The ONG family Homeschool

The Magic "Homeschool" Bullet?

Thanks to the recent newspaper report about the American 16 year old who was homeschooled by his parents and graduated with a string of degrees, I think I've been googled by eager Singaporean parents who are interested to explore the homeschooling alternative to educating their children.

Serious. Thanks to Typepad, I know what people are googling for. :O)

Well, I could tell the parents out there that on the average, it is statistically proven that homeschooled kids perform better than national averages. (These are American statistics.) And that historically, many great people from many fields were homeschooled. And I firmly believe, no one can better develop their children than the parents themselves because they know their children's potential and talents and character well.

But you will see that thus far on this blog, I've purposely avoided the educational benefits of homeschooling. Firstly because we did not not go in to homeschooling because we wanted to make teenagers with doctorate degrees. And secondly, because of the social context within which I am writing: Singapore, where our children are put through more hours of academic work per day than the number of hours they sleep.

You know, I would really really hate if Singaporean parents switched from hot-housing their kids in tuition centres to hot-housing them at home so that they'll attain some kind of edge over their peers. Groan...

Dear parent, if your motives are truly out of love and the welfare of your WHOLE child, (not just academic success), then do do do consider homeschooling. :O)

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Dear reader, thanks for reading my musings and thoughts! I won't be making daily entries anymore but i'll appreciate if you would hit the "subscribe to this blog" service down the left column so you'll know when i've made a new entry. I know some of you have done that already. Good on ya! "O)

Blessings!

Suwei

How protective are you as a parent?

By that I mean, would you allow your children to climb the door grills, really hang and swing and play at the playground? At the risk of being a public nuisance, dangle from sidewalk railings?

My eldest nephew was so amused when we were in Perth. We were at a playground at Freemantle and there was another chinese family there swinging their little girl on the swing. And someone said, "Faster go!" and my nephew knew straight away that this was a Singaporean family.

I watched as the Australian kids, a little 5 or 6 year old girl dressed in a proper dress, shimmy up a pole to sit on a "ship's mast" at the play ground. It was quite high and quite a drop if she was to loose her balance but you could tell she was well adapted to climbing and strong.

And here was our Singaporean family, the mommy warning the daddy not to swing their girl too high, she might fly out. Like... duh.. she was no where near being a human projectile. But that's so Singaporean, you know? Being over protective of our children for fear that they'll fall down, get hurt, get scrapped knees, get lost, etc. etc.

That was me, actually. Scrapped knees, wounds upon fresh wounds. Blisters on my hands (you know, the base of the fingers) blisters upon blisters from swinging on the monkey bars at school. Always coming home with muddy shoes and sweaty even before the bell rang for school to begin. tsk tsk. My mom never minded my attire. I scrubbed and white washed my own school shoes.

My mom has taught kids in primary school who don't know how to stand on a low beam and walk across. It's really really sad. I can picture the parent telling their children not to climb, wait fall down, or be the fall guy when the youngster is making his way up the ladder to get to the slide. No confidence in their physical abilities. (How to go army like that???)

As an aside, I've noticed that the kids that know they are being "tailed" by their minders are more adventurous in running away. Even the little ones. They know they'll be followed so they take off any where they please. Especially in Singapore where there are more than one adult caring for one child.

My kids have to stay with me because I don't have that many arms to catch so many. It's not an option. They simply stay with me or else. Those who know my kids will know that they tend to be the "sticky" sort anyway, so it makes my job easier. They cry when they don't see me.

But hey, don't look at me. My kids are sissy-s compared to my sister's kids. They can each boast at least one visit to the doctor's for stitches. We brought these guys to the beach at Albany and they saw the water and couldn't resist jumping in. This is evening weather about 10 degrees with strong ocean winds blowing. I was COLD with my jacket on and they went in for a dip. Crazy kids.

I was too Singaporean to allow my kids to get wet. Wait get sick then you know!!! But they did wade in and got some clothes wet, and would you know it, they didn't get sick.

