Sometimes (most times?!) I feel miffed that we can’t be as relaxed in our homeschooling journey as our sisters in the States can. We, in Singapore, have to make our children not only sit for the PSLE but meet the benchmark set by our Ministry of Education (MOE), which is a higher standard/level than what students in the public school are required to meet 🙁
Then there is the dreaded requirement of Mother Tongue which can cause the total score to drop drastically even if a child does really well in the other 3 subjects. (For more on the Compulsory Law, you can read it off MOE’s website at http://www.moe.gov.sg/initiatives/compulsory-education/).
Recently, I read that one MOMY‘s child only learnt to read only at the age of 12! Imagine that in Singapore! Even as a homeschooler we can’t be that relaxed!
Well, I guess I should be glad that at least we have the option to homeschool unlike in Germany where it is considered illegal to! Not conforming to society’s norms comes at a cost.
This year, we have one child that will sit for PSLE. So, what happens after that? Isn’t that the question on everyone’s lips? 🙂 We’ll let you know …. soon!
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Serene,
regardless of home-schooling or mainstream school, fact remains that we live in a very unforgiving society. Thats why parents are so uptight these days. Even if you are the bochap type, the teachers will hound you. My daughter is in p1 this year and her english teacher has already rung me to ask me if she can read; apparently she was being inattentive, eyes not fixed on the board and the teacher concluded that she probably can’t read. Fear drive the parents to apply pressure on their kids in the form of tuition classes etc etc…….I have met many ppl who do not even want to have any kids because they fear having to raise kids in such a high-pressured society. And we are not th worst. Kids in countries like Japan and china have it 10 times worse.
So, you thinking of asking for MT exemption?
Sam – I have no basis to ask for exemption. Well for now 🙂 Never say never I say!
A simple test does it these days, right?
I have absolutely no idea! But one needs to show that one has been struggling for a while, no? Test results and all? Otherwise the whole world would ask for exemption 🙂