Yes, the dreaded “T” word in our Singapore context.
(Post Updated 2nd December 2017)
Tuition in Our Homeschool
And yes, we do send our children for tuition in our homeschool. We start Chinese tuition from K1, and Science and Maths Tuition at Primary 5. (Our oldest started at Primary 6 because I thought I could handle Primary 6 Maths. I was probably delusional!) At the moment, English is the only subject they do not have tuition for.
In case you are wondering, I am not ashamed that I have need of it in our homeschool. However, there are people who seem to think that homeschooling means having to do everything on our own. No extra help allowed.
I was totally taken aback when a friend said she felt “betrayed and let down” when she found out that we send our children for tuition.
Seriously?!
Being Practical & Realistic
I am being practical and realistic here. As I have written before in Homeschool FAQs, I do not want our children to be penalised for not answering questions in the format that is expected, or for missing out keywords the examiner is looking for.
We do not have teacher friends or relatives who can share with us the format/keywords, which changes every time they update the syllabus (which happens every 2 years or so). So whilst my children have the information, they do not know the structure the answers need to be in to score full marks.
Learning HOW to Answer to Score
That is what tuition is used for in our homeschool. Learning the HOW of answering questions so that the child does not lose marks unnecessarily.
And, to put it bluntly, if public-schooled kids under trained teachers need tuition, what more homeschooled children? As we are always told – we are not trained! 😀
If your child is in school, the teacher would have taught him the format and keywords usage that is expected of him. Since we do not have this insider knowledge, we pay for it. 😀 And the Lord has graciously provided for us. So we will proceed on this path unless directed otherwise.
Using Tuition as a Tool and Resource
So there you go, tuition is one of the many tools/resources that we use in our homeschool. Use it in your homeschool if you need it or you have to. There’s no need to take a more difficult path when there is an easier path laid out and given to you. And if you don’t need it, that’s great!
We are not homeschooling to prove that homeschooling is better than public school. In fact, I believe that if strong academics is the goal, public school is more equipped to provide it than my homeschool. 🙂
But we are homeschooling because that is what the Lord has impressed upon our hearts to do. You can read about our decision to homeschool in Why do we homeschool?, one of the very first articles I posted here. There are many ways to homeschool and this is our way for this season.
Maths and Science
In case you are wondering, we send our children to Perceptum Maths and Perceptum Science for Maths and Science, respectively, and have been since 2009. Do note that despite the similarity of their names, they are two different and separate entities.
Chinese
Our Chinese tutor has been with us since 2001 as she was David and Sarah’s pre-school teacher from the now-defunct Vineyard Montessori School. Lao Shi is currently one of the co-founders at Children’s Vineyard. She has not only helped 5 of our children clear PSLE, she has also helped David and Sarah clear O level Chinese. But she did tell me that she worries about the last 2! Lol!
We love our tutors and are grateful for them. The Lord knows what I am weak in and has provided us with these lovely teachers to help us. We are just grateful.
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