Anyone Interested In English Language Home Schooling

[ericjt]

Hi --

We're a mixed Anglo/Thai couple living in the mountains north of Chiangmai City. We speak mostly English with our daughter who is 2 years old, and we'd like her to start going to school, but we have a number of concerns:

1. We'd like her to have other children her own age to play and we'd like those children to speak at least a little English. Right now she has only us, and that's hard on both her and us.

2. We'd like her to speak mostly English for a few more years so that her English will not be overwhelmed by Thai when she starts at one of the regular schools where Thai will be her primary language. (If that happens, it's going to be difficult for Dad to talk with her.) Our goal is that she grows up fluent in both English and Thai, so for now we'd like her classes to be taught in English.

3. And finally -- (we're not too picky, are we? ) -- we'd like her to go to school someplace in the mountains north of CM where the air is a little cleaner and cooler.

Are there any other expats or mixed couples living north of Chiangmai who share similar concerns?

Maybe if 4 or 5 of us could find each other and get together, we could use our houses, hire an English-speaking teacher, and rotate clasess from house to house? At least for our pre-schoolers?

It's just the germ of an idea, but we already know one teaching couple who have expressed interest. If we could find 4 or 5 other families who were interested, maybe we could pool our resources and put together something that would be good for all of us?

If you're out there, please let us hear from you.

Thanks --

ericjt

[manjara]

Hi --

We're a mixed Anglo/Thai couple living in the mountains north of Chiangmai City. We speak mostly English with our daughter who is 2 years old, and we'd like her to start going to school, but we have a number of concerns:

1. We'd like her to have other children her own age to play and we'd like those children to speak at least a little English. Right now she has only us, and that's hard on both her and us.

2. We'd like her to speak mostly English for a few more years so that her English will not be overwhelmed by Thai when she starts at one of the regular schools where Thai will be her primary language. (If that happens, it's going to be difficult for Dad to talk with her.) Our goal is that she grows up fluent in both English and Thai, so for now we'd like her classes to be taught in English.

3. And finally -- (we're not too picky, are we? ) -- we'd like her to go to school someplace in the mountains north of CM where the air is a little cleaner and cooler.

Are there any other expats or mixed couples living north of Chiangmai who share similar concerns?

Maybe if 4 or 5 of us could find each other and get together, we could use our houses, hire an English-speaking teacher, and rotate clasess from house to house? At least for our pre-schoolers?

It's just the germ of an idea, but we already know one teaching couple who have expressed interest. If we could find 4 or 5 other families who were interested, maybe we could pool our resources and put together something that would be good for all of us?

If you're out there, please let us hear from you.

Thanks --

ericjt

Hi,

I had the same idea, except we were in Ngao, Lampang province, near Phayao. In the end we went to Bangkok and my daughters (5 & 3) are in an English school there, but I still think about how we could go and live in the north again and get decent English tuition.

I even considered paying for an English teacher at the local school, but I wasn't convinced it would be enough.

Good Luck!

[venturalaw]

It's just the germ of an idea, but we already know one teaching couple who have expressed interest. If we could find 4 or 5 other families who were interested, maybe we could pool our resources and put together something that would be good for all of us?

If you're out there, please let us hear from you.

Thanks --

ericjt

We would be interested, but not for approx. a year (our Thai/farang son is 10 months old). If your idea continues to grow we would definitely be interested in keeping in touch. We live in San Sai.

Edited May 10, 2009 by venturalaw

[earlofwindermere]

We talked about a similar idea with a few other couples (San Sai - Mae Rim area). The idea would be a play-based group but we were hoping to get someone to work in Thai with the kids. We're mostly farang couples and plan to send our kids to international schools which is why we were looking for the Thai language. I have a 1 and 3 year old.

However; if you live North of Chiang Mai, you should check out Prem's programs.

There is a free parent-run play group Friday mornings which includes a music and library/story time.

