Homeschooling in Indonesia

Bhavna, I was really happy to see your topic.

Our children are currently in an International school but we are contemplating to either change school or change to home schooling. We calculated that the cost of home schooling will be approximately the same as our current costs. The advantages of homeschooling for us is that we currently spend about 2.5 hours each day taking the kids to school and picking them up. With home schooling we can still do the Cambridge syllabus as well as let the children learn a couple of subjects not available at school such as Japanese or subjects more suitable to their own interests.

The set up for home schooling is established in Indonesia and some of my expat friends have also pulled their own kids from International schools and chosen home schooling.

The children still get to mix with other kids every weekend and it also allows us more flexibility to travel overseas. There is also a big database of home school teachers available in our area.

We are not sure when we will do this but it is currently in our minds.

Incidentally, one of the reason that we are contemplating home schooling is because we discovered that some children are being disproportionately or excessively punished. For example, losing their morning break time and lunch breaks (they can still eat their lunch, but in the class room) for an entire week for not doing their homework, or having to stand up either in class for an hour for forgetting their Melodica instrument. We also heard that children have been told to stand outside the classroom in the tropical heat for an hour, although I have not witnessed this.

Children having their break time or recess is as important as adults having a tea break or coffee break or cigarette break. Everyone needs to re-energize or refresh themselves, to get out of the classroom, play with their friends and socialize a bit. Taking away that right is not only detrimental to a child's well being but dampens their enthusiasm and motivation to learn.

I have spoken to the school about this, and they have made changes, but there is some animosity with one of the teachers that had to be named.

Home schooling in Indonesia is perfectly legal, however high school diplomas are not automatically awarded and a university placement could prove very difficult.
We are in a bit of a dilemma at the moment with our youngest ready to start part time at a well established international school locally next year (AIS) and myself taking very early retirement in around 18 months, problem being with some so called international schools but not all they follow curriculum but offer very little when it matters (international diploma etc) as our plans are to leave Indonesia (but return on a regular basis) it's a bit in the air at the moment and my children's education over rules any plans we have and is not feasible for home schooling for at least 2/3 years
Entirely up to individual parents  who go this way or not,  I'm not a professional in education but the expat teachers at AIS are hence I'll Stick with the professionals
This way we can move around and our children develop vital skills/ friendships and this is easily transferred from one country to another (AIS school)
Totally down to choice this way or not and I won't knock anyone going down the path with home schooling my choice is I feel the best way for my children is paid professional expat teachers
And no doubt many reading this pick up on my terrible grammar I would be a terrible teacher and would want to play with dinosaurs and Lego all day also

There are numerous US based registered (accredited) schools that offer High School Diplomas that are acceptable to most reputable universities. . .. And quite often students can attend a "lesser" university and transfer upward once they pass first or second year. This is also true of other English speaking countries. I have been following the Home school movement for years and if you have the discipline  . . it is actually more efficient and far cheaper . .. the cost of the texts is small compared to tuition in an "intercultural school" And texts can be shared (reused) by others in the family or friends year after year (just not disposable workbooks).

As an update to this topic and because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have watched e-classes for the last few weeks held by our children's school. More importantly, we have had the opportunity to watch our teachers at work.

What I have discovered is firstly the very poor standard of English that some of the teachers possess. More notable is that when my children left their Montisorri school here in Indonesia, they had a much better sounding English than they do now. The current teacher has shocked me and I am very concerned.

So we have been researching home schooling, speak with other expats here who have done it, and speaking with some leading authorities on education about bother e-schooling and home schooling. The results are very positive.

The benefits are numerous and include:

1. A one to one teaching experience for the child
2. A child that feels more confident
3. A child that can speak a much better standard of English without the funny accents of local teachers
4.  More free time to go traveling at any time of the year which means low airfares
5. Big savings on school fees
6. More time spent with our children
7. Less time traveling to and from school, saving on petrol and parents time about 2.5 hours per day
8. Ability to choose an overseas online teacher for less than we pay our school. These generally start at around £4 an hour for a qualified native English speaker
9. Being able to choose the extra curricular social activities for our children (for example, my children play piano but must play a silly Melodica in school with the entire class), they can attend specialist art and craft classes and robotics courses and meet lots of new friends.
10. We can control the speed of learning, explain things more clearly
11. They don't need to waste time doing Sundanese language or Tematik or other useless subjects.
12. Most teachers are willing to visit our home to teach for Rp100k - 150k per hour which is good for a one to one experience
13. My own English level is very good and I can teach well.

in fact the advantages are so great. We do not plan for our children to become Indonesian citizens and they will do their assessments, exams etc externally.

As a Native speaking teacher I've been thrust into the "online" scene. I am working to create an online book club through my school. The same problem exists in other countries . . . the quality of spoken English is not necessarily native. I deal with students from multiple schools. The teaching varies from school to school (in spite of using sometimes even the same curriculum). I had to develop my own curriculum when I was teaching in China because of these lacks.

If parents have the discipline they can be their child's best teacher. You can PM me if you need more details or assistance. I have experience with both schools and home schooling.

I totally agree with you about parents being the child's best teacher. Of course you need to have the right temperament for teaching, patience, intelligence, good general knowledge and good understanding of mathematics, science and English (I'm talking about primary education). My background is engineering and science and my mathematics was always good as is my English which is a southern and little bit posh English. In fact, during this e-class experience I find that in anycase I need to be able to understand everything to either help or explain difficult bits to my children.

You are certainly doing the right thing with creating your own online book club, and actually online teaching is something that is being developed by many foreign educational organizations now.

