Teaching – pass it on

This is the first year that I’m home schooling my kids and this has been one of the best things that has happened to us. We get to spend more time together and I have more say on what they learn and how they learn it. There is more harmony between us and a growing love of learning.

This is quite extraordinary considering that only last year, when they were attending an American school here in Cairo, they had both come to hate books, hate school and had low self confidence. It has been an uphill climb.

For any parent who is in a similar position, it is difficult to define success. Is it the grades the children get on their day to day work? Is it their self confidence? Is it their love of learning?

I tend to make a combination of all the above and continually try to balance. I want them to understand things well, feel happy and satisfied when they learn, be eager to learn more and know how to use what they learn. I want their learning to actually develop them as human beings – spiritually, physically and emotionally. Am I asking for a miracle?

When I see them bogged down in work, we declare a holiday and go out and do something we enjoy. But I always try to include an element of learning. Like a trip to the Pyramids or to see a film. I also find that since we spend more time together we are talking more and I get more chances to tell the stories about my life, or life in general and hopefully impart any snippets of wisdom I’ve acquired. Then I realized this is what it must have been like in the ‘old days’ – the time when children and parents and community interacted with each other and communicated and passed on understanding, not just knowledge and information. The fact that this can happen in the modern world makes me feel blessed.

The children are fluent in both English and Arabic and it’s a subject of continual debate which language is their ‘mother’ tongue. My fourteen-year-old daughter is now demonstrating more confidence (phew) and is more certain about her future and what she wants to do in her life. With this growing self-esteem is also coming a desire to give. This culminated the other day when she came rushing into the room saying she needs a new note book and pen. I pointed to the study table in the lounge room. She found what she was looking for and then stood up straight, beaming with happiness and said, “Mum! Hana (the lady who helps us around the house once a week) asked me to teach her Arabic! I’m going to give her a lesson every week!”

For many reasons I felt really happy to hear this. Not only was she feeling confident about her ability to teach, but she had learnt to find joy in giving to someone else. And, what she was choosing to give was something precious to her; knowledge, language. This kind woman, who is like part of our family, can not read or write her own language. Her life is difficult but we always see her smiling and positive. She felt comfortable enough to approach my daughter and my daughter’s heart was open enough to receive her. I felt that this was success.