Top Tips for International Schooling in Singapore

My son is in his second year of international homeschooling, and he absolutely loves it.  My experience tells me that home education demands commitment, discipline and organization.  The benefits of International Schooling in Singapore are many. I remember we had chosen to homeschool our son because we needed flexibility and quality in terms of time and curriculum.  Moreover, it was a priority for us to inculcate our values in our child, homeschooling made all of this possible.

As experienced homeschooling parents, we bring to you top tips on how to start International Schooling in Singapore:

Curriculum

1. Create a curriculum budget that keeps supplies and resources into consideration.
2. Consider how many children will use the curriculum, what are their grade levels, what subjects they need to learn and choose a curriculum that works well for all.
3. Make use of free online resources.
4. Encourage a love for learning and let your children choose what they want to learn.
5. If the curriculum is not working for your child – Ditch it!
6. Don’t be obsessed with grades. Rather focus on understanding the material.
7. Let your children give input on their course choices.

Personality Development

1. Remember personality development is as important as academic development, therefore, parents should make the child’s personality development a priority.
2. International Schooling in Singapore allows for more time to inculcate family values in the children.
3. Don’t compare children to each other. Let the child grow at his own pace.
4. Arrange outdoor playtime so that your homeschooler gets to mingle with other kids his age.
5. Homeschoolers should sign up for extracurricular activities as these activities develop life skills like team spirit, discipline and healthy competition.

Scheduling

1. The home education environment isn’t going to look the same as in conventional schools. Therefore, parents must not try to copy the public school approach for teaching and learning.
2. If your homeschooling multiple children schedule their lessons together whenever possible.
3. Create a to-do-list every day to keep your homeschooler on schedule.
4. Record yourself reading your child his or her spelling words.  Then they can do their test on their own, and you don’t have to be in multiple places at once.
5. Let the child enjoy summer breaks by keeping the schedule light.
6. Indulge the child in simple crafts, outdoor play and learning through doing.
7. You schedule must include time for self-assessment to gauge the effectiveness of the program.

Language Skills

1. Let your homeschooler read aloud to raise his listening comprehension skills.
2. Reading newspaper as well as books can help in building vocabulary.
3. Include writing activities in your homeschoolers schedule. Journal writing can be a great way to start.
4. Use online resources to hone your child’s language skills.

Stay Organized

1. Take regular feedback from your child’s homeschool teachers.
2. Keep the learning space organized and clean.
3. The child should learn responsibility and ensure everything is kept in its own place.
4. Let the children do age-appropriate household chores.
5. Maintain a record of supplies.
6. Use a homeschool planner to store daily records, lesson plans and book lists etc.

Be Flexible

1. Keep your schedule flexible (that was the whole point of homeschooling, right?). Don’t forget why you chose International Schooling in Singapore in the first place.
2. Plan for unexpected deviations as some tasks may take longer than you had thought. Bottom-line – Do not over schedule.
3. Make outdoor play mandatory for your homeschooler, there’s a lot to be learnt outdoors!
4. Engage with other moms opting for International Schooling in Singapore.

Save Money

1. Choose an affordable International Schooling program
2. Look for programs that empower learning through scholarships. The International Schooling platform offers financial support to eligible students.
3. Use public libraries instead of buying books. This will also help in developing the chid’s research skills.
4. Use free printables available online.
5. Buy used books to save some money.