In some places homeschooling is not allowed. In some places it is highly regulated. In other places there are minimum state standards or no standards. The United States is a hodgepodge from no regulations to strict regulations. In Germany homeschooling is illegal! Homeschooling is slowing becoming a popular educational option for families in Singapore. Homeschooling is legal in Singapore and can be requested from the Ministry of Education. Children under the homeschooling scheme will need to follow the same curriculum for their specific grade level and sit for their Primary School Leaving Examinations.
Methods for Homeschooling
There are many paths to take in setting up your homeschooling curricula should you (and your child) decide that homeschooling is for you:
The Eclectic Method
- Your child is not accountable to any educational authority.
- This method perhaps best suits either a parent who is super organized or a child who is a very asynchronous learner.
How this method works – your child could enroll in a couple of online courses, take classes with language tutors daily, read, watch educational videos or documentaries on YouTube or TV, attend art classes and do science experiments or cooking projects in the family kitchen.
The School in a Box Method
- A regulated method that ensures your child meets the guidelines set by your educational authority.
- Once enrolled in this type of homeschooling program, you will receive the entire curriculum by mail.
- Many of these programs have strict deadlines for completions and you will send your child’s work back to them for feedback and marking purposes.
- This method would suit those wanting to give homeschooling their best shot, as all of the guidance and materials are provided.
Taking the Decision: opt to Homeschooling
Not every parent and child ‘set-out’ to take the homeschooling path. For many parents, it can be a difficult decision to make but a decision that helps their child. Some parents say that their child simply did not fit in and was unhappy in school, therefore homeschooling has seen their child become a happier learner. Some children are known as ‘gifted learners’ yet go unrecognized at school so homeschooling can be a wonderful path to see your child soar and go above and beyond the school ‘expectation levels’.
I have a friend who homeschools her eldest daughter. She didn’t take this decision to homeschool lightly, truly wanting the traditional school model to work. Yet, when she realized her daughter needed something different, she jumped right in and decided to learn while she was doing it. By homeschooling, my friend’s daughter was mastering algebra long before it would have been presented to her in school and is way ahead of the standard levels for her age in earth sciences.
Being honest, homeschooling is something I have thought about for my child – moving country and starting new schools is not easy and I had thought taking our homeschooling program along with us on our travels would have been easier for them. Unfortunately, I never considered neither myself nor my children organized or committed enough to make it work for us. I think homeschooling is difficult and something that needs lots of considering before taking that learning path. Though if both you and your child are considering homeschooling I do believe there are many advantages to it.