When you worked in China you weren't working with the British Council by chance? I know they employ non-British native English speakers but just wondering.

I was not working with the British Counsel . . .. well-known outfits like EF and many private companies were hiring non-native speakers and some like S***** K*** are notorious for faking documents. The demand far exceeds the supply. With this latest development many have been forced out of business. The competition was fierce. A lot of good teachers just not working with proper visas etc.

I refused to work for any company that couldn't get me the proper paperwork. Several companies went out of business before I even left . . . bad financial practices.

keep up the good work.

It's a shame if EF were hiring non native English speakers as I believe having a good spoken English is super important and kids sort of mimic their English teachers. We actually considered buying the franchise (let's say my wife did) for an EF school quite a long time ago, but glad we never went ahead with it.

Anyway, I know that online teaching is the way to go, according to a couple of quite senior experts in the field. The English language schools who are not already offering this service should already be developing it as it will be major in the future.

Incidentally, I see that you are Canadian. I have a French friend who had his own language school in Canada for a long time (he is already in his eighties) and it was similar to Berlitz with tapes and books for sale etc. I can't remember the name of the company but his first name is Pierre, a true intellect. He is now living in Taiwan and speaking to the government there and trying to change the way schools teach young kids. A big and difficult job. He also imports and is a sole distributor for children's product.

Good luck to you too.

Hi, Would you please to advise in which school your gorgeous kids are attending?

Shill88 wrote:

I totally agree with you about parents being the child's best teacher. Of course you need to have the right temperament for teaching, patience, intelligence, good general knowledge and good understanding of mathematics, science and English (I'm talking about primary education).

I agree as well, which is probably why my kids get an un-timed break when I feel I'm about to lose it or my kiddos have lost motivation. I normally tell them go outside and find "a better attitude", lol. All in all, homeschooling is really just guiding the kids' learning, for the most part they teach themselves. Sites like Khan Academy, BrainPOP, Generation Genius and MobyMax fill in their gaps, while I have books like Life of Fred for Math and Good & Beautiful for Language Arts allow them to work together and just come to me if they have questions.

My high school son was my guinea pig, he's 22 now, I went nuts trying figure math out, until fellow homeschoolers lightened my load with tons of advice. A good self-leading curriculum, an awesome planner and a homeschool support group is all you need to be successful (along with coffee, cigarettes and me time).

I am curious to see how a homeschool diploma will be accepted in Indonesia though.

The thing for us is that firstly our kids hold UK citizenship aswell as Indonesian and will almost certainly choose British citizenship when the time comes, and secondly we are intending to send them to university overseas, probably to places like Japan and Korea. They will learn one of those languages soon.

We are really not into playing it safe and planning for them to have a typical education in a school here and then attending a local university. We want them to have a more exciting lifestyle and to work and live overseas and to have skills that they would not be able to get from normal schooling.

Many people speak badly about homeschooling but that is mostly because they have a limited viewpoint, have never tried it, and mostly because they just do not understand the advantages. I've seen people say that it is mostly delinquent kids who are forced to do it and that home schooled kids have less chance of entering university. That is complete nonsense and only shows that those people do not comprehend the advantages of homeschooling or haven't studied it carefully or that they are either too scared to make the move or incapable of homeschooling their own children.

I will also say that for my own kids the improvement in their studies, understanding and confidence has risen dramatically since they started. They are incredibly happy and so are we. In comparison, we hear about continued frustrations with parents from their previous school, unhappy with the e-classes and how uninterested their kids are.

I would also say that some of us believe in guiding our children's future based on our children's strengths. For example, I started my first business when I was 34 years old and my wife also runs her own businesses. Life does not need to be about going to a local university and then getting a job in sales or in a bank or an insurance company. Life is about travel, doing something that you like, maybe running your own business etc. We do not see our kids as working in a boring company when they grow up. We want to help prepare them for a much more interesting life.

But I admit that most parents are incapable of homeschooling their children, perhaps because one or both parents work, or they do not have the ability or patience to teach or for whatever reason, then just leave your kids in school.

Hello all.
I have 2 children. My kids have 2 nationalities, Dutch and Indonesian. I not read any names of homeschooling in English , given in Indonesia.

So could someone please tell me, which good homeschooling exists in Indonesia? I just found local ones like kak Seto en some others where they do not teach in English.

Danny

Hello, if you would like advice and assistance on your children's education I am willing to help, just send me a message. I've lived here almost my whole life so i'm very familiar with the country.

***

I decided to put my child into an online school so I can travel and not be tied down and for my own personal reasons, we stayed in Bali for a few months and I am hoping to travel again before the end of the year. He started after Easter this year. He has never really enjoyed school but he seems to enjoying doing his schooling online. It's a bit Early to say how his schooling is going and he will be starting his GCSE in September. The online school he goes to King's Interhigh.   

@ladivo779

Hello. I'm an expat from the US living in Jakarta. My son has been in an International school since kindergarten and he is now entering the 7th grade. I could not agree with you more regarding the advantages of homeschooling.  I did it with my daughter when I was in the US, but I'm not sure how it works here. Do I need to register with the Department of Education like in the states?  If so please provide logistical guidance. Thank you

@ladivo779

As far as I know you don't need to register anything with the Department of Education. You can just start homeschooling, whether with online classes, visiting teachers or teaching them yourself. You will need to find out about exams such as the Cambridge Exams or equivalent and where you can register for them to take the exams and at what age, as this will be important when preparing for your child to apply for university.

Thank you for your reply.