Home schooling has been a common concept in the West for many years. More recently the concept has caught onto many Malaysian parents who prefer to educate their children at home rather than sending them to a school.
Safe to say, the never ending change of decisions by the education ministry of Malaysia has frustrated many patient Malaysian parents to make this decision. The constant switch between BM and English has exasperated the general public. Another reason is probably the fact that some children do need the extra attention and care to be able to understand concepts and to excel at school and our Malaysian schools do not provide this luxury. A child that is slow is quickly labeled as lazy and uninterested. Other parents have been frustrated with the quality of teachers and teaching even in International Schools, after paying buckets of money. For a number of reasons, Malaysians have begun to educate their children at home, more comfortable holding the reins of responsibility of their child’s education , rather than giving it to someone they are not sure of.
There are definitely some challenges involved in home schooling your kids; but then again, the rewards cannot be overlooked either. I was speaking to a friend who has been home schooling her two children for the past four years. ‘There are times when I feel like pulling my hair out and I sometimes ask myself what in God’s name was I thinking when I made this decision?’ she said, but quickly added that the day she began to see her disabled child understanding mathematical concepts and applying them with ease was the day she will remember for the rest of her life.
The main benefit of homeschooling is of course the fact that you can decide what your child will learn, when he will learn it and how he will learn it. You will always come up with interesting and innovative ways of teaching and show your child that learning is exciting, not boring. The world is your classroom – you can choose to have a lesson under a shaded tree in a park with a picnic basket by your side instead of a boring room. You can spend more time teaching subjects your child is struggling with without having to worry about other students.
When you homeschool your child, you can protect them against negative influences they may face at schools. By teaching 1-on-1, you will be able to teach more effectively and interactively. Your spouse can be a great part of your child’s education by taking over the teaching of subjects he or she is good at. The best part about homeschooling is that you can take vacations whenever you want and turn them into educational trips.
There are, however, some downsides of homeschooling your child. You will be spending a lot more time with your child, for days at a time. You will not get much of a break or time for yourself as you would want to follow a mildly structured time table for study. Your patience level will need to go up by about 500% when you homeschool your child, because you will still need to show off your patient virtue when he may not understand a concept for the hundredth time. You would need to plan your teaching in a way that your child is ready for board exams at the right time which again means a lot of sacrifices from your end. Not being in a school environment with peers can’t always be good for a child. A child needs to be around children of his or her age to develop well. You may sometimes face problems with a curriculum or level that you have trouble coping with.
If you have decided to go for homeschooling in Malaysia, you are not alone. Although homeschooling is pretty new here, there are thankfully, some excellent support groups and centers available. These support centers act as a helping hand for you when you are faced with subjects you can’t teach or when you need help. Here, you can get help with syllabus planning and execution, and with the teaching of certain subjects you may not be comfortable with. These support groups and centers are great places for your child as he can interact with other children his age, the one missing link when it comes to homeschooling, He can make friends too, in this way. Activities are planned regularly for children to mingle.
In Malaysia, you will also see Co-operative Learning Initiative, better known as CLiC where communities of homeschooling families meet up four to five times a week and do activities together to provide a platform for learning and socialization. With the internet and social media, these groups can be found easily.
Malaysia is still in infantry stages in homeschooling if compared to countries like the United States and Australia, where homeschooling is much more common. With a bigger population and plenty of support groups, these countries have proven that homeschooling can be better for some children. In time to come, Malaysia will also join ranks with these countries.