The" cookie cutter" kid??

As we are busy packing ( kinda) and browsing the potential areas in Shanghai to live , contacting freight forwarder companies for more quotation to send all of our belongings to Shanghai. I am also busy searching for more information in the "homeschooling" part.

The cost of International school in China is unbelievable high ( talk about around USD 26k./year)  for primary/grade school. Not that we must enroll our girl to International School, her Mandarin is not that good to follow the local school, and the semi international or bi lingual are not cheap too!

And since we are moving in the middle of the school year in China, so we think, it is better to homeschool-ed Indy first. And yes, I am fortunate, that my dh is ( again) agree with this. He was clueless about  homeschool before. But I made him have a better view on this. And we even ordered the books and browsing the curriculum together. And he even want to know more about the progress chart or the daily study schedule for Indy , so just in case I am sick or not available , he can "teach" Indy too! ahaha.. good one!

As Cel recommend me and enlightened me with lots of homeschool stuffs, I am more sure that, we made a good decision to do this. More than that, in a forum I joined, I read many parents are concern about the general school quality . And not every family can afford to pay USD 26k per kid/year. ( and that doesn't mean your kid will get the "best" learning experience).

One sentence that struck me :
The typical Asian students are  the"sweet cookie cutter": They are good  in Math and Science, but lack in communicating and critical thinking . They are smart and hard working (thanks to tons of homeworks) but not particulatry creative or bold. 

This reminds me of my recent trip back to Jakarta. I saw so many " molded people ( adults)" . They are just bland, similar to one another, closed minded , the "stereo type " kind of people.

Actually, I am not in doubt  too,  Can I  really do homeschooling with my girl? am I going to be a great" teacher"?, do I have enough patience to do it ? how can I find the time? What about my social life? Will I be stuck with my children 24/7? How if I get tired? Will I be discipline enough? Will my kids listen to me?  And the list is keep going on and on...

Our short term goal is just to home school for temporary. If we think we can't do it, we will enroll her into a regular school next September. But if we are comfortable of doing it , then , finger crossed, we will keep it that way.

Another good point I read from the forum:
Who will read your primary/grades school report when you are applying job? really ,who cares about that?


Point taken. I must agree. I know primary is the based , the foundation . But which school are you going, how much you pay for it, wont affect much of your C.V when you will apply for your first job.

If we can home school for the primary years, then go into a good school for high school and college or university, I think that will work too!

And , those books in sonlight are just so tempting. I would love to read and learn about it again! Some of the books/subjects in history for 7-9 years old will include:

• Mesopotamia and the first city-states
• Egypt, Crete, the Jewish people and Canaan
• The Greeks, Mycenaeans, Trojans, and Spartans
• Rome and Assyria
• The rise of Islam

 I think the subjects are much more interesting than what the normal ( chinese in my case) school would have offer. They even got some classic story to read, while in government schools ( I am now talking about Indonesian, Malaysian , and Chinese schools)  I don't think to read some great classic books is on the curriculum list!

So , keep my finger crossed, and wish me luck. I think moving to Shanghai is the "kick" I need to finally home schooled our  7 years old!

How about the "isolated" and not being able to socialize concern over home schooling kids?

"....conventional schools offer "socialization" through peer pressure, the stress of choosing between popularity and academic performance, and excessive attention to appearance."

Rachel Gathercole (The Well-Adjusted Child: The Social Benefits of Homeschooling)


That gave me a encouragement too. Beside, there will be a wonderful support groups for homeschooling in Shanghai and there are tons of activities to join.  


I know the road we are going to take is not gonna be easy one. We might fail , we might succeed, there will be a lot if hiccups, we will face a lot of down hills, we must be ready for bumpy ride and stormy weather. But hey.. at least I have the guts to try... and the passion to support it.  What's about that for now? And the rest will follow ( hopefully ) ^_^


have a great weekend peeps!