I found out about Homeschooling in 2005. The concept intrigued me, and I've been researching it since then.
Going against the educational norm is scary. However, the rapidly-deteriorating public school system made it easy for us to made the decision to 'Homeschool' Damian when he finishes UPSR (Year 6, primary school).
Of course there are many good teachers in our public schools, but the numbers of ineffective, non-performing teachers are even higher. My kids have been subjected to veiled sarcastic remarks regarding their intelligence and they have learnt that the colour of their skin is a factor in many things. (We have always stressed the importance of respecting other races, but they have starting questioning how come a certain race do not reciprocate?)
And it's a well-known fact that teachers who are supposed to teach Maths and Science in English could barely speak the language themselves!! (Well... since the government has decided to revert the teaching of Maths and science in BM, and thus setting our country back by at least another 50 years, this issue of teachers not being able to converse in English is solved!!! hahaha)
So.... homeschooling. And why did we wait until Damian is 13? We just wanted him to experience 'normal' public school life. Yes, he learnt a lot and did very well... and that's largely due to the fact that he's a good student and like studying. But when he did the placement test, his score is that of a 11 year old or Grade 5.
So he has to to start Grade 6 in Jan 2010 (altho he should be Grade 7!) Being the competitive boy he is, Damian is certainly not happy to be placed in Grade 6. The beauty of this homeschooling program is that you can go at your own pace. You can be faster or slower according to your capabilities. There's a 14 year old who's in Grade 3, and a 12 year old already in Grade 8!!
Damian plans to finish Grade 6 by April and then start Grade 7 (his actual Grade). And then he'll aim for Grade 8 by the end of the year. How's that for goal setting?
He's doing the
Alpha Omega Program : 5 subjects:
Language Arts (English),
Maths,
Science,
History and Geography and
Bible Knowledge
All the topics are so interesting. They study World History & Geography as opposed to just Kajian Tempatan or Tamadun Islam ( and make
'Katak di bawah Tempurung' of us all).
Homeschooling takes many forms. One is to keep the child at home with parental guidance and marking of work, self-tests and assessments. This way is not for me la. Anyway Damian likes social interaction.
The other one is to send the child to a 'center', where 'supervisors' guide and mark the work done. There's no actual blackboard teaching involved. Anytime the child does not understand the material, he can ask the supervisor for help and explaination. Damian's school has around 80 students from Grade 1 to Grade 12. He's able to make some friends (of different ages). This center also has an 'Sports Day' once a week, extra activities like 'Show and Tell', craftwork and camps.
It's been 6 weeks since school started, and Damian is enjoying himself. He does have to get use to not having 300 other same-age students around in a crowded school of more than 1000 people. He does have to get use to not having school-politics, public peer-presures and disgruntled teachers, but learning is so much more fun now.
Read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeschooling
http://homeschooljewel.com/blog/2009/11/homeschoolers-and-self-directed-learning/
http://gracehomeschooling.blogspot.com/ (damian is not in this school, but the curiculum is the same)
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