We did a free trial at Kinderland yesterday, the class started on 8.30 and ended on 10.00. I met my friend whose daughter were also doing the free trial, and another friend who turned out to be the music teacher for the kindergarten, her son will start schooling there next July.
The first thing was playing outside, there were small sand and water pool, several mini cars, a swing and mini slides. After that all the kids went into the dining room to have snacks (each kid bring their own snacks). Then moved to the playing room, there were lots of toys in it, the kids could freely play with all of them, and then the teacher will call the kids two by two into the art room, yesterday the art project was to color a picture of an ant with water color.
From the playroom, the kids carried on to story room. Here, the teacher told a story and taught some songs. I think they were trying to teach words in this session, because they repeated several words over and over again while showing pictures so that kids would know what the thing in the picture was called. After the story telling, the class was dismissed.
Abram was rather reluctant about his lesson, I think he hadn't used to the people and environment. He played by himself, didn't interact with other kids, didn't want to let go of the the toy he was holding. And in the story-telling session, instead of looking at the teacher, he kept looking at the carpet...*sigh*
Well, I guess it would take a few days to get him familiar with the new place, new friends and new teachers.
The classes in Kinderland are divided into few levels. For under 2y.o is the Playgroup Class, then 2-2,5 y.o is the Pre-Nursery 1, 2.5-3y.o is Pre-Nursery 2, 3-4y.o is Nursery, 4y.o is Kindergarten 1 and 5 y.o is Kindergarten 2.
In playgroup, most of the activities are playing. The kids will be taught words, how to use plates, spoons and cups, tidying up their toys, singing, and simple arts like coloring with a cotton bud (or hand in Abram's case). The language used is English. And the kids can still be accompanied by one adult.
In Pre-Nursery 1 they will start to learn how to hold and use a pencil, e.g by connecting dots with lines. They will also learn some simple Mandarin words. And they can no longer be accompanied by adults, this to teach them to be independent.
In Nursery 1 they will learn to write their own names.
In Kindergarten there is a lesson for music, such as playing instruments, singing in a choir etc.
Overall, I think the program is good and they also have good facilities such as keyboards for the music lesson. The curriculum is from Singapore.
For playgroup we don't need to pay enrollment fee, there are only registration fee of IDR 50,000 and they charge IDR 65.000 per one day, so at the beginning of the month we have to decide how many days per week and then calculate the monthly payment. That is quite fair for us, since it's only playgroup so we don't want to pay a large amount of money.
But we'll have to start paying enrollment fee in Pre-nursery 1, the amount is USD500 and it is a one time payment untill the child graduates from Kindergarten 2. I caught a glimpse of the school fee for Pre-nursery 1 and it was USD290 for 2days/week. Besides that, there is a uniform fee and books and tools fee.
Cambridge pre-school doesn't do free trials, but we can look at the classes and see their activities. We went there 2 days ago, the place is twice smaller than Kinderland and it was kinda gloomy for me. They have 2 classes for Playgroup, one is on Mon, Wed, Fri and the other one is on Tue, Thu, the time is 10.15 to 12.00. For each class, they divide the kids into 2 groups so that each group will only have max 10 kids.
I dont know the exact activities in the classes since I could only see for a while. They were starting the class with singing when I was there.
The playgroup level is only for kids up to 2y.o, after that they go to Nursery 1, till they are 3 y.o they continue to Nursery 2. at 4 y.o they are already in Kindergarten 1 and 5 y.o in Kindergarten 2.
They said the kids will be able to write their own names by the end of Nursery 1's semester. And they will also toilet train the kids by teaching them to tell when they need to go to the toilet. In Nursery 1 the kids can no longer accompanied by adults and apparently before they enter Kindergarten they're already not wearing diapers anymore.
They also teach Mandarin starting Nursery 1, but I don't think they teach music.
For playgroup, the registration fee is IDR250,000, they also charge per day for IDR 55,000. The uniform fee is IDR35,000/set and there is also books fee of less than IDR 50,000 per semester.
Enrollment fee is charged when the kid start Nursery 1, it is IDR 3,000,000, one time payment till graduated from Kindergarten 2. There will also be a fee for books, uniforms, tools.
The curriculum is also from singapore so I think more or less it's just the same with Kinderland. But I prefer Kinderland because of the facilities and Music lesson. However, Cambridge can give graduation certificate from the government aside from their own certificate while Kinderland only gives their own graduation certificate. I've asked Kinderland about their certificate and they said their students got accepted in Penabur, St. Lucia and St. Mary. Kinderland's enrollment fee and school fee is also relatively more expensive than Cambridge, but I guess it is due to their better facilities so it's understandable.
We still haven't decided which one to choose, I prefer Kinderland, hubby prefers Cambridge because of the toilet training and the writing lesson in Nursery 1 and also the government graduation certificate. But we need to decide quickly since we want Abram to start to go to school in March.
For those of you who against sending your kids to school at such a young age, please re-consider, because I think it's good for the kids. They learn to socialize (not only with kids their age but also with other grown-ups besides their parents and family), share things, be creative, have discipline etc. And for a working mom like me who can't be at home and teach too many things to my son, it is a good way to maximize his potentials at these golden years (0-5 y.o).
Here's a photo of Abram playing mini car in Kinderland.
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