For homeschool graduate Tia Ly, teaching English to 4-year-olds in China was the adventure of a lifetime. Join us on today’s Home School Heartbeat as Mike Farris concludes his series on homeschoolers making a difference in the world.
Mike Farris:
My guest today is Patrick Henry College student Tia Ly. Tia was homeschooled for about four years in China. She lived there with her family as a result of her dad’s employment. Tia, thanks for joining me on the program.
Tia Ly:
Thank you so much for having me.
Mike:
Tia, can you tell us some of the things that you did in China on how homeschooling prepared you for some of the challenges you faced while you lived there?
Tia:
First of all, the most substantial thing that I was able to participate in was a summer teaching program which was six weeks. It was three weeks of classroom training and three weeks of classroom teaching practicum and ultimately I received my TESOL certificate, which is a certificate to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I was able to teach 4-year-olds, so it was fun. It was very rewarding to see not only their English skills improve, but also see them respond to the love of Christ that they often do not see in their own homes. Other than that program over the summer, a lot of our time in China was spent simply learning how to live in a Third World country. I think that the biggest advantage that I had in being a homeschooler was that while my mom was busy learning how to be a Chinese housewife, my brother and I were able to continue our high school education more on our own in self study. However, the most important thing that homeschooling provided for my brother and I was the biblical worldview that was ingrained in us through our previous homeschool years. It gave us an identity in the Word of God, in our family, in the body of Christ, rather than our school or friends or local community.
Mike:
Tia, what a great example of how homeschooling can work anywhere in the world. I’m Mike Farris.
