Schooling in Udon Thani

Say, that was probably one of the most interesting thread hijacks yet. My great-grandmother was a Potomac or Chesapeake, so it's been quite intriguing to me personally. At some point, I hope the current administration will review some of the treaties and set things right.

Anyway, I am still open to a good school with an english program around Udon, but if I can't find one it's either Pattaya or the online thing with a private tutor for my daughter. My son is about to pop out in May, and hopefully there will be enough ex-pats around for the local government to open a semi-private school like Udon Satit in Pattaya where parents can elect either a Thai or English program.

Polehawk, the Mohawks are famous for their daring and courage in working on skyscrapers in places like Montreal and Toronto.

We learnt about Joseph Brant in high school, and, of course, the city of Brantford is named after him. It is located to the west of Toronto. Brant and the Mohawks were key to the British defeat of the Americans during the War of 1812, in particular, at Queenston Heights.

I forget the name of the Treaty that the British made with the Mohawks that settled around the Credit River, but I do remember that the British would not permit white people to purchase any of this land so that it would forever remain in the hands of the Mohawks. Under the Canadian government this might have changed and land might have been exchanged between the Mohawks and whites.

Despite the better relations the British and Canadian governments had with the various Indian tribes, there is still the scar of the residential schools, the break-up of families by sending children to these schools, the sexual exploitation of Indian children by Catholic priests and nuns, and the poor quality of life on most of the Indian reservations.

Please forgive my ignorance.
Who is Joseph Brant and what are the Mohawk creation stories?

Well, here I am a year since the last post and a Thai language school supplemented by TutorVista.com, iPad 2, and the full suite of Spectrum learning books from Amazon.com might be in the cards for my Precious.

I'm thinking Thai-language school because the past year (two years all in) in the English program at Satit Udomseuksa in Pattaya (at almost THB 60k per term) and her declining spoken English skills have proven to me the ineffectiveness of putting her in an English-only program and letting the school do their thing with her with less involvement from me. Reading remains superb and spelling not bad (she won the spelling bee and received a huge stuffed lion for 1st place), but I think she should be doing better with spelling unfamiliar words.

http://www.sus.ac.th/en/

According to my conversion calculator and common sense, that THB 120k per year = 3.5 years of unlimited TutorVista.com sessions. So, why not - I ask myself - just put her in a regular school to make friends and pass Thailand's weak standard exams so she appears in the system, but her real education comes from homeschooling as before except with a highly qualified tutor holding a Masters or Doctorate in Education or relevant subject sitting at home in India?

Lots of positive press and videos with testimonies from real parents:
http://www.tutorvista.com/press/overview.php

I'm thinking 2 hours Tues and Thur evenings and 8 hours split based on what she wants to do on Sat and Sun. Saturday has always been fun day (World of Warcraft from Friday night to Saturday night seemingly non-stop) and Sunday has always been reading day - no TV and no video games.

It would be fantastic if somehow she could just skip going to school altogether and just take the exams to be able to move through the system. There are plenty of kids in the new neighborhood and a village school (not one I would put her in, though) within pleasant walking distance. If that were possible, I would have her do 3 hours in the morning, break 2 hours, and 3 hours in the afternoon 5 days per week. Maybe have her ready for University ahead of the game, travel around a bit, then apply whenever she feels the urge to get University done and over with. Meh...nice thought that will probably not happen.

Anyway, just a thread bump for those who may also be considering alternative education options. By most accounts, Udon is a big FAIL in the quality of education department regardless of school when compared to good schools back in the world. My goal is to have her able to destroy the CAT exam at least one grade level above where she is in school. Very achievable and maintainable.

The Spectrum learning books should arrive today or tomorrow and I will be taking them with me on the plane. I ordered the Spectrum CAT (Grade 4) prep books, too. I may post how well/poorly she does and offer my assessment of where she was this time last year and where she is now for anyone interested.

Cheers!

