Educating our little one
We’re gonna start homeschooling Sophie maybe 10 – 30 mins a day. She’s after all only 3 years and almost 4 months old. But most kids her age back home in Singapore are already in nursery, which is 2nd year in school.
I tried to do it with the Before Five In A Row (BFIAR) curriculum last year but with packed schedules and all the travelling just made it really difficult. But what I did was set a few objectives at the beginning of last year year e.g. know a couple of bible verses and songs, her ABCs + phonics, 123s/counting, speak a little bit of Mandarin plus finish reading all the BFIAR story books and I’m glad to say we’ve achieved all that in somewhat haphazard ways. We really enjoyed reading all the BFIAR books. I totally recommend that as a reading list for 2-3 year olds. They are excellent books! I bought them from The Home Library before we left and brought them all to NZ. They have been our staples the past year. We’re still reading some of them and going deeper.
This year, I’m committing to do at least 20 mins a day and so far so good! She’s able to sit and trace her letters, tell stories, do craft, attempt to read/sound words (she’s getting the hang of her phonics so she’s starting to sound simple words. Thanks to TV shows like Letter Factory and Super Why), and draw. It’s quite a commitment to plan and to school her but I’m going to try with the grace of God. She will still go to creche/daycare when we are staffing the school. That means 9am -12.45pm and then 2pm-3.30pm for most days. She used to only go in the mornings but now that she has dropped her nap, she’ll need to go in the afternoons too. However, daycare is not a school so they are not committed to teach them language/math in a structured way. They do a lot of craft, play and song, which is great but I need to do my part to start teaching her basic language and math.
Why are we homeschooling?
1. I think we forsee ourselves being in and out of different countries for a bit the next few years. My current aim is to school Sophie in her pre school years and prepare Sophie to return to Primary 1 in Singapore in 3 years. In the event that we are going to continue being out of the country, we might continue to either homeschool her or put her into a local school wherever we are. Homeschooling gives us that flexibility.
2. I like to be in control of what Sophie is learning and reading at this point of her life. I like to see her learn and grow. It pleases me a lot to see her being able to understand more and more because I’ve spent that time with her. It pleases me a lot to see her making stuff out of scraps and calling them something. It pleases me to be able to observe the process of her thoughts and be there at that moment.
Sophie is a quick learner and teaching her at home gives me the freedom to move as fast or slow as I desire. As a mother, I can watch and monitor her progress. If she is tired, she can just sleep and if she’s on a roll, we just flow with it.
Also, I’m learning so much while teaching her. For example, I’m learning my Mandarin all over again! I realise that my written Chinese is atrocious!
3. Being in community solves the ‘what about social interaction’ issues that most people raise about homeschooling. We are constantly in community and Sophie is exposed to people of all ages and has to learn to communicate with them all so at this point, we have no worries about learning to be sociable. Also when we are in school, she is also at school where she’s doing stuff with all her friends of the same age.
4. There are many many reasons but one of the most important reasons is that I believe that the Lord has put this on my heart from the time I was doing my DTS. God has opened my heart to see that there is value taking the time to teach and instruct my own kids, not just in ABCs and 123s but about what is on God’s heart and His word. During that time, I met many missionaries (mostly YWAMers) who homeschooled their kids while taking them around the world. Most of these kids discovered their purpose in life and mission early and was discipled in that area of gifting e.g dance, science, design, etc. But what really impressed me was how well behaved they were and their maturity at a young age. I gave a little girl some chocolates and was wondering why she didn’t eat them. She told me, "It’s not good to have them before lunch. I’ll have them after lunch." I think she was only 5 or 6! She didn’t even have to ask her mum! That showed so much self-control for a little one.
I’ve been wrestling with this for the longest time last year and finally made a decision to start this year. I know that there’ll be a lot of trial and error along the way and I’m doing it with fear and trembling. I’m not sure if I can be disciplined enough especially when school starts and all the travelling starts again. But as I put in my order for the Sonlight P3/4 curriculum that I’m getting for this year, I felt the Lord saying "just try". So that’s what I’m gonna do. No harm trying right? I’m a good starter but not a very good finisher so this will be a great challenge! Gonna trust God and keep on going. Pls pray that the Lord will inspire me and give me strength!