Full-time homeschooling did cross my mind once. As I got quite jaded with the Singapore's education system and did not like how the focus on meritocracy can be so stressful for children.
But I decided not to go ahead with it. Maybe it was the lack of courage, or because I was certain that I will not have the discipline to home-school him during his primary + secondary school years. My passion and knowledge was afterall in early childhood education, and I figured that I may not continue that fervour in home-schooling when he progresses to the upper primary levels. Besides, if you have seen how the math or chinese syllabus is like for upper primary, I was sure that I will not be able to follow through home-schooling in the long haul.
When K turned 2, I started the search for the 'perfect' preschool. My requirements for the preschool include; close to home, affordable, preferably a Christian based preschool, a good student-teacher ratio, good environment and a play-based curriculum. I wanted to K to attend regular preschool to ensure that he learns to socialise with other children in a group setting.
For me, academics is not a key requirement for a preschool. Since K and I have been doing regular home-learning, it will not matter if the school do not put much focus on academics. So I chose a preschool that children can learn through play. Fundamentally, he has to enjoy the process of learning, as well as acquire valuable skills such as socialisation, self-regulation, self-help and is exposed to lots of hands-on activities to train his fine motor skills.
I think I have made the right choice for the preschool. I am absolutely pleased that he gets total bilingual immersion, since we speak little Mandarin at home. I was a little concerned that he will be confused since he understands little Mandarin. However, he picked up the language cues rather quickly and was able to respond to his Chinese teacher.
The teachers also introduced developmentally appropriate activities that needed very little seatwork, extremely apt for active 3 year olds.
I was so glad to see that he had no problem eating by himself and he sat down on his seat throughout the whole meal. Which was a pleasant surprise since he usually will not sit still on the dining chair whenever we have our meals at home.
Throughout his time in school today, I sat quietly at the far end of the room and snapped photos of him in the sly. I knew I should not get involved at all, since this will be the only day that I am allowed to be present in class with him. From what I observed from his behaviour, he needs alot of help in learning socialisation skills. He is not his usual friendly/cheerful self and he gets rather defensive with the other children in class, I hope it is due to first day jitters.
Overall, his response to school is still very positive and I am gratified that this will be a bright start to his next 20 years of formal schooling!
