How homeschooling worked for us in Singapore

Two of our children, Syauqi and Nurin, were homeschooled for part of their primary school years. We called our home school Baiti Madrasati. Homeschooling is never a solo journey. For us it was a group of mothers and families, each taking on different responsibilities and doing things together.

Getting approval

It starts with getting approval from MOE, and in our experience that is strict. We had to submit documents. An officer came to interview us and look at the place, and to confirm that one parent was not working. The officer also interviewed our child, to make sure he or she knew what was going on and why they were not going to school.

There was also a higher PSLE score that a homeschooled child had to reach in order to move on from primary school.

This is how it went for our family. If you are thinking of homeschooling, check the current rules with MOE.

Sharing the subjects

In the group, each parent usually took on some subjects. Daddy took science and some physical activities. Ummi took Malay and some other activities. The children grouped up and went out on weekdays, and on weekends too, to experience things together and to do assessments.

We did some very interesting things along the way. We even held our prelims at a church in an industrial area, and we met very interesting people as we went.

A trek in Bukit Timah

One outing was a trek. Daddy took Syauqi and the other homeschooled boys around a route in Bukit Timah, near Clementi Road, the Rail Corridor and the Bukit Timah Diversion Canal. They started at one point and worked their way round a set of checkpoints.

The point was to sweat it out, have fun together and bond. Along the way they learned some geography and navigation, and the hardship that comes with sticking to a route.

We printed a map for the boys and laminated it. Here is the area redrawn, with the checkpoints marked on it: the Old Bukit Timah Railway Station, Clementi Forest, the Rail Corridor, the man-made cascading water, the spot where the Bukit Timah Diversion Canal meets the Rail Corridor, and the Rail Corridor again near Holland Road.

National Day

Social studies took the group out too. Syauqi and his homeschooling friends went to the National Day Parade together. Here he is in a white kopiah with the crescent and five stars of the Singapore flag.

The whole group went together, children and parents in matching red T-shirts behind an "HS" banner.

If you are starting out, look for other homeschooling families early, and agree between you who takes which subject.