What will the Kids do for School in Singapore?

As far as frequently asked questions go, “What will the kids do for school in Singapore?” is right at the top. It was a big question for us to answer as well! In their few years of school in Texas Ella and Troy have been homeschooled as well as gone to public school. We believe both options have benefits and drawbacks. Our kids have been blessed in both public school and homeschool. Our kids have had difficulties in both public school and homeschool. When it comes to our children’s education, we are open minded to investigate all possible options (even beyond public school and homeschooling) wherever we live, especially knowing that geographic location and even specific schools can have an impact on our decision.

Singapore is known for having an excellent education system, with students who consistently rank at the top across the world. Because of this we were excited to investigate opportunities for our kids to be a part of the Singapore education system. Essentially there are two types of schools our kids had the possibility of attending in Singapore: private (usually international schools) or mainstream (public schools).

International schools, like most private schools, are very, very expensive. These are often the types of schools where companies pay for the tuition of employees’ kids to attend.

Interestingly, the mainstream schools in Singapore are also costly if you are not a Singapore citizen or permanent resident. The cost for our kids to attend the mainstream schools in Singapore is around $1500 per month (three kids in school at approximately $500 each/month). However, when it comes to the mainstream schools in Singapore, there are additional things beyond cost to consider as well. We would have to apply to get our children into the mainstream schools, and as a non-Singaporean and non-permanent resident we are “last in line” to apply. We have been told that the mainstream schools only take a handful of students each year. And, even if our kids were accepted into mainstream schools, there is no guarantee that our kids would be at the same school. In fact, our kids could easily be separated at three different schools by more than an hour across the island (by public transport) from each other and from where we live.

The third option we wanted to investigate was the opportunity to homeschool. When we began looking into working in Singapore, we didn’t know if homeschooling was even an option (legal). Even across the United States, homeschooling regulations vary greatly from state to state (Texas has very little regulation). From some brief googling we had done, it seemed like homeschooling in Singapore might be difficult. According to the Ministry of Education in Singapore, there are many different requirements that must be met to homeschool in Singapore. So, during Trent’s visit to Singapore last August to check out the work, he looked more extensively into the possibility of homeschooling. And, although there are strict requirements for Singaporeans and permanent residents to homeschool their children, as a family here on an employment pass (work visa) we aren’t subject to those requirements.

After looking into these options, we decided that we would homeschool our kids. (I homeschooled Ella and Troy in the year leading up to our move to Singapore.) Please know that cost was far from the only deciding factor when it came to homeschooling our children. I have really enjoyed homeschooling, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity to continue doing it. I love getting to spend time with the kids. I love having freedom to choose curriculums that I think fit the kids, and that teach material that we think is important for them. I love being able to incorporate Bible time into our school routine. I love being able to move quickly past material the kids easily get, and being able to spend more time on material they don’t. Homeschooling also provides a very flexible schedule allowing the family to spend time with Trent and brethren at Four Seas; allowing ease in travel (for furlough as well as travel to areas in the region); and allowing us more time to explore Singapore.

I started homeschooling Ella (5th grade), Troy (3rd grade), and Luke (kindergarten) this past week. We had a great first week! I’ve included their first day of school questionnaires. Ella wrote that her favorite food is something called bao that she first tried in Singapore a year ago, and has had several times since we’ve moved here. She particularly likes pork bao. You might have heard of bao from Disney’s short film Bao. : )

-Lisa

And for those who are interested, here’s some of the curriculum we are using this year:

• Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
• The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts (free downloads for levels 1-5)
• The Good and the Beautiful Math K (for Luke’s kinder math)
• Life of Fred Math (mostly for Ella and Troy, but Luke is also listening along)
• The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting
• Apologia Botany (finishing from last year)
• The Good and the Beautiful Science (we’re going to do Marine Biology, Introduction to Energy, and Meteorology)
• Notgrass “Our Star Spangled History” (finishing from last year)
• Some other history (I haven’t decided yet)
• Rosetta Stone Spanish
• Spanish using Tiny Cards by Duolingo