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Dear reader, thanks for reading my musings and thoughts! I won't be making daily entries anymore but i'll appreciate if you would hit the "subscribe to this blog" service down the left column so you'll know when i've made a new entry. I know some of you have done that already. Good on ya! "O)

Blessings!

Suwei

What's taking so long????

As you'd expect, I'm actually bursting to share here about my two week trip to Perth. But I'm sitting on it a while because I'm waiting for the photographs we uploaded in my brother-in-law's laptop. :OP

So sorry to keep everyone waiting but suffice to say that I had a marvelous trip and return reminded of God's magnificent power and majesty of His creation and God's tender loving care for His own children. He has not left us without joy and encouragement and we found this in the fellowship of the Christan brethren we met at Northside Baptist Church in Quinns Rock, Perth.

Well, more to come soon... and pics!

Hello! We're Back!

Actually, we've been back for a day or two but I've been recuperating from the trip. Zzzzz.... heheh...

I have to apologise for the lame-o videos I posted before I left for the trip. I was so tied up with the cake and all...

Anyways, we were in Perth for 2 weeks and the weather was pretty cold and dry. Most of us suffered from chapped lips and dry skin. Moisturizer! Moisturizer!

The kid's cheeks still get flushed and rosy when they're feeling warm. So cute. It will fade after a couple of days getting accustomed to our singapore weather again.

Will post pics when they get to our computer! They're in Brother in law's laptop now. Long story.

And Chickens can play Piano in a quartet!!!

Rowlf and Fozzie Playin' the Piano

Now, this is how to have fun on the piano! A duet! :O)

Baby's version of Matthew 6!!!

Baby is 17 mths now, still not talking but can understand alot and can imitate lots... my cutie. :O)

In this video, we've got no. 1 showing Baby how to do the actions for parts of our memory verse from Matthew 6. You can tell from their interaction that kor kor really adores his baby brother. :O) No. 1 knows how to talk to his brother because of all the time they spend together at home. See how he pauses for Baby to catch his actions?

It's so nice that because of Homeschooling, we enjoy so much family time together instead of splitting the whole family into various institutions the whole week. It's really such a blessing I am thankful for.

Young Learners In Pursuit of Their Passions

Here's my observations about some of the Homeschoolers I've met. I've noticed that they often specialize in pet topics young.

There was one HSing mom who told me her then, 8 yr old son is very interested in micro-biology and reads extensively on the topic.

THen there is Tim who is a self-taught media person who has put together quite afew interesting event coverages.

And Agnes (15 yrs) , is a graphic artist in her own right. Hope she will share with us some samples of her art soon!

Another Homeschooler in my community, Marcus is very in to animals. Ask him anything about God's creatures, and he can answer you. I hope to introduce Marcus to you all real soon! :O)

And of course, Jeremiah, war expert. :O)

And the list goes on....

Not that they are one dimensional in their character, by no means so. They are well rounded individuals: academically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. And their interests may change as they get older.

But when there's something that really captures their imaginations, they will spend the time and energy to pursue their passions. And the thing is that the Homeschooling schedule allows the child to finish their school work within half a day or a little more, allowing the child the time and energy to pursue their interests. (No after-school remediation!!! No tuition!!! No homework even!!!)

They'll read up on all they can find their hands on about the topic. Use their hands to do experiments to test what they've found out. I have noticed that in most most cases, all this is on the initiative of the child, no pushing from the parent teacher.

But, of course, there is a loving parent teacher who is there to nurture and guide and encourage them in their individual pursuit, provide them with the necessary tools, learning trips, equiptment, instruction.... then just step back and see them bloom as learners to a point they even surpass their parents in their knowledge. A loving parent who is ever aware of his or her child's special abilities, talents and even temperaments. You tell me that a loving parent can't do better than a teacher in school who has 30 over children in his class? I have to beg to differ.