Our homeschool successful story

Dear mum,

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I wrote the below story. What do you think?

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I wish I had never said that I wanted to go to a local school to study, but sadly I did, so I had to live with my decision for years to come. Every single day, I pretend to adore going to school. I thought just because of that, my guilty secret was gone forever.

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One faithful day, out of nowhere, my best friend asked me how I felt about school and that’s when it hit me – all my pretending hadn’t helped at all. After school, I walked back home, which was incredibly dangerous because I couldn’t see the road ahead since my eyes were full of tears. I couldn’t breathe at all because I was bawling. In fact, I was so dismal and doleful that even the strong willow in the park near my home was weeping for me.

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When I went home, no matter how hard my mum tried could not console me as I was way too wrapped up in my own rage and sadness.

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“Are you ok?” mum asked me with great tenderness.  “I am so sorry that you feel this way,” she continued.

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“I …I …just feel so stressed out from doing all my homework until midnight almost every day. Besides, I have to deal with the insufferable pressure-cooker learning environment,” I stuttered. Then, I fell into my mum’s arms and cried hysterically. My mum has always been a voice of comfort for me. She has seen my outbursts for years to come and has helped me through all my stress little by little. She calmed me down at the drop of a hat. My bawling was totally reduced to little sobs.

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Thereupon, my mum handed out an enthralling magazine about homeschooling to me and said with a smile, “I would like to offer you a once-in-a-blue moon chance to be homeschooled!” I jumped at the offer right off the bat.

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Homeschooling, A Choice for You! I read with curiosity. These very words echoed in my mind over and over again. If only I had read this magazine years ago, things would have turned out more splendidly. I was truly ambitious to begin homeschooling the moment I learned about it, and so was my mum.

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Honestly speaking, I can still recall vividly the myriad heavy resistance we faced at the beginning of my homeschooling journey. There were all voices of doubt and criticism: people who criticise homeschoolers are poor lost souls; my relatives doubt I might turn out to be wandering aimlessly without any friends and would not be able to enter any university; and last but not least, friends who reckon that I am just locking myself up in my apartment and playing all day long without studying.

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After hearing all those negative voices, our homeschooling excitement turned to total anxiety. It had almost begun to seem like an insurmountable hurdle, yet we weren’t about to just let all our effort go to waste. Eventually, we mustered the courage to conquer all the obstacles that came our way.

I finally get to be homeschooled. It is like a dream come true and if it wasn’t for both my mum’s and my ambition and determination, we wouldn’t have made it this far.

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Love,

Paris

Stage 1: Do not tell, do not ask. Paris was first afraid to tell her friends, family members, teachers, and acquaintances that she was doing homeschool since no one understood or believed in home education. There was immensely social pressure from schoolteachers and principals, school social workers, relatives and friends, and even the EDB Non-attendance Cases Officer about the legal aspect of homeschooling. Every other voice vehemently opposed her decision to homeschool and insisted that school is the only place for academic and social development. Furthermore, in that period most Hong Kong people associated homeschoolers and homeschooling with "truant", "dropouts", "nonsystematic way of education", "uncertain or even failure path of education", “social misfit ", "no chance of getting to university”, “homeschooling is illegal in Hong Kong” and so on. All the negative labels attached to homeschoolers rendered Paris unwilling to say the plain fact, "I am a homeschooler." Consequently, the researcher and her daughter decided to disconnect from their relatives to ignore negative noise driving them to give up on homeschooling. Indeed, their relatives who work as secondary schoolteachers had the strongest objections to homeschooling, claiming that school is the only place in Hong Kong for learning and socializing.

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Stage 2 – Successful homeschool action silence the surrounding people’s critics. As Paris made considerable academic development, so her surrounding friends began to admire her accomplishments. People began to show curiosity about the flexibility and tailor-made benefits of homeschooling and its pedagogy.

Stage 3 - I am proud to be a homeschooler. Paris enthusiastically announces to everyone that she is homeschooled and is extremely proud of her decision for being a homeschooler. Three major factors contributed to the arrival of stage 3. First, there is a shift in attitude due to the emergence of anti-government student protests which has made people reconsider compulsory education in schools from a new viewpoint. Second, Morse et al. (2022) explain COVID-19 lockdowns have led to school closures throughout the world. Calear et al. (2022) highlight COVID-19 pandemic has been severely disruptive, with school closures prompting abrupt adjustments in remote learning from home for kids (homeschooling). Concurrently, because no schooling is permitted during some acute Covid 19 epidemic seasons in Hong Kong, parents are obliged to teach their children at home. Thus, parents are massively homeschooling their children; the Covid 19 pandemic pushes them not to rely heavily on schoolteachers and schools for their children's daily learning. As a result, a growing number of parents consider homeschooling a viable alternative to our city's conventional education. This massive attitude shift has made homeschoolers feel comfortable declaring their homeschool status in our city. Thirdly, Paris has advanced greatly in her studies and displayed far superior academic skills than other children her age at school. Surrounding admiration grows stronger, and parents want to know how Paris manages to do better in her homeschool without the assistance of schools and schoolteachers.

