(2005/08) Aug/Sept 05' MTBs

vone
tsk.. she added me as friend, before i confirm her i was thinking... "do i know this person!?!?!" only when saw her Ernest photo then i know it's skippy then can confirm her lor. Ei those i dunno i dun anyhow confirm ley.. received some wierd fren requests before!!
 


tingting,
ya lor, it's been a really long time since we met up at a gathering oledi. i tink we wld b mtg her since she's their teacher nw. u hvn't met her b4? she's d chinese lady wif d bob hairstyle. she gt a gal - catelyn who's in d pg grp. my kids used 2 b in d same class as her b4 they were 'upgraded'.
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wendyg,
oic. i tot she's oledi ur fren bt u dun remember her. hehe... ya, me aso... luckily fb can help 2 'screen' d requests.
 
vone,

oh.. i thought she was teacher sarah! haha.. only when zephan brought back the class photo last night that i realised i've got the name of their class teacher wrong! then i was wondering who was the chinese lady until u enlightened me.. :p
 
Ting & Vone ...

Thanks for letting me know the info on your Cherie Hearts cc =) but too bad yours is too far for me and your school fee is v reasonable ler ... the jansen road outlet is $130 more than yours every month *shake head*

it was a NIGHTMARE for me in the morning cos YC refuses to go into the classroom at the Bishan Child Care and the teachers there make NO attempt whatsoever to try to get him to join in the class - and its really not YC's usual self to fuss when he attends school cos he enjoys his 2hr playground in his previous school and he keep telling me that he wants to go back.

Anyway both my hubby and me find that the teachers were really bo chuap and even we were bored at the story telling. Some more only YC and another boy are new additions to the class which means that there is no reason as to why they dun have the bandwidth to help YC fit in - i think they simply dun care.

Also when the teachers were telling story, some children were actually backfacing the teacher and they make no attempt to try to get the children to pay attention to the front. Think YC dun like the vibes lor

so in the end i left the cc at 11am and brought him to Cherie Hearts @ jansen road and he instantly could fit in without much threat from me - so much difference from the morning!! the teachers played a part in helping him to warm up and imagine i actually walk into the cc unannounced hahahahaaha

when i wanted to leave at 5pm ...<textarea name="message" cols=50 rows=7 wrap=virtual>Ting &amp; Vone ...

Thanks for letting me know the info on your Cherie Hearts cc =) but too bad yours is too far for me and your school fee is v reasonable ler ... the jansen road outlet is $130 more than yours every month *shake head*

it was a NIGHTMARE for me in the morning cos YC refuses to go into the classroom at the Bishan Child Care and the teachers there make NO attempt whatsoever to try to get him to join in the class - and its really not YC's usual self to fuss when he attends school cos he enjoys his 2hr playground in his previous school and he keep telling me that he wants to go back.

Anyway both my hubby and me find that the teachers were really bo chuap and even we were bored at the story telling. Some more only YC and another boy are new additions to the class which means that there is no reason as to why they dun have the bandwidth to help YC fit in - i think they simply dun care.

Also when the teachers were telling story, some children were actually backfacing the teacher and they make no attempt to try to get the children to pay attention to the front. Think YC dun like the vibes lor

so in the end i left the cc at 11am and brought him to Cherie Hearts @ jansen road and he instantly could fit in without much threat from me - so much difference from the morning!! the teachers played a part in helping him to warm up and imagine i actually walk into the cc unannounced hahahahaaha

when i wanted to leave at 5pm ... YC tells me that he wants to stay on to play with his fren *fainted* so now he tells me that on monday he wants to go back to Cherie Hearts. luckily i only paid registration fee of $60 for the earlier child care so i didnt lugi so much

and i told the earlier child care Principal that YC got prob fitting into her child care so i have no choice but to pull out and she was q nice and did not ask me to pay additional money or what

v tiring day man ... and crossing our finger that he will continue to 'love' the school hahahaha
 
seabreeze, glad that YC likes the new cc at cherie hearts.. shows that he really doesn't like the original one huh? i didn't know that fees are different at different outlets... but i suppose it's more important that the kids like the place.. take heart that it's only for 3 years, and when ur #2 comes by, can still use his edusave acc (or something like that) to pay for kor kor's cc fees!

someone also told me that siblings usually enjoy lower fees if they join the same centre.. not sure whether tht's true?
 
tingting ...

