Dear Parents-to-be,

Would you like to raise your baby to be a confident and independent thinker? In this article, I hope to help you make a more informed decision on how to budget for your child’s ancillary educational expenses in Singapore which will give you the maximum value at the lowest possible cost.

Recently, I met up with my friends from Singapore with whom I went to high school together. One of my friends lamented that adulthood is tough!  However, I disagreed.  I personally think that adulthood is easier than the teenage years because of the following reasons:

1. We have more experience when it comes to seeking advice from people. We are better able to make our own judgments about the people whom we can trust and rely on. 
2. We have been equipped with the skillsets to read and learn independently.

How I would shape my kids’ education in Singapore?

  As much as my education in Singapore had tried to prepare me as an adult, I personally think that there are still gaps that I have to fill in for my children if I were to raise them in Singapore. 

  While tutoring children and youths for the last 15 years in Singapore, I have always been thinking about how I would like to teach my children in the future. If I were still staying in Singapore, these are what I would do:

1. Enroll my kids in Shicida Classes when they are 6 months old
2. Start teaching my kids with Flashcards as early as 6 months old
3. Read with my kids every day using the American leveled reading system
4. Engage a Private Tutor whom I admire if I do not have the time to teach my kids from the age of 6 to 12 years old
5. Bring my kids on overseas enrichment trips on an annual or bi-annual basis

  Personally, I am delaying having kids because I want to devote the bulk of my time to my children in their early years. I believe that children would rather their parents give them time and attention than shower them with gifts. At least this was my own experience while growing up. I would rather my parents bring me out to have fun than buy me things. I can still remember all the impromptu phone requests I made to my dad to bring me swimming and cycling after his work, and how he would fulfill them. Because of how my parents brought me up, I prioritise spending time with them highly in my life. 

Books Recommendations

These are the books that I read in my twenties and would recommend to parents who want to actively shape the education of their children to read as well. 

Mummy Bloggers Recommendations

I would not have been able to excel in my career as a tutor without the comprehensive amount of resources that I could find online back in 2013. I am really grateful to these mummy bloggers for generously sharing their experiences raising their kids. 

1. Mummyhomeschool, Carol
2. Chalkacademy, Betty

These mummy bloggers inspired me to become a stay-at-home mum over my career as a tutor. As Susan Cain advised in her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, look at the people whom you are envious of and look in that direction to discover your true desire. It took me 10 years to realise and muster the courage to pursue this desire.  While I still have to contend with societal prejudices towards people (be they male or female) who aspire to stay at home for their kids in Singapore and Asia, I think that these unsolicited judgments are insignificant to me when I focus on the grand scheme of things. We all live the path that we choose and we are the master of our own destinies.  

 I hope this sheds some light on how I would like to shape my children’s education. These are just my thoughts right now and they may change when I become a mum!

Hope you will share your thoughts with me by leaving them in the comments below!