HSLDA | An Encouraging Visit to Taiwan

HOME SCHOOLING / INTERNATIONAL
Taiwan

January 23, 2012

Homeschool Hospitality in Taiwan

Submitted by Taiwan Homeschool Advocates on behalf of homeschool mom Rhonda Kline

Homeschooled students in Taiwan enjoying an outing

Ed. Note:
Homeschooling has been legal in Taiwan since 1999, and the Taiwanese government even began to recognize high school homeschooled students in Fall 2011, allowing them to enter university. The growth of homeschooling is good news for American or other families who reside temporarily in Taiwan.

We have lived in Changsha, China for one year and Seoul, South Korea for six months. In both locales, homeschooling has been very isolated where we have lived. In researching homeschooling in Taipei, Taiwan, we found Taiwan Homeschool Advocates and emailed Tim Chen. Tim always answered my emails, and he took the initiative to introduce us via email to all the English-speaking preteen homeschool children living in Taipei. When we informed him we were visiting Taipei to look for properties and meet some homeschool families, he and his wife Dorota organized an ice skating gathering where my son met six other middle school homeschool children—we even went to dinner after skating. The families were all so welcoming. Tim’s kind and effective leadership creates and encourages this positive, growing homeschool community.

One thing that struck me when we met homeschoolers in Taipei was that we had not heard the word “homeschool” spoken by another parent in our one and a half years abroad! Here in Seoul, where we are currently living, I was just told by an American that I needed to do something else in my life other than “just being a housekeeper.” As you may imagine, that was discouraging.

We feel strongly that we want to live in countries where my husband is able to continue his business, yet where homeschooling for middle and high school exists successfully. Our trip to Taiwan was so encouraging. The kindness of Tim and the homeschoolers in Taiwan showed me that if we move to Taipei, my son has an excellent chance of having good friends through his high school years while we continue to homeschool.