Home school or try to find a better school?

[ChaangNoi]

Hi all, I have gotten some pretty good advice on this site so I will try my luck again.

My son is in 2nd grade at an International type school here in Thailand and is not getting the education we are paying for. The first semester cost us just under 300,000 Baht and our son is either way behind or bored out of his mind. The school has many students from China and Myanmar so their focus is mostly on English. Since my son is very skilled in English he is very bored. Also since he had been educated in the USA before he is way beyond the math skills he is currently being taught (4 + 4 and the like, not even kidding). He is way behind in Thai as he has never been taught this before. Since he is either bored or so far behind he has been acting out as any frustrated bored kid would do. The solution the school has been using to correct this behaviors is isolation but that has only made the issue more intense. His teacher is new to Thailand and we feel is not motivated to do anything to help our son. She even refused to the principle 3 times to his request (not ours) to engage us on the telephone if there was an issue at school. Her response was, to his and our shock, "I am too busy". I have never seen my wife so angry.

So clearly we are not happy with the current situation and think it might be best to take our son out of the school. For the cost that we are spending we would be able to hire a motivated and qualified teacher just teach our son. Since he will be returning to the USA next year we think this might be the best option so he can keep up with the Americans in math/science and also learn some Thai while he is here. He has dual citizenship so we feel learning both would be good for him.

Also we are open to moving him over to a new school if there is one that will fit his needs. I think however the biggest issue would be that his first semester will end in late Dec and that is not going to mach up with most of the schools here.

Anything wrong with just hiring a teacher to teach him at home for a few months?

Thanks.

[Scott]

I would definitely look for a different school. For the money you are spending, the service is appalling. You could probably employ a well qualified Filipino teacher with an education degree if necessary.

Best of luck.

[Ludacris]

His son has been educated in the US so I can't understand why you would recommend a full time teacher from one of the worst education systems in ASEAN. It's no secret that 2nd year university in the Philippines is equivalent to Grade 11 in the US, so I would definitely not recommend a teacher from there for his son. For Thai students sure since the education systems are about equal, but not for someone who has previously been a student in the West.

Check out the latest 2013-2014 rankings:

http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/hunger/49847-philippine-education-health-behind-asean-nations

To the OP, I don't think you will be satisfied unless your son is enrolled in a real international school that has certified teachers from Western countries. Only then he will get what he needs, and you could find a Thai language tutor for after school to bring him up to speed in Thai. Unfortunately, that means doubling the tuition that you're already paying. You've already seen what you get for 300,000 and I'm sure it will be worth the extra investment for a real international school.

[Showbags]

Dear god....recommendation to double the school fees...so he is now paying 300k for 1 term, probably 3 terms....so you recommend him now paying 1.8mil per year to fix the problem ?......bigger croc a <deleted> i have yet to read.

I could recommend a good school for 300k per year....but you would have to move out of bangkok.

[Showbags]

Oh and if you are going to homeschool...no good just hiring a teacher to teach the same sh.ite at home....there is so much rubbish taught in school....idea is to get away from all that rubbish and lewrn the good and right stuff and not waste half your life in traditional incarceration.

[lost_in_space]

Consider homeschooling him. There is a wealth of material out there to support you. There are at least 2 groups of homeschoolers here in Bangkok. Bangkokplushomeschoolers is one. The other is a Yahoo group, but I don't remember its name. Kinokuniya has books on homeschooling and unschooling.

I reckon you don't have time for that though. Just thought I'd put it out there.

My 9 year old goes to a crap international school, too. So I feel for your son. The worst thing is not that they hate school, but that they will learn to hate learning.

[Ludacris]

I misread the tuition cost in the first post. Decent international schools with certified Western teachers run about 600K-900K per year. The OP may want to try another school first before homeschooling.

[cooked]

We found a decent private school in Buriram, with the (dis?)advantage that she is learning Chinese also. ( About ฿20 000.- a year. I do maths with her and of course only speak English to her as far as home schooling goes. We certainly had to cease having private conversations in her presence. Having a kid that hates going to school is a real no no but trying to make everything sanook and turning everything into a game isn't the way to go either.

[bikerlou47]

There is no easy solution to this problem!

The parents first need to set long term goals for their children. Most important being where do you want your child to live as a young adult!

I have been down this road and I am also a certified educator from the USA . If you would like to have a conversation regarding this problem feel free to message me.

[greenchair]

I just don't buy this crap that this I child is acting out because he is bored. If I had penny for everytime A parent came out with that excuse for what is clearly a child lacking discipline I'd be rich.

Time out is a standard form of discipline and one of the few tools teachers have been left with to discipline kids. When it comes to teachers , in a way it is an extension of the parent. Like a 3rd parent. If a child is disciplined by the Mum, then the father on a regular basis does not support the Mum. Eventually the bad behaviour becomes worse as the child knows the dad will fix it even though he was wrong.

Parents need to present a united front and work out conflict away from little ears. And parents need to stand by teacher. Children don't always tell the truth. You need to ask your son why he was in time out and address it. My son was not giving in hw and lying about it. He sat in the bathroom for 20 minutes. Now he does his hw.

It may be the teacher is not able to give your child extra work, because he is being so naughty she can't see how clever he is. And maybe he is refusing to do the extra work anyway.

[ChaangNoi]

The problem is not with the parents doing the discipline it is that the teachers are refusing to do so. The kid knows he can do whatever he wants in class and no one will touch him. He is able to leave class aged 7 and go play on the computers during class time.

As a parent I find this unacceptable. If I was 7 and I knew I could get away with such actions I would do so.

The Mother and Father are very united on discipline the frustration has been with his teacher and her manager.

Not all of the issues have been resolved but his behavior has improved significantly as reported by the teacher and others.

There was significant resistance at the school but we were able to go up the food chain until action was taken.

[Deya]

Hi Chaang Noi, sorry, I miss where are you based? We have a great homeschool just 8 kids, and all those problems are foreign to us. Very skilled professional teachers, English language at school but we study thai and mandarin. We started it 2 years ago as all the class left the school, unhappy with how things were and we designed it the best way we believe a school for our children should be. We are in phuket, where are you?

[LuckyLew]

For 300K per semester why not just hire a qualified teacher to go to your house every day and teach your kid one on one

[HaleySabai]

For those of you in ChiangMai looking into Home School alternatives: Home School Fair- Sat.Mar.07

[ChaangNoi]

For 300K per semester why not just hire a qualified teacher to go to your house every day and teach your kid one on one

This is an option but one of the great parts of school is interacting with other kids.

I'm honestly thinking about just finding 4 or 5 others and just starting a school.