Each month I get between one and three emails asking me questions about living and homeschooling in China. Mostly these messages are from moms whose husbands are moving to China to work. They ask me about homeschooling — is it legal in China and how do you get homeschool materials? Another frequent issue is learning language — how did you and your daughter learn Chinese?
Welcome to my Expat Homeschool Mom in China Series. I don’t mind answering people’s questions by email, but I thought this would be a good way for seekers to get some preliminary answers right away.
Click on the button to see all the posts in this series.
This first post will address the question, “Is it legal to homeschool in China?”
Short answer: Yes, it is legal for you to homeschool your children in China.
Wasn’t that easy? Aren’t you relieved?
Any laws about compulsory school will apply only to Chinese children and not to you. No one (official) will ever ask about how you educate your child.
The compulsory school law states that citizens must attend school for at least nine years. This law went into effect in 1986, by the way, so it’s a relatively new law. It is still not fully implemented in all rural areas, but progress is consistently being made.
Of course, people will find it totally inconceivable that you homeschool. You will have to explain it multiple times, using various phrases to describe what homeschooling is. There isn’t really a common term for homeschooling in Chinese. And even after you do describe it, be prepared for a complete lack of comprehension.
It’s just unheard of, and so it’s hard for people to understand. It’s as if someone told you that she knits baskets with cooked spaghetti for cancer research. That’s what homeschooling sounds like to the average person. It’s just incomprehensible. So be patient and use the chance to educate them.
You may wonder if Chinese people can homeschool. I’m not absolutely sure, but I’m guessing no. There are probably not any provisions in the law for alternatives to public schools. But since the concept is so alien, there is no one who would attempt or even consider homeschooling.
Chinese citizens see school as a great privilege, and not providing an education for your child would be one of the highest forms of neglect. So when you share with your friends that you homeschool, just be sure to emphasize that you use a quality, English-speaking curriculum and that you are preparing them for college in your home country.
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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I am excited about reading more from your series, Jimmie!
School is a great privilege. Even I take that for granted sometimes. My Korean mom speaks often about her education as a child and it was a pretty big deal that she went to middle school and high school.
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@Marsha — Absolutely! My own maternal grandmother only had a 5th grade education. I am the first in my family to complete college. We are not that far off from days when education was a rare privilege. And even though it’s no longer rare, in our culture, we should still treat it as a privilege.
Now how to get our kids to see this truth?
The word picture created in my mind by knitting baskets with spaghetti is perfect. It describes the face that I’ve seen so many times when people have never heard of homeschooling.
You’ve also inspired me to create a series of my own for Qatar.
Thanks,
Darla
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Coming out of lurk-dom to tell you how excited I am that you are doing this series!!! We are planning our move to China in about a year and I constantly think about all the different challenges this will pose to homeschooling the kids. Thanks for sharing!
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What a fabulous series to share with us. Though I’m not planning a move to China, I still enjoy reading about your experiences in homeschooling there. I can’t wait to read as you continue with the series.
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This was a very timely post for me. My daughter goes to Chinese School on Saturdays and her Mandarin teacher is absolutely fascinated by the concept of homeschooling. She has only been in the states for 3 years and she has asked me many many questions about homeschooling. Your analogy of basket weaving perfectly described her reaction to learning that we homeschool.
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Thanks for this series, Jimmie. I am one of those readers who have been meaning to email you. We also live in China – in a town that sells no butter. And we happened to paint our own wrapping paper last week as well… for the same reasons you mention.
Yet another lurker living in China who’s finally going to post
I’m pretty sure homeschooling is legal in China, because my province newspaper a few months ago reported on a homeschooled Chinese boy, but probably very rare: I showed my friends the article and asked if it was legal, and they all said “Yes, but almost no one does it.” This particular boy had some serious disabilities, though, so it made sense to everyone that HE was homeschooled… it may be a different matter when I have kids old enough to put in school, when I don’t!!
Lori Ann´s last blog ..Innocent Culprit
reaction is the same living in Hong Kong. We live on a small outlying island so everyone somewhat accepts what we do because we do not speak Cantonese, but still with complete confusion on their faces. Their second question is always ‘so after you learn language, then they got to school?!!!!’. When I reply no, they really just have nothing to respond.
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Thanks for the information. I live in Beijing and always considered Homeschooling but did not know it was an option…
After living in China for a while, I can totally imagine trying to explain the concept of “Homeschooling” to a Chinese person and getting a blank face of confusion.
I am sure that you could save a lot of money homeschooling your children while living in Shanghai. The cost of tuition at the school where my wife is a teacher is over $20,000 US a year. If the company isn’t paying your kids tuition, 2 kids would take over half your paycheck!!
Hi Jimmy,
I’m actually a native Chinese who is homeschooled. I don’t go to school since I finished my elementary school and now I’m 17. I know it’s very rare for Chinese to homeschool, and many people don’t even know what homeschool is, but it’s possible that some might do it. However, in my case, there are limited resources, mostly because I take classes in English while none of my parents is native English speaker nor are they similar with English cirriculum. So I’m searching for courses in English for homeschoolers that is available in China.