Enrichment classes for 1 year old

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kireipiggy

New Member
Dear parents, my son just turn 1 year old this aug. Was wondering what kind of enrichment classes are your child going through?

REad from the forum & conclude that Colorful Hearts & the Shichida Method are quite useful & has good reviews from parents here.

Personally I prefer mine to go for short classes instead of playschool. I hope he can benefit more from short classes & real life experiences. I do teach him on my own too(before & after work). What's your view :)
 
d3s1r33

d3s1r33

New Member
kireipiggy said:
Agreed, but where did u enrol your child?

I just visited the Shichida Method over the weekend :)
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How was your visit to shichida? Is it really that good as reviewed. Ive yet to plan my trip there.
I'm planning to send my daughter there early next yr when she turns one. My friend recommended shichida to me and her daughter joined when she was 4mths only. Ha!
 
K

kireipiggy

New Member
d3s1r33 said:
How was your visit to shichida? Is it really that good as reviewed. Ive yet to plan my trip there.
I'm planning to send my daughter there early next yr when she turns one. My friend recommended shichida to me and her daughter joined when she was 4mths only. Ha!
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Hi Hi, Im quite impressive by their way of teaching to simulate the toddler's brain. Yes, 3 months old can join them already :)

Don't wait coz the waiting list stretches up to next year Jan 2012 already!!!
 
Pinkliciouz

Pinkliciouz

Member
What I did was, I went for trial at a few centers before deciding which is the 1 that I am comfortable with before sending my son there because every center is different and I wanted to make sure that I am comfortable with what was taught by the teacher. Most importantly my son is soooo active, it is so difficult to get him to sit still.

GUG at United Square teaches more on phonics and handcraft works. My son couldn't stay still during the whole course of the class, and the teachers didn't even try to catch his attention, so this school is out of my option.

Little Neuro Tree @ Toa Payoh was the first center that I went to. My son was only 8months when I enrolled him and I personally like the school but my son was too young thus his attention span is really short. So I waited until now that he's 1 before I enrolled him. They do some playtime, some flashcards, some handicraft works. a general mix of everything.

Julia Gabriel has more handicraft works and my cousin's son is there.

Baby Jumper Gym @ Thomson is quite interesting but my husband finds that the activities they did there is very rough, thus he didn't like it. 1 of the activity of hanging on the monkey bar made my son cried so badly, that he had to be carried out of the classroom.

Gymboree @ HarborFront is fun fun fun. The class is all about physical stimulation like crawling, singing, puppet stories. My son really like it there and they allocate 2 teachers to 1 group of students so I quite like it.

Shichida Method. I went for the preview and I heard so many rave reviews about it. What I heard from ex-student's parent is that, the class requires a lot of attention from the child. If your kid is those super playful with a short attention span, then this class would not really work because ultimately, the child would be moving about instead of listening to the teacher. But I still am going to send my son there next year because I really like the fact that they do brain stimulation. This center is the most ya-ya of all the centers that I went to. NO make-up lesson if your son is sick. NO make-up lesson if there is a PH.
 
K

kireipiggy

New Member
Hi Pink,

Thanks for the input.

Yes, very agree on the yaya part but they seems to be really organised and they have a rule that says if the child is too rowdy or active, he/she will be asked to leave the class for awhile so not to disturb other kids.

Personally im real comfortable by their strict and organised teaching :)
 
Pinkliciouz

Pinkliciouz

Member
So you send your kid there already? How issit? Can share your experience?

I am going to enroll my son in for next term...
Hopefully he doesn't disturb any kids...
 
M

Mummy to Baby V

Well-Known Member
My boy has been with Shichida Method since 14 months old, now he's 2 years 8 months old.
I'm SAHM homeschooling him and we do Shichida home practice every weekday.
It's a very good parenting philosophy and teaches parents how to show love to the child as the basis of all learning.

I think 6-9 months old is a good time to attend Shichida class, as long as baby has good attention span for 1 hour.

Though no replacement class for MC or public holiday, we're perfectly fine with it. If 3 public holidays fall in a term, there's 1 replacement.
The core of the method lies on the parents and home practice.
I like that classes start punctually and includes many short and interesting activities covering a wide range of areas.