KD,I thoroughly convinced that sending your child to a Thai school where Thai is the spoken language amongst the student and others,is a complete waste of time for improving your daughters English.I experienced this with my daughter,watching her English speaking digress rather than improve.

I subscribe to the theory that language communication skills are acquired from comprehensible input which mostly comes from informal communication with concerned persons,peers,parents ,,,etc.!Formal settings such as schools are strong supplements IF the teacher focuses on ''comprehensible input'' about subjects of interest to the students.That is not the case in most schools and certainly not the case in all Thai schools!The textbooks and the material covered are rediculously incomprehensible and are about subjects of no interest to the students,making it almost impossible to learn or even focus on the subject!This is true whether the teacher is native English speaker or not and whether they mean well or not!

Immersion into the language for acquiring,skilled,interested tutoring for motivation and learning is the only way to go,IMO!

Here is a link that might interest you:
http://www.sdkrashen.com/Principles_and ... index.html

HOLY SHAZAAAM, THERE IS A BUDDA!!!

REGISTERING AS A HOMESCHOOL IN THAILAND IS A RIGHT THAT HAS BEEN A LAW SINCE 2004!!!

http://www.bangkokpost.com/education/si ... jl3107.htm

Rights and benefits

To register as a homeschool in Thailand, the Education Service Area Office requires that the teacher or parent has completed a minimum education of Grade 12 or pass the evaluation by the Education Service Area Office. Once the Area office is satisfied, it will issue certificates to the student and parents under the Education Ministry that can be used as authorization to pursue further studies or to apply for a job.

Now, I think there are a lot of Ajarns out there who REALLY should be paying attention and grasp what this law means! It means, that rather than teaching at a government school earning THB whatever, Ajarns could register as a homeschool and market their services as a homeschool to interested parents.

The model? A virtual school. The parents sign up for TutorVista.com, those folks help each student with the lessons, and the Ajarn simply coordinates lessons, fosters interactions (online, meet-up places, etc.) between his/her "students", and proctors exams. What could be easier?!? For that, each parent pays the Ajarn for books (which includes a fair markup for the Ajarn) and effort. THB 3-6k per student per month would seem reasonable to me for basically being the person just handling "classroom" interaction, testing, and the use of his/her homeschool certificate.

Heck, stay tuned, I just may do it myself. Now under which box of junk in my Mom's closet did I shove my hard-earned degree...? I think I framed it along with all the other old cert stuff I had hanging in my home office 12+ years ago, but can't recall for sure...and so the quest begins!

Wewt! Found 'em all still in the frames and in perfect condition. Managed to cram all but 2 into the suitcase. Here's to hoping they survive the trip over.

Hey, Ma! I'ma pakin me edumacation an fixin' ta be a skewl in Taiwan!

Interesting read. It reminds me of the experience of a friend of mine. He was living in Pattaya and when his kids were ready for school, the relocated to Udon for the cheaper, less frantic life. However, as his sons approached their teens, he was more worried about their total inability to converse in any English when he came home from his 28/28 day work rotations. He relocated back to Pattaya where (I think) his sons went to Regents (it was newly opened and the dogs bollocks). I met the sons a few years back at a wake for a mutual friend and they were smart, confident, savvy and easily held conversations in English with just about anyone.

Your home schooling enterprise is truly something to think about. My lad is only starting pre-school end of this month (he was passed over at DB) so a long way to go. I suggested Paramin but mum felt comfortable at Mari-something, just up from Makro, almost opposite St. Marys? My two step-daughters seem to be be faring better at the school opposite the Paolo/Panyavej Hospital but my efforts to engage them in any English conversation (especially when we are around my son) doesn't seem to work. Their confidence isn't up to it as well as being lazy buggers doesn't help!

Off to the clan cave in Scotland for a fortnight, get him interested in bracken and walking bleak hilltops and other cold weather summer activities, well ahead of his inevitable induction at Gordonstoun.

