Homework6: Managing The Day

Find out more about how to manage the homeschooling day.

Starting from managing:

• The Family
• The Educational Materials
• The Learning Process

Google Up some Online Homeschooling Calenders.

Homework5: Utilizing the Internet for Homeschooling

Rumah Inspirasi suggested we should optimize the use of the internet to help us in our homeschooling. They quoted Bill Gates saying “Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world. It will be better than any single university.” After a quick search on Google, it turns out that Bill Gates too chose not to go to school! He has been labeled as "The Riches Drop Out in The World" but from Harvard, a prestigious university, not from elementary through highschool. Still, I wonder had he not gone to the 12 year of schooling, would he be who he is now?



Homework:

Practice using the internet to search for information to be used for homeschooling.

Homework4: Learning through Daily Activities

The idea of educating at home is that our children can learn how to act and acquire knowledge from the daily activities of the family.

Homework:

1. What types of daily activities can my toddler and preschooler learn from?
2. What types of activities should I create to facilitate their learning?

Homework3: Independent Learners

One objective of homeschooling is to help our children become more of an independent learner than a dependent student upon a school teacher. As the saying goes, "Education is not the filing of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." We should teach our children to want to learn by themselves whatever they wish to learn and not merely wait for a teacher to teach them whatever is outlined by the government.

My homework, Google-up:

1. What is an independent learner? Self-Centered Learning (SCL)?
2. Reflect on self, have I been an independent learner?
3. How do I raise independent learning children?

Homework2: Homeschool Models and Methods

I read somewhere before that there are as many number of homeschooling methods as there are homeschooling families. That means, there are sooo many! I am confused even looking at the names of the methods. I have not read about each one yet, but Rumah Inspirasi suggested we should take this Homeschool Method Quiz to help us decide. I have not done it yet, but inshaAllah when I do, I will post my results here.

Homework1: Setting the Family Vision

After participating in the first session of a Webinar conducted by Rumah Inspirasi, a homeschooling family in Indonesia, I have learned that before embarking on the journey to homeschool, we as parents must decide together what is important for our family. Our vision and our mission as a family is the key in deciding if homeschooling is better for our children than enrolling them in a school. It may be that what we envision for our children can be easily achieved by formal schooling thus having no need to even consider homeschooling.


Rumah Inspirasi never claim that homeschooling is always better than school. It could be that school is also good for our child. It depends on what we intend to achieve through our method of education. This factor also becomes the basis for deciding what type of school is best for our child, whether:

• Secular School (Sekolah Negeri)
• Religious School (Muhammadiyah, MAN, etc.)
• Religious Boarding School (Pondok Pesantren)
• International Schools (Sekolah Internasional) 
• International Islamic School (JISc)
• Etc.

Or the type of homeschooling approach, including:

• School at Home
• UnSchooling
• Etc.

Finally, after a discussion with my husband, we have decided that for our child to have good manners and good character, is what's important for our children now. We observe that modern day schooling has if not almost completely wiped out Character Building in their curriculum. What good is the richest businessman if he does not do charity, what good is the smartest scientist if he thinks he can clone humans, and what good is a world traveler if he forgets his parents when they reach old age? We are concerned about the outcome of our children's personality and morality when we do not have control over what they learn at school. Consequently, we are in the stage of considering homeschool as a method to facilitate ourselves in teaching morals to our children.

We believe that children under age 7 must not be pressured to learn academics, instead to just let them play and discover their natural surroundings. So for now, I'll see what I can start teaching my boys as they are only 3.5 and 2 years old. Meanwhile, I will do research on the most suitable homeschooling method for them once they reach school age, 6 or 7 years old ~ if we decide to home school them, inshaAllah.

As a small note, I've always said "I" due to the fact that most of the education would be burdened on me since I would be the one with my children 24/7. al-Hamd'lillah for the blessing that I currently do not have to work outside the home. However, their father, not being home most of the time to carry out his occupation, would not be left out in deciding what all is important for them to learn. With this, as parents, we too will be pushed to constantly seek knowledge, both in deen and dunya to be passed on to our children. Praise be to Allah, I see this as my lifetime challenge.

So now, whenever I search for information on homeschooling, I should keep in mind always about what's important for my family to be taught and trained to our children.

Let's start the research!

Bismillahi rahmani rahim