American schools filled-any suggestions?

There is a canadian school here. Newly opened and catering for the university teaching staffs children.

I think its called Qatar Canadian School, its located near Landmark Mall area.

Have friends whose children attend and she only has good things to say about the school.

There are many good schools here, you could also try Park House English School.

Good luck

Thanks for the good advice on the homeschooling. We can probably get set up with his local school or the state until winter quarter. I really would like him to be in ASD or Compass. I heard great things about Compass and ASD. I like that ASD is close to our home. Thanks for offering some hope.

Be sure to keep him on the wait list at ASD. From my experience (6 years here now) you have a 99% chance of getting him in by January. Doha college--probably a lesser chance cause he is not a British passport holder. Another alternative is look at International School of London. I have heard of good things about it. www.islqatar.com There is a good homeschool network here. Check QL threads about it. It is not illegal here and most companies pay for all books/supplies etc. Also check Cedars Tutoring www.cedarstutoring.com as it focuses on children who are waiting for placement in schools.

so if you do go that route, get in touch with them. The support will be useful.

Make sure you follow some sort of prescribed program and that you don't just slap something together yourself. Both ASD and Compass will want some sort of assurance that you were following a proper curriculum while homeschooling, and not just making things up as you went along.

And DO get on the waiting lists NOW. Lots of families are in limbo right now (Shell, etc.) and may be leaving mid-year, so openings are likely down the road.

"Marriage is a wonderful institution...but who wants to live in an institution?" -- Groucho Marx

I just don't like that approach. I'd rather homeschool him. My son takes tests really well, just like I used to. I want him to go outside the box, not work really hard to fit inside of it!

Fourth grade: Cursive, times tables, decimals, reading, Arabic. Company will pay for Arabic classes for both of us, so we can make it part of our curriculum. I'm not going to stress. We will live in a compound so there will be lots of kids and we can figure out the best school to apply to for the next available term.

Sabis is a "teach to the test" school - and they do a lot of testing. Unlike education in the US and Canada they do not generally encourage creativity or critical thinking skills - it's more of memorization - however, it may be an option temporarily so that your son doesn't lose his year in school. I believe the class sizes can be large as well - at least they are in UAE.

Signature line > "You can't fix stupid"

Thank you MaryCatherine. I just made an inquiry into Doha College.

Is there a good chance of him finding a place in January in your experience/opinion? I am willing to home school for awhile, but I want him to make friends.

My company contacts are about as new to Doha as I am, unfortunately, but yes, they are experienced in the expat issues. CIS had openings (apparently) but security took 2 weeks and there are none in his grade (year 5/4th grade) now. I am going to check with Doha college and thinking of Sabis(but a little wary of the approach-any input is welcome).

duplicate post - no delete functionality here arrrgh!!

Signature line > "You can't fix stupid"

Your HR contact should have been aware of this probability. Getting into a Western school is difficult at the best of times - arriving after the school year has started makes it virtually impossible.

Doha College has a good rep but I doubt you'll find a space there either. As I don't have children myself I can't comment knowledgeably about the schools here.

Hopefully someone else can assist.

In the meantime, put his name on the waiting list for the 2 schools you mentioned - maybe someone will be leaving?

Signature line > "You can't fix stupid"