I had a convo with a salesperson at Tutorvista.com. Highlights:

- The real price is whatever you can negotiate. I negotiated down to 3 months for USD 150.00 with an option to renew at the same price for year. (I haven't signed up yet, though. Will do next month.)
- Payment method is Google only - no Paypal. I didn't like that as I use PayPal religiously.
- Lifetime (4th grade level through 12th) is USD 3,000.00
- Except for Lifetime, best deals are all going to work out to no less than $49.99 monthly, unlimited.
- Several current students are using iPad for input. The electronic pen/pad used by tutors can be purchased online - best place is the manufacturer's online store - lots of models, roughly USD 50.00. Sold in Thailand, too.
http://www.geniusnet.com/wSite/lp?ctNod ... SD=10&mp=1
- The tutor you get is randomly selected from any of over 2-3,000 available tutors. Subject and grade does filter selection somewhat, but if those folks are busy, you get whomever is available.
- You can select favorite tutors and make arrangements with that tutor if you desire continuity.
- Your child's friend sitting at home can learn along with your child at the same time with the same tutor.
- You or your child would need to have a scanner to scan work to the tutor. Tutor uses a virtual whiteboard for pretty much everything.
- The model is really supposed to be about helping with homework, NOT teaching entire subjects. BUT I absolutely got the impression that it is possible to work something out with a tutor. They do not get paid by how many students they help and are evaluated based upon feedback and (I think) total online hours.

That's all I can recall for now. Brain getting old. Good thing I don't need a brain to be a skewl.

With regards to the HOMESCHOOL registration as a possibility, there are a couple of points I would like to pass onto all you aspiring Homeschool persons.
1. The requirement is correct you have to have Ministry of Education Licensing, and you have to have the following as well before you are even considered to be suitable place for homeschooling and if you intend to teach at other peoples home a whole new set of criteria needs to be followed.
1. Company / Business, properly set up , with Income tax and Social Security payments paid and up to date.
2. Third party insurance to cover the students who are visiting your home.
3. Work Permit that allows you to teach in your home which would mean that the Ministry of Education has already looked at and verified your credentials as being properly qualified.
4. Local permits that state your house is a safe environment .

Now this may sound very westernised to you BUT no matter what Thais do or not do, we will be looked at and any attempt by a foreigner to Homeschool other children at their house will be reported to the authorities even if you are qualified up to the hilt, others may and will object including the teachers you say are useless.

Any attempt to gain money without the necessary paperwork would result in Immigration taking a dim view , also the revenue dept as well.
Those that wish to teach their own children , that is your decision but at some stage the children WILL have to take exams to prove their educational standards in order to progress to higher level of education and in some cases to even be offered employment.

So although the idea is sound the restrictions and limitations are not an invasion of your own personal rights but rather to stop any \Tom Dick or harry passing themselves off as a teacher and recently there have been a couple who are currently feeling the full weight of Thai law bearing down on them, their life in Thailand could be cut very short indeed or a term of incarceration at Govt expense. Do not ask for details as it is sub judice.

No but I am not saying who or where so quoting sub judice is the best way forward as the final outcome has not been decided and also my information is on a need to know but suffice members need to know it is foolish to try to flout the rules OK.

Paul, I think you may want to go back and re-read the posts. In your eagerness to be a dark cloud, you interjected a lot of assertions that simply aren't there or have been misunderstood by you:

- "Worthless" teachers? Where'd that come from?
- Schooling other kids in [my] home? The model was expressly to NOT do that; and absent that, the rest of your dark cloud pretty much blows out the window, doesn't it?

Homeschooling is certainly a viable option in Thailand and has been since 2004 when it was debated and passed as the law of the land. Those are the facts. To mischaracterize the option or intent (to homeschool one's own children) as anything but would be dubious although I have no idea to what end other than to be the dark cloud and thump one's chest for no apparent reason.

Need a hug? Here ya go: *hug*