They also have a new kindergarten program for 2 years and up. I think that it's either Thai or English but I'm not exactly sure.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

A single English teacher is not as good as a proper pre-school / kindergarten with all the programs and infrastructure. A very good bilingual kindergarten costs about 7000 baht / month.

Your concerns about air clarity and temperature are not very valid. (Unless perhaps the school is downtown next to a main road, but in that case safety from traffic would still be the bigger concern).

[bunchap]

We talked about a similar idea with a few other couples (San Sai - Mae Rim area). The idea would be a play-based group but we were hoping to get someone to work in Thai with the kids. We're mostly farang couples and plan to send our kids to international schools which is why we were looking for the Thai language. I have a 1 and 3 year old.

However; if you live North of Chiang Mai, you should check out Prem's programs.

There is a free parent-run play group Friday mornings which includes a music and library/story time.

They also have a new kindergarten program for 2 years and up. I think that it's either Thai or English but I'm not exactly sure.

Hi there,

We are a Thai couple that interested in your concept. We live in Maejo area. I have 2.9 yo girl who can understand a fair bit of English.

I will homeschool her by using Montessori method (in Thai) and would like to find a group that taught in English that she can join few days a week apart from my lesson.

If you are interested in having children learning by Montessoris technique few days a week m aybe we could find each other and get together and rotate clasess from house to house.

Orn,

[email protected]

[ericjt]

Hi,

I had the same idea, except we were in Ngao, Lampang province, near Phayao. In the end we went to Bangkok and my daughters (5 & 3) are in an English school there, but I still think about how we could go and live in the north again and get decent English tuition.

I even considered paying for an English teacher at the local school, but I wasn't convinced it would be enough.

Good Luck!

Hi Manjara --

Sorry for the delay in replying. For some reason I have not been getting email notices of replies to my post. I thought nobody was interested, but it seems there are several replies.

If moving is still possible, you can check the rest of this thread and see that several people have expressed interest, and we aren't even up and running yet. I have a feeling that if we can get the first 2 or 3 families together and get started, this could grow into something good for all of us.

Please send me your email so I can make up and email group and we can all communicate easily.

Thanks --

ericjt

[ericjt]

It's just the germ of an idea, but we already know one teaching couple who have expressed interest. If we could find 4 or 5 other families who were interested, maybe we could pool our resources and put together something that would be good for all of us?

If you're out there, please let us hear from you.

Thanks --

ericjt

We would be interested, but not for approx. a year (our Thai/farang son is 10 months old). If your idea continues to grow we would definitely be interested in keeping in touch. We live in San Sai.

Hi Venturalaw --

Sorry for the delay in replying. For some reason I have not been getting email notices of replies to my post. I thought nobody was interested, but it seems there are several replies.

If your son could perhaps start at around 18 months, then maybe you could join us a little sooner than a year. I think we're going to have to be a bit flexible on ages and make provisions for both younger and older children if this is going to work -- at least to get it off the ground at the start.

You can check the rest of this thread and see that several people have expressed interest, and we aren't even up and running yet. I have a feeling that if we can get the first 2 or 3 families together and get started, this could grow into something good for all of us.

Please send me your email, if you're interested, so I can make up an email group and we can all communicate easily.

Thanks --

[ericjt]

We talked about a similar idea with a few other couples (San Sai - Mae Rim area). The idea would be a play-based group but we were hoping to get someone to work in Thai with the kids. We're mostly farang couples and plan to send our kids to international schools which is why we were looking for the Thai language. I have a 1 and 3 year old.

However; if you live North of Chiang Mai, you should check out Prem's programs.

There is a free parent-run play group Friday mornings which includes a music and library/story time.

They also have a new kindergarten program for 2 years and up. I think that it's either Thai or English but I'm not exactly sure.

Hi earl --

Great ideas, especially the free Friday morning parent run playgroup. Seems like the rest of what we need might not quite be the same, though.

