Here are 10 questions posed by readers…. with our answers.

enjoy!

Question 1
We are expats and my son is 12 and has been attending an International school all along. I am satisfied with the system so am seriously considering homeschooling.
However I dont intend to do all the teaching myself so would really appreciate any suggestion as to where I can find centres or tutors who would be ready for an out of
the box approach to education.    Thanks in advance …..concerned mother

Out-of-the-box tuition centers? non existent. but you can check out activities at the science center, the zoo, aerospace, malaysian nature society, wwf malaysia, and other local resources. there are various homeschooling groups that attend these activities on a regular basis.

Question 2
I have heard of a homeschooling center in USJ run by AOG – could you please give me the contact number? I am exploing options for my 2 daughters.

Never heard of them, the only “home” I know are in our homes.  (Sorry to be so abrupt on this as we have always maintained that while such centers are alternative education centers, which is good thing – however, we do not recognize them as home schooling. You will need to to talk to AOG on this)

Question 3
Do you’ll have a homeschool in Puchong?

My home is in Subang and some homeschoolers are living and have their homes in Puchong. Sorry, cannot tell you their addresses. (Again, homeschooling is from the home, where parents begin to take a more proactive role in educating their children – depending on the approach you would like to take you can structure a curriculum at home or go completely unschooling – like us 😉 Homeschooling means learning at home and is quite different from learning at centers. It means the parent/parents are fully or mostly involved in the learning and living process of the child. This may or may not include packaged curriculum or testings. It all depends on your family’s needs and inclinations. Above all your children’s input.

Question 4
my daughter is interested in law.If she finish the SAT exam,are there any college suitable for her to study law.And….are there any university exept in america can
accept her?Thank You.

You can call up the local colleges to find out. It is better to enquire individually to find out what each college’s entry requirements are, as they do
vary quite a bit. Many colleges now take in homeschoolers, go ask them what the entrance criteria are and work from there. We know of many homeschoolers who took a year or two just to take their SAT (in some cases, SPM) just to fulfill the entrance criteria and they are already in college or have graduated.


Question 5
wondering is there any way/ assessment to assess the kids progression？

Why do you want to assess kids progress? What would be your benchmark before you assess them? We are not a huge fan of standardized testing as it is well documented that it is flawed. (Please ready some of the postings and references pertaining to such tests on this site, we have talked about this before).

Question 6
Hi, My Child is 6yrs old, he is autism kid.. i planing to homeschool for him on next yrs he is stand. 1, is this better for him.. or any idea from you, pls advice.
and any home school in puchong selangor?  tq.

We cannot can’t say if homeschooling is going to work for your child it will depend on how you homeschool him/her, if done in a holistic and organic manner, the child will reap the benefits of self-paced and interest-driven learning. Read more on our web-site on self-directed and self-paced learning. You can also come talk to us, drop us and email.

Question 7
Is there a homeschool centre that you can recommend? I am considering sending my 10 year old dyslexia girl to homeschool which should provide a better study
environment for her. Thank you.

We started CLIC (Community Learning Initiative Center) to cater to homeschooling children looking for support and socializing opportunities. The approach is
making learning fun through play and games and creativity in an environment of LOVE. We do not do much studying here. Just a lot of learning through play and activities!  To know more of CLiC activities, drop us an email or check out the CLiC tab

Question 8
I and my wife is truly embraced the homeschool concept after seeing our children going thru tough life in school where they both struggling to go thru mountains of
books and memorising facts just for the sake of passing exams. After toying with the successful stories of other in homeschooling, myself and my wife started to
seriously discussed going our way for homeschooling for both of the kids. We combed literally the entire website of homeschooling – Homefrontier , MALHEN and many many
others to look for clues and tips on how to start and what to look for and what to expect from Homeschooling.

We had roughly plan this path : ( please rectify me if we go the wrong way )
1. We will purchase the LIFEPAC Alpha OMega from USA in complete set – Language Arts, Maths. For Both of my children – aged 8 and aged 13. ( my elder daughter hit 7As
in her last year UPSR, but we do feel that she is not enjoying very much the school type system and struggling to keep her momentum going to hits more As only in
future exam. This should not be the way since EDUCATION is something FUN and INTERESTING instead of TERRIFYING AND SCARY. )

2. Since both of them is at difference age, for the younger one…we go for LIFEPAC grade 2 and the elder one we go for GRADE 7.

3. We will go all the way up to GRADE 10 or 11 for LIFEPAC syllabus, until then we will monitor how the elder one perform. IF she is ‘ OK ‘, then we will prepare her
for IGCSE O LEVEL.

