Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Announcement on 9 Oct 2014.
How do you nurture gifted children? How do you recognise their giftedness and support their journey?
This year’s Gifted Asia 2014 Conference features a host of luminaries, including a first-person testimony by teenage music prodigy 14-year old Megan Loh. Sign up early and be inspired.
GIFTED ASIA 2014 CONFERENCE
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Homeschooler Profile; Wordpress on 8 Oct 2014.
On top of the list of priorities for a homeschooling family is the nurture of values. 15-year old Eliza Tan shares how her own journey as a homeschooled daughter of parents Joseph and Debra Tan enriched her as a person and a Christian teen.
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MY HOMESCHOOLING JOURNEY By Eliza Tan
MY HOMESCHOOLING JOURNEY STARTED WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD. I originally went to kindergarten and attended a private school. When my parents first took me out of school, I admit, I was hesitant about homeschooling at first and kind of resentful at my parents for, I thought, taking me away from my friends.
But if there’s one thing homeschooling has taught me, it’s delayed gratification. I am now 15, and looking back, I realize that I was getting influenced by my school friends, and not in a good way. Although my parents weren’t satisfied with the education system, I would say our homeschooling decision wasn’t that much academic, but it was made mainly to develop my biblical worldview, my values, and my character. It’s not impossible for a public schooler to build strong character, and it isn’t easy to do that in homeschooling either. But in homeschooling, you get more one on one time and you’re able to monitor more aspects of your children’s interaction especially at a young age—of course not bordering on over-protection.
For example, my parents realized that social media is a great influence, and when I was younger, I wasn’t allowed as much freedom as I have today. Now I understand why I had to wait for that freedom, because earlier, I would’ve made a lot of mistakes and be unnecessarily exposed online without my parent’s protection. My parents have taught me how to use media in an edifying way. I definitely appreciate that they don’t give me full freedom all at once before I’m able to handle it, but gradually release it more and more when I’m ready.
Homeschooling has also brought us a lot closer as a family. We get to spend much more time together, do more projects together, and we share our struggles with each other. So often, kids are closer to their friends than their own family and siblings. It’s often saddening to see kids and teenagers seek advice from people just as lost as them and shun the people who love them most. I’m not saying that I’ve not been guilty of that, but spending more time in conversation with my parents has made me open up a lot and also ask and take their advice more easily. I’m very close to my sister, too. We’ve actually done two movies together, and we’re working on another one now. I can see that my parent’s teaching and the time they’ve invested into building a strong parent-child relationship has protected me from certain downfalls in regard to compromising on my values and giving in to the influence of unnecessary peer pressure.
Currently, I’m attending an online Christian school based in America called The Potter’s School (or TPS). “Potter” refers to the Potter and the clay, not Harry Potter. TPS offers live classes—classes happening in real time. I’ve been in TPS for two years now, and I finished my second year of high school, the American Grade 10, in May. The unique thing about them is that they teach from a strong biblical worldview, and not without professionalism. Their classes, in addition to my parents’ teaching, have revealed to me how God relates to every area of life, and I am very grateful for that.Right now I’m taking a classical high school course with TPS that follows the classical method of education, and I’ve found that very beneficial. Being classical, my assignments are full of reading tons of primary sources and my classes have greatly stretched my thinking. My Starting Points worldview class helped me in understanding more about Christian doctrine and theology, deepening my faith, and having a fuller comprehension of God. Classes like my logic and literature class have also expanded my thinking and further developed my literary and writing skills.
TPS has very strict due dates and schedules, too, so no slacking and allowance for late assignment submissions except in the case of an emergency. They also make sure the parents stay informed and involved because they believe that parents have the primary responsibility for their children’s education. TPS is one of the methods you can use for a curriculum. There are a lot of other curriculums out there; you can even mix and match. Over time, my parents have adjusted the curriculums I take to suit my needs and my learning style. I love the fact that TPS classes are live because I like the interaction with my teacher and classmates. And from here, I’ll just take it on to my next point.
