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.
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Sometimes we meet local kids that can speak English.
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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.
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| 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.
