Last Saturday we were invited to give a talk to a group of mostly young couples (with 1 to 2 kids.) We didn’t like it, being there among these young couples …  somehow they made us feel older..with 4 kids. Just kidding!  (Coach Sha suddenly wanted to have another four!)

They wanted us to talk about Homeschooling. That almost made us feel like an authority lah kiranya…we thought of making it academic, you know ..with the facts and figures and researches etc, but we decided against that and we came up with something that’s very close to us…our Casa-Escuela. Past, present and future.

So, habis semua photos of our kids keluar yang melibatkan aktiviti2 bukan sekolah. From ‘main korek tanah’ to a trip to hardware store to smelling kelapa sawit.

Glad to be the ones to introduce them to HS. There were about 25 couples and when we asked “siapa yang berminat nak HS anak?”….a handful of hands went up.  *takbir!*

Antara syarat-syarat penyertaan HS:

1. Set your goal :

Kita nak anak jadi apa? Nak jadi ‘A’ scorer? Nak jadi 4-flatter? Nak jadi high flier? atau simply nak jadi manusia berguna kepada agama, bangsa dan negara. Once you know where you want to go, it’s easier to find the way.

For us, we based our approach on the most basic of all, Quran.  When the foundation is strong, inshaallah everything will be OK.

Shhh..Don’t tell the kids but we plan to send them to Tahfiz school when they’re 13. Training future huffaz seriously is beyond our expertise…so harus diserah pada yang pakar.

2. Either one must be self-employed:

Or like us, both are self-employed (dalam kata lain, we work for one another together *how redundant!*).  This allows the kids to follow us wherever we go. The MAIN concept of HS is one of the two must be with the kids as much as possible. We believe that if we can achieve financial independence, HS will be the best ‘education’ method for them.

Musa SHOE-less at KLCC!

3.  Teamwork:

If only the mom or the dad gets excited to HS ..it’s not going to work. Both must be a good team. Humans get tired.  Humans get frustrated.  Humans get mad.  So, it’s VERY USEFUL and SENSIBLE to form a good teamwork between husband and wife.  Apa yang penting? KERJASAMA…so at the end of the day, when the job’s done, we can celebrate with …CELERY!! Yeaaa!!!

4. Passion for learning:

Orang Islam dah maklum konsep IQRA’. HS memang teramat-sangat memerlukan parents belajaq.  Dalam kata lain kena baca lah….Readers are leaders.  One thing we discovered is that the more we want to teach our kids the more we must LEARN….best betul.

Contoh: Nak suruh anak hafal Juz A’mma, Abi must hafal too. As of now, the father is leading with Surah ‘Abasa, Muhammad At-Takwir, Musa Al-Infitar. (kelihatan Umi mengelat..)

5. Creative and Resourceful

Not the artwork kind of creativity here. Creative in finding solutions to problems. Creative in experimenting new ways to make kids understand something. Always on the lookout for new ideas and approaches to make it different from mainstream schooling. I always bear in mind that, I must never make it the same like the school teaching.

having a BIG van helps too

6. Networking

Parents must have friends from various fields and make those friends your kids’ friends too. At the same time let them build their own network with children their age.  Some people accuse HS as a socialization ‘killer’ saying that homeschoolers won’t be able to communicate well with people when they grow up. We beg to differ.  It’s a long way to go… to make our kids interact well with people of all ages.  But HS gives them a head start.  Slowly…and surely, InshaAllah.

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As a token of appreciation (how nice!) the committee gave us some chocolates sponsored by coklathalal.com (yummylicious) and Al-Quran with word by word translation. MashaAllah!  Fantastic!

p/s:  We plan to do a nationwide program on this, traveling all over the country sharing with people about HS.  Join the club!