Feel free to read some of our Shichida experience at Developmental Milestones of 30 months old toddler | Mummy's Reviews

Till now, this is the only class my boy is attending. It sets a good foundation while exploring the child's interest / talent. He's getting very good at singing and keen on music, so we're planning to enrol him in Kindermusik for more musical exposure.
 
Pinkliciouz

Pinkliciouz

Member
Do you have to buy any materials? Are those expensive?

Can elaborate on their activities? Like mainly flashcards, or phonics or singing or what do they do in class? Because they have no trial class, so i would really like to hear about their classes from experienced mommies...
 
M

Mummy to Baby V

Well-Known Member
Pinkliciouz said:
Do you have to buy any materials? Are those expensive?

Can elaborate on their activities? Like mainly flashcards, or phonics or singing or what do they do in class? Because they have no trial class, so i would really like to hear about their classes from experienced mommies...
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Materials for home practice: I buy some, make some and exchange some with likeminded mummies. I bought some core flashcards (e.g. dots, words) to start off. Nowadays, mainly make and exchange cos need to continually introduce new images to keep child interested.

I also bought some of the good IQ and memory puzzles.

Can buy the appropriate ones as child grows, no need all at one go. I think prices are reasonable. Personally, I hardly buy toys for my boy. More of such learning materials, puzzles and books.

Each class includes MANY mini activities, progresses with age too:
- relaxation, breathing
- pretend play
- senses games
- photographic memory games
- flashcards (dots, picture sentences, general knowledge, etc)
- singing with teacher flashing cards
- alphabets, basic phonics, words, numbers games
- linking memory using cards
- speed reading
- finger play
- fine motor skill activities (e.g. Using tongs or scissors)
- bring home worksheets for 2 years old (pre-writing, matching, coloring, drawing, etc.)

It's amazing what's covered in that short one hour.
Every activity is very short, so the child is kept interested.

Remember that the core of the method is not about passing knowledge to the child.
Parent must be relaxed, encouraging and positive during class.
It's about opening up the right brain, then linking it to the left brain when the child is older, to make learning very easy in future.
 
M

mybabyme

New Member
Hi there,

I have been sending my son to Happy Train in Middle Road, since he is 8 month old. Happy Train is similar to Shicida, only I think it is less costly. My son enjoy the 1 hour class weekly. It is an accompanied program where mum or dad sit in with them. There is a trial class of 3 times covering English, Mandrian and Japanese.
 
K

kireipiggy

New Member
mybabyme said:
Hi there,

I have been sending my son to Happy Train in Middle Road, since he is 8 month old. Happy Train is similar to Shicida, only I think it is less costly. My son enjoy the 1 hour class weekly. It is an accompanied program where mum or dad sit in with them. There is a trial class of 3 times covering English, Mandrian and Japanese.
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Hi mummy, great that your son enjoys his class. Hope my boy loves attending classes too:)

Is the trial class FOC? How's the fees like?
 
M

mybabyme

New Member
If I can remember correctly, the trial class is $50 per session. However you can offset the trial class from the term fee if you decide to sign up. Per term is 12 weeks and cost me $600 as I go for weekend class. Quite stimulating, as the child get to do different activities over the 1 hour. So keep my child focus. The teachers there are also very friendly.
 
K

kireipiggy

New Member
mybabyme said:
If I can remember correctly, the trial class is $50 per session. However you can offset the trial class from the term fee if you decide to sign up. Per term is 12 weeks and cost me $600 as I go for weekend class. Quite stimulating, as the child get to do different activities over the 1 hour. So keep my child focus. The teachers there are also very friendly.
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Thanks for the input :)
 
T

toddler20

New Member
Sending your kid to some preschool is really good at the age of one. Kids start learning how to adjust in different environment.
 
K

kireipiggy

New Member
toddler20 said:
Sending your kid to some preschool is really good at the age of one. Kids start learning how to adjust in different environment.
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Agrees with you, but i would prefer to start a weekend enrichment class then slowly introduce preschool :)

You send your girl/boy to which preschool?
 
E

eurostar

Member
since u have hear all godo thing abt Shichida Method, I maybe add on a bad thing I heard from frd tat "smart" kids will exel better, while "slow learner" might be ignored in the class
but go sign up some trial class b4 any commitment
most imporatnt is they enjoy the class and not sitting down there 45min doing nothing while watching other kids "performing"

but thats me :tlaugh:
 
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