Job Discussion Forums

[ymillington]

Are there any homeschoolers out there looking for something in Riyadh?
Is there anything along those lines going on in Riyadh?

[scot47]

There are some parents who homeschool their children. I think life is difficult enough for foreigners' children in KSA without subjecting them to further deprivation by homeschooling them. Send them to school if you can.

[ymillington]

You don't have children, do you? Thinking and knowing are two different things in the wonderful world of parenting.

[scot47]

I do have children and spent six years as a parent with children in Saudi Arabia !

By opting to "homeschool" your children in KSA you are subjecting them to cruel and unnatural punishment. Life is difficult for them in the Kingdom and you plan to make it MORE difficult ?

[veiledsentiments]

Homeschooling can work out fine if there are a significant number of parents doing it. That way social/sport activities can be planned to remove the negative of already having to spend too much time within the concrete walls of your flat.

Most major cities in the Gulf have an acceptable international school although there are often waiting lists to get into the best of them.

VS

[ymillington]

Serious: please someone explain what is 'cruel and unusual' about home schooling.

I am from the US and have only heard good things about it. As VS aptly insinuates, homeschooling doesn't mean locking children away if you actively seek out a network of others of like mind.

What some of these schools lack in KSA is a community base. Community base schools educate children through the efforts of parents and teachers who try to provide meaningful learning experiences in and out of the home. People coorperate and instead of spending money they give of themselves.

I have a fifteen year old son who has been home schooled since he was six. He reads and does the math of a college sophmore. He is about to begin an apprenticeship with a computer tech firm to get his Auto Cad down.

I am finding alot of expat educators are chosing homeschooling over private schools (even international ones) because things aren't as advertised (some of them work at these places).

But, hey--maybe you're right and the rest of us are wrong. Stranger things have happened.

[scot47]

Living in Saudi Arabia is not the same as living in the US or UK. Trying to homeschool in KSA is not a good idea. You want to mess around with your child's life that is your right.

Enjoy.

[ymillington]

What's with you?

The proof of the matter is you clearly don't seem to know alot about this. Perhaps you should limited yourself (and your two cents) to things you have some type of definitive knowledge about instead of cluddering my query with your sophmoric piques. Frankly, I believe your negativity is coming from some personal issue with the topic.

Just because you don't believe it is possible for you doesn't mean it is impossible. Maybe some of us know something you don't know.

Hey, maybe you don't know everything.

Maybe if you stop saying 'no' to everything you can't fathom you might help change the world for the better.

[johnslat]

Dear ymillington,
It's not "impossible" (nor has that been suggested), but, given the nature of Saudi society, homeschooling there is going to present some problems you may not have encountered before.
Going to school may well be the ONLY social life your children are able to have, which probably isn't the case where you are now.
So, while it certainly can be done, you do need to have a good idea of what it will mean for both you and your children.
Regards,
John

[veiledsentiments]

JohnS has a good point. Although Scot may not be fully conversant with homeschooling (as you are), he is about the difficulties for children on compounds in Saudi (as you are not).

With the long horrendous hot season, school provides perhaps the only air-conditioned escape from home for sports... not to mention the chance to make friends. The situation is very different from the US or UK as Scot said.

I don't think that I would consider it unless you can communicate with some other parents there who are homeschooling to get all the pros and cons.

VS

[scot47]

Thanks for that JohnS and VS

People who have not been in KSA have difficulties in imagining whatit is like. Believe me - Alaska it is not.

[ymillington]

Oh I get it. You think I'm talking from an arm chair in Alaska!

No I'm in KSA; but like I said, it is possible.

Yes, I am fairly conversant in homeschooling (and Education) and will meet you anywhere you like to show my credentials and discuss the relevant points of the discussion at hand.

I work for an Education consultancy in Riyadh and have been in the Middle East for more than a hot minute. I design learning programs for Arab and Western student populations.

So where do want to meet-- Kingdom Tower in Riyadh; the beach in Khobar or perhaps that little restaurant next to the Grand Umrah Hotel across from the Kaba (in Mecca)?

Like I said, this isn't a discussion about reality. We're talking about your beliefs which you have absolute faith that there is no other possibility.


The last thing that would occur to any of you is that I might have a point.

Still 'no'--right?

[veiledsentiments]

See what happens when you ask questions here without giving us all the details? If you had started out the question with that information, it would have helped you get better information... maybe. (rather like those posters who want to know how much money they will make but don't want to tell us their educational credentials and experience)

I actually just noticed yesterday after I posted that it said Alaska under your screen name. I would think that home schooling in a small town in Alaska would have similar difficulties as home schooling on a compound in eastern Saudi. Riyadh should have more possibilities of expats doing home schooling.

I stick with my original advice... try to find someone there who is homeschooling now to ask about it. Have you been unable to find any in Riyadh? As a non-parent... and just curious now that you asked this... don't most people who home school work with an organization back home that helps with materials, curriculum, exams and such? Wouldn't they be able to hook you up with local families using their system?

We have some posters here from Riyadh, but none of them have joined in so I guess they have no information to help you. Have you checked with the US embassy?

VS

[johnslat]

Dear ymillington,

"We're talking about your beliefs which you have absolute faith that there is no other possibility."

I don't believe that anyone has suggested that home-schooling in the Kingdom is "impossible", just that it presents more difficulties than in most other places.

And regarding talking about beliefs, I assume that you're writing about yours, as well.

Regards,
John

[ymillington]

Dear VS and others: Sorry I cause such a hissy. It usually isn't my style to run down my credentials. I didn't think it was all that important.

I am using various sources to try to contact or find people in the region to put together some demographics for a thing I'm working on. Since this is "Daves International" whatever-- what better place to find expats looking for a home school hookup. I figure it doesn't cost me anything use it; so why not. Home schooling is an international thing but there is no such thing as an international home school association-- at least, not the way you're probably thinking of one.
My company is trying to put together a home school support program and wanted to know who or what is out there. Embassies don't generally have that kind of imformation. Besides who got born, killed or arrested, they try to stay fashionably aloof from everything esle.

At any rate, nobody knows everything so seeking out this kind of information from various sources is generally the way to go when doing this kind of research.