For those of you homeschooling overseas

[mom2three]

Hello everyone,

 

We will be moving to Asia this summer due to my husband's job. I have a rising 9th and 6th grader. We were considering sending our children to an international school because I wasn't so confident that I could continue to homeschool without the support of a co-op. (We do most of our classes through a co-op). My children don't want to go to school and want to continue homeschooling. Here are some of my questions for you.

 

1) What do you do about the social aspect? Currently, my children have friends in co-ops. I am sure they will meet some kids through the church, but I would like to hear other options.

 

2) My son is doing Starting Points through a co-op. I would like for him to continue with a worldview curriculum. What online courses offer worldview with times that are good internationally?

 

3) What do you do for math and science. My children have always taken math and science through a co-op. I am just wondering how labs are conducted for science courses. Do you do them online or do you do something else?

 

4) Do any of your children learn the language of the country you are living in? If so, how are they taught? Local tutors? Online?

 

5) If you don't do online courses, what curriculum do you use for high school? I don't think I can "teach" any high school courses, so I am looking for some that can be done independently.

 

I can't think of any more questions right now, but do you have any other advice? Any other creative solutions? Any information would be helpful.

 

TIA

Edited March 23, 2011 by mom2three
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[jld]

We're in South India. Our kids play with the other kids in the apartment complex. The baby (ds2) is learning the language (I hope!) by listening to the cleaning lady, and occasionally, her daughter.

 

We use Apologia, but only do the labs when we are back in America.

 

I would bring whatever books/educ. materials you might want to Asia, as it can be tricky to find things here and expensive to get them shipped from home.

 

Bring what you can, and expect the worst, but realize that some good things will come along, too. I hated India the first year (at least), but now I'm a lot more comfortable here.

 

We're dealing with some lying from the neighbors right now, though, and that is so unpleasant. Dh says that Asia is a pride-based culture as opposed to a truth-based culture, and that it is more important to people here to save face than to be honest. Ugh. I hate these kinds of lessons. I really hate having to confront the dark side of humanity . . .

[Laura Corin]

We used to live in Asia. I taught maths and science myself, but wasn't doing it at a high school level except for biology. I did the experiments for biology at home, skipping any that weren't doable.

 

My boys became fluent in Chinese over the four years we were there. As they were younger we hired household help. Our lovely Xiao Wang chatted and played with the boys for hours: Monopoly, puzzles .... and they picked the language up. They had a tutor in addition for one hour a week; she worked on writing. With older children, the learning will probably have to be more formal.

 

My boys made expatriate friends through the homeschooling co-op and scouts. They made local friends also, and ended up spending most of their time with them. You might like to consider housing with a view to making friends: we lived in an all-Chinese housing complex surrounding a courtyard. This turned out to be a great situation for the boys to build friendships with local children. People we knew who either lived in free-standing houses or in mostly-expat apartment complexes had no local friends. Having local friends for the boys had a great effect on their Chinese learning.

 

We used to take a lot of books with us. Everytime we came back to the West, we took an empty suitcase and raided second hand book shops to stock up. Bookdepository.co.uk is also useful: they will ship for free to many locations worldwide. Where are you going? Some territories, such as Hong Kong, have decent English-language bookshops, although you won't find specialist home education texts.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

[Negin]

Our dc have lived here all their lives, so our situation is different.

 

1) What do you do about the social aspect?

My dc now have fewer friends, but more high-quality than when they were younger. Grenada is very transitory and people are always leaving and new ones coming. That can be hard. They've taken classes and continue to do so - swimming (not anymore), piano (not anymore), karate, Alliance Francaise, etc. They've made friends through these activities.

 

3) What do you do for math and science. My children have always taken math and science through a co-op. I am just wondering how labs are conducted for science courses. Do you do them online or do you do something else?

 

Math - so far, me. So far, so good.

Science - dh, and we've found a tutor to soon start them on lab work.

 

4) Do any of your children learn the language of the country you are living in? If so, how are they taught? Local tutors? Online?

English here.

 

5) If you don't do online courses, what curriculum do you use for high school? I don't think I can "teach" any high school courses, so I am looking for some that can be done independently.