We are a mixed Thai-Farang couple and affording a school like Prem would be difficult for us. So our daughter will probably end up in a mainly Thai school, which means we're not worried about her learning Thai. We're concerned that she learn enough English so that she and I can continue to communicate even after she moves her first language over to Thai. We'd also like her to learn at least a little Chinese for obvious reasons.

The ages of your children are perfect -- our daughter is 2 years and 1 month old -- and a play-based school would be fine for at least the next few years. Is there any flexibility on the language considerations -- either for you or for any of the other couples you've spoken with?

I'll definitly check into Prem's programs. Prem is just down the road from us. And if you or any of the other couples you know would like to stay in touch on this subject, please PM me your email addresses.

Thanks again for the information --

ericjt

[ericjt]

A single English teacher is not as good as a proper pre-school / kindergarten with all the programs and infrastructure. A very good bilingual kindergarten costs about 7000 baht / month.

Your concerns about air clarity and temperature are not very valid. (Unless perhaps the school is downtown next to a main road, but in that case safety from traffic would still be the bigger concern).

Hi Winnie --

First, I'd appreciate the name of the school you feel is good and costs 7000 Baht/month. If we haven't already considered it for our daughter, I'd like to visit it and check it out.

Regarding your other comments --

I agree that a "proper" pre school might not be as good as a single English teacher, but we've visited a number of pre-schools and kidnergartens and I wouldn't describe many of them as "proper". Most were overcrowded and/or dirty and/or lax about watching the children. Our daughter is in a school now 2 days a week that we think is relatively proper, but it's still around 8 degrees celsius hotter than were we live and close to the exhaust fumes from Superhighway 11. When it's hot and smokey in Chiang Mai, we keep her home. Neither my wife nor I would want to be there (un-airconditioned) on those days, and we don't think our daughter should.

Which brings me to what you say about my concerns about "air clarity and temperatures" not being "very valid". Why do you say that? Are you expressing a personal opinion? If that's the case, you're entitled to your opinions and I won't debate them with you. But as to the validity of my concerns, I'd suggest you Google "Chiang Mai" and "air quality" and "respiratory diseases".

Even the government admits that the levels of smoke and other pollutants reaches dangerous levels in CM city from around December through April. One report even has graphs showing the average levels of pollution for the different months of the year. And there are several other studies about occurrences of respiratory diseases being abnormally high in the CM area.

If you can point me to research that goes the other way, I'll be glad to consider it, but for right now, I think the data we've already researched is pretty clear and it matches our personal feelings. My wife is Thai and basically likes heat, but when it's hot and smoky in the city, she can't wait to get home where it's a little cleaner and cooler. Our 2 year old daughter can't express those kinds of preferences yet, but we think she would if she could.

OK, so enough debating about air and heat. I agree with you that a school with programs and infrastructure could probably be better than a school with just one teacher. And although we might start out with just one teacher, I have a feeling our little program could grow quickly. As and if it does, we could add programs and infrastructure and we'd still have the advantages of low costs and high parent involvement -- since our "school" would be operating in their homes and right under their noses. That would give each of us parents a good chance to see what was going one, get involved, and make suggestions for improvements.

If any of what I've said seems reasonable, and/or if you would like to be included in any futuree discussions, please PM me your email address.

Thanks --

ericjt

[Jungian]

I live in Sansai Noi and I would be interested for my 8 year old and my 15 month old but I would have to knowand have proof of the teachers qualifications and fees must be in line.

[swain]

We have a 2 year old but unfortunately we are way over in Hang Dong. Near Kad Farang. If there is anyone out this way that might have some interest in this same type of situation please PM me or post here. We are looking for an alternative to what we have seen so far.

I live in Sansai Noi and I would be interested for my 8 year old and my 15 month old but I would have to knowand have proof of the teachers qualifications and fees must be in line.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

First, I'd appreciate the name of the school you feel is good and costs 7000 Baht/month. If we haven't already considered it for our daughter, I'd like to visit it and check it out.

