[sunniefaith]

lynn,

You have to decide what you want for your child. Some parents opt for their children having a childhood and giving time fun and then at a later stage, give them the help they need in school. But some parents opt for stuffing their kids with as much knowledge and as young as possible. This is very common in HK. Thus, resulting in 'nazi' English teacher and pressurizing school. Have a think about it and decide what you want for your child.

[lynn cheung]

Thanks for reply, everybody.

Sophwillsmum, I'm not eager for my son to start schooling as such a young age. But it's how they do it here in Hong Kong that they have to go to kindergarten when they're above 2 years and 8 months (am I right?)
Our son didn't even go to nursery like others did, so he was not used to sitting down for a long time at the school like other students.
(I tell my husband that sometimes older students don't want to answer teacher's question, but it doesn't mean that they need to transfer to another school)

You can ask my husband, I always complain about Hong Kong system that asks children go to kindergarten in such a young age.
(Back home, they start at 4 years instead of 3).

My son will turn 4 in October and he's in K2 now.

Capital and Sunniefaith,
I didn't know when I put him in this school last year that he was going to have lots of works to do.
I thought all the children had to do at kindergarten was playing. Well, I was wrong.

I was surprised that he had to learn reading, writing and math since K1. He had homework everyday, and assessment for one whole week at the end of each term.
I was very surprised!
But my husband told me that this was normal.
(What? Do you call that normal?)
Even my cousin told me that this is normal when I complained about it to her.
For me, I'm opposed to this kind of teaching. At home, I always play with him and he learns so much through playing.
(My husband doesn't agree with me since he grew up in Hong Kong and has this mindset).

But we can't afford International school and I'm told that all the local schools are like this (am I wrong again?)

I've seen naughtier and spoiled children (so how do they perform at the school then?)
I always think that my son is quite normal (am I wrong again?) then why the teachers don't want him in their classes?

I don't know what to do anymore.
My husband tells me that he needs to be able to sit still as this is the way they do it in Hong Kong (and it's my job to make sure that our son does it! though I've tried everything I know of, but it's not good enough since the teachers complain about him)

But the teachers can't complain that he doesn't know his stuffs, though.
Though sometimes he walks around in the class when he sits long enough, he knows what's going on in the class and can answer correctly when asked. He can remember things very fast.
Even before he went to kindie, whenever I played with him, he could remember quickly and learned a lot through playing.

Do I need to change him to another local school since we can't afford International school?
(But if all the local schools are like this, he'd still be miserable, no?)

I'm going to do some research about other local kindergartens now.

Thanks again for reading this long post. I have nobody to turn to here.

Lynn

[cemily]

Lynn,

PM you.

rgds

e

[capital]

What a hard situation! I don't know what I would do in your shoes? Are there different types of local schools or are they all genuinely the same. We met some old friends of my husbands who had their children in local schools that were more experienced based, not sure the name of the program, anyways the parents ( 2 couples) both thought these types of local school were superior to other types, but what shocked me was that the children were only 5,6,7 years old and were up until 1000 pm doing school work! When do they sleep? Never mind getting to play sports, or swim or other extracirricular things, which I think are important

The really sad thing about trying to get preschooler to do all this "academic" work is that research shoes that young children can learn this stuff early, but then score less well on tests when they are older, and that it is best to foaster a love of learning and play based learning for preschoolers!

I do understand a bit how you can have pressure in your family. My husband started school in HK at age 3, so he all for kids entering school early, but he really struggled in school. In my part of Canada you cannot start until age 4 at earliest, so kids are 4 or 5 when they start kindergarten, and IF you want to you can pay to send kids to private preschools, of all different types. We have decided to send our 3 .5 year old to a 4 day, half day program. Even that is a compromise for my husband and me, as most people here would send to a 2-3 day half day program until kindergarten. Kindergarten is either all day every other day, or everyday half days.

[lynn cheung]

That's what I don't want for our son, too. It seems that the children here don't have a good childhood, always study and study, never have fun time to play, etc. My husband always says that I complain too much about the school system here.
But again, as we can only afford local school now and we can't do much about it.
I can only let my son play a lot when he's at home.

We're looking at other local school around here as far as Shatin (we have to consider a primary school for him, too).

Still confused,
Lynn

[newbies]

Lynn,
If you don't mind, can you PM me the school that your son was in.

I can't answer to your question if all school in HK are like what you have described for K1. But am sure that the school that my kids are going to NOT like that for a least bit. But the school is in HK island so that may be too far for your son.

Personally, if I were in your situation I probably will opt for montessori for his preschool as to avoid unnecessary pressure on your son from the so call "local" school system. You can put him in again to the local system when he is old enough for Primary school?? Just a penny of my thought.

[lynn cheung]

Just found out from his teacher this morning that he was too smart for his class. He was always the first one to finish his school works/assignments while some didn't even know how to do them.
It's just that he learns very fast.

I'm going to ask her if it possible to just let him play after he finishes his works. Or.. I don't know. Any of you have any suggestions?

The last thing we want to do is move him to another local school.
We visited several local schools in the area and chose this school because it had big indoor play area and its cleanliness.
Some schools didn't have clean restrooms (some were even smelly).

Newbies, we can't afford international school, so montessori school is out of the picture.

Thanks,
Lynn