yar i think cos diff outlets are owned by diff bosses hence the difference in fees ... glad that he like the place and this morning he happily tells me that his new school is Cherie Hearts ... dun even want to talk about the other child care at all =p

there are alot of siblings in the ctr too ... the director was telling me some in the infant care lar some of them their elder bro/sis in K2 lar etc ... but she didnt mention abt lower fees though
 
Tingting
it's CDA, not Edusave la. u will find out abt it soon... opt for OCBC ok. Hard to find StanChart ATMs
Now isaac's full day childcare fees monthly abt $300, aiya my memory v bad can't remember issit $310 after the $300 subsidy?! And add another $45 a month for drama class, so that he can learn to be a drama mama a la Kumar. hahaha
 
wendy, haha.. yah, will have to find out how to use the money given..
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ur drama class is only $45 arh? mine is $75.. supposedly not only to teach acting, but also some other stuff.. the enhanced subsidy of $150 is fully eroded liao, cos also paying for kindermusik lessons in school.. zephan need his mei mei to help pay for the fees... :p

vone, i've decided to sign zephan up for the acts of life sessions afterall. you'll be going for the nursery orientation this friday?
 
hello everyone...

Tingting, agree! go for OCBC!! Standard chartered SUCKS. 3mths after they transferred from POSB to SCB, my account wasn't set up yet and dispite the fact that i posted the copy of BC, scan it and email over, take the original one to the bank..... they still claim they did not receive it!

Cherie Hearts.. i think fees are different between all locations. mind champs open up a centre at East Coast and i wanted to transfer both Nick and Grace there cos currently they are only in toa payoh. But the fees are 400 bucks diff for each child! Reason they gave was because rental at east coast is more ex than TPY...
sad.gif
 
margie
>> well, i dun hv problems with the transferring from POSB to SCB.. but until now i only saw 1 SCB ATM (at TPY Hub)... very rare ley. I want to change the ATM Pin very cham ley.

and it's very ma fan to change from SCB to OCBC.. takes months and hv to provide reason why want to change bank etc. Now my #1's childcare fees are GIRO'd from there, so i think just remain la.
 
tks for all comments.. will steer clear of SCB..
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margie, i think one of my hb's uncles is a mind champs instructor.. are the lessons really good?
 
Alamak, you all changed my nick name liao.. :p

wendyg, i had a good reason to hit the roof cos i ended up otanging the school fees for 3mths... MCYS processed my application within 1 day and the with the emailed copy of the letter from MCYS, i went to OCBC and open the account the next day..

Tingting, at 1 stage i actually think that nick was having learning and speech disability cos while (i think was wendyg's son) could read ball as B-A-eleven, my nick couldnt even count to 10! let alone to read.. So i was close to desperate looking for a solution to make sure he wasnt having that learning or speech problem. Since the previous CC he attended for 6 mths didn't even help him to learn a single thing and he constantly came down with HFMD, mind champs was my solution and even if he had learning disability, they were supposed to be able to help as they are a right and left (whole) brain school. So far, i can say every cent i paid for is worth it as he can read, write and able to express himself much better than previously within a very short time frame (he's only in this school for 5mths). He is also a more confident kid and def less irritating..

THe Mind Champs has the Pre-school (childcare) and the weekly enrichment program for primary school and able children. Do you know ur dh's uncle is from which one? As for the weekly program for primary school children one, i went for the talk and wasnt very impress as my eldest son who is not right brain trained is also able to memorize the demos they did in the briefing.

seabreeze, difference in fees but u have a child who is keen to go school really makes a difference. Nick's old CC, we had to literally drag and leave him crying and screaming in school.. THis current one, he requests to go school even on sat and sun. Every morning, he will run into our room and tell us it's time to go school. And when he gets off the car at toa payoh, he runs out of the car and beg us to walk faster to school. So different from the 1 CC he attended.
 
hi SNG mum,
How long does it take for nick to stop crying in school? DD just started CC (since late dec) and she's being crying very hard (already 7th day today each 9.30am to 1pm only). We too had to drag her (crying and screaming too) to change and to CC.
We din see anything wrong with the CC and she could tell us this and that abt the CC so don't think it's CC but rather it's her own separation anxiety. If she hates the CC so much don't think she'll even mention it.
Any other kids here crying so hard when go to CC? Wonder how long she'll take to settle down...
sad.gif
 
cakey, the previous CC, nick NEVER settled in even at the 6th month. The current one, even on the 1st day there was no tears shed.. So far i see most kids in his school are very happy to go to school. Barely hear any crying.
 
