Home schooling?

Taiwan Parenting
21

I’ll second that.

Two English-speaking parents? I don’t get it, what’s the language of communication at home in such situations? Doesn’t sound like these particular parents would be much good at home schooling unless I’ve completely misunderstood you.

YPP I respect your point, especially if you had that experience and speak Mandarin fluently. But you must have spent a lot of time with native speakers, and these encounters must have been organized by your untiring parents; and if their Chinese wasn’t that great, that must have been really challenging for them. Being surrounded by 23 million is all very well, but you don’t pick up a language by osmosis, even as a child.

22

The wife and I have decided to take our son out of his second year in kindergarten. It was not an easy choice, but the pros outweighed the negs.

So what will we do? When he was 3, our son attended a Chinese/English Du Jing class, where he learned to memorize ancient Chinese texts and English Bible verses. He was very good at it and could recognize many characters and words.

He is going to do this again for two hours every AM, four days a week. On Tuesdays, we can spend nearly all day with him and hope to go outdoors and swim, hike, play around, museums, galleries…etc.

And four days a week in the PM he will attend our school. We are opening an ESL class for kids his age and he will be in it.

Reasoning, we both want him to read Chinese very well. I have seen some of the students who have been in the Du jing class (I teach several of them English) and they are very impressive.

Also, I am worried that his English will not be at a level that I personally will not find appropriate for his age. I want him to learn to read and write, while learning about the world in the ESL class. And in that class, he’ll get to do arts and crafts and role playing and such things.

It’s not an easy decision, but I feel I cannot trust someone else to educate him in English (aside from the teachers in our school) and I do not feel that what he will learn in Chinese kindergarten is that terribly important…and the children in the Du Jing class seem to skip bo po mo fo and go directly to reading characters, so we don’t feel he’ll be slow when he does start Chinese school in the first grade.

Anyway, a version of homeschooling I guess.

23

bo po mo fo, … I hear that it is needed in school. :idunno:

24

I think that sounds great JD
Re my last post- it was in response to those parents who don’t necessarily homeschool, but want to supplement thier kids time.

We will run our business around our kids a little- and job share both- working nights so they get time. However I know business owning in Taiwan is about much longer hours. The longer hours often mean less time one on one communicating with your child- and as the main native english speaker in their life, this means less time modelling your fluency in english to them.

That was what I was talking about- the parents I knew ran an english school but thier daughter barely spoke english becasue she did not get to spend time with her parents communicating in english.

no practice, no fluency. basic really

25

[quote=“rubykate”]I think that sounds great JD
Re my last post- it was in response to those parents who don’t necessarily homeschool, but want to supplement thier kids time.

We will run our business around our kids a little- and job share both- working nights so they get time. However I know business owning in Taiwan is about much longer hours. The longer hours often mean less time one on one communicating with your child- and as the main native English speaker in their life, this means less time modelling your fluency in English to them.

That was what I was talking about- the parents I knew ran an English school but thier daughter barely spoke English becasue she did not get to spend time with her parents communicating in English.

no practice, no fluency. basic really[/quote]

Yeah, well, hmmm… I feel better now :help: :wink:

26

Can anyone recomend any good home school or teaching-activity material for pre-schoolers. I need to teach my little one some English or I won’t be able to talk to him soon. I’m not a teacher so don’t really know where to start.
Thanks

27

Hi,
I have a couple of questions:
Are you looking to give your child opportunity to use more English by spending time with you sharing English materials such as story books, songs etc, or are you looking specifically for workbook-style materials?

If you want ideas for developing reading (and at the same time language) skills, you might like “Starting Out Right”, by the National Research Council (US). It is aimed at parents so it’s easy to understand and has lots and lots of activities you can do with your child. They tell you how to make things like cards or games, have reading lists and so on.

If you are into watching DVDs with your child, you might like to watch the Baby Einstein DVDs that are for older kids and talk about the content with your child. They are available in Taiwan.

The Taipei City Library has a lot of materials, if you have time to go there.

There is a website http://www.starfall.com which was recommended, so far I have enjoyed it.

Maybe if you let us know how you feel about these ideas, others can give you more specific suggestions. I do know some other materials that are more workbook based, but I don’t want to sound like an ad so if you want more help in this area, please PM me. (I’m doing book retailing.)

28

My wife and I are starting to think (way) ahead and are considering home schooling for our future children.

From what I’ve heard, you do need to get permission for homeschooling from the Ministry of Education and possibly from your local school. I’ve also heard that it is relatively easy to get this permission, and there shouldn’t be too many problems with getting around this law that you must send your child to school.

Can anyone comment on this? Just want to know what our options are. This thread is really great, as is the Parenting Forum.

[edit]
I managed to find the website of the Christian organization in Taiwan that helps with home schooling. I’m not Christian, but my wife and I are going to check out their website anyway: homeschool.fhl.net/

29

Well, I googled that fhl organization from that link and couldn’t find it.

However, I did find an American Homeschool Legal Defense Association hslda.org/hs/international/T … efault.asp that monitors homeschooling worldwide. They maintain articles and links to homeschooling and it’s legal status in Taiwan. There are also some links to local associations for homeschoolers in Taiwan. Bear in mind that this is an evangelical Christian organization. They really do fine work in advocating for homeschoolers.
Thanks,
Sam

30

This maybe of interest to all of you who are considering homeschooling this year.

2009 Taiwan Homeschool Fair

Time: Saturday, February 28, 2009; 14:00-16:30
Location: Xingye Community Center 興業區民活動中心
Address: 10 F, No. 160, Xinglong Rd Sec. 2, Taipei
Taxi or GPS: 台北市文山區興隆路二段160號10樓

Did you know …

[ul][li]parents in Taiwan have been legally homeschooling since 1999.[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]there were nearly 1,000 homeschoolers in Taiwan in 2008.[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]homeschoolers will receive local school diploma without attending classes nor sitting in the exams.[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]homeschooling costs only a fraction of international schools.[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]you can choose from hundreds of curriculum or design your own.[/li][/ul]

The Association for the Advancement of Autonomous Learning, the Mujen Chinese Christian Home Educators Association and the Global Scripture-Reciting Educational Fundation, the three largest homeschool groups in Taiwan, cordially invite you to the first Taiwan Homeschool Fair on the February 28, 2009 from 2:00 to 4:30 pm.

The fair will feature international and local homeschoolers’ exhibitions and teachers offering courses, sports activities and supplementary materials for homeschoolers.

There will also be seminars (mainly in Chinese) covering a wide range of homeschooling topics such as:
[ul][li]how to apply legally[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]how about socialization[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]future career and academic prospects[/li][/ul]

Expert councilors and experienced parent volunteers will be on site to answer your questions in English, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Polish and Russian.

For further information on the Fair, please contact:

社團法人中華民國自主學習促進會
Association for the Advancement of Autonomous Learning
Tel: 02 8661 5725
http://www.alearn.org.tw
e-mail: homeschool@alearn.org.tw

For further information on homeschooling in Taiwan, please visit
http://chen-wernik.net or e-mail: us(at)homeschool(dot)tw