My name is Asim.
I was born and bred in the UK, I studied physics at university, became an investment banker in London for several years, moved to Malaysia in 2006 to become an entrepreneur and recently moved back to the UK.
At university, I met my French wife, Isabelle. She graduated in classics, trained to become a lawyer, but then became a Chartered Accountant, then tax consultant, then a designer of some incredible villas – she’s incredibly talented, intelligent, and hard-working!
Below is a shot (it’s real!) of the entrance area of a villa she designed.
Anyway, we have 3 kids, Maryam (born 2004), Danyal (2006) and Sabeen (2008).
Until late 2013, our kids had a normal school education, just like their parents. In fact, if you told me up until mid-2013 that you homeschooled your kids I would have honestly thought you were nuts.
But by late 2013, I had convinced Isabelle and the kids that we should give homeschooling a try.
Today the kids have become near-conversant in 5 languages. Maryam achieved five A*s in her IGCSE’s (UK 16+ exam) when she was 12, Danyal and Sabeen each managed three A*s by the time they were 10.
The elder two, Maryam and Danyal, then finished their A-levels (UK 18+ exams) aged 13 (AAB) and 11 (AA, including becoming the youngest person ever to have achieved an A in A-level Physics, aged 10). Maryam then did further A-levels and ended up with A*A*A*AA (retaking the B) and is at Oxford University studying French and Arabic, while Danyal is a coder (programmer) working at the software company I run, Jibble. He’s been financially independent for 3 years (he’s 17!) and, unlike his sisters, has no intention to go to university.
Sabeen, the youngest, has already achieved three A*s in her A-levels, Maths, Accounting, and Physics, is doing two more A-levels (French and Economics), and has recently been offered a place at Cambridge to study Land Economy commencing 2026.
Danyal, who is the only one who really enjoys sport, plays football at a fairly-high level, and the girls enjoy anything from a bit of swimming to debating to self-defence depending on what phase they’re in.
The kids are happy, have many friends (though not as many as most schoolers), are confident and sociable.
My wife and I haven’t spent much time teaching them after the age of around 10 which is roughly when they could start teaching themselves, nor has it been expensive, we’ve spent perhaps US$15k in total (not per year but in total) on each child for their entire education.
My home school journey has led me to believe that the modern education system, that I experienced the very best of, is completely messed up.
In this blog, I explain why I decided to home school my kids, and why I think modern education desperately needs reform.
The Wonder Years 