sook:

Hi Vicki, currently my DD having private lesson at home. Her weekends are alerady packed with other enrichment classes, don't have time and car to chaufer her on weekdays. But i am not sure if its a good idea to get a private teacher. As i am music illiterate, do not know whteher the teacher is good or not.

I guess it really depends if DD is a beginner, intermediate or advanced.
Firstly, just check your music teacher's qualification. If you DD is just a beginner, then as long as the teacher is grade 8, she should surely surely know the rudiments of music, hand positioning on the keyboard, teaching finger drills and scales etc... In otherwords, just check the certificate. However, if your DD is intermediate, then pls go for higher qualification.

The rest boils down to human touch ability to communicate with the child and encourage the child, which does not take a music literate person to observe. Take some time off work and simply observe the lesson.

Ask the Secret Chamber. Its a lego shop at holland village, Parkway parade, Thomson. I know they have lego courses, but its not just for building with instruction…it incorporates robotics, programing…etc with lego. I didn’t send my own children they are still very young. But I heard that the kids are trained and even go for competitions.

I managed to get a good second hand Yamaha direct from someone whose child gave up piano. Ofcourse it has no warranty, so if you choose to buy direct, you need to know the serial no., age, verbal history about how it is maintained, get a tuner to check it and move it yourself. I think total cost for check and move was less than $150. Considering the difference between buying from a second hand dealer and buying direct was more than $1000, I think the hassle was worth it.


If you’re buying a piano for your child who is just starting to learn and you don’t play yourself, it is quite a large investment. The problem with buying a brand new piano that costs more than $8000 is that indirectly and unintentionally, it may cause an adult to place a lot of pressure on the child to pursue music. Some children are naturally interested, yet there are some out there who will learn because of threats and pressures by adults, but find it so tortuous they are pleading on the inside to quit.

If you buy a second hand, you know you can resell the piano without losing half its value. So it may place less pressure and result in a more pleasant learning process for the child.

…just speaking from personal experience as I grew up, I had no pressure to learn the piano as a child, but I loved the piano and enjoyed my lessons. I know someone who hated lessons, but was forced to tears to continue until she begged and begged and begged to quit. I think its an awful situation for a child to be in just because an adult paid alot of money for something.

To get a good second hand, keep your eyes open on the internet and noticeboards at piano schools, supermarkets, newspapers. You can also post a "want to buy" ad… I believe there are lots of pianos sitting in people’s houses, most kids learn only for a few years…

Patience is the key. It may take months… if you can wait.

Buying a cheap piano is also not a solution either. The weighting on the keyboard is totally different. The sound is very different. When you play in an exam, you may find your fingers are not strong enough, the sound sounds "funny" or different to the piano you are used to. So buy the best you can afford with minimal loss should you have to sell it second hand. Its almost a gift to the child for life…if they chose to love music for life. Most people don’t change pianos like cars, you simply don’t buy a new one every 10 yrs or less…

Parasilk. I got mine from Parasilk holland village last time. The charger for my original cannon battery was defective. Tried the OEM. Works beautifully at a fraction of the cost. Even the OEM spare battery is great!

My DS is my first child. He wore pampers premium and mammy poko. Diaper bill was also a preium. Leaked and leaked.


My DD (my no. 2) drinks more in the day. Less before bed at night. I bring her to the loo before she gets into her night diapers to empty her bladder.
We still use drypers even at night, but always the XL or the larger sizes as they have more of the absorbing gell. Never had a leak once in her life... she's going to N2. Diaper bill was ... considerably more affordable.

Either I learnt my lesson or Lucky me for my number 2.

Re Is science tuition necessary in P3 and 4? I think science tuition is not necessary at all if the child pays attention in class and an adult is willing to hold the child’s hand through it all. But time investment may be high.


