Homeschooling in Egypt

I've been meaning to write this post for nearly 7 months now (or more since we decided to homeschool close to a year ago.) I haven't written it because it will probably be a long one. Ya know how some people have this burning desire to write a novel or even just get an article published? Me . . . not so much. I was an English major so I could read the books. I never really enjoyed writing about them. I still don't enjoy writing. So the thought of writing long blog posts to explain myself is something I sort of avoid. But recently a friend asked me how the homeschool was going (thanks, Shannon!) and I was reminded that several people have asked and I've responded to them to watch for a blog post about it. Sometimes it's kept me up in the night as I've gone over in my mind what I want to be sure to say about homeschool. I’m breaking it up into several parts for a couple of reasons. One, it’s way too long for one post. Two, if I break it up I have something to add to my blog every few days so it looks like I am so organized that I can update my blog every few days. So here's what I want to say (the long version) about homeschooling in Egypt.

For us, the reason why we decided to homeschool was a reaction to our education experiences in Kuwait and Jordan.

KUWAIT

In Kuwait they attended the American School of Kuwait (ASK). Petey had just started Middle School. It honestly felt like there was a party every other week in her homeroom (math). I'm all about parties but really and seriously, they were having a class party all the time to celebrate something--anything to actually get out of learning anything about math.

And then there was her reading class. By the end of the year, even the students were complaining about it by saying to the teacher "do we have to watch another movie?" Her reading teacher was also the vice-principal of the middle school. He claimed he had so much going on in his role of vice-principal that he didn't have time to make lesson plans for reading class. Therefore, his answer to that was showing movies. Hello? How much effort does it take to plan for the kids to read? Even if you don't want to discuss the book, at least have them reading! Also, the movies they show here are not regulated like they are in the public schools in UT. It's pretty much anything goes. Bless her heart, Petey spoke up and said she wasn't allowed to watch Rated R movies. So the answer to that was that she (and anyone else who didn't want/couldn't watch) could go sit outside the class and talk.

The teachers for my elementary kids were fantastic. They really seemed interested in educating the kids. Keep in mind we moved in October so the school year had already started in Kuwait. When we first applied to the school the kids had to be tested to determine their placement. Soon after the kids started school it was time for parent teacher conferences. Critter's teacher told us Critter was doing well--so well in fact that she was surprised they didn't just put him in the next grade as it seemed he was already at that level. She encouraged us to pursue that since we were still just getting settled into the school and it'd be better to change it now if possible.

When we approached the administration (principal/vice-principal) about it we could tell something was wrong. Turns out, Kuwait has this law that you cannot skip any grades at any time and still receive a diploma. We explained we didn't plan on staying through graduation and even if we did, he would go to college in the States and I'm sure they'd let him in even if he had to get a GED or something. Still, they would not let us do it, under any circumstances. That was our first sign that the government/Ministry of Education was in complete control of the school. Parents, administrators, etc. really had no say in the education of the kids. Since the schools here in the Middle East are so transient-based we don't have the special programs we take for granted in the States. We found out later the teacher was reprimanded for suggesting to us that he skip a grade--a huge no-no in this government-run (but expensive and private) school.

Now lets get to the condition of the school in Kuwait. In one word--terrible. Outdated computers, drafty and broken windows, peeling paint, old desks . . . People were paying lots of money to attend the school but the only benefit we could see is when the driver for the owner of the school showed up at the school to pick up the owner in his decked out (Todd says it's inappropriate for me, a 39+ year old LDS woman, to say "pimped out") bright pink Hummer. Contrast that to the school here in Cairo that most Embassy kids attend (Macbooks, ipod touches for students to use, etc.) More on that in a later post.