SNG mum ...

Yap i am very glad that i changed him to cherie hearts cos every morning he wakes up and looks forward to go to school and kept reminding us to send him to Cherie Hearts and NOT any other place

Even when my mum goes and pick him up at 6.15pm ... he refuses to go home, still want to stay and play with his frens

And to think that he only started attending the CC on monday - 4 days only

So far been very impressed with the teachers cos i rec sms from them at least once or twice to update me on YC status etc and i think the biggest challenge so far is that he is not napping - though he will lie down quietly on the mattress but just not sleeping yet

i heard good reviews from my fren's on minds champ too just that its not convi for me to send him there

cakey ...

if you find that the teachers and environment of the child care is generally encouraging then guess you have to talk to your daughter more to prep her for CC

YC refuse to go into the classroom of the 1st CC cos the teachers all were bo chup and never try to get him involved ... not to mention that the class had abt 20 students and it was super noisy (their partition was only at the waist level so you can hear what goes on in other classrooms) ... when we reached home he say that he dun like the place cos he scared of the teachers

guess he picked up some bad vibes about the place =p
 
Seabreeze, wait he tells u he wants to go school on sat and sunday and starts crying then is headache. Napping wise, u try giving him some of his stuffs from home? Nick has his stinky blanket and smelly booster for nap time.

bishan to toa payoh is considered near... :p me is bedok to toa payoh loh.... hahahahahaha...

Anyway, happy kid in school = happy mummy at work..
happy.gif
 
i think crying stems from several reasons, but generally of course while no cry is the best, sometimes kids just prefer to be with parents. zephan also used to cry for a period (after his bout of sickness), even though he never did when he first started the school. But funny thing is, like cakey's experience, at the end of each day he can tell us the things he did and liked abt sch.

SNG's mummy (haha change back to ur nick),
i think my uncle-in-law teaches the primary sch or older ones.. didn't really research much into their curriculum..

u mean nick can write now? that's quite an achievement.. zephan can only "pretend read" if u know what i mean. perhaps the change to a more likeable learning environment helped nick develop faster..

btw, anyone letting go of a "I can read" chinese books series? Zephan's school is using the books for their chinese lessons and am trying to see if can get a 2nd hand set. [ps Vone would appreciate additional lobang too! :p]
 
tingting, Nick can do most of the alphabets in upper and lower case liao. But cannot spell words. So if i want him to write his name, i will have to spell it out word for word for him. Handwriting is readable, but ugly.

Does your pretend read mean read from memory? Nick for his books, he also memorize them de. Only on flash cards he "reads" them. But certain words he sees (eg. go, stop, toilet, is, nicholas) he could read them without the pictures.
 
what is mind champs website? what are their fees like? i hv a church pastor, his wife is with mind champs.. she was so convinced abt their program that she quit her chuch job to join them.
 
ho ho ho..
no budget no budget

sighzzz
i think better i go &amp; be their franchisee la. then my boys can benefit while i earn $$. hor?
 
SNG ...

bishan to toa payoh is near but the return home trip will be a problem cos YC goes back to my mum's place in the evening and we dun knock off early enough to fetch him

oh he dun have any thing in particular that he is v attached to ... never had security pillow, blanket, dolls etc maybe he needs to bring ME to school to nap with him hahahahaha

wendyg ...

thats strange ... cos usually ppl quit their job to join church and not the other way round hahahahaha

i oso dun mind to be their franchise lor =p
 
seabreeze
ya she quit her church job to join mindchamps. maybe need more $$, maybe coz she's so SOLD into the program. She has 3 kids aged between 2 &amp; 8yr old, approx.

so many of us keen on the franchise, we pool $$ to start one la. then all the kids attending will be our kids. We earn our own $$. Silly right?!?!!?!? ahhaa
 
wendyg, that church friend person is so like me! Just that i dont quit church job, but i wll quit my current job cos i am also so SOLD to the pre-school program that both nick and grace are there... 3 kids and 2-8yo.... hahahahahahahaha

Aidanee, u want to apply to be teacher there arh?
 
i think the former RGS principal is now with mind champs also? hmm, but with fees so ex i dont think i'll ever consider that.. just read that the national wage council could be recommending a wage cut.. haiz...
 
employer CPF! *pengz*
the other time cut then never been restored.. now want to cut again...

tingting
yes Carmee Lim with Mindchamps.. she's in their website
eh i thought cherie hearts sch fees abt the same?
 
