On our way to school...Argh!!

Here are some of my findings and thoughts on our recent kindergarten tour in Singapore.

Basically, there are four options:
1. Go to a local government kindergarten.
2. Go to a local private kindergarten.
3. Go to an expatriate private kindergarten.
4. Go to an international school affiliated kindergarten.

The list goes from the cheapest to the most expensive.

In our situation, options 1 & 2 are out. I admit that I did entertain the thought of sending Luke to a local PAP (government) kindergarten for $20 a week, but remembering a brush with a local sunday school teacher at a very local church we visited when Luke was 16mos, I prefer staying away from the local way. (The incident was that the sunday school teacher demanded Luke to sit still and listen to her monologue story-telling for 20 minutes. She was not a captivating storyteller, and Luke was only 16 mos for crying out loud! She then started labeling Luke as the "naughty" boy with which I took issue with her and left the class. I can see this happening daily if I send Luke to a local kindie.) And for the same reason, option 2 is out also.

Option 3 looks like our best fit for now. I have toured a few Montessori kindies and a few Quantum early learning centers. Quality of expat kindies are generally high - most of them use authentic Montessori materials, the teachers are all certified through AMI (American Montessori International), and teacher-student ratio is low (usually 1 to 6). However, with high quality comes high price tags. School fees start from S$7000/year, depending on how many days a week the child attend school (range from 2-5 days per week).

Option 4 looks bleak. Prices are steep, and I'm not even sure about the quality since I didn't bother to visit the schools. Maybe their classrooms are lined with gold wallpaper and every kid is guaranteed to become a genius graduating from these schools. I guess I am just happy if I can have the peace of mind that Luke will turn out normal, and does not have to go to schools where teachers beat his self-esteem to non-existent levels.

I have a few more appointments coming up in the next few weeks. Good thing is that we don't have to send Luke until January 2008, or even later than that. I just like to see what our options are, and as in everything else in Singapore, the early bird that gets on the waiting list catches the worm!