 

Eclectic. We travel to the U.S. about once a year and put most of our things in a huge barrel and have them shipped down.

 

We're dealing with some lying from the neighbors right now, though, and that is so unpleasant. Dh says that Asia is a pride-based culture as opposed to a truth-based culture, and that it is more important to people here to save face than to be honest. Ugh. I hate these kinds of lessons. I really hate having to confront the dark side of humanity . . .

That's hard and I feel bad that you're all going through this :grouphug:. Very, very common however. Your dh's assessment is right-on and very accurate. Persians/Iranians tend to be this way also. It's horrendous. Lying can come to them as naturally as breathing. Anything in order to maintain pride with their families, etc. The whole excessive family/blood thing drives me nuts. I'm so not Persian at all when it comes to that. Dh and I were both born there, but I'm much more British and international than anything; dh was raised in the U.S. We consider ourselves to be world citizens and see the pluses and negatives to every culture that we're exposed to. But you're right, lying and seeing the dark side of humanity is very unpleasant and a really difficult test. :grouphug:

[jld]

 

That's hard and I feel bad that you're all going through this :grouphug:. Very, very common however. Your dh's assessment is right-on and very accurate. Persians/Iranians tend to be this way also. It's horrendous. Lying can come to them as naturally as breathing. Anything in order to maintain pride with their families, etc. The whole excessive family/blood thing drives me nuts. I'm so not Persian at all when it comes to that. Dh and I were both born there, but I'm much more British and international than anything; dh was raised in the U.S. We consider ourselves to be world citizens and see the pluses and negatives to every culture that we're exposed to. But you're right, lying and seeing the dark side of humanity is very unpleasant and a really difficult test. :grouphug:

 

Thanks, Negin. I really appreciate that. Tues. night a neighbor pulled me aside on a walk I was taking with dh, and told me that ds5 had scratched her car with his bike, and that someone had seen him do it. Dh overheard her, brought ds5's bike over to her car, and showed her how it couldn't have been his bike, because the top of his bike was about 5 inches below the scratch. I asked her who saw him to do it, and she said she didn't know. I pressed her on it, asking if it was her driver? another driver? her maid? her children? She then said she just didn't know, and turned around and fled out of the common garage under our building and up into her apartment.

 

Dh told me she was lying, that ds had not scratched her car, and that she made up the part about someone having seen it. He said I should not have pressed her on who saw it, because that made her lose face and now she knew that dh knew she was lying, and she would be angry and feel humiliated. He explained about the pride and truth differences in cultures, and said he deals with this all the time here in India.

 

Well, yesterday I was watching the kids at the pool, and at one point looked up and saw her walking very quickly past the pool with her head down. Normally she walks very slowly, looking around and talking with people.

 

Last night my boys (ds5 and ds8) were putting their bikes away in the garage, and she came up to them and told ds5 she knew he had scratched her car, and that he did it with his beyblade, and that people had seen him do it. She told the boys that the paint job would be very expensive, and that she would be speaking with their parents. I called dh after the boys came up and told me, and he said he would be home Sunday, and just to let him deal with her.

 

You know, before all of this happened, I would have considered her a friend. Her dh's brother is our landlord, and she has given me advice several times about living in India, as she lived in America for 15 years earlier in her life, and our older kids are similar ages. I am so disappointed. Dh says it is just her culture, that it is simply not based on truth. Dd talked to the trainer in the gym about the situation yesterday, and he said that is not true, that not all Indians are liars, and that he has had bad experiences with her, too. I tend to believe the trainer, though I understand that as a businessman, dh probably deals with this type of lying so often that he thinks it's culture-wide. Or maybe I just want to believe something more positive, lol!

 

What's amazing is that all the Indians in this complex are very wealthy people, and yet most of them are so tight with their money. The paint job is nothing to our neighbors, but they basically do not want to pay for it. They work their servants so hard, and want to pay so little, and throw in plenty of disdain for these people besides. It's all very discouraging.

