Thinking of moving

On the adjacent street paralleling Foundation Univerisity is The Foundation Preparatory School I have seen a newer school builidng with is The Foundation Preparatory School Name at top. . I am not sure what the means, and have never stopped to check it out. The multi-story building seems new this year. I would assume that is for pre-high school students.

 

Foundation university is more than 60 years old. If they would have only sport then they would no longer exists. They offer also elementary and high school.

EDIT: I was once inside and it looked more like a standard university, not like a sport academy.

 

Okay went researching to find information, was almost impressed by what I was reading online when I came upon this thread (below) I think I will keep looking and asking around... Thank you for your suggestions thus far...

⌛ - Foundation University

 

I don't know that most schools anywhere in the world teach you real world skills which might help land a job. The exception MIGHT be vocational classes. Even 4 year universities in the US mostly don't teach skills which might lead to a job. Community colleges are more geared for job skills because they are loaded with vocational classes.

Math isn't needed beyond basic arithmetic. Science isn't important beyond knowing the world isn't flat and that evolution is a thing. Of all the areas of knowledge, history is probably among the most important, just so you know where we came from. If I could pick one area to excel in and ditch the rest, I would pick communication. Reading comprehension and writing in English. There are other areas of communication which are important (public speaking, conversation, etc) but those aren't taught much in school.

Even if you disagree with me on things like Math, the schools don't teach these subjects right. They way they teach it turns the learning into a battle of grinding out calculations with ever-more rules, patterns and symbols added to the list of considerations. Math is much like programming (which is something I know). Get the right insight into the right essentials and everything else is downhill. You can get courses which teach this off YouTube.

I think kids would be better off just reading non-textbooks. There are lots of books which show the beauty of math which can teach you what Calculus (as an example) is really meant for rather than grinding out textbook solutions. There are the same for sciences. And of course history.

I don't know much about home-schooling but I think I would get my child about a half-dozen books across subjects and require that he/she spend some time reading through the day. The child can pick any book. If one books goes lightly read relative to the others, then replace that book with another related book. As a book is finished, add another in its place. This is the same way I read. If I'm bored with a book, then I'll quit reading it and I try to have a handful of books that I'm reading at any given time so that I can jump between them as my interest swings.

I would do the same with projects. Art, music, science and whatever else. Put together a collection of a half-dozen projects and have some time during the day for projects. The child could pick any project. Unpopular projects get thrown out to be replaced with something different.

I would then setup tutoring for subjects like English grammar, writing, conversational skills and some exercises to apply some of the things learned in the books. This could be applied math, science or maybe a hodge-podge just to work on critical thinking (another hugely important thing). Music education would likely require an instructor.

Perhaps none of us really know what a good education is. We have our ideas simply from what we did as children. We look at the Philippines doing the same thing we did but worse and assume that the education is crap. But maybe we should consider that the education we received was crap as well.

And I don't think home schooling would be as difficult as we might think. The child could probably do much of it alone. Unfortunately, this would remove the social element, which isn't always a bad thing. A child should learn how to focus and work alone as well as working in a group. Perhaps you could come up with group activities with parents of other children.

By the time the child gets to like 14, he/she would be getting to be old enough to direct his/her own education and direction in life. Personally, I thought my last two years in school were like a holding period and pointless. I would have rather had the option to go to a vocational school or university.

 

I have to agree with you Dude, I KNEW What I wanted to do from a young age and felt like school was holding me up from achieving my goal, my work was a hands on job so much of what I was taught was never used.

I am hoping my daughter finds some direction in what she wants to do but for now 'fashion design' and other fads here are holding her attention, although teaching seems to be one of the better ideas she has had compared to the many she has run by us with "what she might possibly like to do with her life when she graduates"... Mind you she is in Year 4 now so maybe we are getting too far ahead of ourselves, but I want her to do something she loves to do for herself, not for us, and want her to have the best opportunity to do so and after raising six kids back in Oz I do not think taking her there would be in her best interests in the long term. *fingers crossed* she will do okay in life...

 

I think at a young age you generally just want to build your capabilities (largely by doing the things I mentioned above). Jumping around between weird things helps build experiences you can draw from once you do start deciding on a certain trajectory. Diverse experience is good for making connections between things which other people wouldn't come up with.

As General Patton said, "If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking".

We have to be careful with our judgement because much of what we think we know may be flat wrong. But we think we're right because that's what we were trained to believe. Certain things withstand the test of time. Grandma's wisdom.

Just give the kids fertile ground for experiencing life. Don't be too anxious. Let them live and give them trust. You can do it all for them.

 

For assistance in just about any subject, from very basic elementary, to university, to things you want to know more about as an adult, check out Khan Academy online and free. Khan Academy

 

We are what we are and turn out how we do regardless

 

Unless you are an entrepreneur, generally there are just certain check marks that have to be completed. Most of your life, you are competing for the same thing with other people, so it also provides a way to differentiate. Not many people got an Engineering job by just playing sports. That's not to say that all Engineers have formal education, but that more the rule than the exception. In some cases, experience can be a substitute, but not many doctors I know of got to be doctors by practicing on their neighbors. If you are lucky enough to find something you are passionate about, it's a lot easier to be successful and you will enjoy what you do. I think of formal education as exercise for the mind. Just like exercise, you many not use those benchpresses directly in your day to day activities, but it gives you the ability to excel at other activities like lifting cases of beer. Not discounting sports or alternative learning, but it just a piece of what defines us as a person.