Let me extract part of my doctoral research paper to reflect her transition.

The literature reviews in my Hong Kong homeschooling research paper indicate that if parents desire to convert their schoolchild, particularly one who attends a local school, to a homeschooler, they will encounter various demands from schoolteachers and school social workers. The school authorities will usually advise homeschool parents that it is illegal for school-age children not to attend school in Hong Kong; the term "illegal" is a tremendous burden pressed on homeschool parents because no one wants to disobey the law in Hong Kong. If parents are concerned about drawing the police or disobeying the law, they will pause their homeschool choice as soon as they hear the warning from the schoolteachers. If parents are adamant, the school administration will ask them to fill out a "Notice of Withdrawal" form in which they need to fill in their child’s new school name. If the parents cannot fill in the new school’s name, then a school social worker will follow up on the case.

First and foremost, the schoolteachers and social workers will call the homeschool parents regularly to check if they want to send their child back to school. If parents insist on doing homeschooling, the school will report the homeschooling case to the EDB. Moving on, the EDB Non-attendance Cases Officer will phone the homeschool family approximately a month later and notify them that he/she will come to their apartment to see them (home visit). When the Non-attendance Cases Officer comes to visit a homeschool family, homeschool parents should explain clearly to the officer their reason for homeschooling. Reasons include a) my homeschooler learns better at home since he is no longer subjected to emotional distress while studying, or b) my child was bullied by other children and is afraid of going to school. As long as homeschool parents state the truth and their reasoning is persuasive, the EDB officer will accept the homeschooling case on the condition that he/she observes the homeschooler behaving similarly to the other normal school kids. Besides, homeschool parents must present their homeschooler's learning materials (usually daily homework) and proof of social activities (usually some current pictures playing with friends) to demonstrate that they have given their homeschooler the same learning and social environment as provided by the school. Again, the EDB officer's attitude tends to convey disapproval of the homeschool approach and emphasize to parents that school is the best place to study. Do not be alarmed by this reaction since it is the obligation of EDB officers to express dissatisfaction or discouragement in accordance with our government's education policy (Cap. 279 Education Ordinance, 2022). In conclusion, for the homeschooling family that insists on continuing homeschooling, the EDB officer will arrange a regular home visit semi-yearly or yearly.

Again, let me extract part of my doctoral research paper to demonstrate our opinions.

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According to the researcher’s experience, a home visit is a delightful event in which you may discuss opinions with the EDB officer to a certain level. It is critical to modify your attitude toward preparing for this home visit. If you respect the EDB officer's concern about your homeschooler's well-being, your attitude will be positively reflected in this meeting. If, on the other hand, you are afraid of the EDB officer, you would take their generosity negatively and respond fearfully. According to Howe and Krosnick (2017), attitude is important in affecting thought and action across settings.

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In fact, people have diverse perspectives on the same thing; a homeschool educator may believe that homeschooling is the best approach for his/her child's happiness and learning, whilst an EDB officer may believe that school is the only ideal place for joyful and rigorous learning. Indeed, individuals' perspectives on homeschooling are shaped by their own beliefs, present state of mind, life experiences, and assumptions. To narrow the perception gap and mitigate the communication noise, effective communication is required during the home visit to deliver your home education message to the EDB officer clearly. Srivastava (2018) mentions the capacity to share or convey information effectively and efficiently is referred to as communication. Thus, during the home visit, it is critical for the homeschool educator to explain the homeschooler's academic and social progress in detail to the EDB officer and to make him/her understand that homeschoolers can be very good at learning and pursue learning in a more positive and happier manner than when the homeschooler was in the local school. To sum up, to overcome the perception gap between two parties, clear and amicable communication is essential.

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To cite an example, the researcher has experienced the home visit meetings with the EDB officer for 4 years, and she understands the officers' ingrained attitude toward considering school as the greatest place for learning, as well as their hazy vision of homeschool (due to lack of first-hand homeschooling experience and proper homeschool knowledge training). Albarracin and Shavitt (2018) explain it is tough to change one's mindset when action objectives are triggered. The action goals of the EDB officers are to convince homeschool educators to put their homeschoolers back into mainstream schools. This means that EDB officers’ ingrained attitude is caused by action goals and is difficult to change. Another reason that their ingrained attitude is actually created by a lack of homeschool knowledge and first-hand experience, as well as solid proof that homeschoolers can be high achievers in learning and happy learners. This is another reason why the researcher calls for comprehensive Hong Kong homeschooling research to relieve public fears and worries about homeschooling in Hong Kong and to portray a clear and positive picture of home education.

