Challenges

Peng Peng - misconceptions

Michele -
unfamiliar

subjects

Ee Von - many skeptics

As with many other parents who first considered adopting the homeschooling method, Ee Von was met with many skeptics who downplayed the potential advantages of homeschooling.

Once a skeptic herself, Ee Von was initially unsure that this was going to be the best way for Ashlyne but she continuously heard about the benefits of homeschooling from the more experienced homeschoolers and was eventually convinced this would be the way to go.

People tend to assume that homeschooled children are deprived of that potential social interaction a typical student would experience every day in school. But Ee Von counter-argues this point and says that homeschooled children are likely to have more opportunities for social interaction as the homeschooling community frequently organizes get-togethers. The homeschooled children themselves are given the chance to organize events on their own, teaching them the value of teamwork and leadership.

Also, people often have this misconception that homeschooled children will not fare well academically but they have certainly missed out on some loopholes in our mainstream education system. More often or not, students hovering around borderline are laterally transferred to the next level despite their incompetency to fully grasp the concepts of the level he/she is in. However, the homeschooling system functions in an entirely different manner.

Each subject is subdivided into 12 module packets and the child has to score a minimum of 90% before he/she is allowed to move on to the next packet. This ensures that the child has gained a wholesome understanding of the concepts being taught and any doubts will be immediately addressed. This system also allows the parent to closely monitor the child's progress and develop the child in areas he/she is better in.

We've all heard of students complaining about the stress they face about meeting multiple deadlines or preparing for that one major examination at the end of every year. Contrary to that, homeschooled children experience minimal pressure as they learn at their own pace and during this process, they are able to find the job in studying.

Luckily for Ee Von, despite being faced with many skeptics, her family was very supportive of her and her husband's decision to homeschool Ashlyne.

Timothy - lack of support

Timothy Lee, 23, vividly remembers the time his uncle continually suggested his life would amount to nothing.

“He was asking a lot of questions, making a lot of insinuations that we wouldn’t have paper qualifications or be able to get a job in the future,” said Timothy.

He had gone on a trip with his extended family, but instead wrestled with opposition and ridicule for being homeschooled.

His parents made the unconventional decision when he was 10, and his sister, Agnes, 9.

Their choice was deemed too risky.

“They couldn’t understand why my parents would take us out of school. It was just unthinkable at that time,” said Timothy.

Even the church could not understand, said Timothy. His family later moved to Maranatha Baptist Church, where there were several homeschooling families.

At that time, the homeschooling community was small – few parents chose to take their children out of school. With the exception of the few other homeschooling families they knew in church, the Lee family had little support.

“Most people were just reserved and waited to see what become of us,” he said.

Timothy now works at Camwerkz, an equipment rental house and his sister now reads English Literature at Nanyang Technological University.

He remembers that the government was also unsupportive for his family’s decision.

As a home schooled child, he was also denied access to facilities like laboratories. Timothy remembers the time he was unable to join the Youth Flying Club because he was not a school-going child - dashing his dreams of becoming a pilot. Learning to fly thus became a challenge without the support of the flying club.

“The first thing that happened to us was that our concession cards were taken away,” he recalled, “Imagine that, for a small child paying adult fare – it wasn’t fair.”

After writing to TransitLink and their estate’s Member of Parliament to clarify the issue, they were told school children’s fares were subsidized by adult fares for the purposes of getting to and from school at an affordable rate.

Timothy was quick to add that the situation has now changed, with homeschooling children able to obtain concession cards and enjoy subsidized fares.