Viewing Day

There was no urgent need for us to go to the office today but it was the MMI CCC's open house and we were supposed to be registrating with them today(waiver of registration fee which cost S$107-regn fees are usually non-refundable). When we were near our office, we passed by Pat's schoolhouse again and I told daddy why don't we go take a look as I would personally prefer Pat's if compared to MMI although it might cost more. And thanks to this detour, we also passed by a Kinderland CCC which was just a few 'houses'(they are all standalone semi-D type) away from Pat's.

Pat's schoolhouse was closed today and sighting the chains around the gate, daddy just drove away from Pat's and stopped outside Kinderland and when we realised that it was also closed, I took down the number indicated on the signboard(which indicated that it's a Franchise branch and operated by Uni-3 Montessori) and decided to phone them up, in case there were indeed people in the centre. However, it was really closed for cleaning(non operative on Saturdays anyway - daddy said 'ok what') and we left. Daddy said I should have just find out more instead so I rang her(owner/Principal) up when we got to the office.

Mrs Teoh was nice and patient to answer my queries and since we were keen and stay far from its premise, she deliberately arranged for us to go back at 12:30pm to view the place. It wasn't as big a set up as compared to Kinderland Preschool Serangoon and there's only 1 class for each level(1-preN, 1-N, 1-K1, 1-K2) and each class size is of a maximum intake of only 12 students. Unlike Kinderland Preschool, they only have 1 teacher in the class though but what I like is that they're non-airconditioned(except for during nap time and it's better 'cos the kids will be there for the whole day) and they also cater in optional enrichment classes. They used to be a montessori set up and I'm not sure of its reason, they converted to a Kinderland CCC but Mrs Teoh advised that there will still be a little bit of Montessori method incorporated in the curriculum but when I viewed its time table, I think it's very minimal, :). Teachers are all diploma holders and if they're not trained by Kinderland teachers training school, they will still have to under-go a re-training. So for this point, I feel better 'cos it would lessen the changes/confusion Renee would have to face(whether or not we resume school with Kinderland Preschool later). Although I know we really can't expect much from a CC set up, but the least I can hope for is to have the minimum changes for her.

In terms of fees, even after the government's subsidy, it cost the same or just slightly more than what we have been paying the preschool if we take up the enrichments, so that actually makes the preschool expensive, but at least Kinderland Preschool's food menu has got alot more varieties(I think so far no school I've been to/checked out has a menu that could beat theirs, even PX whom has worked with various CCC said so). However, it's still pretty good(though alot of chicken and eggs used - they will avoid eggs for Renee then) as compared to those PCF's and neighbourhood's schools/CCC which I've been to, during my earlier search/kaypohing around, heee.

Although theirs is a franchise branch, Mrs Teoh also allows waiver of their registration fee(and Kinderland schools don't collect deposit which I feel is very good as it shows that they're very confident about their schools. Besides, why pressure parents on deposits - one would have to consider the welfare of their children during the 1 month notice and also, how long will the refund take) and since we'd be only bringing Renee over later, say around 9am(woah, that means we have to leave home by 8am everyday!), she will also request for her teachers to move/change the 'play/outdoor' curriculum to suit hers so that she won't miss the 1st part of I-LAP/MAP/ programmes. I really appreciate her accomodative suggestions, cos that means Renee will only miss only the assembly and some 'not so important' curriculum.

At the same time, I gave Pat's schoolhouse a call but they were unwilling to let us view the premise that day and from the lady & its web, I found out that they're using Letterland for phonics - so that's another different programme(which in my opinion, is only useful to draw really young kids' attention, I've seen the adverse effect zoo phonics have on Renee, so I'm not keen on such specialised programmes at all).

Back home, after daddy's left to meet his client for dinner cum drinking(now), Renee didn't take to her practice well - she didn't want her papa to go... And since she was hungry, I told her to continue later and have her dinner first but I'm not sure if it's due to her knowing that I'm ordering pizza for my dinner, she didn't finish her dinner again. If u said that her tummy's still not well and doesn't have the apetite, she had insisted on eating 3-4 pizza crusts ok!

Vicky had asked me to go over her place but by the time I was done with the altering of her new dresses, it was already close to 9pm, and thus we just chatted over the phone.

When I was going for my shower, I teased her that she has to practice on her own but I've never thought that she would 'cos I've gone in without fixing up the violin/bow for her. As I was just about to wash my hair, there I heard, the sounds of violin, hahaha. I guessed this is also what she's managed to do, when her dua pek asked her to play for him the other day when daddy and me left for lunch(she wanted to stay in the office with dua pek).

By the time we're both settled down, it was around 10:30pm and Renee said that she's hungry but we do not have any milk bread left at home, so she asked me to cook something up for her! I thought of mee sua - something which she had loved a couple of years ago and perhaps she was really very hungry, she kept saying 'hmmm, ya, very yummy', hahaha. I've only cooked one 'lot' of the mee sua for her as I wasn't sure if she'd really eat it but she claimed that it wasn't enough and asked me to cook more, geez. It's already too late so I told her that I'll cook it for her again tomorrow if she really loves it but it's not good to eat so much at nite(ya ya, who's talking, lolz).

We still havn't heard from the school, they're probably very busy due to the H1N1 situation - they've been calling all parents to follow up, paper declarations from them, blah blah. And although we might not be returning to the school so soon, I guess I would still have to give them a call on Monday to tell them our decision(which we have to make soon).