One of the most frequently asked questions to homeschoolers is “how do you have friends?” I think there is a misunderstanding in the applied assumption here: being homeschooled doesn’t mean we stay in the house all the time, and just because we don’t see our friends everyday doesn’t mean we’re isolated from society. There are a few extremes. There’s over ‘protection:’ no exposure and no training in this area, and there’s the other extreme of having too many activities. I think the misunderstanding also lies in the definition of socialization. Many people don’t realize it, but their definition most often is spending time with people around your own 
age. Often in school, children follow the crowd—it’s hard to have their own opinion and stand up for their faith because of the pressure to fit in. In real socialization, children should, instead, be able to interact with people of all ages. This causes them to grow and prepares them for the adult world, where not everyone is the same age. With homeschooling and homeschooling communities, the great advantage is that children get to mix with people of other ages, and not just stick to their own age group.
Especially in the early years when we were more vulnerable, my parents protected us by carefully selecting the right types of friends and groups for us, and by helping us to develop the right mindset through teaching us how to stand alone and to avoid bad company. My parents have also taught us to want friends not so that we can be popular, fit in, or to fulfil our own self-interests, but to focus on serving others and putting their interests first in relationships.
1 Corinthians 15:33 says, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” That doesn’t necessarily mean segregation, but certainly calls for wisdom. Hebrews5:14says, “…solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”My parents have really guided me in this area of discernment by discussing things with us around the dinner table, during family devotions, and often in the car. We’d talk about current issues, the Bible, books, problems, and so on all from a Christian perspective because the Bible is relevant in the world today.
For instance, movies are a great, great influence. Most of the time, mainstream movies don’t have biblical morals and messages. My parents used to review movies before showing them to us, if they decided it was appropriate enough. After the movie, we’d have discussions on what we thought about it—what we think is the worldview and the message of the movie. The discussions shaped and sharpened my thinking, and Itruly appreciated that. Nowadays, I usually research on a movie before we decide whether to watch it or buy the DVD. And this filtering goes with all other things too, like books, music, and so on. I didn’t agree with a lot of my parents’ views in the past, I thought they were being too strict sometimes, but now I seriously see the repercussions of viewing an inappropriate movie, for example. It’s not that we don’t watch every movie we don’t agree with—sometimes it really is that bad that we don’t watch it at all—but sometimes we decide it’s okay to view it if we process and filter the movie’s message and worldview. I think conversation in the household is vital to building strong relationships. My parents have encouraged me to open up by providing a safe environment to ask questions and discuss any issue at all.
Personally, my interests are in biblical worldview and media, namely photography and film. I’m very excited to see how I can blend the two together in areas such as Christian films and documentaries, and taking photos with a message. My homeschooling experience has inspired me to have the right motivation and focus for my interests. My parents have also coached me in the process of discovering my purpose and calling, not just in career, but being secure in my identity in Christ and understanding how God created me, knowing my strengths, and learning how I can make an impact. Homeschoolers may very well end up in the same careers as non-homeschoolers, but we have more time and opportunities to develop a life message, a purpose, and a calling.
Homeschooling isn’t a magic pill; it’s not an end in itself, but a helpful means to an end—our ultimate end of glorifying God through our lives – in our thoughts, words, deeds, attitudes, and relationships. It’s not a guarantee that with homeschooling, your family will definitely grow closer, your kids will definitely know how to converse with people of any age, and your kids will be super smart with superior education—of course not. But in homeschooling, you have a greater chance to influence your child’s life by the choices you make and the steps you take. But of course, in order to take the rest of the steps, you have to take the first.
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Eliza Tan is 15 and has been homeschooled for seven years. She has just completed her second year of high school (Grade 10) with The Potter’s School, an online Christian school. Her ambition is to attend a Christian college in the US. Eliza enjoys photography, videography, and researching issues related to apologetics. Eliza is the eldest daughter of Joseph and Debra Tan. Joseph is the Principal Consultant of Good Monday Consulting and a certified Character First trainer. He also heads Answers Academy, in association with Answers in Genesis.
Other Homeschooler Profiles you might be interested in are found here:
Joshua Kam
Clarissa
Petrina
Brian
Cherish
Ethan
Rachel
Jian Eu
Jianwen
Balakrishna
Samantha Soon
From homeschool to O Levels
Yao-ban
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Homeschool; Homeschooler Profile on 1 Oct 2014.