i think got restore CPF midway lah.. it was 10 or 13% during cut and now is 16%? can't remember..

wendy, apparently seems not leh.. but maybe also logical since it's a franchise and diff outlets got different rental.. if in district 9 &amp; 10 got to charge higher right? :p
 
SNG,
i am tempted! hahaha.....to be a teacher....so easy to earn your money!

is it fully aircon? no outdoor, i supposed? its about the same as what i used to pay at his childcare....but i dont really like the method of doing business-MLM...no offence to anyone...
 
aidanee, hahahahaha.. agree.. want to earn my $$, need to be via my kids! Maybe you should visit them. They are really very different from the usual CCs. So far, am very happy with the results i see in Nick and Grace.. :p BTW, y do you classify them MLM?

Tingting, i thought cherie hearts, Pat's and a couple others also are on the 1k per month range..
 
wendyg ...

i oso tot since franchise should be abt the same range but no ler ... mine just the school fee is already $130 more than ting and even the enrichment is oso more exp ... cant understand why but think cos different boss ba

aidanee ...

what do you mean by MLM way for minds champ? u mean need reference then can enter the school or?

SNG ...

Cherie Hearts is much more affordable compared to Pats, Eton house and minds champ ... slightly abv mid-range i would say
 
SNG
err, i was invited to visit the centre (through my sis' friend) at tampines today, but totally forgot about it...they have a talk and open house on tuesday night but i need to pick my hb up at the airport. maybe not fated.

i always have this feeling like the recruiter gets lotsa commission at the road show....hahaha....nevertheless, i think the preschools should be good since there are raving reviews about it.

are your kids on full day? are there any hidden cost or extra charges for enrichment? not sure if i want to spend that amount of money, though its the same as what i paid at his ex-cc last time. my boy is a very picky eater...needs to have lunch at home, else lose weight very fast.

i hate changing school again....what if the centre is no good? do they allow trial?
 
SNG,
Hey, you dont accept PM.

if you have tried nick in another school, cheaper than mindchamp, he might be happy too????? is the ciriculum sufficient to prepare them for P1 without havin to send for reinforcement classes like creative writing, math etc....(reading the 2004 thread on what some parents are doing...stress me out.)

thanks,
 
hi aidanee,

i think most parents will be fine without sending their kids to enrichment classes, except that there'll always be some who want their kids to be "ahead". And the rest "have to" follow suit cos otherwise their kids will lag behind. It takes a fair bit of courage not to follow the trend..

for me, i hope to be able to prioritise, and let the child take the lead. e.g. maybe limit to 1 enrichment class that i think is important, and for other interests e.g. drawing, sports, music etc, try to expose him (in FOC ways) to determine if he really likes them. If just for leisure, dunnid to pay for the lessons lah.. unless he really shows potential...

even for science and math lessons, etc, there's a lot of ideas available on the web for you to try out at home. homeschooling resource sites are great for such stuff!

but whatever, do within your means and do not stress the child (and yourself) over it. I've heard pple lamenting how expensive it is to raise a kid, and they are those who enroll them in all sorts of classes. *pengz*
 
re: enrichment classes

think at this stage its more of giving the child a chance to try out something different and if they are not happy doing it then dun bother lor

currently not signing YC up for any enrichment class for Cherie Hearts cos he just started out full day at the cc ... too much things to get used to and that its pretty exp so much so that i feel the money can be used to send him to somewhere else over the weekend rather than using the 'normal' school hours to attend enrichment class

in any case normal lesson still continues while the enrichment class is going on and i already paying for the normal lesson liao ... thats the cheapskate way of thinking lar hahahahaha

but 1 enrichment prog that i am trying my best to keep him away from is computer class hahahahaha i prefer that he do more stuff than to face the PC lor
 
aidanee, my PM is on leh..

firstly hor, i have to say when i send nick to MC (mind champs), it's because they are a whole brain school. As i mention previously, i thought he had learning problems, so felt that only a full montessori school or a brain school will be able to help him if i am right on his learning problem. And since SG has very very few full montessori programs, whole brain schools becomes my other alternative.

If nick can learn and settle down in the previous CC, i wont want to pay so much for MC liao.

I dont think MC has half day program leh. Their schedule is so packed. Morning and afternoons after nap, they also have lessons. I call them double dose of the usual CCs. BTW hor, all the enrichments like gym, phonics etc is already incorporated into the program liao. there is no additional cost on top of the fees. After sending grace to cc, i stopped all her other enrichments as i feel that it will be a repeat. We now bring them to the parks or for charity work on weekends so they learn more of other stuffs.