 

To the op: we use Saxon for math and Apologia for science. Both are written to the student, and since I'm not strong in math or science, and dh lives in another city, only here consistently on Sundays, I needed something the kids could do on their own. We use authentic French materials for French kids with our children, as dh is French and I am American, and the kids' level in French is very high. We get these materials from France (workbooks and reading books) when we stop there in the fall, or when the kids visit their grandparents. I used to teach Spanish, and have a used set of the textbooks I taught from that I use with dd15. We use Latin Prep materials, as suggested by Laura Corin, and dd enjoys them very much. She plans to follow them up with SYRWTLL 3, and then read original works. For English and history, we've just read books, done a little writing, and dd is currently reading Spielvogel's world history for high school book, and the Hakim American history series. We need to do a research paper unit next year, and just work more on writing in French and English. There are various other odds and ends, and I'm sure more things will enter our curricular plans during 11th and 12th grades, but this keeps us busy for now.

 

Laura Corin gave some great advice about living in a complex. We were in an independent home when we first arrived, and are much happier in the apartment complex where we are now. There is a small gym, pilates room, basketball court (tiny!), badminton court, cricket pitch, swimming pool, library, movie room, and several fountains and benches in the middle of the complex, or between the buildings. The driveway is horseshoe-shaped, so the kids can ride fairly safely around there, dodging too fast cars, though. We are probably 8 foreign families in this complex of 40 apartments, with the rest being native Indians. Our kids play with mostly Indian kids, though sometimes there are Korean and Japanese kids out, too. The Finns don't really play with the other kids, and the Turkish family rarely comes out. I should probably go visit them, as I think they're just shy.

 

Try to go to Asia with realistic expectations. If you expect difficulties, you probably won't be shocked when they arrive, and it will likely all go better than you expect.

 

Otoh, if you're going to Singapore or Hong Kong, or some other rich area, none of what I'm saying may apply. That might be a pretty easy move to make, comparatively speaking.

 

At any rate, good luck!:)

[mom2three]

Where are you going? Some territories, such as Hong Kong, have decent English-language bookshops, although you won't find specialist home education texts.

 

Best wishes

 

Laura

 

Thank you for your comments. We will be moving to Seoul, Korea. Things are very expensive there, so I will probably have to take everything with me.

[mom2three]

Wow, you are going through so much. My husband currently lives in Korea, so we will be joining him in the summer. I know how hard it can be to live apart from your husband. Is it possible for you and your husband to live together? It must be hard to be separated in a foreign country.

 

Thank you for your comments.

[jld]

Wow, you are going through so much. My husband currently lives in Korea, so we will be joining him in the summer. I know how hard it can be to live apart from your husband. Is it possible for you and your husband to live together? It must be hard to be separated in a foreign country.

 

Thank you for your comments.

 

Thanks for the sympathy; it is hard, and we miss him. But if we live in the city where he works, we have to go back to an independent home, and there just aren't many recreational facilities there, which would be hard for our boys. Here they can just go outside and play fairly safely, not in the street, like in the other city. If the kids are active, they are happy, and that makes life easier for Mom.

 

It would really be nice to have him around right now to deal with the neighbor. Indians just don't respect women like they respect men. They just don't mess with dh.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy Korea. That's a First World country, isn't it? What luck. We lived in France before India, and I didn't know enough to appreciate it. I can't tell you what I would have given to go back to France the first night we were in India. I've adjusted now, and really do enjoy many aspects of it, but there is just nothing like living in the First World.

[Negin]

Dd talked to the trainer in the gym about the situation yesterday, and he said that is not true, that not all Indians are liars, and that he has had bad experiences with her, too. I tend to believe the trainer, though I understand that as a businessman, dh probably deals with this type of lying so often that he thinks it's culture-wide. Or maybe I just want to believe something more positive, lol!

It's very true that not all Indians are liars. It's the same with stereotypes about any culture. I, for example, have horrible experiences with every single Nigerian that I've met. Eventually, something happens ... But I'm 100% sure that there are good and honest ones out there. I just haven't met them yet. I do believe, however, sadly, very sadly, that certain traits (positive and negative ones) are more common in some cultures. This is after living on this planet for 43 years and having lived in 4 different countries. I know that 4 countries doesn't sound like much compared to many here ;). Middle Easterners, for example, often lie like there's no tomorrow. Anything to save face. Bribing, etc. - all that comes very easily to them. I love the book "The Geography of Bliss". Doesn't talk about lying per se, but about different cultures in a very enlightening and rather humorous way.

