Educating Children

[Copyleft]

If i pay for my kids learn english probably will be at age 10...maybe they wanna learn chinese...the language my kids must learn is programming language, at home ill teach electronics. programming at begin using Python and if i see they like electronics ill teach C/C++, Assembly.
IMHO in the future programming language will be like food, anyome need to know.

[EmaxisSlim Cultist]

If i pay for my kids learn english probably will be at age 10...maybe they wanna learn chinese...the language my kids must learn is programming language, at home ill teach electronics. programming at begin using Python and if i see they like electronics ill teach C/C++, Assembly.
IMHO in the future programming language will be like food, anyome need to know.

I am not sure I follow this argument.

[Copyleft]

If i pay for my kids learn english probably will be at age 10...maybe they wanna learn chinese...the language my kids must learn is programming language, at home ill teach electronics. programming at begin using Python and if i see they like electronics ill teach C/C++, Assembly.
IMHO in the future programming language will be like food, anyome need to know.

I am not sure I follow this argument.

IMO its waste of money pay for english class at early age. swimming class ill pay from age 5, ballet its okay too, soroban its okay, music i can teach at home play guitar, my wife wanna our kids go to international school but public IMO are lot better.

[fools_gold]

If i pay for my kids learn english probably will be at age 10...maybe they wanna learn chinese...the language my kids must learn is programming language, at home ill teach electronics. programming at begin using Python and if i see they like electronics ill teach C/C++, Assembly.
IMHO in the future programming language will be like food, anyome need to know.

I tried introducing programming to my son with a BBC:Microbit and also some Scratch. It didn't really capture his imagination though...

On the other hand, he's been going to a robot class for the past 18 months and loves it. It's quite expensive, but he really wanted to do it. They build and program robots with Lego Mindstorms. At the moment they're still using a visual programming language, but later they'll move on Python. It's a great way for young kids to learn all sorts of quite advanced stuff without being "taught".

Going back to the topic of schools... Our son is in elementary school at the moment. After that we plan to try and get him into one of the selective public middle schools with an affiliated high school. The problem is that is what pretty much everyone wants to do around here, so competition is pretty stiff.

[EmaxisSlim Cultist]

If i pay for my kids learn english probably will be at age 10...maybe they wanna learn chinese...the language my kids must learn is programming language, at home ill teach electronics. programming at begin using Python and if i see they like electronics ill teach C/C++, Assembly.
IMHO in the future programming language will be like food, anyome need to know.

I am not sure I follow this argument.

IMO its waste of money pay for english class at early age. swimming class ill pay from age 5, ballet its okay too, soroban its okay, music i can teach at home play guitar, my wife wanna our kids go to international school but public IMO are lot better.

Language acquisition is different than learning a programming language. The two are not comparable really.

If you are speaking to your children in English at home, and are watching English media you are probably fine. If not, then expect extreme difficulty achieving bilingualism.

With language, all things being equal, it is best to start earlier.

[pfdsa]

Didn't vote because don't have children yet, but I plan on sending them to a Japanese School. Been checking the prices of international schools and there's no way we could afford it.
Regarding the language, my wife is Japanese so she will talk with the kids in Japanese, and me in my native language. Guess it won't be an easy task, since there are very few people in Japan that speak the same language as me, so they would only hear that language from me and TV shows/videos.
As for the English, I just went to a regular school back home and learned English from middle school up to university, managing to achieve a decent level. Therefore, I see no reason for them to not achieve the same level as me without attending special schools, etc.

[seb]

I tried introducing programming to my son with a BBC:Microbit and also some Scratch. It didn't really capture his imagination though...

On the other hand, he's been going to a robot class for the past 18 months and loves it. It's quite expensive, but he really wanted to do it. They build and program robots with Lego Mindstorms. At the moment they're still using a visual programming language, but later they'll move on Python. It's a great way for young kids to learn all sorts of quite advanced stuff without being "taught".

Funnily, my step kids experience the opposite. They were doing robot class but it was a hassle for them and their mom (she was supposed to check every of 100 pieces before they go), and it felt they never finished any project before starting the next one. Maybe an issue with the school. They switched to a Scratch course and they were much more excited and learned more as far as we could see.

I tried to teach my older kid (from middle school 2nd year) Python, but I never really found a good Japanese course online or off. We were using some English content on Coursera, but I had to translate 90% of it so he couldn't do it autonomously. Now he is 3rd year and busy with exam preps.

On that topic, any way to deal with a kid who doesn't want to commit to any choice? It's so late and we have identified which schools he could hopefully go, but he can't even say if he wants a general course, an IB course, or an International School kind of course (with 60% foreign kids). It's the cause of much stress at home right now... He is not bilingual, but very good at English for a JP kid his age.

[Ori]

After that we plan to try and get him into one of the selective public middle schools with an affiliated high school. The problem is that is what pretty much everyone wants to do around here, so competition is pretty stiff.

Is it possible without moving into the catchment area of the school? I was under impression that only those who live in the area can attend public elementary and junior high.

[TokyoWart]

Interesting to see the discussion on trying to get kids interested in programming. My brother runs a successful IT business that does a lot of programming and we both have tried to get our kids interested in learning computer languages but were completely unsuccessful on all counts. Unsuccessful that is until my second son reached college and discovered how interesting computer science is. He changed from being a somewhat easily distracted student who had no strong academic interests to becoming enthusiastic about CS and math and is now majoring in both subjects. I relate that not to brag (well, maybe a little ) but to point out that kids' interests change as they grow and they don't have to start in middle school or earlier in order to enjoy or do well in the subject later on.

[fools_gold]

Is it possible without moving into the catchment area of the school? I was under impression that only those who live in the area can attend public elementary and junior high.

For our local city school you have to live in the area, but we have a couple of prefectural schools nearby open to anyone who lives in the prefecture. There's an entrance test to get in and about one in four junior high school applicants are accepted and one in seven for high school.