THERE’S NO EASY WAY TO DESCRIBE HOW A HOMESCHOOLING CHILD LEARNS, OR HOW HIS PARENTS TEACH. More than methods and techniques – and certainly more than a set curriculum – it is a mindset, driven by an inner conviction that children are natural learners, that they will learn if you let them. Continuing Part 6 of our homeschooling story, our oldest son Ethan offers a backward glance at a journey that ended when he graduated (and got married) last December, 2013.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING WHAT YOU DON’T LOVE
Homeschooling allowed me the freedom to pursue my interests. It taught me that learning was done best when there was passion. Passion, or interest, became the guiding light in my life. And that made me an awful student.
Consider the two wasted years my parents sent my brother and me to Mandarin classes. We spoke English at home, at church, with our friends, and all our learning was in English. I suspect we went anyway because society expected Chinese to speak Chinese, and homeschoolers are prone to peer pressure too.
I remember our beleaguered Mandarin tutor, a college student making some extra money, who tried to motivate clearly unmotivated students with every trick in the book: affirmation, scolding, little treats and little breaks (my brother and I shattered one of his lamps during one of our little breaks). However, what impressed me the most by far were his earnest attempts to convince us that we needed to learn Mandarin because it would help us do business with China, a growing economic powerhouse.The ten year-old me had no intention of doing business with China.
When I was eleven, there was a ballet school in town that began offering free ballet lessons to boys for the first year – due to a complete lack of male enrollment. It seemed like good fun at the time. My brother and I began our lessons along with three other boys: two homeschoolers and one non-homeschooler, united in the understanding that the best things in life were free. When we strapped on our form-fitting dance pants, ballet shoes, white t-shirts, and pranced about the dance studio for the first time, and all the girls stood by and giggled, blushed, pointed at us, something glowed within our tiny chests.
The ballet instructors greeted our prancing about with joy, and all that positive reinforcement worked. We were hooked. So once a week, our mothers shuttled us to the ballet school. As the weeks became months, it became evident our benevolent ballet instructors were not content to allow us to have much more fun. When my brother and I revealed we weren’t interested in doing the exam, much less continuing ballet the next year, our ballet instructor’s face was one of unsurprised disappointment.
Another soul unfortunate enough to have me as a student was my piano teacher, who drilled into my head the importance of playing three pieces every year to pass a music exam. I didn’t start learning the piano with such curiosity and enthusiasm because I wanted to pass music exams. Why continue learning the piano if that was all there was to it, then? Waning interest made my fingers stiff, cold, and the thin, stern line that was her mouth sometimes parted to announce I was lazy. The lessons became this inexplicable hole in the 
space-time continuum where time took forever to pass. I’m sure my piano teacher felt the same way. I quit after barely passing the grade five exam. To this day I have an irrational dislike for classical music.
I had imbibed, perhaps too much, the philosophy of pursuing my interests. I didn’t learn anything I didn’t want to learn. What was worthwhile was what I was interested in. Discipline as it was known to my peers – schedules, homework, tuition – didn’t work for me. The time tables we drew up never stuck because, for one, I never knew when I’d wake up in the morning. And because our days were largely unpredictable. I did what schoolwork we had whenever I would. People used to tell my parents, or me if they felt like being honest, that I’d have a hard time in college (at least the nice ones assumed I was going to go to college).
When I think now about what I learned, and how I learned what I learned, I feel amazingly lucky that I learned anything at all. When my brother and I were really young, seems like six or seven, my dad imposed a year-long ban on computer games and television because we hadn’t finished our dinner one night. We were young enough to not know to be outraged. And we were young enough to not know to cheat. So, being homeschoolers, we were stuck at home every day without the privilege of computer games or television.
In a desperate attempt to get through the day, we picked up the books about the house. We read. And read and read. We read so much that by the end of the year, we didn’t feel like we’d been deprived of anything. That was when I began reading, and nothing has been the same since. Over the years, what was important wasn’t just that my parents bought books. It was that they read those books with us. It was that we read widely, voraciously. We could talk about books, the ideas within the books, the characters within the books, and often without meaning to, we were learning.
I remember writing in my journal, putting down my thoughts about the day, for years thinking I could be as great a journalist as Anne Frank, simply because mom and dad had given me the book when I was six and told me I ought to write something every day. I loved writing, recording, thinking, forming sentences, playing with words. I needed no prompting to continue. I blogged furiously, ridiculously so in retrospect, when I was a teenager. I wrote about books, movies, music, politics, theology – it became a digital journal that other people could read. Writing became a way of processing my own thoughts in the presence of others. And so I learned to write.
