Hi Friends! I read here frequently, love you all, and am seeking tips and wisdom for a project I'm hoping to bring to life soon.

About me: I am a widowed 40 year old mother with two boys at home, 9 and 16. I currently live in a rambling old farmhouse in rural South Central Pennsylvania and work part time as a Master's level therapist in local public elementary schools doing play therapy. In the past I have worked with teens and adults as well, always in the mental health field. Though my boys are currently in public school, in the past I have homeschooled them full time as well; we've also done accredited distance curriculums. I'm also currently working on PhD in Philosophy, Art, and Social Thought through a distance based program in Switzerland, doing annual month long summer residencies.

I have a dream I hope to actualize in the next year or two--I'd like to create a small (<25), experimental, integrated bilingual (English/Khmer) K-12 learning community in the south of Cambodia--strongly considering the Otres Village section of Sihanoukville, as well as Kampot or its outskirts, as potential bases, as both of these areas strongly resonated with both myself and my kids when we were visiting last year. Looking to streamline the best of individualized, unschooling based philosophies with the rhythms of the Steiner/Waldorf methodology and mix this up with high tech online based learning modalities to create lily pads of possibility for learning together in a multi-age, multicultural, relationships first, harmony focused alternative school community.

We are a frugal, simple living family with egalitarian values and small pockets. I will be running off of a shoestring budget, and hope to charge using a sliding scale model based on ability to pay, with half the slots going for free to local, less economically enfranchised students. I don't necessarily hope to turn a profit, but do hope to live, support my two kids, as well as run this small project from a passive income of approx. 4,000 USD per month, plus any tuition we may collect from expat families or local families of means. That said, developing a sustainable budget is crucial for this project to thrive.

That said, I have a couple of questions I was hoping you all could chime in on:

1. I am hoping to run out of a small house (2 bedroom?) as opposed to a storefront or business type setting--are there zoning issues to consider or do I just need to find a landlord willing to write a lease I can use to register as a business? Working out of the same place we live to save money and negate the necessity of a commute is definitely a possibility, provided there were two levels to the home and extra bedrooms--is that a legally valid possibility? Can we work and live out of the same place? Does anyone have any idea how much more money will renting a space to use as a place of business rather than just a home cost me, in ballpark terms?

2. What type of salaries would I need to be thinking about paying for one fluently bilingual Khmer teacher (English/Khmer) to teach/lead learning inquiries with me? Salary for someone to help part time with cleaning at days end?

3. Any thoughts on where I might search for legal advice on the pros and cons as well as regulatory confines and guidelines of operating as a business (that likely does not turn profit) vs incorporating as a nonprofit in the US (which will enable small grant seeking possibilities, something I have a bit of experience with and which would help the project immensely)? I imagine, however, that foreign run nonprofits are regulated more strictly than businesses in Cambodia? Any thoughts on where to seek sound advice on these matters?

I would love any thoughts, critiques, advice, drunken rants, expansive intuitions, psychic messages, and whatnot...

Cheers!

It might be cheaper to rent in Kampot than Otres because rents in Sihanoukville are skyrocketing due to the Chinese invasion.

Yeah forget SV. I would think the market is already highly overserviced nationally.

thanks for the tips--Kampot does look cheaper, and seems a better place to anchor a family.

I checked your bee keeping website, frank lee bent--we are honey eating vegetarians and if we land in Kampot will totally 'bee' in touch about the possibility of setting up a hive a the school--provided the property has space--would be great for pollinating the class garden, and a hands on educational bit for older teens, eh? At least, for my own teen

You will need permission from the Ministry of Education to run a school.

Kampot is changing.

I hope you are patient with bureaucracies.

Be super-wary of who you partner up with.

Re Waldorf/ Steiner, be prepared to be very challenged, critical thinking/imaginative skills development have not been encouraged and are oftentimes viewed with suspicion.

Contact a guy called Nico Millen, he runs a TEFL school in Koh Kong, he may be willing to offer you some advice.

My own personal opinion is that you're 10 years too late to the game, but good luck anyway.

meganblossoms wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:42 am with half the slots going for free to local, less economically enfranchised students.

so this is a front for recruiting human trafficking candidates, as others have said your too late on the game, the schooling competition is fierce and they poison barang the dont like in kampot. if they dont get you the witch-doctors will. too many do gooder yanks here already stay home and practice what you preach there instead it might even be appreciated there

Chaturbater wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:32 pm

meganblossoms wrote: ↑Wed Jan 10, 2018 9:42 am with half the slots going for free to local, less economically enfranchised students.

so this is a front for recruiting human trafficking candidates, as others have said your too late on the game, the schooling competition is fierce and they poison barang the dont like in kampot. if they dont get you the witch-doctors will. too many do gooder yanks here already stay home and practice what you preach there instead it might even be appreciated there

Well, what brought that on ? Are you an NGO hater ? Or a Trapper sock ?
Whatever. She's a new poster and so are you, so why not start as you mean to go on here. Also, the use of sentences and capital letters is strongly encouraged.

@OP You could try the Kampot FB page for things like finding a place to live and checking out what sort of schools are already available in that area, to see if there's a demand and where.

You may be better off renting a place in Kampot and observing the area and just monitoring the educational needs before setting something up yourself. Learn to live here before attempting a business venture even if you have the best intentions you can lose a lot of money very quickly.
There are many here who have survived the area and would be happy to provide you with their knowledge and experience.

Good luck.

have a day off chaturbater- your new handle is much more apt than last week's
they seem to like your attack dog style OTOF so maybe best stay there.