You can do it yourself. I let my ph maid go back on home leave after 1.5 yrs, since we were going on long holiday. Got the forms from agent and sent my maid to do it herself at the ph embassy on her off day.


Lesson learnt for me is to only let maids go back after 2 yrs. Maid did not come back. No cheek to give me heads up, and I even kindly bought extra weight for her.

Maid is a maid. One has to take the risk, if you send back on home leave before end of contract.

I track cost per week too.


I spend $620 per week for my N2 daughter, including kindergarten school fees.

School fees, Chinese class (3x a week), reading class (2x a week), gym, tennis, swimming, montessori maths, and soon piano.

I hope to cut down chinese and reading classes next year.

There is no holiday program for n2. Starts from k2.

Hi Shm125,


Yes, my daughter goes to Berries and XL. My mandarin is non-existent, other than reading HYPY, so cant help her at all. In 1 year at Berries (N1), she can understand what the teacher says. Now, she can speak a bit of mandarin. So i am happy with the progress.

I think both Berries and XL are complementary. XL’s standard is a little higher than Berries; and with a very small class size.

I have NO time to revise any chinese words with her during the week. So i am happy that she can keep up, and when i ask her what the words are, she knows it!

You can try Berries and XL for 1 term, and compare. Kids are all different. Mine is a matter of lack of exposure. If i did not do anything, her Tagalog would be better than Mandarin.

Hello shm125,

In my earlier posts, i had commented the difference between Berries and XL for N2 level. They use quite similar method of teaching - ie. teach a few new words each week, and learning the strokes for writing chinese characters. The head teacher who wrote the curriculum for berries has moved to XL. (the lady boss of XL told me).

Here are the main diff:
Berries - size of class is min. 10 students, with 2 teachers (main down side). Hands on crafty type of learning (eg. recently, they gave out a really cute mini story book in the shape of a watermelon, on the words that they have learnt). Term 3 - they will be giving out a special pen that will help (? not sure what that is for, and how it helps. Will update next time). They have a CD with chinese songs, that my daughter loves to listen and sing to. They teach Idioms.

XL - very small class size. In fact, in my daughter’s class, there are only 2 kids. They will send a video to me at least 1x a month to show me my daughters progress.

If you teach your daughter at home, just looking for oral skills, then chinese speech and drama??? We come from english speaking family, so i am putting in more effort to help my daughter in her chinese.

Hello

Their fees for n2 is $380 per term.

Hi Creampuff,


I think you should read the respective threads on XueLin and BusyBee. My daughter is at XL, and its good. Not tried BB, but a forumer mentioned that she withdrew her daughter from BB and switched to XL.

Dino mummy: sorry, missed your post. Not sure, if u read my previous posts about my daughter’s lack of Mandarin foundation. I am very happy with her progress this year. She can read all the Chinese words learnt from Berries and Xue lin, and sing Chinese songs. hope that in time, she can reduce the number of Chinese classes.

Hello mummies,


I am looking for maths enrichment centre for my N2 girl. I cant seem to decide on Mighty math (not sure what level classes start from), JEI / PSLE Math (Classes from N1), Mighty math, Maths Hub (Classes from K1) or even MPM (Classes from K1).

My daughter attends a montessori school. So other than what she does at school, i dont do anything about maths with her. Can anyone advice what is should be looking for an a math enrichment? I am not too keen on abacus. what’s more important is understanding math concepts, rather than the speed. I know that abacus helps in other things like concentration, right brain development.

Can anyone here advice me on the pros and cons of the math enrichment centres i have short-listed? Thanks!

Hello mummies,


I am looking for maths enrichment centre for my N2 girl. I cant seem to decide on Mighty math (at what level do classes start from), JEI / PSLE Math (Classes from N1), Mighty math, Maths Hub (Classes from K1) or even MPM.

My daughter attends a montessori school. So other than what she does at school, i dont do anything about maths with her. Can anyone advice what is should be looking for an a math enrichment? I am not too keen on abacus. what’s more important is understanding math concepts, rather than the speed. I know that abacus helps in other things like concentration, right brain development.

Can anyone here advice me on the pros and cons of the math enrichment centres i have short-listed? Thanks!