Home-schooling basics

Rachel is 4 now and after almost 2 years of home-schooling, I am satisfied with the outcome and the journey that our family had started together. I want to take this opportunity to reflect and share some home-schooling tips which may come in handy for those considering this wonderful option of educating and nurturing their children.

Its a joint decision
First of all, we decided to home-school Rachel at the time when my mum was critically, terminally ill with cancer and I wanted to spend time with her and my only child. Whilst at a nearby child care centre for almost 10 months, we were frustrated that Rachel, a breast-fed child was falling sick almost weekly and even having to be hospitalised for 3 times due to rotar virus, bronchitis and hand injury. There goes part of our fortune for she was treated in the private hospital where she was born via emergency caesarean. It was a emotional struggle for the child to leave me for child care every day.

The moment I took over the full time care-giving, Rachel became active and healthy and a much happier kid. Boy, whatever I taught her, be it games, puzzles, English, French, Mandarin, she was able to absorb well like a sponge. She already knew her alphabet and could read before she was 2. She was also able to identify many classical music pieces, including the different movements and was especially fond of drawing and painting.

Although my immediate attention was on my sick mum, helping her with household chores, medication, dressing changes and meals etc, nevertheless I was able to connect with my child and spend quality time learning and playing with her each day.

I can teach and impart!
I must say that I am not the type that aspires to be a teacher . Having said that, however, the many years spent helping out in the church nursery, sunday school and even baby sitting my old neighbours grand kids when I was a teen sort of fashioned me. I can be very patient. I know how to motivate children and inspire them. Giving one to one tuition and counselling youth in my older days also helped me hone the interpersonal and communication skills.

I enjoy spending time with her!
Still, the best part is I enjoy spending time with my own child and learning together. I am remembering my long forgotten mandarin, writing characters , consulting the dictionary and then there is French, which we both loved to learn using all sorts of materials that range from sticker books to cd roms to french movies.

There are many types of materials available
With the help of reward charts, checklists, a bit of mind map and time-table, we are crusing well, learning every day, languages (English, French, Mandarin), Math, Science, Bible, and Art and Music, Good habits. Games and so on.

Lessons can take place anywhere
Now that my mum had passed on last year, I still take Rachel with me to my dad's place weekly to keep him company and to help with the chores. The journey to the North eastern part of Singapore can take a total of 3 hours on public transport to and fro and really, we could complete word puzzles, learn a Chinese character or two and read books and magazines.

One of our favourite places to study is the restaurant while waiting for the food the be served. And of course there are those coffee moments when I unwind with a cuppa while I coach Rachel math or even magazine activites. Her current favourite magazines are Favourites, Cars and Disney Princess though we buy comics as well. We are now loving the Manga drawing phase and singing along with the Disney princesses. Previously she loved the Playhouse Disney mag but it was meant for toddlers as she would say.

Well-being is not compromised
Rachel sleeps well each night, usually about almost 1230pm, sometimes later. Unless she is very tired from an outing, she would be very interested to learn in the night, activity books like Grammar, Writing and Math. In the morning she would usually wake at 10am, well refreshed for breakfast and Okto. Like me we prefer to warm up and rev up throughout the day.

Without a domestic helper or any part time cleaner, Rachel accompanies me on grocery shopping, shopping, concerts and almost any other errand that I need to run and she learnt to post herself a letter, exercise daily (mostly overhead bridges, stairs and stretches, running) pay for her own purchases, Ben 10 stickers, magazines and ice-cream and order her own food. She loves to make her own decisions like her dinner preferences and what she want to buy.

She eats when she is hungry, goes to the toilet when she needs to and wears comfortable clothes all the time. She tells me she loved being home-schooled when she can wake late and avoid the hot sun and the nasty, over-crowded public transport. Ha

There is no lack of social interaction with other kids
Other than attending children church each sunday, Rachel also mingles with many other students that take piano lessons and those at her violin teacher's place as well. With so many cousins and children playing with her often, she does not lack any friends, though it was obvious that she preferred hanging out with the older boys.

Focus on her strengths and interests
It is very clear to us our kid loves art and enjoys music. Being musicians ourselves, it is important that Rachel develops a passion for making music herself. I am glad to say that she is keen to sing and we are taking music lessons seriously for life.