Sunshine Kg Or Other Mostly-Thai Preschool/Kg Open To Falang

[TXBeth]

We are looking for a place for our son (will be 5 this fall) to attend Kindergarten or preschool beginning in October to add structure to his day and help him to learn Thai (none of us speak it yet as we are not moving to Thailand until Sept). But...we can't afford the pricey international schools. Maximum is 15-20,000thb per term. Are there any options at that level? Are falang kids eligible to attend Thai public schools? We wouldn't want that long term, but just for KG it might work. Sunshine was suggested, but they do not list any prices on their website (at least not on the English version), and I haven't been able to get an e-mail response from them so far.

Any suggestions appreciated!

[elektrified]

15-20K per term? Are you serious? Low to lower middle-class Thais spend more than that on their child's education. What do you think you could get for that money? Sorry, not trying to ridicule you but come on...get serious.

How could you even consider dropping your 5 year old into the Thai public school system where no English would be taught? Don't you think he would be a little freaked out by that?

Don't expect an email response. (Most) Thais are terrible at answering email

[TXBeth]

I'm not looking for a quality education. I'm looking for a place for him to play and learn Thai and give me time to homeschool my older daughter without so many interruptions. His academics are taken care of at home, so as long as he is immersed in Thai, I don't care if he learns anything else at school. So yes, I'm thinking a Thai public preschool or Kindergarten would be a great option if farangs are allowed to use them. I don't think he'll be bothered by the lack of English. He is 4; he'll pick up the Thai within months. We lived in PNG for 2 years, so our kids are used to being immersed in a foreign language. I'm not looking at this as a long term educational decision, just a 1-2 term experience to give him a jump start on communicating in Thai.

Our budget could be expanded a bit, but I was thinking that if there are preschools with a full English programme for 35-50,000thb per term, I should be able to find a full Thai program for quite a bit less. But maybe not, maybe I'd be better off hiring a Thai lady with kids of her own to come over with her little ones and nanny for a few hours each day?

[elektrified]

I understand where you are coming from. I don't have any ideas but maybe the others will.

One bit of advice I have for you though is when you say "I'm not looking for a quality education. I'm looking for a place for him to play and learn Thai and give me time...", I would not recommend that you use that approach when seeking a school and speaking with the locals at the schools. Although the system is far from perfect here and the quality of education questionable, the teachers and administrators do work hard and take their jobs very seriously. Something like that could really offend them.

[tolstoy]

"15-20K per term? Are you serious? Low to lower middle-class Thais spend more than that on their child's education. What do you think you could get for that money? Sorry, not trying to ridicule you but come on...get serious."

HAHAHA

There are many good Thai private schools (not public) for kindergarten in that price range.

Prince Royal is not much more than that, and neither is Montfort Bilingual.

Lower to Middle class Thai families earning 30k a month are not spending much more than 20k a term on kids education especially if they have more than one.

Elektrified is making it sound like all Thais send their kids to EP programs.

Get real and stop being so elitist.

The OP has his own criteria, don't need to put yours on him.

[Diablo Bob]

I'm not looking for a quality education. I'm looking for a place for him to play and learn Thai and give me time to homeschool my older daughter without so many interruptions. His academics are taken care of at home, so as long as he is immersed in Thai, I don't care if he learns anything else at school. So yes, I'm thinking a Thai public preschool or Kindergarten would be a great option if farangs are allowed to use them. I don't think he'll be bothered by the lack of English. He is 4; he'll pick up the Thai within months. We lived in PNG for 2 years, so our kids are used to being immersed in a foreign language. I'm not looking at this as a long term educational decision, just a 1-2 term experience to give him a jump start on communicating in Thai.

Our budget could be expanded a bit, but I was thinking that if there are preschools with a full English programme for 35-50,000thb per term, I should be able to find a full Thai program for quite a bit less. But maybe not, maybe I'd be better off hiring a Thai lady with kids of her own to come over with her little ones and nanny for a few hours each day?

Prior to my daughter starting K-1 at NIS, the wife and I decided to enroll her in a Thai Kindergarden, mainly to ease her into an environment where she would need to be around other children and school in general. The school would never make it onto most peoples list, and I couldn't even find it today on Google Earth.

The point is that for your needs this type of schooling is available. The cost at the time was around 1000 Baht/Month and that included food. The price has probably risen to 2000 Baht these days, but when you move to Chiangmai, look around your neighborhood, you will be surprised at what might be just around the corner.