When faced with the high cost of international schools many expat parents in Shanghai see home-schooling as their best option. Photo: CFP

By Thomas McKinley

When Monique Condon rises each morning, she does not worry about sending her children to school on time. Rather, Condon's concerns are that her kids, as well as herself, will be ready for the day's lessons - especially as she herself is their teacher.

Although popular among the Western aristocracy during the Middle Ages and even the Enlightenment, the concept of home-schooling has largely lain dormant in the West for the past 100 years, largely because of the advent of an organized, state-supported school system. However, in Shanghai, there are an increasing number of expatriate families choosing home-schooling over sending their children to international schools. 

Reasons to stay home

"There are many reasons for home-schooling - I personally can think of at least 50 reasons why my family home-schools," Condon stated. In countries such as the US, home-schooling has traditionally been popular in families with a strong religious bent, most commonly in some of the more doctrinal Protestant sects. Patricia (not her real name), who along with her husband has home-schooled their five children in China for several years, stated that "most of the (home-schooling) circles and associations that I know value studies from a Christian perspective."

In addition to religion, interviewees cited political views, travel schedules and special needs as further reasons. The latter is of concern, as the majority of international schools are not able to cater to children with disabilities. Carrie Jones, a counsellor at Community Center Shanghai, related a case in which she consulted a 12-year-old boy from the US who was having problems at his international school. "He suffered from attention deficiency disorder, and was also in need of help with his social skills," she said. Although the boy's parents and Jones put together a plan for the school to follow with regard to the boy's development, "the school didn't have the infrastructure in place to implement this plan," Jones added. Ultimately, the family decided to home-school the child, where they could create a schedule that could be adapted to his unique situation.

Notwithstanding the various and differing motivations behind choosing this form of education, one area in which all respondents were in agreement was in the massive savings involved in schooling children from home. Annual tuition fees for international schools in Shanghai run into hundreds of thousands of yuan. A year's tuition at Dulwich College, for example, can cost between 156,000 yuan ($23,959) and 211,000 yuan, for one child. Less expensive options do exist, such as the International Division of Shanghai High School, which charges between 77,000 yuan and 85,000 yuan per year for a child. For the expatriate family that does not have education included in the breadwinner's salary package - if indeed there is a package at all - these costs can be significant dents in the family's income and are in many cases simply prohibitive.

As for the actual cost of home-schooling, Condon stated, "One can home-school for very little. It truly depends on what type of curriculum you want to purchase and if you want the teacher guides and answer keys. The only major expenses for us have been the enrichment classes and private tutors."

A catered course

Further advantages to home-schooling include what Condon calls the "individualized" method of teaching that can be employed. "With home-schooling, the individual learner is focused on. People all have different learning styles, and parents can target their child's interests, learning style and pace. With individualized learning, specific strengths can be highlighted while personal weaknesses are attended to," she said. Elaine (not her real name), who has home-schooled her children for several years in Shanghai, added a practical consideration that home-schooling "is a nice alternative to sending your child on a hectic bus for one to two hours" - an advantage both in time and safety. Condon, formerly a teacher in the US public school system, also perceives this time-saving quality, especially within the classroom. "There is no time wasted on classroom management, organization of materials for numerous children, or behavior management. A parent working one-on-one with their child can teach in the exact way the child understands it. There's no unnecessary repetition," Condon said. 

A conceivable challenge to this form of education is the acquisition of proper materials, though technology provides great assistance in this regard, particularly in the form of the Internet. "There are curriculums online," said Jones, and according to Elaine, "MEP, a British system, has free worksheets to print out online." Additional online resources, as mentioned by Condon, include Brain Pop, Time4learning, Starfall, and Mathletics. Textbooks pose a more difficult problem, both in accessibility and price. "A decent library was the most difficult obstacle," said Elaine. "Ordering books into Shanghai is not cost-effective. We plan our trips to the US as our time to buy." Condon employs a similar strategy. "I purchase all of our materials in the US to stay in line with State requirements and benchmarks," she said. Further online sources, cited by Elaine, include Spectrum Math and IXL.com as well as podcasts from Harvard on iTunes.

