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Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

We have a five-year-old daughter and are interested to hear from any of you who have sent your kids to school here, or if you had kids would you?

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

What exactly are you asking? What options are you looking at?

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

Sorry Gordon, latest thread started by scatter-brain. We want to hear about your experiences with school-age kids. And we are very interested to hear about options. Steiner?

angrysoba · Joined: 20 Jan 2006 Posts: 446 Location: Kansai, Japan

johanne · Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 189

I have a four year old in Hoikuen. She is having a great time, learning lots of Japanese including hiragana and also having weekly lessons in art, dance, P.E. and English (not that she needs that, but she's the only one). All that for 30,000 yen a month, a one minute walk from my school and hours that match my own. For pre-school I'm very happy.
My niece is in third grade in a Japanese public elementary. There are 40 kids in her class. There were 31 in her grade 2 class and my sister-in-law was feeling lucky. I've been to the open house and have seen the kind of homework she's bringing home and it's quite similar to what we were doing in Canada, where I taught grades 1, 4 and 5. My niece happens to be the kind of kid who sits and listens to the teachers, gets the idea of new things fairly quickly and can work quite independently, so the large classes and the fact that they make it extremely difficult for teachers to teach more hands-on lessons or lessons tailors to individual needs doesn't affect her and she's doing well. I noticed it's not all rote learning, and the kids have different kinds of projects and activities to do - not just copy and memorize, but with 40 kids to 1 teacher, if your child is not a quick learner or a good listener he/she is going to struggle unless they get some outside tutoring. Having said that, we are planning to send our daughter to Japanese elementary school until at least the 3rd grade to get her solid in Japanese, both language and culture and then transfer her over to the international school where I'm working from Grade 4.
We are very lucky to have that option since teacher's only pay 10% of the fee. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to afford the 2,000,000 yen a year fee of most international schools. The are some great advantages to international school in that class size is very small. I have 15 kids in my Grade 1 class and the biggest class in elementary school is 22. Some of the high school classes only have 10 kids, so there is a lot of individual teacher attention and if your child gets good teachers the education they receive will be tailored to their individual needs. Your child will get to meet people from all over the world and be exposed to a much wider world view that he would get in a Japanese school. However, the down side is that there is often large turnover in staff, there is no overseeing body (like a board of education), and usually quite a fluid curriculum with limited accountability on the part of the teachers, so the quality of the education can move up or down over the years. Of course very good international schools will have systems in place to minimize these things, but it's sometimes hard to know what is a good international school until your child is already enrolled. I don't put much stock in reputation, especially if it comes from people who had kids there years before. I've worked in some so called "great schools" with excellent reputations that were fine, but not as good without as dedicated a staff as in schools with lesser reputations.
Anyway, I guess your options are:
Japanese public school - free
Japanese private school - I don't know their fees
International schools - about 2,000,000 a year
Homeschooling - free, but takes a huge effort and time

What is the best choice depends on your child, his/her learning style, and what that whole family wants. We think for our Japanese/Canadian daughter 3 years of Japanese elementary school is enough and then we'll move into the western school system. This is a personal choice that we feel is right, but obviously it wouldn't be the right choice for everyone.

Sorry to have rambled on a bit, but I hope that helps.

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

That does help Johanne, thank you so much.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

Are you familiar with the Steiner method Paul? Any thoughts?

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

Correct. Thanks Paul, just wondering.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

How so?

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Sweetsee · Joined: 11 Jun 2004 Posts: 2302 Location: ) is everything

Right, sorry Paul. Reason being, I know nothing about it either.

Sherri · Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:09 am Post subject:

Hi Sweetsee
My daughter attended kindergarden in a Steiner school here on the Big Island. We really liked it and so did she. The only reason she is not going there now is because the school hours did not suit us and they always seemed to be taking long vacations for teacher workshops. Overall though there was a wonderful atmosphere and it was obvious that the kids liked going to school, actually LIKED school. You know they don't push reading and teach it later (2 or 3 grade) and learning is built around story telling...you can see all this on Steiner websites. I think we were the only family in her class that ate meat at home. Most people were vegetarian or vegan and most were totally organic. Their kids only wore clothes from organic cotton or wool and the whole atmosphere was very "alternative", it is known locally as the hippy school--not such a bad thing though in my opinion! It's on 20 acres of woods 10 mins from the ocean.

I chose not to school my children in Japan. Like Paul said, I was afraid that I would not be able to communicate with them or their teachers--my Japanese is terrible. And I knew that I would not be able to help them with homework. I did not want to get caught up in the inevitable juku system either. There are lots of other reasons but that is enough for here, though I totally understand that everyone's family is different and each family's choice must be made on their individual needs.

How's the bump, you must be ready to burst with Baby 2 due soon.
Best
Sherri