Home-schooling in China

Possibly moving to China this summer and I'm looking into my children's education.  I have 3 girls (16, 14, 10).  Are there any international schools that charge less than $10K USD per child?  How common is home-schooling?  I'm considering home-schooling for just a year.  Are there programs available or can I just hire someone to teach the appropriate US course curriculum?

Hello gghouston,

I hope that other members will comment on this interesting issue soon.

Regards

I was homeschooled while living in Beijing from 1997-2000, and I know there is currently a fairly extensive homeschool network in Beijing.

There are online/homeschool hybrid programs too. Some kids report to teachers via email, some even attend online virtual classes.

My wife homeschooled another families kids for two years (which sounds like what you were describing), I don't know that there are lots of people in Beijing that do that, but there is at least one family that does. I would expect you would still need to pay someone $2000-2500 per month for something like that. It's cheaper than international schools, but still costs a bit.

Is your family religious? Most of the homeschool families that I know here and many of the online programs are Christian based.

My suggestion is if you do decide to homeschool that you do some research and make sure that you're prepared for it. We have run into some families that have decided to homeschool for financial reasons but their kids education ended up getting way off track because they weren't really ready for the commitment.

Homeschooling can be a really great education option, especially when living overseas where you may want to take advantage of unique opportunities and might really appreciate the flexibility, but make sure you do it right.

Thank you mattbankeruu!  I've been getting a great deal of feedback about bilingual and international schools.  Bilingual schools ($10K USD - $15K USD annually) may be the way to go for my little one and private online courses (US Based curriculum) plus a tutor for my high school girls.  You're right though, it will be an adjustment for my girls to take classes online plus adapt to the culture change.  Either way, I think it will be a great opportunity for all of us.

Thanks!