Author: Asim Qureshi

Passionate about tech startups, home schooling, barefoot running and squash.

Maths Lessons…

Just wanted to share a clip of Maryam and Danyal learning maths via Skype with a tutor we have recently hired, Janice, who we pay US$12 per hour (hired via UpWork.com).

So far I feel she’s been brilliant and it’s working out nicely.

The kids do their maths questions that I set them, if they get stuck they arrange a session with her.

Focus…

We’ve scrapped all goals for this year, except one – Maths A-levels. If you read my post about the kids’ A-level results you’ll understand why.

So I’ve decided that the programming, business, sport and language goals are scrapped. They’re still going to do the sports and languages, but without goals. No programming or business at all until they finish their Maths A-levels.

BTW the girls have given up badminton and are playing squash instead.

Sabeen is struggling to keep up with the maths with the other two, so she’s now doing it her own pace. I want her to enjoy it, not feel under any pressure – she worked hard for the last two months of her IGCSE Maths and it wasn’t fun.

So Maryam and Danyal are teaching Sabeen her maths. It’s quite funny watching Danyal struggling to teach Sabeen. He once said “she never understands anything” in frustration. I said “Danyal, she’s the youngest girl to have ever got an A* in her GCSE. Have you ever thought that perhaps you’re not teaching her properly?” He didn’t have an answer to that!

One last thing, I’ve hired a tutor in the Philippines to help Maryam and Danyal with maths. Basically, I’m too busy with my business to help them. The tutor charges US$12 an hour, and whenever the kids are stuck on a question, they set up a Skype session with her. And if they’re stuck with any topic they can arrange one-to-one sessions. So it’s pay-as-they-need. This seems to be working out very well, but early days as they’ve only had one session.

IGCSE Maths result…

Sabeen, who’s still 8, got the A*!!! That puts her in the top 6% of UK 16 year olds for maths.

She is probably the youngest girl in the history of the GCSE to get an A*. There have been two of boys that have done it when they were 7. And there could be a couple of kids that haven’t publicised their results.

And very honestly, it really wasn’t very hard work.

Anyway, a great result, and we’re all overjoyed!

A-level results…

The A-level results are out!

Maryam got an A in Biology and B in Physics. Danyal, a B in Physics.

[EDIT: The physics results were subsequently revised]

Maryam had a nightmare biology paper, so she’s overjoyed with that.

Both were initially disappointed with their physics, as was I, in part because they were both 1% from an A. Having let the results sink in, I’ve realised disappointment is totally nuts. B’s in Physics A-levels, aged 10 and 12, are incredible achievements (and they did them in 5 months flat of self-study).

Their results are possibly world-records for science A-levels (excluding maths), and if they’re not, they can’t be too far off.

There are two lessons learned…

  1. A-level Physics and Biology are tough subjects for young kids. Science A-level questions can be complex and many of them are just too difficult for young kids to understand and then explain even when they understand the concepts. And common sense and experience both help, both of which come with age.
  2. Perhaps, and I’m not sure of this, I should have been more involved with the physics. While I will continue to let them self-teach their Maths and Further Maths A-level, I’m going to add a weekly tutorial on the weekends to go over the material they’ve covered.

If the kids want to go to university they’ll probably redo their Physics A-levels at some point, but if they’re going to go into business, which is their most likely path, I don’t see the point in wasting time and effort…

Learning 18+ Maths via WhatsApp…

As mentioned in the last post, the 3 kids are teaching themselves their Maths and Further Maths A-levels, the UK 18+ exams.

I’ve had a ton of parents, and some students, ask me how this is possible. It’s really easy…

Ok, they’ve teamed up with two friends, age 12 and 15, so it’s a group of 5 kids in total. We’ve set up a WhatsApp group. This makes it all a bit more social and fun. And we’ll soon have regular coffee tutorials where they will help each other with problems.

So, I set the questions in WhatsApp, the kids just do it, somehow. And that’s it!

Here’s a snapshot. You only see Maryam and myself as I’ve selected a bit where the other kids’ numbers (or their parents) are not shown.

In the first 3 weeks they completed three C1 papers. Each paper is one sixth of an A-level (Edexcel board). Just think about that! And that was them taking it easy as I didn’t know what pace was realistic.

They marked their work themselves, as the mark scheme is available, and I trust them enough to let them decide if they understand the question or not. They all appreciate that it’s their exam coming up, not mine.

It’s about making kids realise why they’re studying, it’s about making the exams their problem, not mine.

I gave them a slightly aggressive 8 days to do their first C2 paper, which they seem to be on target for. Remember, no-one has ever taught them the material in C2, and you can see how they’re helping one another by sending useful links. I will probably give them another 10 days to do two more C2 papers.

I am guessing that once they have done 3 papers they kind of have a fair understanding of each topic, and we can move on. We’ll revisit everything towards exam time.

Right now they’re spending around 1 to 1.5 hours a day. My 3 kids are working together, learning to work together as a team, but also learning to work remotely with other kids!

I’ve warned the kids that they need to enjoy the next 5 months, and they are by doing plenty of other stuff. Come 1 January 2018 the work load will start to increase. I am advising them to be mentally ready to sacrifice their lives for these exams from around April 2018…

Self-Schooling…

Ok, since we’ve come back from our trip to the UK, about 3 weeks ago, it’s been chill out time!