With the drums, my parents gave me an incredible amount of support to pursue that earsplitting passion. I took lessons. I practiced on pillows, the floor, my knees. My mom diligently drove me to church at least twice a week: once or twice for practice, and once for the lesson. She did that for a couple of years until my parents made the ultimate sacrifice and brought the harbinger of noise – a drum set – to my room. My family loved me. And so did our neighbors. We didn’t get a single complaint. 
One day several years later, my drum teacher told me I was the first student, in all his years teaching, to have made it this far, to have learned everything he could impart. He wanted to prepare me for the final drum exam. I prepared for it, but not for long, not before I thought I didn’t need an exam to tell me I was a drummer. I pulled out of the final exam, and with that, with a warm, final handshake, my drum lessons came to an end. Now, I wish I had taken that exam. The exam might not have told me I was a drummer, but it might have told me what I was made of. The teenage me didn’t want to find out.
So how did that teenager cope when he got to college? This being a liberal arts college, there were a bunch of classes I had to take whether I cared to or not, classes like Life Science, Wellness for Life, and College Algebra. In that sense, yes, I did have a hard time in college. I struggled every night to do simple algebra homework. I pulled all-nighters to get research done. I got busy with busywork (this is not to say I didn’t enjoy plenty of other classes, especially the English and Political Science ones). I was motivated by a powerful fear of failure, responsibility, knowing my parents had forked over a small fortune to get me through college. In short, college taught me to do what I didn’t love.
Now that I have graduated from college, it all feels like much ado about nothing. I graduated with a 3.9 GPA from Hardin-Simmons University, with degrees in English and Political Science. I was never late to class, and the only time I missed a class was when I was stranded in Washington, D.C., during a Model U.N. conference when Hurricane Sandy struck. I wasn’t merely a goody-two-shoes within the classroom, though. I was also an editor for the school paper, the vice president of the International Student Fellowship, had a student worker job in the university’s Media Relations office, and played percussion with the Cowboy Band.
My senior year, I dropped by a theology professor’s office to pick up my final paper, and he asked me to sit down and talk for a bit. He wanted to know more about who I was, where I came from, and what I thought it was that had prepared me to do well in college. I said, with little hesitation, without irony, that I felt it was homeschooling that had prepared me the best – it had prepared me to learn on my own, to not trust anyone else with anything as important as my education. He smiled thoughtfully and remarked: yes, it’s usually the homeschoolers. It’s just as well he didn’t press me for more specifics like “what did you do to prepare yourself?” or “but how did you learn that?” because I wouldn’t have known how to answer.
I still don’t.
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25-year old Ethan’s parents are founders of HOMEFRONTIER David and Sook Ching Tan. Ethan graduated with degrees in Political Science and English at Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, last December 14, and married Katie on the same day.
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Extra-curricular Activities; Science on 2 Sep 2014.
BY ALL ACCOUNTS, THE RECENTLY CONCLUDED HOMESCHOOL SCIENCE FAIR WAS A ROARING SUCCESS. The crowd was encouragingly large and supportive. If you follow the conversation on Facebook as well as the photos uploaded, you will get a pretty good picture of what an enthusiastic bunch of parents and kids can do when given the opportunity.
The fact that most of the participants at the Fair were children under 12 years speaks volumes! These are kids who are educated at home, unschoolers from various backgrounds, whose parents are ordinary Malaysians (and blessed with extraordinary passion and conviction). Thank you Florence and Martha, for organising this outstanding event. Well done, all of you – organisers and homeschooling parents and kids.
FLORENCE WONG (Co-organiser)
I have been homeschooling for more than 6 years. Our son Reese loves science, but I noticed there were hardly any science activities among homeschoolers. So 2 years ago, I set up a science co-op. Then I met Martha who felt we should both organise a Homeschool Science Fair, and as they say, the rest is history.
