Trial at Playdays

Brought Jiale for his trial class at Playdays at Mountbatten Centre this morning. And yes, we have signed up for a term!

This is a drop-off class for 1.5-year-olds to 2.5-year-olds. 10 students in the class, 3 teachers. While I was chatting with one of the teachers at the start of the class, she warned me that as this was the 2nd week of the new term, there were still quite a few newbies, and thus, to be prepared for quite a lot of crying. She also told me it's ok for me to stay for the entire class or to leave anytime. The class started with free play, with wooden toy furniture and a playhouse, a magnetic 'fishing' car set, and some painting with Dot-A-Dot pens. As more kids came in and the parents gradually left the room, I realised the teacher was not kidding. The crying was sooooo loud and sooooo whiny..! I really admired the teachers for being able to tolerate it! So, the 3 teachers ended up with one crying baby at their hip each, while they played with the other kids. Jiale was not very happy when we entered the classroom, I guess he recognized it as a 'school setting' and realised mummy might be abandoning him soon. But he soon calmed down as I promised him I would be with him. He soon started exploring the room and the toys, also playing on and off with the other kids, especially one boy who was one month older than him, often glancing at me (to check I was still there, I think!)

Gosh, though it was just a few hours ago, I realised I can't recall much about the class! Faintz.. my memory is getting from bad to worse.. OK, I THINK after the free play (about 30 minutes), there was music and dance for a short while.. Then the kids went out to the playground, where there were quite a few tricycles, cars (Little Tikes type), skate scooters etc, and a big enclosed (with net) trampoline, and a simple play structure (again, Little Tikes type). Jiale was playing quite ok for a while, then he decided to be unhappy.. dunno why!! He was ok again when the class went back to the classroom.

Then.. I THINK it was snack time.. (really can't recall!! Urgh!) The kids were given a bowl of plain white rice with some seaweed, followed by dried strawberries (like raisins) and fresh grapes. Oh ya, since they first came in, cheese crackers were available almost all the time, and greedy Jiale ate 3.5 pieces! (the 0.5 came from a classmate who offered it to Jiale)

Towards the end of snack time, one of the teachers started changing the diapers for the kids one by one. I changed for Jiale since I was there.

After snack time, it was art time. The kids were given a cut-out of the number two and rollers with trays of paint. It was about 11.30am when they finished with the painting, and then a Chinese teacher came in for Chinese time. The Chinese segment of the class was conducted in the format of a game, just like the rest of the class. The lao shi brought with her 2 big containers and some plastic duckies, filled the containers with some water, and let the kids catch the duckies with scoops & nets. (Just like what we do at home! haha!) Then she sang Chinese songs with kids and they danced in a group. But I think Jiale was quite exhausted by then, and he didn't join in the singing or dancing, just lay on the floor with his head in my lap. Though it was still early for his nap, I think 2+ hours of class was too siong for him, especially since he wasn't used to school at all.

At the end of the class, the parents joined in for a short segment of songs and the kids also played with bubbles.

So, why did I decide to sign up despite Jiale's still obvious reluctance to join in the activities and to let mummy leave the room? Hmm, I am glad I stayed on for the entire class, cos I saw how patient the teachers were with the 3 other kids who cried for almost 2 hours..! I know Jiale would definitely cry when I first leave the class, but I am quite sure he will not cry for so long. Furthermore, the type of activities are exactly the things that will be able to distract him, haha. I think with me around today, he was not able to participate fully cos he had to keep coming back to me to make sure I wasn't going to disappear. Quite a few times, I saw him looking with great interest at what the teachers & other kids were doing while he was standing next to me. Having stayed on for the whole class with him today, I hope he won't be so scared the next time since he will be able to know roughly what's coming next, and the place isn't completely new by then.

Frankly speaking, while I like the teachers and the play-based ideology, I was not impressed by the activities. For example, while they were doing art, it seemed a bit too rushed.. Understandable, cos other than the activities, the teachers also had to do the cleaning up and prepare for the next activity. Even with a ratio of 3 teachers to 10 students, it's still like that. Can't possibly expect a better ratio right?? Whereas when we do artwork at home, Jiale could take his time and paint to his heart's content, and add water if he likes.. or add some balls.. or add water beads.. or so many possibilities! I think at the school, there would be no way he could get his whole body 'painted' :P It was just... not so... relaxed.. Oh well, I guess he can learn to be neat & tidy while at school, and create messes to his heart's content at home : )

Anyway, since it's just for 3 hours a week, I think there's no need to worry too much about what the school is doing. I don't need the school to teach any academic stuff, in fact, I would prefer the school not to teach ANY academic stuff. I'm happy as long as they don't undo the relaxed and happy learning attitude which I am trying to inculcate in Jiale - no structure, no timetable, no lectures, no worksheets, no homework please! Homelearning is still the main course. If I were sending Jiale to daily classes, there would be sooooo many more criteria I would expect the school to fulfil! Only 3 hours.. chin chye la.. On the other hand, Playdays is already not cheap.. and I still find it lacking.. I wonder how much it will cost for a school that really satisfies me... >.<

In fact, I'm seriously considering homeschooling him.. *think think think* Just for the preschool years la, I don't dare to NOT send him to government primary schools! Anyway I love our education system and MOE syllabus and government schools... exam stress, PSLE, homework are all good, part & parcel of life la, since he's already grand old age of 7 by then. Just as long as his afternoons are still free for him to play!

At the moment though, he's still 'untamable' and I have no idea how to do 'seat work' with him, cos he can't sit still la. No point me planning lessons and he's not happy. Shall see how it goes as he gets older. Will it be too much if we are still doing play-based ONLY when he is 6 years old??? Gotta read up! For now, I only know play-based is definitely good for a 2.5-year-old monkey : )