I'll could PM you two suggestions by private message, but I am not North of town; I'm not sure if there are similar places North of town. (My guess would be 'yes', but a guess isn't good enough of course).

I agree that a "proper" pre school might not be as good as a single English teacher, but we've visited a number of pre-schools and kidnergartens and I wouldn't describe many of them as "proper". Most were overcrowded and/or dirty and/or lax about watching the children.

Ok I can assure you that there are some very good schools around. Very clean, very safe, very good attention to the kids, and both Thai and Western teachers. It's really amazing how much even very young kids learn in a very short time. And they love going. It's a big variety of things they learn too, of course they sing songs and play games, but also manage to learn the alphabet (both Thai and English, and they're 3 years old..), and do fun things like decorate cookies, plant seeds of flowers, do school excursions for example to the zoo and aquarium and so on.

Our daughter is in a school now 2 days a week that we think is relatively proper, but it's still around 8 degrees celsius hotter than were we live and close to the exhaust fumes from Superhighway 11. When it's hot and smokey in Chiang Mai, we keep her home. Neither my wife nor I would want to be there (un-airconditioned) on those days, and we don't think our daughter should.

I would agree. The school where my daughter goes is near the hills, you get as good air there as anywhere. And in the hot season they turn on the aircon.. So that makes the environment pretty much the same as at our house.

Which brings me to what you say about my concerns about "air clarity and temperatures" not being "very valid". Why do you say that? Are you expressing a personal opinion? If that's the case, you're entitled to your opinions and I won't debate them with you. But as to the validity of my concerns, I'd suggest you Google "Chiang Mai" and "air quality" and "respiratory diseases".

I think you misunderstood. What I meant was (and what Google will turn up as well) is that air quality in March is a regional issue that affects the whole of Northern Thailand and beyond into Burma and Laos. I'm saying that it doesn't matter if you live in the mountains North of town or not, you still get crap air; it's not 'city' pollution. Heck, Mae Hong Son is as rural and mountenous as it gets, and the air was by far the worst in the country there during March. So I'm saying that while any concerns over air quality in general are for sure valid, the location of the school has little influence when it's anywhere in the North. You'd have to send your kids to school in Pattaya or Hua Hin or something during March to reasonably avoid the seasonal low air quality. (I'm actally considering this by the way; so I'm not dismissive of the issue you raise, just of the solution you came up with.)

> Even the government admits that the levels of smoke and other pollutants

> reaches dangerous levels in CM city from around December through April.

No they don't. Check those months here: www.pcd.go.th It reaches dangerous levels in late February and most of March. As it does every year. And NOT in "CM city", but everywhere, including where you live and much further beyond in the mountains still. But again, I share your concern. In fact I'm being more radical then you, because you seem to think that you get better air once you clear Mae Rim.. I know I'd have to go to Pattaya in March, (which isn't really a punishment but okay )

Edited May 25, 2009 by WinnieTheKhwai

[foxyhooper]

We have a 2 year old but unfortunately we are way over in Hang Dong. Near Kad Farang. If there is anyone out this way that might have some interest in this same type of situation please PM me or post here. We are looking for an alternative to what we have seen so far.

I live in Sansai Noi and I would be interested for my 8 year old and my 15 month old but I would have to knowand have proof of the teachers qualifications and fees must be in line.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Jungian]

We have a 2 year old but unfortunately we are way over in Hang Dong. Near Kad Farang. If there is anyone out this way that might have some interest in this same type of situation please PM me or post here. We are looking for an alternative to what we have seen so far.

I live in Sansai Noi and I would be interested for my 8 year old and my 15 month old but I would have to knowand have proof of the teachers qualifications and fees must be in line.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Other than the 'space bar' didn't take between the "know" and the "and" what did we say worthy of a "hmmmmmmmmmmm"?