Over 12 projects were exhibited, from forensic science to astronomy. Our children learned many invaluable skills working on their projects for the fair. Besides increasing their interest in science, they learned project management, presentation skills, and how to interact with visitors. Some enterprising homeschoolers made science kits for sale too. Most participating parents felt that it was a worthwhile effort as it encouraged our children to explore science more seriously. I hope to make this fair an annual event besides developing other science related activities for our community of homeschoolers.
AMY DELPH (Participating parent)
My daughter Katelynn participated in the Homeschool Science Fair with her topic on crystals and how they grow. It was a very powerful experience that I feel allows for a more meaningful and integrated approach to learning that stretches a child’s abilities in a fun and exhilarating way.
Besides science and public speaking, there’s writing reports and informative text, you learn how to do research, graphing results and calculating costs and expenditure, how to make eye-catching information displays, and how to attract people to your stall to try the activities and buy your merchandise.
And then the opportunities – requests for more crystal merchandise and crystal making workshops. Katelynn could probably start a business! To be honest, we did very little of anything beyond this project those six weeks leading to the Fair. Looking back at all the skills we were learning (and I’m sure I’ve left out many more) I don’t think we needed to!
AMY WAN-RATOS (Parent, visitor)
I went to the Homeschool Science Fair with my two children and we had a great time! We did the whole works – from reading all the research boards, heated Q & A with the exhibitors, shopping for science merchandise. Lea was most fascinated with the DNA display (she’s a fan of NCIS), while Mayern loved the crystals. Meeting familiar homeschool moms and their children gave us some good contacts to follow up. My children definitely want to be participants and exhibitors next year!
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Homeschooler Profile on 14 Aug 2014.
Joshua is an eighteen-year-old history buff, amateur writer, and a massive Regina Spektor fanboy. He’s a Christian -albeit a surly, often skeptical one: suspicious of churches but increasingly in love with Christ. He’ll be studying at Hope College, MI. come the fall. When he’s not writing/procrastinating, he enjoys Doctor Who marathons, good cheese, and Simon and Garfunkel. He can’t drive yet, but desperately wants a license to drive a sleigh dragged by a resurrected woolly mammoth through subarctic Siberia someday.
Here’s his story.
THOUGHTS OF AN (ALMOST) GRADUATED HOMESCHOOLER
By Joshua Kam
Huzzah! I’ve almost graduated. The pre-exam-cramming has been crammed, the awful tests have been sat, and the gor-awful after-exam anticlimax has wadded awkwardly in my gut like a black hole. I stand mere inches from completing Marine Bio – yay – to the last class of the year. It’s strange -half of me kept thinking that I still had so much time, and the other couldn’t believe it’s already gone. I felt vaguely like someone who’s misread a map and almost stepped off El Gran Canyon.
To be frank though, that was pretty much the same feeling Mom and I harbored in our throats when we began. I was seven, more than a little traumatized from kindergarten, and determined to be a chef and a Wycliffe Bible translator and a paleontologist all at once. Needless to say I’d always found it hard to fit in. Not because I was particularly smarter than the folk in class -I was just eccentric, I suppose. 
But on that first day in homeschool, I plonked myself down with Mom for three pages of science and a bite of arithmetic. The problems were neatly encased in colorful ostriches; I had a vague sense that we were on an adventure of some kind – but to where and to what end I had no clue.
The answer to that came years later as we slowly ironed out the kinks of learning at home. The lovely thing about homeschool is that everything is porous -real life glides into academic work. Class times seep in and out of everything else we have on our plate. You could be playing checkers when your Mom calls you out to study a mantis, sketch its mandibles clumsily on a notepad.
You might be in the middle of science when annoyingly you’re called out to deal with laundry. Was nothing sacred? Couldn’t we do something in its own box in its own time? Now, glancing back into those years, I’m glad Mom imparted something different to me: you don’t box up real life.
This porosity, of course, also creates challenges of its own. Time management was always an issue for me. I did occasionally zone out of my long division problems when chapters of Tolkien called my name. And I do harbor an awkward habit of humming the LOTR soundtrack when I’m working on science. Ask my brother. But I don’t know where I’d be without learning from the integrative approach Mom took to Life, the Universe, and Everything Else.
I should clarify. 