As to fussy eater, nick is also a fussy eater at home. but in school he eats everything and usually requests for 2nd helping. If you are worried he doesnt eats in school, u can cook bento for him to bring to school :p

The last MC open house i went, i think all there are teachers. Dont think they have commission leh..

At the end of the day, i think as long as they know the basics, enjoy school, should be good enuff liao. I dont enjoy shuttling them from 1 venue to another on saturdays and sundays. Drives me NUTS.
 
seabreeze
husband and i like that the enrichment happens during sch time, coz isaac already spend mon-fri 9-6 in sch, can't bear for him to attend more classes during weekends. Also, classes during weekends may disrupt our weekend schedule esp his nap time (currently weekends he can nap as long as he wants, sometimes until 4pm/ 5pm!) Weekends we hang out with extended family, we prefer that he meets extended family regularly.

so to us, enrichment during cc time is like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Or many birds with 1 stone =)

wish the childcare had more enrichment classes esp music ones.
 
triniti
hi, saw article in Simply Her abt domestic helpers. wah your connections v good hor! appear on TV, magazines etc. And i think your friends also same as u.. regular TV/ magazine personalities =)
 
at the end of the day, the enrichment classes should make parents and kids alike happier, else, not worth it right?
happy.gif
Find that zephan does enjoy his enrichment classes, e.g. kindermusik, and the recently started speech &amp; drama class that's music-based as well.

For kindermusik, there's a take-home cd that we can play, and it's fun to relate to what he learns in school. We use some of the stories/songs and interpret it in daily activities. E.g. last year there was something abt a squirrel hiding his nut n trying to find it, and we adopted the play when trying to find zephan's toy, e.g. He can recognise we're trying to imitate the squirrel story n it's quite fun!
 
i think mindchamps is like MLM, see thread below:

http://www.singaporemotherhood.com/forumboard/messages/353638/1491904.html?1229917159

Also, just a couple days ago, during lunchhour in the pantry, I mentioned Mindchamps to my boss (Partner in the firm, same age as me) how expensive childcare is now but good as it's whole brain training etc. The first thing she said, I didn't go to those school and still we are smart.

I've been badgering my consultant colleagues how they become so smart, what did their parents do to them? how did they raise them? did they go for any special course etc. All of them said no. But one of the consultant told me he likes reading since young so maybe his brain is like this now due to all the reading, thirst for knowledge etc.

btw, I worked in one of the top consulting firm hence all the consultants who worked there are all crème de la crème, bond-breakers, top students of ivy league MBA schools etc

So maybe, don't get caught up in the rat race too much?
 
haha angel, it's interesting that u include "bond breakers" as a category of pple belonging to the top brainers.. but yah, dun get too caught up, impt is everyone enjoys the commitments.
 
angel, i briefly went thru the thread and but didn't read in detail. I believe what the MLM is referring to is their enrichment program for the Primary level onwards. The Pre-school one, i dont think so.

As for the rat race thingy, pple you meet in ur firm could be the top brainers or the faster learners, but i feel there are many others who are caught inbetween that needs something more than just the usual education route. Take for eg, my eldest son, Sam.. We need not teach him anything or even invest in any expensive enrichment programs, he at 5yo can google and look for his own answers.. He can do memory linking without being taught.. As for nick, haiz... i teach him until i could recite them in my dreams (my dh says de), he still cannot get it IN!

Too much is no good.. too little, we feel guilty. I still believe in giving them what we can afford best..
happy.gif
 


agree with tingting that the everybody shd enjoy the committment. And, yes 80% of our lateral hires are all bond breakers.. hehe

Agree also with SNG that most parents will do/give the best to their kids to aid them ahead among their peers academically. I, too want the same for Megan but will not go out of my way to make that happen and if she doesn't achieve that, it's fine too.

To me right now at their tender age, cultivating good character &amp; confidence, strong moral values and right attitude to learning/way of life is most important than pushing them to excel academically.

Think i must be one of the most relaxed (may not necessary be a good thing). The only thing I wish now is for Megan to be have the above qualities I mentioned, be calmer, more patient and knows how to read
happy.gif


How to teach her to read ah

Also, I think whether the kid will eventually become president's scholar or not depends mainly on the genetic makeup, God's plan for the child and &amp; family environment
 
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