twice a day!
But it's true that quite alot of the time in childcare centres is spent on sleeping, eating, bathing. After all, the kids are there for the whole day, so no choice.
The actual amount of time spent on lessons is similar to half day childcare or kindergarten - about 3 hours. For me, it's important to find out what the kids do in the afternoons. They shouldn't be just watching tv or colouring. And many centres actually have quite good afternoon programmes, like art and craft, music, gardening, etc. They're fun activities but also allow the kids to learn something.
I would much prefer to send my boy to kindy and plan activities for him in the afternoon or send him for enrichment. But unfortunately I don't have much choice. For now. I'm exploring options to work part time, as we're now trying for number 2. Hope it works out! -
I ever feedback to principal at child-care to voice out my concern that the children have not been exposing to lots of story books. Since they are attending full day, so i suggested to the child-care to look into daily reading aloud. The principal answered me that the CC is busy and always rushing, do not have enough time to expose kids for reading program. They will do it whenever they can but not regular basis. Hmmm, what a dissapointment!
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Charmaine_chong:
I ever feedback to principal at child-care to voice out my concern that the children have not been exposing to lots of story books. Since they are attending full day, so i suggested to the child-care to look into daily reading aloud. The principal answered me that the CC is busy and always rushing, do not have enough time to expose kids for reading program. They will do it whenever they can but not regular basis. Hmmm, what a dissapointment!
Hi Charmaine I agree with you. It's true that the childcare schedule can be busy, especially if they plan activities in the afternoons. But I find it hard to understand why there's not enough time to do some reading - if not daily, then at least once in 2 days!
I try to borrow bks for my son from the library every week, as his CC doesn't have a big collection of books. But I've heard of some schools that have a good reading programme and they get the kids to read a few books a week and to share what they read about. My friend also told me that her daughter's centre has a tie-up with the national library and they bring in a whole range of books regularly for the centre.
So it can be done! It's whether the CC wants to or not. Maybe sometimes they don't have enough teachers or resources. I guess every CC has its own way of doing things. -
Dear Fuzz,
Thanks for your reply.
I just find that the principal's mindset must be right. They have to know well the objective.
My k1 child is in full day child care near east area. This k1 class is named as Leo Lionni. You may want to find out more about this author + illustrator and all his books by clicking the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aleo+lionni%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A4&bbn=1000&keywords=leo+lionni&ie=UTF8&qid=1302668020&rnid=1000#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Aleo+lionni%2Cn%3A%211000%2Cn%3A4&bbn=1000&keywords=leo+lionni&ie=UTF8&qid=1302668063
I was excited and expected the child-care to do a lot of brainstorming activities relevant to the author with recommendation for some of his books. Otherwise, what is the purpose to gave such a beautiful name when kids no nothing at all about the author.
The teacher explained to me that it was only to named the k1 class. So far, teacher had read only one of his book namely Six Crow to k1 and she found that kids do not understand the moral behind it. She also commented that the books are too wordy and hard for 5 years old to understand. Nothing much had been done.
Teacher refused to reveal in details how many story books have been exposed to kids, how often and what kind of books. She simply advised that we read to them as and when we have time. We have library corner, drawing corner, block corner... so it depends on what books the kids pick.
When i queried further in average how many stories will be exposed. Then she answered 2 stories a week.
Teachers definitely have big influence over children especially when my kids are in full day child-care. I do hope they will be exposed to all kind of story books regularly or daily.
I told the principal it wont take you much time. 5,10,15 or 20 minutes a day is enough. She answered me they are rushing and always rushing. Therefore no time to do it.
The principal then advised me to do it at home. I told her i do. I spent one hour daily with my eldest reading aloud to him. Without the assistance of maid, it has been reduced to 15-20 minutes 3-5 days a week.
When i went to the school, i just find that kids have a lot of idle time. Sit down there day dreaming. Hmmm....
I have lots of books at home and we visit library once a month.
Fuzz, may i know which kindergarten has good reading programme? Can pm me.
May i know how old is your child?
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