Homeschooling, the idea of doing school at home -occasionally in my PJs- has all but ended for me. But Home Schooling -the practice of bringing what you learn into every other pocket of your lifestyle, of knocking down the walls between intellectual notions and ‘Real Life’; of weaving everything you know into everything you believe: that stays. And I hope it always stays. I can think of a lot of brilliant folks with PhDs and more achievements on their resumes, but I really can’t imagine anyone more equipped to impart this to me than my mother.
I must add -I did actually find friends. No, not always the loudest friends, or the most facetiously confident. I found people with quiet souls and still hands, but with deep, fierce compassions and minds like sharpened blades. This is just my clause/charm to ward off awkward questions of my societal maladjustment. Heh.
The rest – the flurry of college searching, SAT-sitting, online-classes – all of that was tricky. For a while we were wringing our hands over transcripts, and course descriptions. How would we create a resume? And what on earth would I do for those college admission essays?
In the end, I decided to write about being an estuary -a place where the river and the sea meets. Because my entire education and life had been just that kind of negotiation: adjusting from my hometown to KL, adjusting to homeschooling over the years. I wrote about the eclectic mix of things I studied – Russian lit with Chinese poetry, Japanese tankas with the Great American Novels. I also described things I’d done outside of actual school -acting troupes we’d joined/directed, clubs we participated in.
It took two years of premature balding and dandruff before we finally landed on a quiet, welcoming campus that was more than willing to accept homeschoolers. We did have to jump a couple more hoops -partially in describing my courses. But I think that for a lot of colleges/unis (mine was abroad) they want to see what a homeschooler can do outside of his/her study room. Frankly, that’s the sort of thing that homeschoolers seem to excel. 
To parents who are just starting to homeschool their kids -the ones forever peppered by relatives asking, “Are your kids socialized?”- I hope I’m not too presumptuous in saying you’re doing the right thing. It takes chutzpah to tell people you teach your children: that you have your own way of seeing the world and want to impart it to your kids.
It takes chutzpah for a kid to explain to grown-ups that s/he really does have friends, and that they go for movies and fieldtrips, and, scandalously, the occasional chaste date, just like regular Malaysians do. It takes chutzpah doing something new, when in your head (and your parents’ heads) you sometimes just don’t know where this is going, if all these were a stepping stone to something better.
Some months my family was just hoarse with “discussing” whether homeschooling was viable for us. Some months we were just so ready to burn our math books the day I graduated. Our little road to Damascus was rarely lit with bolts of heaven’s shine. Or pillars of fire. The inspiration – and the gratitude- came very slowly, and rather prosaically, like brewed tea. But hot dang, I am glad we made the trip.
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Homeschool; Math on 22 Jul 2014.
Part 4 was a peek at how language arts featured in our literacy lessons. In this 5th installment, our son Elliot writes about learning numbers and math. If you have just popped in, you can catch up on our family’s homeschooling journey by checking out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
LEARNING THE 3RS: Elliot discovers numeracy
It is one of those hot, muggy Malaysian nights when Dad asks how we learnt our numbers. I shrug, and say that Mom taught us, of course. This is something painfully obvious, but he persists in asking. But how did we learn numbers? How did ones and twos and threes suddenly become something beyond scratches on a piece of paper? Mom looks at me and I look back at her. Math books? I hazard. Mom mutters something about looking at price tags while shopping. Multiplication tables? I mean, numbers don’t have a significance in our family. Words do. Words are king. I remember what the formative books of my childhood were. Formative number things? Hah.
Maybe numbers are something that just happens to you, like catching a cough or a cold. If you hang around too long with twos and fours they might start multiplying and then you are suddenly burdened with the knowledge that with the addition of a certain symbol, they equal eight. I know that at some point we became aware that numbers could interact with each other and behave in fascinating ways but as to when that point actually happened, who knows?
Some things are not meant to be questioned…
I know that numbers were never alive for me in the study room where I would sit hunched over on my chair, idly doodling on the margins of math books. They weren’t alive cross-legged in my grandparents’ house, where the stillness and quiet of the hour and the gentle creaking of the electric fan would carry my attention far from fractions and decimals. 
But we memorized our tables and dutifully repeated them anyway. We did our math-work, from yellowing Lifepac materials and hardcover Saxon math books to Singaporean syllabi. These are just things that are done to children, and questioning these traditions is like asking if one can change the colour of the sky.
