Mothering Corner

Some of my friends were surprised that we planned to send our kids to a Thai bilingual kindergarten this year when we relocate. They questioned my kids’ ability to converse in a language which is totally foreign to them. Actually, that’s the main purpose we are sending our kids to Thai school. They need to pick up the language and it’s best to learn it with the new friends from school. Kids pick up a new language faster than adults and I’m not worried about that. They have take a year or 2 at the Thai kindergarten before we transfer them to international school when my elder boy is 6 years old. For elementary, it’s best for them to continue at international schools instead of Thai syllabus.

On top of that, they might be learning some simple Thai consonants and vowels at school and I will learn from my kids later. It’s hard to survive in Thailand if you can’t read Thai. I found that I almost got lost when hubby drove in Bangkok weeks ago as not all the signboards were written in English too.

Of course, sending them to a local Thai school will save us a lot of money initially. It’s costing near to 10k for one but then again, if you know how much we have to pay just to send a kid to an international school, you would agree with our decision too.

My boy is given homework on daily basis now. I called his teacher yesterday and asked if they have homework everyday, but she told me it’s only a few days a week. Maybe my kid didn’t make it in time, so he has to bring the work book back. I really don’t know.

Anyway, he likes it, and he’s enjoying his work. When we move to Bangkok later in April or May, I won’t enroll him into any school until the new term starts in August or September. But since he’s so used to going to school, I guess I will be homeschooling him for a while. I wanted him to have fun playing more, but after a month in an academic kindergarten, he has got used to doing paper works. Frankly, I think it’s too early for kids to learn in such a way, but that’s how our education system is. Nonetheless, as long as there are play and extra activities at school, he will still be enjoying the fun learning curve.

There are some articles about homeschooling a 4 year old here, here and here and I think I will spend more time looking for more. BTW, let’s not forgetting about my 2 year old.

I have been busy searching for more information about international schools. Of course, I won’t be needing one if we are still staying here, it’s just another option for my kids if we are moving away. The school fees are so costly, I wonder if we should move away as a family now. Starting all over again is not easy, and I’ve expected to pay a lot of money for this move, but little that I know, the education for my kids costs the most! I might need to get an engineering job plasma cutting to solve things out! But I don’t think I can get any job there as I don’t speak their language.

A friend of mine who has children in international school suggested that I can do home teaching with my kids. I will spend some time looking for more information about home teaching, and if I am confident enough, I might give it a try. But my kids might lose out the interaction with other children, especially those at their ages.

It’s a tough decision, but we still have a month to think about this again and again.