The latest twist is that my youngest daughter, Sabeen, who’s 15, has been given an unconditional offer from Cambridge to study Land Economy, one of the hardest courses to get into, commencing in two and a half years. Remember, we’ve spent perhaps US$10k in GRAND TOTAL on her (mostly-online) education, and put in very little time as parents teaching her.
BTW the photo is one of my favourites, it’s a good 5 years old, but it gives a good idea of how our family ‘works’.
Anyway, it does mean she somewhat has a problem, she’s got to find something to do for the next two and a bit years, but we’re sure she’ll find something constructive to do, and given after whatever she does she’ll be off to Cambridge, she’s got some fun teenage years to enjoy after having worked really hard.
If there is one thing my experience with homeschool has taught me apart from the fact it can work, it’s that there is little point trying to teach kids these days. We need to inspire them, that needs to be the focus, because if we can do that, given all the material is available online such as on YouTube, it’s then hard for them not to achieve incredible things.
The Wonder Years 
Salam Asim,
Thank you for sharing your inspiring homeschool journey with us. We are in the same boat, only some years behind 🙂
I want to know ,what level were your kids at, in English and mathematics when you started preparing them for IGCSE ? The reason behind this question is that we have been homeschooling our kids from the beginning and I am not sure what will be the pre requisite for them to start preparing for IGCSE. I would really appreciate if you can recall and mention some core teachings of English and Mathematics that your kids already had when they started preparing for the exams, especially your younger one Sabeen as she started homeschooling earlier than your older ones.
Thank you
Regards,
Sumaiya
LikeLike
Sumaiya, sorry for the slow response. It’s hard to say the exact level but for maths I’d say that I’ve they can start doing the lower level GCSE papers, then get them doing them and work your way up from there. My kids actually didn’t do English GCSE apart from Maryam who did it when she was 17 as it was part of her university offer.
LikeLike
Just curious, did your kids take all their iGCSEs in the same year? What about staggering their A levels?
LikeLike
Everything was staggered.
LikeLike
Hi Asim,
I understand that your children did go to school for few years. Would you say that made a difference? What if you had home-schooled them from the start? Do you think it would still be this effective?
LikeLike
Jaime, the kids did remember their schools years, I guess the fact they experienced it was positive especially in that they made a choice to homeschool. Was it necessary for them to have gone to school? Not at all. As long as the kids want to homeschool, it has a good chance of working, I reckon.
LikeLike
Hi again Asim,I didn’t realise that almost 7 years has passed since my first (and last) comment on this blog, on the 2018 post “A Morning Run”I’m happy to know that your kids are growing up well and still brimming with so much potential. My own kids are ages 8 and 5, and I’m working on an idea which aims to make a difference in the education space in Indonesia. The handful of people I’ve spoken to in the three days since the idea came have responded positively. It’s both an opportunity to challenge the status quo, as well as business. If you happen to see this, I’d like to talk with you should you have an hour to spare. I’ll be watching this space for your reply. And as before, if you ever find yourself in Indonesia, I’ll do my best to meet you 😉 Warm wishes from Indonesia,Andrio
LikeLike