Saturday, October 11, 2008

Homeschooling WHY NOT?

Lately been chatting with some friends about my decision to homeschool Reese. As expected, most of them will politely ask me why and all the negative comments starts to flow....

Now... why does everyone seems to have such negative thoughts about homeschooling? Isn't it our right to educate our children the way we want? Why must we put our children's education in the hands of others? What is so wrong with the children's parents teaching them? Are parents not academically qualified to do so?(possible) Are parents going to teach their children wrong things and destroy their future? (possible) BUT what about those who are able and truly wants the best for their children? I mean, our education system sucks.

Alot of homeschooling parents in Malaysia will homeschool their children under the radar. They don't even bother going to the M.O.E to register their children as homeschoolers because of all the red tape and bla..bla..bla..... It's such a shame.

Another negative perception of homeschooling is the social impact on the children. We are not living in the 19th century..... homeschooling children's social circle now is amazingly wide!! With great technology and community resources, parents of homeschooling children are connected and they are actively organizing activities, field trips, workshops and etc for the children. Activities range from camping trips to taking robotic workshops.... isn't it cool? I mean at SCHOOL... how many such trips or activities are organized in a year? Maybe once or twice....

If you think about it, children at conventional schools are conditioned by a system that rates their self-worth against exam marks and encourages conformity... their social circle is confined to their classmates whom they see throughout the year and then some new faces the next and so on. They learn the same stuff, read the same books, pick up the same bad habits and behaviours too. As for a homeschooler, they get to meet different people of all ages all time through the many activities they get themselves involved in. Homeschoolers get to learn in a more creative manner where they have more control over how they want to learn(guidance from parents).

To conclude, homeschooling is not for everyone but for those of us who have chosen to do so, we think it is the better way. Oh! from various research it is shown that homeschoolers are by and large academically above the national average, unafraid to be different and absorb well into society. So with this, I hope I manage to clear up some negative perceptions of homeschooling.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

IGNORE those negative comments, most of them arises from jealousy!!

A gift from God said...

hahaha...sure or not? thanks for the encouragement... *wink*

rachelsee said...

WOW BRAVO! way to go! I wished I am this brave. I chanced upon your blog through Blessed Mum and I admire mums like you :) It must be hard facing all the negative comments.

A gift from God said...

4malmal
Thank you for visiting.Will check out your blog later. As for being brave, I never thought of it like that. I have given myself 2 to 3 years to try it out. If I am successful then great else.... I will send my kid to private school....But will definitely try my very best... hehe...

Baby Darren said...

Do what you think is right..ignore what other people say or think..i know it is not easy..but your son is more important...

I wish I can home-school Darren too. I did thought of it but I don't think I can do it coz Darren didn't seems to learn well through me. He loves socializing and learn faster with strangers.

Maybe I am giving up fast...so, u dun give up, ok?

A gift from God said...

Soo Li,

Thank you.... I am ignoring what people are saying..haha... just that it gets irritating...

Maybe you can try again when Darren is older... now still young...too early to tell whether you can do it or not.... :)