Communities also exist within Shanghai to facilitate home-schooling. The group SHARE, an acronym of Shanghai Home-school Activities Resources and Encouragement, provides both parents and students with a platform for discussing ideas and resources and for cooperation with activities. They have monthly meetings and there is no fee to join. Another support group, SALT, is Christian-based and mainly consists of parents and high-school-age students living in Puxi.

The support groups become of increasing importance to parents, both on the academic and social side. Another disadvantage of home-schooling, as cited by interviewees, is the strain that it puts on the parental instructor. In Jones' case, the patient's mother had to severely restrict her own schedule. "The primary drawback of home-schooling is that it is lots of work for the parent. It requires a lot of time, dedication and discipline," Condon said, referring to her own experience. Elaine added that "it is sometimes difficult to arrange regular social activities. Although SHARE has monthly meetings, people need to turn making connections into forming friendships."

The social element is indeed one that seems rather critical, given the high emphasis put on learning teamwork in schools. Condon, obviously used to this question, responded with some amusement and avowed that "Home-schooled kids get lots of positive socialization: they are members of clubs where they participate with children who have similar interests, such as chess and art. Unstructured times where bullying occurs, such as bus rides, lunch and recess, are avoided." Condon's children seem particularly well taken care of on the social side, with a weekly schedule that is chock-full of activities including a fine arts co-op, boy scouts, a science club, group lessons in Chinese, cooking, and tennis, as well as informal play times with neighbourhood friends. The key difference with the social aspect of home-schooling is that parents must make a conscious effort rather than relying on a scholastic establishment to provide a platform. In the case of Jones' patient, both the son and the mother missed the social aspect of school, and actually asked the school if there was some way that he could still participate in organized activities. This request was denied, and the boy spent several months in a rather introverted state, generally "socializing" through the Internet. "Parents of home-schooled kids need to be more proactive in creating social opportunities," Jones said. Patricia agreed, stating that "in general, if the parents are involved in any kind of community such as their church or sports, language, or arts programs, the child will gather what he or she needs."

Staying fit

Another aspect of education that home-schoolers have to be careful not to overlook is that of physical education. Condon's children, in addition to tennis, have private lessons in kung fu and swimming, and also gym class with the Learning Beyond Academy, a non-profit organization catering to home-schooled kids. Elaine views the flexible schedule of home-schooling as very conducive to physical education. "With time during the day to take private lessons, we are able to have quiet evenings together without going back and forth to the school and watching our children start homework after a day of classes and football practice," she said.

Field trips are also highly feasible. "We take them all the time!" Condon added proudly. "Organic farms, pottery workshops, art galleries, insect museums, flower markets, and so much more. Field trips are one of the biggest advantages to home-schooling." The SHARE group also assists greatly in the planning of outings, and has proven to be a great resource.

As most expat families will eventually return to their home countries, another concern is whether the child's home-schooling qualifications will be accepted by domestic public schools. Elaine recommends "keeping all of the work, including tests and homework, as well as a log of your daily activities. We also have a 'report card,' and our helpers at SHARE give references." Condon also advises keeping all records of the child's progress, and added, "if a school system is in doubt about a child's qualifications, they will often give the child a placement test to assess the extent of his or her progress during home-schooling." The US seems to be very receptive to home-schooling, as it has a lengthy tradition of people within the country being schooled at home for religious reasons. Germany and Sweden, according to Elaine, are less accommodating in accepting home-schooling experience.

Lastly, there is the question of how the children themselves respond to this form of education. Condon enthusiastically asserted that "children love it." On an academic level, it offers time flexibility for each subject. "There are no set time limits, like math class from 9:00 to 9:45," said Condon. "If we are exploring a concept and want to dig deeper, we can," she added. A child's self-esteem also benefits from this form of study. "There are no put-downs or ridicule from peers," Condon said. Elaine has a similar view, "My child was not happy at his international school and was content to be in a safe environment," she said. Academically, her son "became more curious and no longer felt limited by only studying a subject at his grade level. He started to think bigger ideas and had many more questions, and we had the time to pursue them."