Our Homeschooling Journey from the Beginning (Part 2)

Primary School in Hong Kong

As my children were Hong Kong citizens, they could attend local schools for free. I was surprised to find out that there are local schools that use English as their main language to teach all subjects! I initially thought they would never be able to cope in any school because they didn’t know Chinese (one of my biggest regrets—not teaching them properly!). But since there are schools that use English as the medium of instruction, our boys could attend!

They went for interviews at three different schools. At each interview, they had to sit for entrance exams in English, Math, Chinese, and General Science. They failed all their Chinese papers, of course. Two of the schools did not accept them, but one school did. This school was recommended to me by another parent friend, who had high praise for the teachers. She said the teachers were excellent, their teaching methods were innovative and not traditional—which was surprising, given that it was a local school. We went for a private school tour, met the teachers, and explored the facilities. We were especially impressed by their school library!

At the time we accepted the offer, the school had just undergone rebranding. They had a new name, a new vision, and a new school motto, and there weren’t many students enrolled yet. That was one of the reasons I liked it—the classes were small (under 25 students per class). I loved how intimate the school felt. I had heard great things about the teachers, they had a program for Non-Chinese Speaking (NCS) students, it was free, and it was only a 5-minute bike ride from our home. It seemed perfect!

We love our school!

There were so many good things about going to school. My boys had the opportunity to join sports teams, go on field trips with friends, perform in concerts, and attend school parties, just to name a few. I loved all of that for them. They made wonderful friends—some we even had over to hang out. The kids at the school were incredibly sweet and kind. It was also a very diverse school in terms of ethnicity, due to the area we lived in. We were so thankful they had such a great social group.

Biking to school and back.

Their teachers were kind and caring. I had a few meetings with them to share my concerns, and they were always willing to listen and understand. During this time, our children were assessed by a psychologist and diagnosed with mild autism and ADHD. Aside from one Special Needs Resource teacher—who clearly lacked proper training in the field and didn’t understand our struggles—the rest of the teachers and the government social worker were all very supportive. The overall support system in the school was solid. For one, they never made things difficult when my son was late or missed school due to high anxiety.

The older boys had quite a good variety of activities in their school. :)

Socially, the school was a great place for my boys. Academically, it was a different story. My eldest was able to cope with the government syllabus, but my middle child struggled to keep up with the fast pace at which they were teaching every subject. When they sat for their first exams at the end of Term 1, they did really well because the topics covered were ones we had already done during homeschooling. But from Term 2 onward, their grades dropped from A to B. I noticed the school was covering a lot in a short amount of time.

My middle child had just started learning to read when he entered school. We were still working on blending sounds, but with the long school hours, I couldn't continue working with him at home. In school, he had to start memorizing words for weekly spelling tests. We couldn’t keep up, so he often failed them. Even now, although he can spell, he struggles with confidence because those early tests told him he wasn’t good at it.

We established a new tradition with our friend, to get Mcdonald's after exams is over!

If I were to summarize kindergarten years and primary school years in the Hong Kong local school system, I’d say it was overall a very good experience. I do wish a few things had been different—like not having homework every day, and more opportunities to do projects at school.

Fast forward — they had finished one year of school and had just started their second. During this time, my husband and I realized we had to make a difficult decision. I was at the end of my rope, emotionally and mentally. While the schools worked well for our eldest and youngest sons, our middle child was really struggling. He was having multiple meltdowns every week, which left us with no energy or margin to enjoy our weekends or relax as a family.

On top of that, our small Hong Kong apartment — just 500 square feet — felt too cramped for our growing boys. They needed more room to explore creatively, play music, relax, and decompress after long school days. We tried looking for a bigger space, but we couldn’t find anything affordable and close enough to their school.

Our small Hong Kong apartment.

Financially, we were barely breaking even. We could survive month to month, but only by relying on "future money" through credit cards. It felt like we were constantly in debt, unable to breathe. Both my husband and I dreamed of seeing more of the world, but our situation in Hong Kong wasn’t getting us any closer to that. We felt stuck.

My boys had really good friends! My middle child felt loved and accepted at school.

Academically, one child was thriving, one was doing okay, and one was clearly struggling. We needed them in school so we could work — but if we homeschooled again, we’d be back to square one financially. It felt like a lose-lose situation for our family.

(To be continued)