Homeschool? Unschool?

The other day when I was sitting outside our home whilst watching our toddler play her scooter around the compound, out came my neighbour with her 2-yo son. 

We exchanged greetings and she said "We're late for school" as she smiled and walked towards the basement car park with her 2-yo son who was sipping milk-to-go from his bottle.

I know of another neighbour who sends her 3-yo daughter to school as well on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 

I looked at my daughter and thought to myself. 

Oh wow, these mothers are sending their kids to school at a pretty early age. 

Of course, it got me on a guilt trip somehow for not sending mine to pre-school. 

Thing is, I stay home to look after my child and after scouting around for information on fees for pre-school, my heart just sank. 

It's expensive especially if we only have one breadwinner in the household. 

So I started Googling and following FB groups on homeschooling.

One article which I found quite interesting, especially if one is not familiar with the word unschool, explains in depth what unschooling is all about:


The Beginner's Guide to Unschooling

I'm determined to find out more information on this and I've even planned a schedule /routine just to guide me on what to do with my toddler during specific time blocks in the day. 

It doesn't need to be precise to the minute. Allow flexibility especially since you're working with a toddler :D

Actually, all the things that we have been doing with our daughter IS part of her education which they call 'unschool' and things like doing house chores or washing dishes or even the laundry are categorized under 'life skills'. 

True enough, I stumbled upon a montessori that shared pictures of their activities via FB where the kids learn to wash dishes and put them away etc. 

- Montessori a Day Challenge -

One resourceful website, Patchwork Cactus , encourages parents to bring montessori education into the comforts of the home. One activity is to complete the 31 tasks listed above and document it via IG / Twitter / FB using #pcmontessoriaday

I thought to myself. 

Every child is unique, hence their growth and development is unique too. 

So are their learning styles / learning pace and even their interests. 

They may be interested in one thing now but on an entirely different thing at a later point.  

If I can do these things with my daughter and impart knowledge to her along the way or learn things together since I have the time, I'd be able to save the money from being spent on pre-school and use that money to buy learning aids and other resources.

I'm sure there are many people who may look on homeschooling as a hindrance to the child's socialization skills etc. 

Homeschool does not mean that a child purely stays at home and not mix around with other people or is prohibited from going out.

That definitely beats the purpose of having a parent educate their child at home. 

The values and knowledge the parent wishes to impart or gain together with the child may come in many forms and the exposure level is different too.

Trips to the library in doing research (apart from the Internet), visits to the zoo or museums, going to the supermarket and looking up and comparing prices or how to choose poultry or vegetables, having play date sessions with kids from other families (both homeschooled or non-homeschooled) and the list can go on and on and on. 

Even if a parent brings their child to work (ie runs a business), the child can observe how a business is run or how to build rapport with customers or how to make business decisions etc

Homeschool allows the child to learn on survival skills too ie knowing how to prepare meals or clean up after meals, making the bed, doing the laundry, cleaning up a mess, etc. 

Interacting with other people of all ages can be learnt by observing how their parent interacts with others and the most important thing is how to respect other people of different faiths and embrace differences. 

Are homeschoolers an entirely different species altogether? 

Studies have shown they're no different than kids who actually go to school, perhaps score higher in the measurements below: 

Source: http://www.home-school.com/

The Internet is an amazing place to source for ideas on activities as they have an abundance of information, free printables and even other parents / guardians sharing their experience on homeschooling.

We're pretty new at this but strongly believe that we can do this! :)