Why do you think you completed your work before each age level time?

Well of course it may take as much time as in school, but you finish quicker because you can wake up in the middle of the night and do work you want to finish.  Can you imagine getting your teacher out of bed at 3 am in the morning!  Your parents don’t mind because they are up anyway. In our house there is usually someone praying in the night or making suhur or doing some sort of other emergency. 

What was or is the downside of home education?

Can’t think of much for this except that, people were always asking what school you go to, and I got fed up saying I don’t go to any school, and even though I had completed everything years before they still think you are somehow deprived.  They would have long conversations with you about the things you were doing at home and seemed to get the idea, then at the end they would say something like “It is a pity you don’t go to school especially as you are so bright”.  I would like to make people understand that the reason we do so well is because we are not going to school, but that is hard for most people to understand.

What advice would you give to parents thinking of home educating but who can’t stand their kids being round their feet all day? 

Well they are probably round their feet all day because the children are used to having a grown up telling them what to do all the time and they can’t think for themselves.  If you took them out of school and taught them how to rely on their own initiative and talents then they would go away and leave you alone! 

OK on another track.  If you were in charge of providing education for everyone how would you do that?

(This is the summary of a discussion we had in our family recently on this very question). 

Well, first of all I would make a clear statement of what I think education is.  I think it should mean learning the things you need to achieve the purpose of your life.  You see each individual person is part of the Master Plan as I see it.  We have all been created for a purpose.  Initially your direction should be to discover your purpose and then train for it so you can do it the best way you can.   

I think this would work in an opposite way to schooling because when you go to school they do not try to discover who you are or what you are for they just assume you are all the same and teach everyone the same things.  I would try to arrange for kids to try out different life choices and see if they like it then if they liked it as an overall idea they could go into a program designed to make them expert in that field.   

As an addition I think everyone should have some basic training in life skills which I have found quite useful.  I would let say groups of children all live together with one house manager who is an adult who actually likes the company of children and respects their individuality.  In these living together sessions the children would run the household as a collective and all take turns in having the shopping money, budgeting and cooking etc.  Bad choices of food would be a lesson in themselves when there is too much of something and not enough of the other so they would soon realise the need for budgeting and portioning things per person. 

I would have some growing going on also and different households growing different things to trade with each other, so you could always get something to eat if the budget manager was inefficient. 

There would be surprise drop ins from guests etc. and the house manager would advise on the hospitality to be shown to them, just like real life, so you learn to cope with the unexpected.  People of different faiths would all have households each and people of no faiths would have the choice to either choose to be guests of other faith households (where they agree to join in the running and managing in the way that faith operates) or have a household of no faith for themselves and others who had the same ideas.  Just like in a real Muslim State.  I think the no faith people would be quite curious to see how others operated and likewise there could be exchanges between faith households so everyone learned respect for things that are different from your own.  When you had learned how to cope properly and were very proficient at everything you could leave.   

In our family we have a computer person, a weaponry historian, an artist, a potter and a couple of undecided at the moment.  But even if they have such varied lives they can all at least do all the practical things to live and cope when it is necessary.  

At what ages would these programs be put into use?

From 7-14 only.  Islam says your child must be allowed to play until 7, be taught things for life from 7 - 14 and be your friend from 14 - 21.  I think this is very sensible because there is no pressure on little people.  I was reading when I was 4 but I know that is quite unusual and I have brothers and sisters who did not read until past 7 so in a family you have the whole range. I remember the room I used to have in our old flat and it makes me feel warm and comfortable so it was obviously nice there whatever my mum used to do with us!  She said she used to read to us a lot and do fun games and we just picked up from that.  My other brothers and sister had more or less the same things I think and some picked up and some didn’t, so they should be allowed to take it or leave it until they are 7.