4. Since JB do not have tuition center preparing for IGCSE O LEVEL ( should you know one, please let me know. I will be deeply grateful ), but engaging her in all
IGCSE TEXT BOOK & worksheet material ( plus past year exam paper )

5. If she pass her IGCSE O LEVEL, then we can put her into local colleges for A LEVEL or any pre U, or even some profesional diploma courses. This is our ultimate aim.
My main worry is : HOW ARE WE PREPARE TO PROVIDE THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN LEARNING LIFEPAC UPTO GRADE 10-11 AND GET PREPARE FOR IGCSE ? Would learning LIFEPAC provide a solid foundation for IGCSE ?

Need your valuable advice. God Bless You. Take care.

To be honest, we have absolutely no idea what the LIFEPAC is like, so we cannot give you any advice here.  But one thing we can safely say, that is, whatever
that you plan, please do consider your child’s opinion and preference because they will be the ones having to face those tomes on a daily basis. Secondly, be prepared to abandon plans and redoing new ones along the way because things change faster today than at any time in history! Singapore has all the facilities for tuition and testing so it may be easier for you to just hop across the causeway for your O, A or pre-U needs :). Lastly, we strongly encourage children to find and pursue their passion (never mind if it changes). Good luck and seems you already know what you are doing 😉

Question 9
Hie buddies,
My question is not directly related to home schooling but excited to see this site and the network that exists because my father chose to homeschool me, my elder
brother and my eldest sister. Both my siblings are lawyers and myself an IT person. We never knew there is a group of people who had views like my dad in Malaysia. Glad to be here.
My concern is about my niece who is Standard 2 now in a nearby school. Most of the time teachers don’t come to class. I have personally dropped in when she has missed something and sometimes the office clerks will say, please pass it yourself and when I drop in, little children would be given some long ruler and left without a teacher.  Small children are instructed to take care of the class and they fight with one another.  I spoke mildly a few times about it to the discipline teacher.

Recently, the problem became worse. One of the Saturdays, for replacement class, I went to pass some books which she has missed or not sure she needed and to my surprise only a couple of teachers were left in the entire school and later I found there is a teachers meeting which will end only at the end of the school. The children were just left with some rulers in Ketua Kelas’s hand. I was given a letter prior to that to pass BM, BI, Maths, and Science books for that day. This morning, I had to send her to school around 9 am as I was not well and I mistakenly woke up late. The teachers would have known that I am sick by by seeing me and with my voice. They literally chased me that they have rules and regulations, and was slightly rude. I have never been rude to them until this second and has never even raised my voice. Have always maintained a low profile except in PIBG once I spoke abt teachers not  attending classes which was very mild. This year I am not in PIBG.

I know little children are eager to learn and love to have some fun … when they dont appear to classes and bore the kids to death .. I can see the difference in my niece… She is growing to be a dull person…. And everyday going to the hall for perhimpunan … and its not like my time where we will read out Rukun Tetangga and Negaraku. They have a lot of things to tell the
students and I wonder what happens to the timetable. Being in the Hall listening continously teachers talking is not going to be intruguing or good for the children. This is the best school in <omitted> (as per UPSR result).  My niece is only in standard 2. If I talk to the teachers about today’s incident, I might not be able to trust and send her to this school again. Definitely, I am emotionally hurt. I might raise everything or should I ‘Buat Tak Tau’ and continue sending her to the school? She is keep saying she doesnt want to go as teachers are not appearing. For example, there has been no Science teacher for the last 2 months or more. What should I do?
I hope some seniors would be able to guide me.
Please guide me!

The sad thing about your story about your niece is that this is not unique but is prevalent in most schools today. Her parents need to know what is going on
and figure what to do. The only way we can see to tackle this problem is to get out of the system. But parents have to be prepared to take on full responsibility of
their own children. There are a lot of issues to consider, which include major lifestyle change and putting the right priority at the top.

Question 10
what do you think are the advantages of home schooling? thoughts/opinion? persuade me! and what do you think are the disadvantages of normal schooling systems?
next, is there any particular procedure that we have to do in order to homeschool? for example apply to the MOE? please do comment, as this is essential for me. thank you.

We do not try to convert anyone into homeschooling.  If you need to be persuaded, you are not ready for this whole new way of learning and living with children. Typical of the schooling system, you need to be told what to do and what to think. Think for yourself and do your research. Do not wait to be spoon-fed because that is not homeschooling! 

We can continue to dialogue, please read our site, read the links to the site and if you would like to meet with us, email us – beyond.schooling@gmail.com .

Hope this helps, good luck.