I filmed my kids having one of their Malay lessons – they were so engaged they didn’t even realise I was taking a video.
They’re discussing some YouTube clip they just watched – a cartoon.
The lessons are usually one-on-one, but they were doing it together because Danyal decided to join Sabeen’s lesson….
It’s with having 2 or 3 twenty minute sessions like this a week, they’ve learned Malay, Chinese, Arabic and making progress in Urdu/Hindi.
The Wonder Years 
Hello! I found you via Quora and am so impressed and kind of awed. I am afraid we don’t have the time (or intelligence?) that you and your wife seem to have to commit to full mornings of tutoring, but I’d love to try to supplement their (Montessori) education with some of your techniques. I find that kids are so hungry to learn, if approached the right way, they don’t think of it as “work”, they think of it as “fun”. How did you locate/select appropriate online tutors? Did you use a certain service? In particular, we’re interested in languages, sciences, programming/engineering. Thank you in advance for your response.
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Christine, it’s really not intelligence or hard work driving this. It’s more creating an environment and setting up a system.
I’ve found the best way to get tutors for languages is via UpWork.com. You should be able to find other tutors there. The reason I like UpWork as it’s so competitive so the price is reasonable.
But if you can’t find anyone on UpWork there are plenty of specialist sites. They’ll just be more expensive.
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Me too…I 2nd Christine’s comments…found you on Quora. I dont believe in the traditional school system anymore…I am ok with my kids excelling at whatever they are really interested in. I have a comp engr bachelors and sw masters but real estate investment will be my route to financial success. I have a 4yr old and 1yr old. We are looking at a montessori school for the 4yr old. Coincidentally I and my wife are planning a vacation to Malaysia in 2018…Why did you pick Malaysia?
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DJ, yes, kids do amazing things at their strengths and if they are interested.
Malaysia – great for business, great weather, people are very polite, Asian values were close to what we wanted our kids to have, low cost of living.
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Hi, I too found you on Quora. I am so impressed by your family and glad you are sharing your experiences with the world. Your family is blessed in so many ways that I can only sit here and wish the same for my family and especially my children. We don’t have the luxury nor resources of being able to home school our children, but we are trying all we can to expose them in other areas that I believe will help them in their future. Are there any resources that you can share in regards to how you home school your children? Websites that I can look into or any other info?
I did not have the luxury of furthering my education beyond high school, but I want to provide and point my children in the right direction to better their future. My son is learning Spanish and daughter is soon to start school and will go the same route at our local public school. They understand my native language as well as English, but any other resources would be very helpful for me in getting my children in the right direction for their future. Thank you again for sharing your world with us.
May God continue his blessings upon you and your family.
Mereane
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Mereane, apart from Khan Academy there are no particular resources. If you’re not going to homeschool your kids all I can suggest is that for their exams you make sure they focus on past papers. Good luck!
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Salam Bro Asim.
BarakAllaahu feekum for sharing your HS stories. They’re very inspiring, maashaAllaah.
I’d looked at upwork website for tutors teaching languages, eg Arabic, French etc. But I don’t know which section or how to find tutors from the website. If you don’t mind, would you please explain how to hire tutors from the website?
Thank you!
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Nor, salaams, thanks for the kind words. There are tons of people on http://www.upwork.com. Post a job under translation as there is specific section for teaching.
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Thank you for sharing this blog. I don’t get to read allot of blogs but I found you on Quora and had to read. Your family has inspired me to do more for my children who are 5 and 11. They will be attending our local public schools but we have been thinking about homeschooling lately since our daughter will be starting in the fall. Do you have any resources as far as free online courses I can look at for homeschooling my children? I guess I just don’t really know where to start at this point. I have my son doing khan academy but would be very helpful if you could recommend some other resources that you think are worthwhile. Thank you again for sharing. May God continue his blessing upon you and your beautiful family.
Mereane
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Mereane, thanks for being so nice! You see, the resources really aren’t important – I mean if you need the books for their syllabus just get them? The resources depend very much on your goals for the kids.
If you’re serious about homeschooling I strongly suggest you read through this blog closely because I think it’s all there! But if not feel free to ask. I’ll respond quicker next time…
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Asim….you are really very inspiring.
If I ever get a chance to come to Malaysia, will really like to meet you personally
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Nishant, thanks for your very kind words.
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Hello Asim,
I am an Indian living in Malaysia for over 3 years and would soon travel to Sydney to work there.
I have a cute daughter aged 1.5 years..
I am having the same thought as you about conventional schooling vs home schooling. But am skeptical about what happens when they have to go to college or take board exams in India ? Will not having a conventional schooling rip them off their opportunities?
Do you think having a very good knowledge on IGCSE concepts will be enough to crack college entrance exams or help overcome the drawback of not having regular schooling?
Do you recommend a hybrid approach? Regular schooling + home schooling? Or will it be too much for the kid to cope up?
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Sriram, I don’t see how not having a conventional school rips my kids of any opportunities. And if they do well in their IGCSE and A-levels they’ll get places to any university in the world. I don’t recommend a hybrid approach because it ends up just being school with stressed out kids.
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Inspired. Simply signing up to get your posts! Well done and thanks for sharing your journey
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Very very impressive — quick question. What suggestions don’t have for learning new languages. Method of learning ? Which language to start with , how to practice if the parents don’t know multiple languages etc etc
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Hi Asim. Firstly thanks so much for sharing your journey. So regarding languages, how do you measure progress? Do your children speak, read and write each new language or do they just focus on the verbal side? How do you know if the teacher is doing a good job if you have no clue about the language being taught yourself (or have you just focus on languages you and your wife are conversant in)? Thank you!
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Focus on speaking, we ask the kids to tell us if they’re learning from the tutors.
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Hi Asim,
Your idea of homeschooling is quite intriguing to say the least. At the moment I am concerned with toddlers focusing only on one language where they can be trilingual. Could you please recommend resources to learn urdu and arabic for young children?
All the best!
Madeeha
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We’ve hired teachers to just talk to them over Skype.
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