The adult must have a good grasp of science and must be willing to read science guides…or the child must be motivated enough to read the guides themselves. The adult must also be willing to invest the time to train the child to speak and write accurately. Many children’s problem with Section B is that they cannot express themselves clearly. Even with keywords, if they cannot express themselves clearly, I believe its still hard for teachers to award marks. Many adult’s problems are that in our haste, we often interpret our children’s speech, so even when they don’t describe things clearly to us, we interpret and understand them. I choose to pretend not to understand them and make them find ways to speak until they can communicate their ideas precisely.

Then all you need in hand is a bunch of past year exam papers…and you’re set.

I find the ultimate science guide good. But it does not highlight keywords for you. Casco, has good detail for adults, but for some children (who are not interested in science) they may find the big words overbearing.

For a household where the child/parent reads science guides, most of the explanation would be in the guides. Some help a Science tutor can offer is for example by fine tuning Section B answers, highlighting to child how they should improve their answers, what key points their missing, how to answer to the point and explain or describe precisely. Breaking down the more difficult questions and so help a child see what thought processes are needed.

In short if you want to save money, no need tutor, do the work yourself and ask your child to pay 110% attention in class.
If you don’t have time, get a tutor by mid year P4. But you must still monitor homework. If your child does not do homework, don’t waste your money on tuition. Discipline issues must be solved first.
If you don’t have time, and don’t have much money, start tuition latest by mid year P5.
If you have too much money, start science tuition at P3.

That’s just a personal opinion… Many may beg to defer.

IMHO, The higher order thinking skills questions can be managed. Your child must ofcourse have quite good content knowledge of science first…so the first thing to do during the holidays is to get a good science guide and tell them its going to be "bed time story" for the next few months.


Next make sure they are aware of the key concepts and keywords. Unfortunately, they are very important if you want to score in your exam.

Students often forget its a Science Exam, so the explanation must be based on some science concept they have learnt before. Their first response is often to panic and say to themselves "But I’ve never seen this Q before". Students need to be empowered with confidence instead to think "For most of life’s problems that I face, I would never have "seen" or experienced them before, but i have to solve the problem with my given knowledge."


What are the keywords? Hmm… ask the school teacher or find all the words in bold in some of the science guides!!

I know nothing about eduplus, but both my kids (3 and 5 y.o.) are at berries. What I like about them is that the staff are very friendly and accommodating.


N1s: They have fun little items for the N1s to bring home, makes them a little more keen to attend. She loves to show me the stuff she brings home from berries. We don’t speak any chinese at home. I can hardly read chinese. I don’t review their classwork. My daughter can read at least 100 chinese characters… my input was 0% (I can’t even read some of the characters so yes, I am learning too!)

K1s: My son complains about writing chinese. He says it is hard. Anyway, as much as he complains, he can read some simple chinese stories on his own…picture books with big words. He knows some cheng yu. To a chinese speaking parent, its probably nothing wonderful. But if you consider I have 0 input. We don’t speak chinese at home. I can’t read him chinese stories. I don’t even understand cheng yu. Then I think berries has helped him quite a bit.

I have a friend whose daughter is now in P3. Started learning chinese only at P1 (came from abroad). Now in P3 she is on top of the class. She only attends berries for Chinese.

Recently I received an email saying that 93.9% of their 2010 PSLE cohort scored As and A*s and 83.6% got merit or distinction for higher chinese.

By the way, I don’t have any share in Berries, I just send my kids there. The staff have been wonderful to my children and very helpful to me.

My kids were initially resistant to attending, would have had to miss lots of lessons due to frequent illness. Yet they have managed to get them to attend chinese lessons happily and help me arrange for make up classes or even credit unused fees to the following term (but must have MC of course).

I have even seen the staff at the front desk vigilantly doing file checking to make sure that the children had completed all their homework (for the primary school levels), which to me is not a basic requirement, afterall, the worksheets had been issued to each child. Filing should be the child’s responsibility. This is really going an extra mile on their part I feel.

Hence, I am grateful for their service.