Just before we left for the UK the kids wrapped up their exams. For Maryam, in particular, it was tough. She has worked about 8 hours a day, 7 days a week for about 3 months. She didn’t meet many friends during that exam-intense period – and so she wasn’t the happiest girl in the world.

But all bad things come to an end (I just made that up). Now there are no exams for almost a year! Things feel really relaxed, they’re meeting friends regularly, watching plenty of films, the kids are enjoying it.

The kids know what they need to do now, and getting on with their stuff.

What is amazing is that Isabelle and myself are essentially out of the picture. It’s no longer homeschool – it is self-school. Our kids are educating themselves.

Hey, what?! Yes, they’re educating themselves, and here’s how:

  • The kids are working together, teaching themselves Maths A-level, with two other kids that have joined in. I set the past papers, they do it. When they get stuck they ask each other, Google it, or if that fails, they ask me via WhatsApp group we’ve set up.
  • They’re teaching themselves coding, to build their game app. Plenty of resources online. I asked a coder who used to build games to give them some guidance over WhatsApp. Any questions, they can ask him.
  • Maryam is trying to start her business – but she needs so to figure it all out herself (it’s an online business). She asks me things once in a while.
  • The language-learning is now pretty much all online, and they have their schedule to stick to.

So Isabelle has taken a full-time remote job as CFO of LaunchPad, my tech venture builder, and all she does homeschool-wise is take the kids to their various group activities – football, art, study groups, and visit her friends that have kids of a similar age to ours.

And I play squash with the kids every morning. That is it!

If you can teach your kids to teach themselves, but it has taken us almost 4 years to get here, it all becomes VERY easy. We’re now doing next to nothing.

And everyone still tells us we’re such dedicated and committed parents that have made huge sacrifices for our kids!

Goals!

For the first time we’ve decided to give each of the kids goals. There are plenty of studies that show that people that have written goals do significantly better than those that don’t. So here they are…

Goals to be achieved by 31st July 2018:

Maryam (12)

  • Realistically expect to be getting A*s in Maths and Further Maths A-level (the result will not be out until August)
  • Be comfortably conversational in all 6 languages
  • Build a business with revenues of over US$100 per month
  • Get an average of 4 points against me in a game of badminton
  • Learn enough coding to build an app game that her friends enjoy playing

Danyal (10)

  • Realistically expect to be getting A*s in Maths and Further Maths A-level
  • Be able to converse reasonably in all 6 languages
  • Become a state level football (soccer) player
  • Become a state level squash player
  • Learn enough coding to build an app game that his friends enjoy playing

Sabeen (8)

  • Realistically expect to be getting A*s in Maths and Further Maths A-level
  • Be able to converse reasonably in all 6 languages
  • Get an average of 8 points against Maryam in a game of badminton
  • Learn enough coding to build an app game that her friends enjoy playing

If they hit their goals we’ll celebrate by spending an extra 2 weeks with their grandparents in London and Paris – something they really love.

Video of kids learning Malay…

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 best thing about homeschool…

The best thing about homeschool isn’t the incredible high academic standards, the fluency of several languages (for my kids, anyway), the amount of free time the kids have, the respectful behaviour of the kids, but it’s how it strengthens the bond between the children and the parents.

Whenever I come home from work all 3 of my kids, without fail, come running to me, give me a quick hug. I never did that to my parents.

We have so much fun together, it’s hard to describe. It’s the small things. We often give each other high fives as we go past one another, we go swimming together, go for runs together, I wrestle with all 3 of the kids (amazing exercise), often have paper-ball fights – the last time we got in trouble as we destroyed a glass vase.

Small things matter a lot more to homeschooled kids, because they don’t have 100’s of other kids to put them on a high all day. The kids have always bought me presents, really thoughtful ones even if I’ve been a bit slack myself. And once a week they cook my wife and I a gourmet 3-course meal.

My youngest daughter, Sabeen’s favourite pastime is lying down hugging me, while I ask her questions that she knows the answers of!?

Yes, the kids are innocent, but I think they should remain that way for at least a few more years.

I’ll often go on about how amazing a maths and physics teacher I am, and that they’re just lucky they’ve got me. They respond by telling me how they’re child geniuses and everyone thinks I’m a great teacher just because I got lucky by having them as kids! They also love rubbing in the fact that I got rejected from Oxford the first time I applied. It’s all good fun, and the kind of innocent humour I want my kids to develop – and unfortunately not the kind that I suspect they would be exposed to at school.

The youngest, Sabeen, runs to the front door to say goodbye every time I leave the house, and asks me to stay. She’s 8. The last time I left to play squash she told me “Don’t worry, if you don’t win, you’ll still be my champion”. That’s the deepest thing she’s ever said to me. A really daddy’s girl.

When I come back from squash they’re interested in whether I won – they will tell me how I’m getting old when I have a losing streak! I mean they really take an interest in my life, in part because they have so much time.

It’s not all rosy of course. We’re in the same house a lot of the time. I lose my temper, so do the kids – and the kids do argue with each other over silly things. But that’s around 10% of the time. The other 90% is just incredible.

We are already very close friends with the kids, and I think that homeschool has played a key role in facilitating that. I suspect and hope that when adults, we’ll remain best buddies because of these homeschool years where we’ve really connected…