1st week of Junior 1

*sigh*


My V all smiles inside his classroom for Junior 1.

I asked him if he'll stop kissing Mama in front of his friends because his in grade 1, V replied with a hug and wet kiss telling me I will never stop kissing you Mama. ( I will come back and show him this post when his a teen and refuse to give me a kiss!)

We have survived 1st week of school and I admit I was the one nervous that I won't wake up early enough (bus pickup at 6:13 am) and that I won't pack enough food for him.

I've been crazy searching the stores for the perfect lunchbox since V complained that the Sahara Tiger lunchbox is too heavy but hey it keeps his food warm even after 6 hrs!



Vs week 1 school lunchbox feedback is that I send him way too much food. Too much? He comes home complaining he's soo hungry! He explained that he doesn't want to go potty #2 at school that's why he doesn't want too much food.


How was your 1st week of school?

Preparing for KG

Vierte will be attending KG class this September and slowly we are preparing him to be on his own.

Last month we bought him a toddler car seat and convinced him that Mom stays with Daddy on the front seat while he's at the back. He's ok with it as long as we have tv monitor on and water on the side.

Kumon maze and some worksheets. I've found several sites which allows me to print worksheets on tracing lines. Now he knows how to hold a pencil. We are doing 2 worksheets daily.

School Hunt pt2

We continue the search and visited the following schools and a brief review...

The Oxford School
Curriculum - English National Curriculum
KG1-Grade 12

We have a friend who sends their kids here and they are very happy with the school and the kids are too. That itself is a plus already, we only don't want our kids to learn but to be happy as well.
The guy who toured us around the KG department was not a member of the faculty so he was not really able to explain well the activities that the school offer for KG students he just mainly just showed us around and pointed out the Star International - Al Twar Curriculum - National Curriculum for England and Wales
KG1-Year 8

Star has a homey feel to it and the assistant principal who toured us was very pleasant lady. We don't have any friends who has children in this school but base on the comments we read on the forum's majority says that they love the school. Unfortunately the fee is just way beyond our budget.

Apple International School

Not so happy with how we were entertained during our visit. The reception ladies just instructed us to go around the KG area and that was practically it.

School Hunt: Pristine Private School / Pristine Rainbow Nursery

April 28


Super late update.


C and I decided to not enroll V to nursery, but would make an extra effort at home to prepare him for KG1.


We have also registered and enrolled him for KG1 as early as March. Yup that early because school seat here in Dubai get's filled up fast. 


***
We visited both Pristine Private School and its Pristine Rainbow Nursery today.

Vierte was in a good mood today and answered Ms. Honey's questions (Name, age, dad and mom's name).
Ms. Honey suggested that we visit its affiliate nursery Pristine Rainbow Nursery and see if we'd like to enroll V for the last term (April-June) to prepare him for KG class as it would be a big help to prepare him for big school.

We initially liked the idea of sending him to Nursery first to prepare him for big school (closing our eyes on the fees). The nursery is just 2 blocks away so if we do decide to enroll him for the last term we'd be walking to and from the nursery :)

Enrolling him to Rainbow nursery will also assure him a place at Pristine Private's KG class that would be a big advantage.

Any feedback on both school?

School hunt

We are on a hunt for a good school here in Dubai preferably around Al Nahda 2 which is near our place. I have been reading about the difference between British Curriculum (BC) and American Curriculum (AC) and the corresponding qualifications namely IGCSE, AS, A level, NC, and GCSE.

The most important for us is that Vierte will enjoy school hopefully more on a play skill base environment.

Here are the list of schools we are considering as this is also close to our area.

Pristine Private School

The Oxford School

Star International Al Twar

Apple International

The Sheffield Private

Philadelphia Private

Searching for a Nursery

Finding a good and not so expensive Nursery here in Dubai is Dad and I a headache! Last night we bump into a school with an annual fee of 50,000dhs for a nursery. 

The reason why I want Vierte to attend a 2 - 3 day nursery class so that he get's to interact with other kids his age and learn to be independent. He get's cranky when he doesn't see me or daddy around. 

I have been searching the web, reading parents feedback and have made a list of schools to visit this weekend. 

Hopefully we can find one that would be fun for the little man.