Lonely

Of late, i am increasingly feeling lonely in my homeschooling journey. It seems really hard to find like minded moms in my circle of friends.

When i briefly share with them what i do with N, i get negative vibes. In their eyes, i am pushing N too hard academically speaking and they often tell me to 'just let him be'. They are so called 'experienced' moms who have older children or more than one or they're mostly 5 years older than me. They cannot accept that a 1 year old child can read & recognise words; they think its absurd to teach maths to a 3 year old child. It's hard to share with them what we do at home without getting discouraging feedback. To them, i should focus just on bringing him up to be independent and character building.

Sometimes talking to them makes me feel perhaps, just maybe, i've truly chosen the wrong path? Honestly, i don't know how all these will turn out when N hit Primary school. Would it REALLY help him- as many researchers says? Or would it backfire? I wish i can fast forward time!

But what i know now that it is quite evident that children can learn just about anything that we teach  them & quite effortlessly. Anything they learn within this window period would most likely stick onto their brains permanently- for life perhaps. And i know N is not finding all these learning a chore; instead he is so hungry for them & always eager.

What my friends do not know is that i don't homeschool everyday, every hour. In fact, my teaching time is usually done impromptu. For instance, in the midst of our playing, i'd stick out my fingers and ask N '5 plus 3 equals?'. He counts & gives me the answer. That's it! Few minutes later, i'd just casually ask him, without the fingers this time, & he promptly gives me the answer. There, that completes my homeschooling for the day!

They don't realise that i don't pursue homeschooling blindly; i don't force N to do it. I always, always follow his lead. Whatever interest him, i'll steer our direction there. I have been teaching him to read, add and geography only because he shows deep interest in them and has a flair for them. It's because he is interested, he learnt so quickly- almost instantly in most cases and that spurred me to keep feeding him with more knowledge in his interested areas. It's like my friends who's kids love to play legos and has talent in creative building. So what do they do? Buy more legos to fuel on their interest, to encourage them in this area. It's the same for me, just that my son happens to like academic learning.

I am not the typical 'kiasu' Singaporean parent who insist on sending my kid to top schools or to varying enrichment classes. I see no need to join the rat race. My aim is to have N learn at his own pace and in a happy environment.

While i am always eager to share with my friends my passion, i think i'll just keep it really brief and go along with the flow until i can find like minded friends. For now, i'll just share it online on my blog!