Thursday, Nov 13, 2008

Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: Home schooling has increased in popularity and admissions in the capital over the last few years, Gulf News has learned.

According to parents and families who run such schools, the 33rd home-school started this month. Even though home-schooling is no easy feat and un-heard of in this part of the world, it started off with eight families choosing to educate their children at home instead of placing them in schools.

To enhance its exposure and appeal, The Abu Dhabi Home Schoolers Association started their own blog on Monday and an exclusive e-mail group (that helps similar families share ideas, thoughts and activities) called In the Shade began a month ago.

Accredited system

Rebecca Lavalle is one of the first home school mothers in the UAE, and even though she was previously working as a registered nurse in Canada, she has chosen to devote her life to offering what she finds the 'best form of education' for her children.

At 49, Lavalle has home-schooled five children, two of which are successfully enrolled in reputable universities now. Her greatest struggle was coping with society, or worrying that a certain company will under-mine home-schooling education.

"Each of my children follows an accredited international on-line academic system and two of my eldest children were accepted in international universities and are studying law and linguistics," she said.

Even though Krista Heath, 41, specialised in teaching French as a second language, she arrived in Abu Dhabi from Canada five years ago and choose to home-school three of her children, from grades seven, nine and 12. She follows the approved Kindergarten to grade 12 ministry of education curriculum.

"The on-line curriculum my kids are following includes subjects like history, geography, mathematics, Arabic, science, language arts, critical thinking, art and music. I make sure that we follow the 180 days of standard schooling in the year, even though a lot of times, we finish the curriculum before that," said Heath.

Tess Steroud, 56 has been in Abu Dhabi for over a year, and previously home-schooled four of her children in Oman and Australia.

"We want our children to have similar morals as us and be flexible to travel and learn new and different things. A mother can understand her children more than any other person and focus on strengths and improve the weaknesses," she said.

© Gulf News 2008. All rights reserved.