Enrichment... or not..?

If you do follow our lernen-reise, you might have noticed that I've not talked about enrichment classes for some time. To be exact, since we stopped Abrakadoodle class in Nov last year. Wooo.. that's a whopping 6 months without enrichment for IZ! (Deep inside, wow, I've enjoyed freedom for half a year!)

Hubby and I made a mutual agreement to bring IZ to weekly excursions if we do not send him for enrichments. We believe field trips, excursions in the nature, or simply weekly outing would do better than any enrichment classes. And so randomly we've been to farm, beach, market, airport, Hort Park, Tickle Tickle playground, Art Science Museum, KL trips, playdates, swimdates, yumcha and the list may go on..

I do feel the joy of spending time with him over weekends, even if it meant staying home to do some art stuffs, or play blocks or playdoh. More often than not, both of us could not stay home for more than 48 hours... so we need to get out, more OFTEN than NOT.

So am I going to stop IZ from going to enrichment?

This has been a conflict within myself for the longest time. 6 months it is..

I've been constantly looking for suitable art class for him who has barely turned 2. No art school is willing to take him although I told them he could "draw" decently. His humpty dumpty has face features, arms and legs, hat, flowers, and sitting on the wall. He could draw house with someone in it, he could draw grandfather's clock upside down!

But still.. no school is willing to take him coz he is too young. They take in children from 3.5 the youngest. Oh well, there are schools like Abrakadoodle that takes in younger kids, but I know that's not what I want for IZ. I couldn't even find a personal art teacher. I saw some bigger kids who could paint really well, I am eyeing their art school, if by then IZ is still interested in art.. that is.

Meanwhile, I'm also struggling with Chinese. From the moment I was pregnant, I knew my kid's Chinese proficiency wouldn't make it. I'm not Chinese literated. I can speak but I can't read nor write Chinese. But he has to take it as Mother Tongue! Gosh! So, do I send him to Chinese enrichment? I find the "WANT" getting stronger by the day when he couldn't pronounce anything accurately. I called Tien Hsia and found they are really near us and we could join the trial anytime we want, but I don't know if I want to send him to classes again. He goes to Kinderland everyday for 3 hours, I can't tell if it's sufficient, but for now, he did show tremendous accomplishments to my pleasant surprise.

And then there's music, swimming or sports to consider... wow... the kiasuness in me is building up.

Thinking about it makes me tired, so I'll just shelf the thoughts for now.. till I know what's best for him.

PS: Just read about a young boy who started speaking only at 3 years old but he could share knowledge in university lectures at 9... no such thing as too late I guess.