June 8, 2005

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    So, the homeschoolers’ Junior Public Speaking (JPS) outing
    at FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia) went well although a good number
    were absent. Over a dozen homeschoolers (8 to 16 years) and their family
    members spent the day in the cool, green grounds of the tropical forest reserve
    on the outskirts of KL, possibly one of the last pockets of nature near the
    city.

    The JPS is a year-long programme geared at improving public
    speaking skills of our homeschoolers and they usually meet once a month.
    Modeled after Toastmasters, the kids have had a lot of fun since facilitator
    Amy Ratos got the programme going for the first time last year.The kids got spunk, and the best thing about
    JPS is the way they’re showing greater confidence speaking without notes in
    front of peers and adults.

    Sure, it’s only a 2-minute speech, but everyone’s got to
    make sure they’re on topic, start with an interesting opening, have a worthy
    middle, and close on time. We had an Invocator who kicked things off with a
    motivational piece about humanity’s ability to laugh at jokes (!) and someone’s
    the ‘Ah Counter’ tracking umms and ahs that normally show up in unprepared
    speeches or nervous speakers. Elliot our 13-year old was grammar and language evaluator,
    spotting howlers like “I like to watch people cook and I love to cook myself”
    (which came from 13-year old Joel who claimed to love cooking).

    I love the idea of homeschooling, and times
    like this when a bunch of parents and kids come together remind me that there’s
    nothing we can’t do when we put our minds to it. Many of us have become friends through the years, developed
    out of a common desire to give our children what conventional schools take
    away. That morning, I also learned that
    16-year old Sara wants to be a dancer, and Ii-Shan wants to be a psychiatrist so
    he can “understand the mind of a teenager.” On being asked what animal he would
    like to be, Ron didn’t hesitate to say he wouldn’t mind being a rat. Another
    boy – was it Kevin? – talked about helping the poor because everyone’s only
    interested in taking instead of giving, and I thought the ability to tell them
    apart was commendable.

    You know, I keep coming across people who tell me about
    things homeschoolers miss. I suppose that’s inevitable; but do I really mind missing
    out on bullies, a grade-anxious culture, dumbed-down learning passing for
    education, and a regiment that sucks the life out of our kids? On the other
    hand homeschooling is about all the things we get to do simply because we’ve
    broken free of our shackles. We're free to be family.

    It was a lovely day. We had grannies, babies in strollers,
    and dads with video cameras. There was lots of food - someone brought homemade
    peanut butter, another brought walnut cake - and there were laughs aplenty. The
    kids were well-behaved, busy catching up with one another. Homeschoolers all,
    from different faith communities coming together as families do. And isn’t that
    the most natural thing to do?

dbctan

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