 

What's amazing is that all the Indians in this complex are very wealthy people, and yet most of them are so tight with their money. The paint job is nothing to our neighbors, but they basically do not want to pay for it. They work their servants so hard, and want to pay so little, and throw in plenty of disdain for these people besides. It's all very discouraging

 

Yes, unfortunately, oftentimes, the wealthiest ones tend to be the most tight-fisted. I've seen it all. BTDT. I've seen it especially amongst Indians. It's very hard to deal with, I know. :grouphug: I often joke that it's no coincidence that they're so wealthy ;).

 

Try to go to Asia with realistic expectations. If you expect difficulties, you probably won't be shocked when they arrive, and it will likely all go better than you expect.

Otoh, if you're going to Singapore or Hong Kong, or some other rich area, none of what I'm saying may apply. That might be a pretty easy move to make, comparatively speaking.

:iagree:

[jld]

Thanks, Negin.:)

 

Dh said the other day that what we call lying isn't lying to them. It's like we have two different definitions of it. He thinks it's important to just learn to work within the culture, and I guess he's trying to help me do that, lol.

 

Hey, I think 4 countries is a lot!:)

 

Well, the top, thin layer is wealthy. There is so much poverty around me, Negin, and so many people even in the middle class are at risk. But yes, the Indians in my complex are wealthy by any definition, and I am shocked by the way some of them think about poor people. I haven't said anything because I want to get along with the neighbors, but I am shocked. It's as though they think they couldn't have been born poor. How would they have liked to be treated? And the money and emphasis they put on their religion -- while they're talking about how important it is not to spoil the servants -- puleeeze! A rickshaw had a bumper sticker (over the windshield, actually, lol) yesterday that read: Serving hands are better than praying lips. There's food for thought.

[jld]

You know, I really need to meet more middle class Indians. I think I would really appreciate their struggles, and could certainly relate better to them. I need to think about how to make this happen . . .

[Negin]

Just seeing this ...

 

Dh said the other day that what we call lying isn't lying to them. It's like we have two different definitions of it. He thinks it's important to just learn to work within the culture, and I guess he's trying to help me do that

Your dh is right.

 

Well, the top, thin layer is wealthy. There is so much poverty around me, Negin, and so many people even in the middle class are at risk. But yes, the Indians in my complex are wealthy by any definition, and I am shocked by the way some of them think about poor people. I haven't said anything because I want to get along with the neighbors, but I am shocked. It's as though they think they couldn't have been born poor. How would they have liked to be treated? And the money and emphasis they put on their religion -- while they're talking about how important it is not to spoil the servants -- puleeeze! A rickshaw had a bumper sticker (over the windshield, actually, lol) yesterday that read: Serving hands are better than praying lips. There's food for thought.

Yes, everything you say is right. I remember reading a very, very interesting and disturbing article in National Geographic a few years ago about the Indian caste system. Some parts of it were really upsetting.

 

You know, I really need to meet more middle class Indians. I think I would really appreciate their struggles, and could certainly relate better to them. I need to think about how to make this happen . . .

Might be hard to do, but I guess it could be done - volunteering, etc. It's just hard when we have families to take care of and get so busy and involved in our lives - it's hard to take care of everything. You have such a good heart. The fact that you care so much is solid proof.

[jld]

Thanks, Negin.:) I just think any of us could have been born poor in India, and then how would we like to be treated?

 

I think the volunteering will come, but for now I am pretty much just at home. You do learn a lot just by living here and observing, though, and having experiences with the neighbors, lol. In some ways I feel like I'm an amateur sociologist here, observing class differences and realizing some things about America I wouldn't have noticed but for having them glaringly pointed out to me here.

[Negin]

I think the volunteering will come, but for now I am pretty much just at home. You do learn a lot just by living here and observing, though, and having experiences with the neighbors, lol. In some ways I feel like I'm an amateur sociologist here, observing class differences and realizing some things about America I wouldn't have noticed but for having them glaringly pointed out to me here.

:iagree: with everything you mentioned.