The verdant rainforest is something that many can only appreciate through the safety of a thick plastic shield.Small children especially, are kept away for fear of sharp objects and things that crawl into ears and do not crawl out again.Instead children are taken to zoos and museums, where each plant and animal is labelled and classified and sterilised, with ice-cream after. It’s only now, after many years without opening a math book that I’ve begun to see the forest and not the trees. It’s only now that I wish my education in numbers began a little dirtier, and a little wormier. That might have spared me hours of discontent.
Numbers come alive in unlikely places
Numbers came to life in games and books, in the practical experiences we had (like grabbing the measuring tape and checking out the dimensions of all the furniture in the house). Games like Monopoly and Risk and Scrabble all require a fundamental knowledge of addition, subtraction and multiplication, and they taught me to recognize the patterns of basic math. Books like Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth introduced mathematical concepts such as fractions and infinity with charming aplomb.
Numbers were alive to me in the counting down of the hours until Dad came home from work. Or in the hurt that PINKIES was definitely not a word and that the seventy-six points my Aunt made was distinctly unfair, never mind what the dictionary said. I remember choosing, when my brother and I were dividing our chores, to throw the garbage on even numbered dates, knowing that there were a full seven days more of odd numbered dates for him to do work on. It was glorious in its smallness.
So, my numbers were learnt in relation to things that were not numbers. But If you really want to know where I got my numbers, I found them lying around the house. Someone had left them there, I think. How very terribly careless.
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22-year old Elliot Tan’s parents are founders of HOMEFRONTIER David and Sook Ching Tan. Elliot plays the piano in church and occasionally leads worship. When not sleeping too much for his parents’ liking, he reads and does things on the computer and occasionally writes weird things. Surprisingly and in spite of his upbringing, he scored an A for Math in his IGCSE O Levels. He was in university studying Communications for a while, but took a break and is now in the process of what people call ‘finding themselves’. He also teaches English in Frontier Learning Centre and have an affinity for potatoes.
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Announcement on 30 Jun 2014.
THE TRUTH IS there is no such thing as a “christian” homeschool. However, what we have are Christians who educate their own children in the home in very personalised ways. And no two homeschoolers are alike, because no two families are the same. But homeschoolers who choose to have their children educated at home share very similar convictions.
Join us to hear how these homeschooling parents educate their own children on the road less traveled.
REGISTRATION
RM10 per adult parent. RM5 per child above 12 years. Free for children under 12 years.
(Payable at the venue)
To register, please email names of all attendees (parents and children) and include your children’s ages to: ckeong7@gmail.com; dbctan@gmail.com
WHO WILL BE SHARING
Natalie Ng
I am 23 years old. I am currently helping my dad with admin work in the office as well as serving actively in church as a youth leader. I have 2 younger siblings as well as a 2 year old Golden Retriever named Simba who frequently teaches me patience.
Elliot Tan
I’m 22. I play the piano for my church and occasionally lead its worship. I like to read and do things on the computer and occasionally write weird things. I was in university studying Communications for a while, but took a break. I also teach English on a part time basis in Frontier Learning Centre.
Eliza Tan
I am 15 and have been homeschooled for seven years. I just completed her second year of high school (Grade 10) with The Potter’s School, an online Christian school, and I aim to attend a Christian college in the US. I enjoy photography, videography, and researching issues related to apologetics.
Amy Wan Ratos
I am mother to Lea 14 and Mayern 12 who have been homeschooled from birth. I am a freelance corporate trainer who made an early choice not to be a tiger mom nor a kiasu mom to motivate and train my children up in God’s way.
David and Sook Ching Tan
We are the founders of HOMEFRONTIER, an informal network of Malaysian Christian families who homeschool their own children in the home. We are the parents of 2 adult sons, Ethan (24) and Elliot (22) who were both educated entirely at home until they went to college.
Alfred and Stacey Chong
We are parents to 17-year old Jemima and 16- year old Nathanael. Our journey was born out of necessity as Jemima was born with severe hearing impairment. However we also felt called to homeschool and are convinced it’s the best way to raise our children.
There will be a Q&A at the end of the presentations.
LIMITED SEATS. PLEASE SIGN UP EARLY. If you have always wondered what is homeschool and how parents educate their own children, this dialogue session is for you. If you are already homeschooling, here’s an opportunity to network and find encouragement as we learn from one another.
