Homeschool

So, since we've been in Malaysia this time around, we've been staying in the in-laws house. Whilst this has been bloody good from a financial perspective - while I seek new employment - it has presented a challenge for the kids. All the schools around here do not teach in English. Look this might be ok for a longer-term commitment - we could overcome that with some additional resources thrown in, working with the school, etc. However, in this case, we intend for this to be a fairly short-term situation. So, the decision was made that while we are here, we would homeschool the two oldest kids; Lala and B. Plus we'd try to introduce babs to some basic ABC's and 123's too.

It's not an easy task to accomplish. For one, neither wifey or I are teachers, and two, we have no idea of how to establish a curriculum, run a classroom, do assessments, plan lessons, all that kind of stuff. So we went to some local bookstores to get some workbooks that cover the basics - maths, reading and writing in particular. There were some great resources, but some pretty crappy ones too. Frankly a lot of the local source material that in English is not that good. However the stuff that comes from Singapore is a lot more closely aligned to Australia, so we went with that.

It was still very intensive though - in terms of adult effort required - and a bit boring for the kids. I wanted to introduce some more flavour into their education, so I decided to go to what I consider the best bookshop in Malaysia, and quite possibly, the entire world - Kinokuniya. Anyone who loves books no doubt has their favourite place to buy, but seriously, if you haven't been there and are a book lover, you need to go. I could spend hours and thousands of bucks in there! It's so beautifully laid out, and with such great variety. What a magical place. Anyway, there I found books from the American system. I'm not well-versed on their system, but what they could provide for the knucks was simply awesome. These snaps are from amazon.com.

What they consist of is a whole variety of interesting worksheets. Colourful, full of pictures, and lots of fun for the kids. They also cover a host of topics, and complement our own already introduced topics very well. Plus both of them are avid Minecrafters, so the second book is seen more as fun than study (haha, well mostly anyway). As well as these, we have Kumon maths worksheets, some advanced comprehension and maths books for Lala, and alphabet and phonetics for B. We also have a pre-school Brain Quest book for Babs, with some nice colourful exercises in there for him to keep learning the basics.

We do this 6 days per week, for varying time-frames. Maximum is three solid hours of work. It may not be considered enough, but given that we cover P.E. and other more social topics outside the classroom, I think it's adequate. Of course the proof will be in the pudding, when we do finally move to our next location and enrol them in school proper again. Fingers crossed they're keeping up. I think they are largely. There are online resources to use to assess this, particularly in Australia, so if we are here more than another month or so, I'll start that process. It's also worth mentioning that they go to Kumon class locally twice per week. This class teaches them to take already known maths concepts, and become experts in using them. Right now it's addition only, and they have both moved ahead in leaps and strides, especially B. But Lala has also been rated at the top of her age group.

I guess the other aspect of homeschooling that needs to be mentioned is that it is not easy, not on anyone. We have days where everything goes well, everyone is attentive and productive, and we all pat each other on the back. We also have days where I end up being more of a military drill instructor, and I have to get very stern in order to keep things moving. Sometimes than ends up in tears for one or both of them, mostly B. Sometimes I am too harsh on him, and I admit I have even insulted him when he becomes a stunned mullet. He's 6, it's my fault that happens, not his. Yeah, sometimes he tightens up when he is stressed. But we always sit down and discuss it, and we always end up having a hug or high five. The missus does help too, especially with reading for B, and is a great calming influence. It has been a huge learning process for me, as well as both kids. But when I ask them, they both love home school! They don't like me pushing too hard, but it's too easy for kids to slack off in the home environment, especially when they're together. So I push, and keep pushing, all the while trying to show more empathy, and encouragement. I think we're getting there. I love them so much, these little troopers, and very, very clever children.

We will come out of this situation as better people I am sure. I am learning a lot from my kids :)