Fungates System

This post is written specially for Wen, who is anxious about choosing a suitable kindy for Ian. Both my sons are studying in a fungates kindy and my little girl will be joining her brother next year. So, what I am going to write is my own experience and opinion.

My eldest went to a Montessori kindy for 2 years before I switched him to a fungates kindy. I always find Montessori system wonderful but my son, Karl, was very reluctant to go to school everyday. The teachers told me that Karl was very timid in school and didn't know how to converse in Bahasa Melayu and didn't know his ABC, which I found very strange as he's totally different at home. My neighbour also experienced that with her daughter. When I first sent him to the fungates kindy, he settled down the very first day and looked forward to go to school everyday. That's a relief for me!

My second son, Wayne, took a longer time to settle down. I left him with his teacher the very first day and he would cry the whole day until he fell asleep. That's normal as every child experiences separation anxiety and the best thing a parent could do is to leave their children to the teacher after some reassurance that you will come and pick him up. That's how Wayne became famous and became an example whenever the teachers explain to the new parents: "We have a boy who cries everyday when he first came to school and now he doesn't want to go home when his mummy comes to pick him up."

I find fungates system very practical and fun! Yes, the syllabus is a little difficult compared to the other pre-schools but the teachers use a fun approach to teach the children and the children love it! So, why worry about the syllabus when your child enjoy learning it? I think you would agree with me that children pick up fast!

Fungates uses open concept which means there is no closed classroom for the students. This is to train them to concentrate on what they are doing without being disturbed by others. Some parents may not like it but I find this a good training for my kids. Because of the short attention span, the students will move from one "room" to another (eg: from the class to the music room or the computer room or the gym).

Here's the set of fun cards for year 3 children. It's called the cereal fun and the raisin fun. Children gets to put cereal on the number according to how it is written. For example: For number one, children get to put cereal from top to bottom so that in future, they know how to write number one which is from top to bottom. They will learn number 1 to 10 and alphabets A-Z.

There are various types of apparatus in a fungates kindy and usually they come in 2 per set which is the teachers' set and the children's set. For example, when the teachers teach numbers, they would pick up 1 tile and say: "This is one". The children will then follow by picking up their own tile. Then, the teacher would point to another thing and say: "This is one, one butterfly, this is also one, one flower". The purpose is to teach them quantity, not the numerals.

I love their phonics especially the blends and the silent sound like "sake" pronounced as "sak" with "e" being the silent sound.

What about a science lab in a pre-school? Isn't it fun to carry out experiments to learn something? The children even get to use a microscope! My son loves this session. They learn so many things like how to test whether an egg is good or bad.

There are also thematic learning. The children learn themes like "Animals", "Festivals", "Kitchen", etc. The interesting part is these are so REAL that the children are able to catch up fast. For example: When the teachers teach "Kitchen", the children would be brought to the pantry and the teacher would show them the real pots and pans and the children even get to prepare some simple food and eat it. When the teachers teach "Beach", the children would wear swimming costumes and get to play sand with shovels and pails and even build sand castles. When the teacher teach "Animals", the children get to visit a mini zoo (prepared using toy animals).

Chinese? This is also a criteria when I choose a kindy. My children are English speaking and they are going to a Chinese primary school. Karl and Wayne knew nothing about Chinese but now they can recognize and write some Chinese words. Wayne (4 years old) would go: "Mama, ni kan, tian shang de tian!" (Telling me to look at the sky). The stroke of a word is also important in Chinese language and the fungates ensure that your child learn the correct strokes.

Every friday, my kids would be looking forward to go to school for "Power Fun", a fun activity where the teachers and children will act together in a role play. They would play some games and the winning team gets something.

As for homework, don't worry too much about it. Year 3 children have no homework. Year 4 children do their homework only twice a week whereas year 5 and year 6 children have homework which is manageble (2-3 per day).

Having said that, parents should also consider the management and teachers of the pre-school when choosing one. Choose one which suits you and your child as different people have different needs.