Makes me think back to the John Graham story of “Stuck in China” – but now it is my wife and kids. Been so tempted to book a flight and head out to China, but even my wife has been telling me to hold off on hitting the buy now button on that travel site.
Schools are still closed in China, and the kids have been bouncing off the walls at their grandparents house.
In the video, I show you an article in South China Morning Post about schools in Hong Kong being closed until March 16, 2020.
Still so young, at 5 and a half (Miles) and 4 (Maggie) but they would be in a kindergarten – actually Miles should be starting first grade in the fall.
Can they learn online? Could we have an English teacher dial in and they could essentially have school continue instead of sitting at home?
Watching cartoons and movies all day at home, makes me nervous. Sure they play some toys and practice Chinese handwriting with their grandmother – but I really want something more structured and formal.
In the last video blog, Facebook comments were mixed – some saying stick in Manila others saying go back to the family. Have been checking flights (one way…) but after a talk w/ the wife, it is better I am here.
So scary is that there is a snowstorm coming and due to virus in the neighborhood no one leaves to even buy food – everything is online delivery- where prices are going up and things running out of stock.
Well – for today – we are focusing on online learning for kids.
It is good motivation for me to start to look for some online kids teaching systems, and then I thought – hey – maybe can make this a blog post and collect some ideas and feedback from ya’ll.
Suggestions From Facebook
Teacher Andrea:
VIPKID
Palfish, DadaABC, and MagicEars if those are more affordable…
Mica Apuan
Hi, Michael
! You can also try 51Talk, but unlike VIPKIDS, the teachers are Filipinos.
In language learning, your kids are in the Critical Period Hypothesis (from early childhood to around 11 years old). It’s the most crucial time for them to learn a language
Damian Ruse
Hey Michael
, it’s sounds like a stressful time and being away doesn’t help you reassure yourself. I just wanted to give you a heads up that I understand the whole schooling, language thing as I am at the start of this journey myself. Something that is helping me leave more formal teaching to later (after 6) is that here in Denmark kids don’t start school until 6 and don’t start learning grammer etc. until 7. I have seen the results from this system and believe it all evens out in the end. Plus there are other things that are more important like physical development etc.
Melissa M:
VIPKID seems like what you are looking for, but what about something like abcmouse? It’s half video game/half learning, the schools around here use it for kids that age. Not sure if it’s available in China.
Jon:
OutSchool .com