ChinuchAtHome

Does a parent who homeschools ever stop homeschooling, especially even after the kids attend school?  Well, according to this parent, homeschooling is a priviledge and a wonderful gift to the child and it doesn't stop even after the kids go to school.

After we made aliyah, we decided to put our children into the Israeli school system.  Over here, it's sort of illegal to homeschool and the education authority gives homeschooling parents a hard time.  There are benefits of schooling too in Israel, such as total immersion in Hebrew, but we will limit our discussion to homeschooling even after schooling.

Well, what does that mean?  In Israel, everything is taught in Hebrew, even English. Well, English is not taught using immersion.  It is taught using English with Hebrew translation, much like in America, sometimes Hebrew is taught not through Ivrit b'Ivrit but Ivrit b'Anglit.  

What I would like to share is that as a homeschooling parent, I continue to help my children in their schoolwork.  Especially in Mathematics, a subject which I love.  The child brings home shiurei bayit (homework) and at first look, it was overwhelming.  But after I sit down in front of my computer with the help of two wonderful tools:

• Google Translater
• Saffa

I am off to a good start.  Google Translator is my first tool to use to decipher what the Hebrew math worksheet is saying.  However, Google Translator is not perfect, therefore, I needed a second tool in my toolbox, and that is Saffa.  It is a must-have utility in every Jewish library.  

Here are a few examples of word to word translation that I have been able to come up with using the above tools.

לפניכם סדרות של צורות. בכל סדרה, מצאו חוקיות וציירו את שני הציורים הבאים בסדרה.

"Before you is a series of drawings.  In each series, find rules and draw two more pictures in the series."

אמ נמשיך לבנות לפי אות חוקיות כמה גפרורים יהיו במבנה 6?

If we will continue to build according to its rules, how many matches will be in structure #6?

I feel less hopeless and have found more confidence in my ability to help my children without the need of tutors.  In Israel, many olim parents invest a lot of money on private tutors for their children's education beyond the very affordable tuition rates in the private schools.  If a parent already has some knowledge of Hebrew and is good at the computer, he/she can be very resourceful to the children and save a lot of money.

And after we have helped translate the homework into English, then we continue to help our child in the homework.  We as olim work doubly hard to live and succeed in Israel.  Is it worth it?  I think so.  We mustn't forget also, that Hebrew should never be forgotten from our lips, as it is our mother tongue from days of old.

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