by Kalsum Harun
Homeschool Singapore documents the diverse educational journeys of families learning outside traditional schools. We believe children’s voices, choices, and well-being should be at the center of conversations about education. In this article, we bring snapshots of homeschool life for your viewing pleasure.
Featured image: Homeschooled delegates at PrepMunSG 2025, wrapping up Day 1 of conference proceedings. (Image credit: Preparatory Model United Nations, www.prepmun.sg)
While much of the conversation around homeschooling focuses on what happens at home, many are equally interested in what happens when young people step beyond it.
A persistent question about homeschooling is: what about socialization? What about the world beyond the home?
That is the wrong question, really. The better one might be: what does engagement look like when young people have the time, space, and agency to pursue it meaningfully?
Recent weeks have offered glimpses of an answer.
In Conference Halls
A group of homeschoolers gathers at the Preparatory Model United Nations (PREPMUN) 2025 conference from 9 to 12 December 2025. Joining delegates from across Singapore to simulate international diplomacy, our homeschool youth have spent months of preparation researching global issues, representing nations, drafting resolutions, and engaging in formal debate.
These students are part of a homeschool MUN community that meets fortnightly (@hsmunsg), preparing for moments like these: when research transforms into representation and ideas become advocacy. The work is demanding. Delegates study their assigned countries, understand committee procedures, and learn to articulate positions that may not align with their personal views—an exercise in empathy as much as in policy.
This is what learning looks like when it extends beyond solitary desks. Young people practicing advocacy, collaboration, and critical thinking in real-world contexts. Homeschoolers do not believe in socialization for its own sake. They want to engage with purpose, choosing to participate in spaces that challenge them intellectually and socially, on their own terms and timelines.
To the homeschool delegates: We see you showing up, speaking up, and representing your communities with thoughtfulness and conviction.
In Competition Pools
Halfway across the region, another homeschooler was pursuing a different kind of excellence. Sage Chua Shan Yao competed at the Dubai 2025 Asian Youth Para Games in the Boys (12-18 years old) 200m Freestyle Multi-Class event, clocking a new personal best of 2:49.25.
Readers of our inaugural Homeschool Newsletter may remember Sage. As we featured his brother, Avel Chua’s journey of self-discovery as a National swimmer, we also honoured Sage’s nomination for the Spirit of Sport of the Year category in the 2024 Singapore Disability Sports Awards. Now, we celebrate his latest achievement: not just a strong finish, but the surpassing of his own previous mark. In a world obsessed with rankings and comparisons, there is something quietly radical about the personal best—the only competitor that truly matters is the version of yourself you were yesterday.
This is the kind of goal-setting and self-discipline that homeschooling, at its best, cultivates. When education is self-directed, success becomes personal rather than standardized. Progress is the measure.
In homeschooling, success is not standardized. It is defined by growth, effort, and the courage to compete—not just against others, but against your own limitations.
To Sage: Your personal best is a reminder that progress is the truest measure of achievement. We celebrate your dedication and the community that supports you.
In Research Labs (and Living Rooms)
And then there is The Red Dot Catalysts—a team of homeschoolers who just completed a year-long journey through Shell’s NXplorers programme, a global STEM initiative run locally in partnership with Science Centre Singapore.
Of the 21 participating schools across Singapore, only six teams received recognition. The Red Dot Catalysts placed first in the “Excellence in Thinking Different” category, earning $500 in Popular vouchers and, more importantly, proof that different educational paths can lead to inspiring outcomes.
Their project began with a problem statement about food waste—specifically rice, noodles, and bread, which the National Environment Agency identifies as among Singapore’s most commonly wasted food items. But as homeschoolers often do, they pivoted. Initial experiments with fruit peels and sugarcane led them to focus on fruit peels after the sugarcane trials failed.
The goal is to develop biodegradable bioplastics from food waste as a sustainable alternative to traditional plastics.
The challenge: how do you make this accessible to households? They designed a compact, user-friendly machine—though building a fully functional model proved difficult without institutional backing or a corporate account to fund it. So they adapted. They created a simple prototype to showcase the concept, then developed a companion app that allows users to enter the mass of their fruit peels and receive exact ingredient ratios and step-by-step instructions.
Because the machine remained a mockup, they built an additional app to guide families in making bioplastics at home using everyday tools.
This is what self-directed learning looks like when it collides with real-world constraints. It means not giving up, but pivoting. Not perfect prototypes, but functional solutions. Not institutional resources, but ingenuity.
The NXplorers programme took the Red Dot Catalysts through cycles of Explore, Create, and Change—analyzing possibilities, refining ideas through research and feedback, testing and adapting. Their direction shifted. Their solution evolved. Ultimately, their “efforts were recognised for “thinking differently,” which clinched them a prize.
Multiple Paths, One Thread
A conference hall in Singapore. A competition pool in Dubai. A year-long research project culminating in recognition. These stories seem different on the surface, but they all showcase our young people engaging deeply with the pursuits they have chosen, in communities they have sought out, and at levels that challenge them.
The delegates at PrepMunSG did not participate because it was compulsory. Sage did not compete because achievement was externally mandated. The Red Dot Catalysts did not spend a year on bioplastics research to boost their portfolio—they did it because the problem mattered to them, and they had the freedom to pursue it with depth and persistence.
These stories are proof that homeschooling does not mean isolation from the world. It means creating the conditions for children to meet it thoughtfully—when they are ready, in ways that align with their interests, and with the space to pursue depth over breadth.
That goes beyond socialization. That is agency.
And when we trust young people with agency, we are often surprised by what they choose to do with it.
Education is not confined to curricula or classrooms. When learning is rooted in trust and autonomy, young people develop the confidence to step into wider arenas—representing ideas, breaking personal records, and engaging with communities beyond their own.
This is what it looks like when we believe children are capable of more than we often give them credit for.
Follow these journeys:
- @hsmunsg – Homeschool Model United Nations Singapore
- @prepmunsg – PrepMunSG Conference updates
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