New school for my son

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It is not cheap because it is a private school, giving classes in English aside Vietnamese. Not just teaching English but teaching IN ENGLISH. Something that I could not think of finding here outside big cities. 

We have been there 3 times, only 2 hours classes maximum per day and some playing with friends before and after classes. 

All went amazingly well with him.  He is able to concentrate and follow  instructions of the teacher, at least as well as his classmates  that have started several months ago. He can draw letters. numbers, flowers airplanes.  As much I can judge his level  quite much corresponds to his age. The Youtube videos and games he spends a lot of time with, have done a good job. 

The teacher is from Philippines.  He is good with kids:  friendly, enthusiastic, not a native speaker but very good English. I would not appreciate a native speaker more than that. 

My son is 5 years old. He will be six year later a bit later than next semester starts in September. Until that time we are buying individual classes, about 4 to 6 a week. 

I just hope that my health will remain reasonably good, provided that I am already past 60 years old. And that I will stay alive.  Without me he wouldn't be able to go to that school, not grow up as an internationally oriented bilingual with English and Vietnamese, human being. I need to find external backing for his future: a trusted sponsor. 


Below you can find some photos from our first school week in March 2025. Location is Lien Nghia, Duc Trong, Lam Dong province, Vietnam. 

 I woke up at 4:00 a.m. as I usually do. How much water in my garden making coffee and doing regular errands in addition to that also packing our big green backpack.

I almost ordered to take us to the bus station but instead I decided to use the e-bike, they want that I have been turning for several months. I have been trying to learn all the maintenance and touring tasks because it's very hard to find somebody who really can do anything with bicycles here

I woke him up around 5 am when it was still dark. Give us exced to go. It is a dream come true to me because I have wanted him to travel with me without being forced into it 

As usual I am using sleeper buffets that they call limousines. It's a quite nice modern boss that has more privacy and better quality than those that's why I was using 10 or even 5 years ago.

It takes from 6:00 to 8 hours from Dalat to Ho Chi Minh city. 

Homeschooling or governmentschooling?

I live in the countryside of Vietnam with my 5-year-old. I am freeschooling him, ie. let him explore the world and play in freedom.

He is truly bilingual: English with me and everyone else with me, Vietnamese with his mother and her family.

When he was 3 we tried to put him into a local school. It did not work. He still remembers that "Halloween school and mad teachers", nothing like Ms. Appleberry that he had seen on Youtube.
I have been considering homeschooling since that but also keep other options open if he wants to go with them.

Sometimes we meet local kids that can speak English.

There is Vietnam-Finland international school with lots of Western teachers (from Finland) but it is not suitable for us because we do not want to live in a big city and school fees are way out of my budget.
I have lots of time to give to my child since I am retired and have a strong motivation giving all my time to him. So, homeschooling seems to be the best option for us, one with lots of freedom, combined travelling inside Vietnam and meeting other kids, preferably those from Western countries holidaying in Phu Quoc, Danang, Vung Tau, Nha Trang.


Two main issues have been present with not putting him into any school or filling his days with classes, hobbies, activities, pressure, demands. That seems to be what both local and expat kids have to go through according to what I have seen.



The first one is in my head: I have been brainwashed to think that without school system, kids can not succeed in life but they become drop outs. Hard to believe that I can be the main teacher for him, that he can learn even from Youtube and Minecraft more than a local teacher can give.
The other problem is his social development. He needs friends. Have have been looking for them in homeschooler's social groups but so far did not find many that he can relate to. Finding a perfect match is hard there too. Only one American with perfect English have we met but she lives far away and they can meet only during her summer holiday.

Since Vietnamese is one of his citizenships I am also considering a compromise: allowing him to go to a local school but agreeing about special arrangements with his teacher or school mangement so that he could be there only part time, me following up what they are doing and going through it with him in English.

There are some local montessori and other types of "alternative" schools and kindies nearby with local teachers, some of them knowing English, though teaching it at a level suitable for local kids. Too boring for him and the cultural cap too high for me.


Often we go to local playgrounds and swimming pools. During the weekdays, daytime, there are no other customers but we play alone.



On New Year  2024-2025  we travelled to Nha Trang city, about 5 hours by bus from our home.  it is usually a bit warmer there on the coast but now it was almost as cold as at home. Still he wanted to swim. He says he is Finland boy and can stand the cold.

Русские в Нячанге, Вьетнам. Эти родители отправляют своих детей на поддержку своей террористической страны: убийц и насильников, которые хотят уничтожить Украину.

In the evening, outside the New Year concert area we saw some Russians promoting their terrorist country.
Two weeks earlier I was detained by the police for displaying Ukrainian flag.   After interrogation and making sure I am not part of any organization but acted on my own behalf only, they let me go. Though not sure if the case will be  brought to court later.