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In conclusion, I understand that our government and EDB officers have done their best to preserve the educational rights of our children. Indeed, we are lucky to have an EDB department that is concerned about our children’s education.

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Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to convey my heartfelt gratitude to two EDB non-attendance officers for their efforts and valuable time spent on Paris’s homeschooling case.

Our homeschooling methodologies (Extract from my doctoral Hong Kong homeschooling research paper)

There are three homeschool educator development stages which developed from the investigation of homeschooling methodologies:

1. Rookie Homeschool Educators

2. Competent Homeschool Educators

3. Expert Homeschool Educators

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Rookie Homeschool Educators tended to employ the School-At-Home methodology whereas Competent and Expert Homeschool Educators tended to use the Eclectic Homeschooling methodology.

1. Steady — Take tiny, steady steps each day as the homeschool path is not a big step to the end. The homeschool journey is lengthy and could be bumpy, so keep calm and stay optimistic at all times.

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2. Motivation - Motivation is what keeps homeschool educators going and propels them to success. No challenges can stop homeschool educators if they can motivate themselves. Self-motivation is a crucial trait that drives homeschool educators to keep going when they are facing homeschool setbacks.

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3. Insistence - While you are homeschooling your children, your friends and family are likely to criticize your method of educating your homeschoolers because practically every Hong Kong citizen believes that school is the only place to obtain a decent education and socialization in our city. Remember, people's ingrained attitudes cannot be changed easily. What homeschool educators can do is stand firm and march on their homeschooling journey with determination.

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4. Life-long learning —Nowadays, many affordable or free online courses are available to help you develop your knowledge and skills as a qualified homeschool educator. If you are facing challenges in grasping the subject knowledge that you need to teach your homeschooler, start by learning that knowledge with your online free teachers (google, YouTube educational videos). Nothing can stop you from becoming a qualified homeschool educator if you equip yourself with a life-long learning attitude.

5. Elasticity - Be as flexible as a balloon, which means that homeschool educators must be prepared to deal with homeschool challenges and stresses. Furthermore, it is vital that homeschool educators recognize their own and their homeschoolers' limitations. Remember that if the balloon is under too much tension and pressure, it will burst; similarly, if you and your homeschooler are under too much tension and stress, you will suffer from burn-out. Undeniably, the pressure-cooker school system may burn out our children's desire and enthusiasm for learning. However, homeschooling is flexible and personalized to your homeschoolers’ learning needs, so be elastic and don't burn yourself and your homeschoolers out in this flexible homeschool learning environment. To add on, teaching your homeschoolers how to be joyful and achieve students demands inner work. You may use Maslow's hierarchy of needs to educate your homeschoolers on how to climb to the top of the pyramid and attain their full potential. According to Wu (2012), if we only focus on basic approaches to motivate children to study without considering the students' hierarchy of needs, many unexpected things will happen.

Paris began university at the age of 15. She thoroughly enjoys her studies and takes full responsibility for them, making her a truly passionate and independent learner. After hearing about Paris’s successful homeschooling adventure, our relatives in Hong Kong reconnected with us. They are extremely proud of Paris’s academic achievements and regard us as role models for raising their children. Some relatives even expressed their frustrations about their children's academic and social difficulties at school, wishing they had the ability to homeschool like us—a complete 180-degree shift in their attitude towards homeschooling.

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Now, at 17, Paris is in her third year of university studies. She is a happy teenager with a positive and growth-minded attitude. Our love for each other has deepened through our homeschooling journey; Paris loves me sincerely from her heart, and I love her just as much. We continue our worldschooling adventure even after Paris entered university, as this journey strengthens our bond and broadens Paris’s perspective as a global citizen.

How to Make the Transition from Homeschooling to University

1. Maintain Comprehensive Homeschooling Records: Keep detailed records of your homeschooler's exceptional homework assignments, course descriptions, homeschool transcripts (issued by the homeschool educator), and homeschool diplomas (issued by the homeschool educator). These documents will be essential when applying to universities or when your homeschooler is accepted.

2. Develop Real Academic Skills: Ensure that your homeschooler cultivates genuine academic skills. This will enable them to engage in meaningful discussions with professors during university interviews.

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3. Advance Your Education: Enhance your own education to become a credible homeschool educator. Universities are interested in the qualifications of the homeschooling teacher supporting the homeschooler's admission process.

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4. Prepare for University Entrance Examinations: Encourage your homeschooler to take university entrance exams to meet admission requirements.

Final Words

Homeschooling requires optimism, determination, patience, persistence, self-discipline, a desire to improve, and a commitment to ongoing learning.

Best wishes on your homeschooling journey!

Dr. Lai