Is Tuition needed for Kindergarten?

Living in Singapore for kids really is tough. I can see little toddlers actually have taken classes as early as 2 years old. Unlike when we were a kid, we didnt start going to school when we were 5 or 6 years, then that would be the first time we were taught about alphabets and numbers. We were not even going to kindergarten, we actually started from primary and so that's our path in learning everything from the beginning.

Hearing from the neighbours and friends that I should actually put my daughter to reading class when she is 3 years old. But I was too late, I only let her go to phonics when she was 4+ and reading class after that. I dont know if it might be a bit late. Because they told me that the foundation of reading and recognising words or new vocabulary is very important. Besides some primary school will actually test the kids when they are going into primary to see which level is suitable for their ability.

People say Singaporeans are kiasu, now I truly believe so. Staying in Singapore I cant stop myself to follow some of their steps. Honestly, I did let my daughter learn Piano, just to test if she has the talent and likes. unfortunately she didnt like it, we didnt want to force her, so we stop for her. We only let her learn when she likes such as ballet.

I personally teach her reading, because reading class is not cheap, its about $50/month. I did let her try at the enrichment program class, I will learn how they teach the kids and put it in practice to teach my girl because she likes being taught in different way. I will spare some times to teach her reading, grammar, maths, and Chinese. This way we could save quite a lot of money.

Approximately, you will need to spend around $250-300 a month just for the tuition academically plus arts. That would be for just one kid (3-5years). So dont forget to include this into your expenses calculation.

For SPR (Singaporean PR), K1 and K2 fees will be around S$181+/month (fee is not exact, because its expected to increase every year). The fee is for Shine program at PCF school. Normal program is about S$130+ (but i expect this normal program wont be continued in the future, because there will be all Shine programs for all level from nursery to K2). Shine program is said to have extra speech and drama plus cookery class.

Please note, the above information is just for your planning purposes.