Thursday, August 19, 2010

Reese's Education Route

Deciding to homeschool Reese has always been my choice even though I do not have any experience in doing so. I am thankful that hubby is with me on this and we will learn along the way and work hard together to educate our son well.

One of the main reasons for choosing the alternative route to learning is because of our poor education system that frequently changes whenever there is a new Education Minister. Not only is it not consistent, what children learn these days were not all relevant. Besides a bad education system, teachers at National/Chinese schools are just not good. I am not saying all teachers are bad, but let's face it, teaching profession is usually the last option for alot of graduates when they can't find better career opportunities!

Why let others educate your child when you can do it on your own? Anyway, another reason for homeschooling is so that my son is given proper guidance in life according to biblical values and be close to God. It is important that he is brought up to be a God fearing child. :)

Once Reese begins Grade 1 and beyond, there is no turning back. Should we have trouble homeschooling him for whatever reasons, we only have two options. Put him into an international school or hire teachers from international schools to teach him. He cannot go to national schools simply because of the medium of instruction (BM).

I did a survey on all the good international schools. They are DAMN expensive. Early grades is between 30-40k a year. Higher grades will go up to 60k a year! Not only that, when you enroll in these school, you have to pay a one time non refundable deposit/building fund which amount to more than RM15-20+k. It's no joke! It's a very big investment. Once you are in these schools, everything is about MONEY! Pure madness.

So after some discussion with hubby, we are going to homeschool Reese until Grade 9 (about 14 years old) and then put him into a good international school for two years to prepare him for SAT/IGCSE and then college and university.

In the mean time, Reese will continue to attend play school till he is six so that he can socialize and have fun. Next year we will let him join Little League football club, Fusion Academy and Yamaha music classes. These activities are non academic and they are focused on sports, performing arts and music. They will give Reese a good mix of social interaction with other children and at the same time a great chance for him to express himself creatively and have lots of fun!

So that is the plan for now.

5 comments:

LittleLamb said...

My church runs the ACE Home Schooling program. They are in Puchong and kota Damansara.

A gift from God said...

Hi LittleLamb,

There are many options when it comes to homeschool centres set up by churches. Even is the child goes to a homeschool centre. Parents need to be very involved. Most centres' role is to supervise and we still need to teach our children.

I am couching quite a few homeschoolers in Language Arts. :)

Baby Darren said...

Glad that you know what you want for your child and able to do it. I wish I can homeschool Darren too but after having Isabel, I did not even have time to play with him, what to say about coaching him. Sigh....

Leona said...

I take my hats off to you...for your dedication and commitment to give ur son the best in education.

I have never thot of homeschooling for Ryan...basically coz I am too lazy!!! haha!

I have never met a homeschool-ed child. Look forward to follow Reese's journey ...

A gift from God said...

Baby Darren,
You just do the best you can! :)

Leona,
Thank you. I just want the best for my boy. So far, it's not difficult at all, it's still too early to tell whether I will be successful... :) Long way to go...