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Announcement; Gifted Children on 17 Jun 2014.
Are you a parent of exceptional or gifted children? If you are, do join NAGCM’s Parents Session to learn how to meet their emotional, intellectual and social needs.
National Association for Gifted Children, Malaysia (NAGCM) was established in 1987 to advocate for the needs of gifted children in Malaysia. As a non-profit, NAGCM supports parents of children with high learning potential regardless of circumstance, age and background.
Posted by DAVID BC TAN under: Homeschool on 16 May 2014.
In Part 3 of our homeschooling journey, I shared how we learned to focus on things that mattered. Part 4 is a look at how we taught our children, and this installment will touch on Literacy. If you missed the previous installments, do join our family’s homeschooling journey by checking out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
LEARNING THE 3Rs: Literacy
Homeschooling or unschooling? Imperfect labels as they are, both share a common attribute: we are our children’s main educators. While a homeschooler prefers a more structured approach with emphasis on subject mastery, an unschooler is inclined towards non-formal and naturally spontaneous learning.
There’s really no need to get hung up on terminology as there will be significant overlap whichever side of the fence you belong. Either way, there’s structure and spontaneity in varying degrees. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, what passed off as ‘education’ in our home? What about the 3Rs?
Here’s a peek at what we did when our own boys were under twelve.
Start with reading
Educators tell us a learning environment or a reading culture is vital to children becoming learners. Fortunately we were readers ourselves – books lined the walls of our home, books were our friends, bookstores our favourite hangouts. The big payoff for learning to read comes when your children read to learn. So we were pleased when our boys caught the habit earlier than later.
Initially, the standard language readers were our textbooks, but what got our boys hooked were real age-appropriate books. Picture books soon gave way to those with structurally richer sentences and vocabulary.
Two things were key: We read aloud (ending on a “to-be-continued” note), and we talked a lot (about what we’ve read). It’s hard to beat shared book reading to improve listening and comprehension skills. It’s great for family bonding too. There we were plonked down on a sofa, paying attention and waiting for one another to speak or ask a question after Mom or Dad was done reading. And we had to keep it civil, being considerate to one another while keeping interruptions to a minimum.
Writing and copywork
Once our kids graduated from their ABCs, we introduced them to writing full sentences as well as copywork. They filled up exercise books with text from storybooks, and poems. We also had them copy Bible verses such as these:
Proverbs 12:15 – The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
Proverbs 3:5-8 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.
The point was not merely writing, but understanding the ideas that words communicated. Again, that led to all kinds of conversations.
Journaling
After learning from a fellow homeschooler about journaling, I gave each boy a hardcover A5 journal. Write an entry a day, anything, any length, I said. Sometimes we offered suggestions.
When my Dad was alive, I asked them to interview their Gung-Gung. I told them he was a young man during the Japanese Occupation and oh boy, wouldn’t they love to hear about war and severed heads, how he was almost arrested at a checkpoint while smuggling cigarettes.
Once on a trip to Penang, I made a special vacation scrapbook. We looked up the internet and identified places we were visiting, and then had them write and sketch all through the trip.
In time their language blossomed. We were gratified that their daily entries were becoming more thoughtful and more varied in subject and length. What tales they recorded – their curious perspective on life, their observations on happenings in the neighbourhood, what they did with friends, how our maid Rosalie saved Elliot from choking(!), what they looked forward to.
Detours on the journey
I must confess we did not do much about grammar (not that we didn’t care), and phonics was not on our to-do list either (growing up in school, phonics wasn’t part of our syllabus then). Instead we learned when the occasion called for it, picking up verbs, tenses, parts of a sentence, letter sounds and even some Latin, like found items on a language trail.
It wasn’t all work and no play. Breaks were frequent in the Tan Homeschool and there were many detours requiring a temporary shift in priorities. That’s okay; we are allowed to be flexible. After all, it is the tree that bends in the wind that will not snap.
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Founders of HOMEFRONTIER David and Sook Ching Tan have two adult sons who were homeschooled all the way until college. Ethan (24) recently graduated and got married to a wonderful girl Katie. Elliot (22) is thinking through his options and will be down under to do creative writing before the year is up.
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