Indians homeschooling in Japan

Is there any Indian who are currently home-schooling their child in Japan. I would like to know the process and whether it is good option . We are south Indian and we are about to settle in Japan. I have a just one month old son. I would like to know at what age home-schooling gets starts . I know Hindi English and Tamil languages. As our mother tongue is Tamil its must for us to teach our kid Tamil Language. If he is home-schooled will he be able to learn Japanese as well i mean at least to survive.

I guess you probably need to figure out visas first...

Honestly, I cannot understand your question. Why do you want to homeschool? Just to teach Tamil language? A lot of Indian people send their kids to Indian international schools because they are cheaper than the real international schools and they follow CBSE pattern so it's good transition if you move back to India after a while, these school do teach Japanese but just on surface
Why don't you research them, start from Tathva international school
If there is other reason for homeschooling please mention it

Maybe I can answer a few questions generally:

I have a just one month old son. I would like to know at what age home-schooling gets starts.

Home schooling starts whenever you decide to start. Japanese children in Japan typically must start school at age 6 (elementary school), but many go to kindergarden/nursery school from as early as 0 year old.

If he is home-schooled will he be able to learn Japanese as well i mean at least to survive.

In the case of home schooling, his Japanese ability will likely be limited by your Japanese ability. If you are not a Japanese speaker then you may want to figure out outside schooling for that part. Otherwise he'll get very little exposure, which won't help him pick up much, if any, Japanese at all.

If you want to communicate with Indians, perhaps the following association and school may be able to help you in a better way.

http://www.iisjapan.com/default.aspx
http://www.japan-india.com/english

As for your question, I'm also wondering why you are asking about home-schooling at such an early stage. But be it language-related or not, children need some kind of a place to learn to socialize with other children. If he is disabled, the internet or hospitals might help.

It is a known fact that children quickly catch the language that is spoken in that socializing circle. For example, if your son joins a playgroup of Japanese children, he will naturally speak Japanese in order to deal with the other children. On the other hand, a lot of children who live inside U.S. Military bases and go to its schools end up learning only very basic Japanese since they can live without it. Meanwhile, children who commute to international schools may not learn math terms in Japanese, but they tend to hang out with people in the Japanese society who will be the source of their great Japanese language ability.

By the way, most international schools have some kind of Japanese language classes. The Indian International School is well-known for its advanced education, and even some Japanese families prefer to send their children there.

Hi there. Firstly - I hope that you find some Indian families that home school their kids in Japan - but I think Uco's second link it probably your best bet.

I used to work at one of the better international schools in Japan and have taught quite a few Indian students and have seen what affect these students have in acclimatising to a new culture. If you are not interested in my opinions - it's all good and please feel free to ignore.

At present, there are two international schools based in Japan (Tokyo and Yokohama) which is honestly priced at what I consider an absolutely amazing price for Japan.

http://www.iisjapan.com ($5-6,000 USD for a full time school in Japan a year is extremely cheap)

Most international school are around the $20,000 - $30,000 USD level but you will pay for what you get. As such, students receive a reasonable education but it's not anywhere near the level of schooling a student might receive from a school such as YIS, ASIJ, Canadian Academy or TIS (there are a couple of other very good schools in Japan). However, it would probably be comparable to the so-so schools which also charge the amount mentioned in this paragraph.

The main difference is in the facilities, equipment and level of the staff employed. For the staff employed - this is basically about economics as the best schools in Japan pay a lot more and have a lot more teachers applying for positions as a result. However, the level of teaching I have heard is reasonable and if I was a Western parent and did not have the money (a spare $30,000 USD a year) I would possibly consider sending my kids to the Indian school in Japan.

One thing that I have seen some parents (including western and Indian parents do) is send their kids to Japanese school in elementary to acclimatise them to the Japanese language but then branch out to international or possibly home schooling as they get older.

Being a member of a school is also quite important for western parents (in Japan I consider Indian's western) as it gives them a larger community to associate with. As such - the school becomes both the students and parents (other parents) social group. Never underestimate the importance of speaking to other people who understand your language.

Also note that I understand that every person is different and I have made some generalisations in this reply so not all of the information may be accurate for you individually.

Good luck and I hope you have a fantastic life in Japan.

I also think sending your child to an Indian school is an excellent idea. I saw a documentary on an Indian school in Tokyo (which I thought was in Iidabashi but it must have not been because I can't find it).

The students learned about culture, language, food, and many other things. They learned Hindi, Japanese, and English. I think there was also discussion on religion. There were a few Japanese students in the class too. All the teachers were Indian. I think a school like this would be best for a well rounded education.

If your intention is to transplant your family to Japan permanently, why don't send your child to regular Japanese school? It will be important for him to assimilate as much as possible.