{"id":166,"date":"2026-09-21T16:26:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/charades4kids.com\/blog\/?p=166"},"modified":"2026-09-21T16:26:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T16:26:42","slug":"i-opened-my-sons-playgroup-books-and-decided-to-homeschool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/charades4kids.com\/blog\/i-opened-my-sons-playgroup-books-and-decided-to-homeschool\/","title":{"rendered":"I Opened My Son’s Playgroup Books \u2014 And Decided to Homeschool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A note before we begin:<\/strong>
This is not a criticism of teachers or of any particular school. Many teachers work with real care. This is one father’s honest account of what he found \u2014 and the questions it raised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My son is four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Six or seven months ago, he started playgroup. It was not entirely my decision. Family members said it was time. Everyone’s children go. “He’ll fall behind.”<\/em> “He needs the environment.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And like most parents, I trusted the process. I paid the fees, packed the bag, and assumed that whatever happened inside those walls was worth what it cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two days ago, I sat down to help him study. And for the first time, I properly opened his books.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I found changed my decision about his education \u2014 and about my younger son’s too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Was Actually Inside<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The books covered the basics. Letters. Simple words. Numbers. Colours. Shapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing wrong with any of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then I noticed the structure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These same basic foundations were divided into three parts<\/strong> \u2014 spread across three years<\/strong> of playgroup, nursery, and prep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years. For material that a parent sitting beside a child for twenty minutes a day could cover \u2014 naturally, through conversation, play, and daily life \u2014 in a matter of months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I turned the pages again. Then again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And a question formed that I could not put down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly are we paying for?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Am Not the Only One<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since that evening, I have spoken to friends, relatives, and other fathers. And I have heard the same thing again and again, in different words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“I’m spending lakhs, and I can’t see the result.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

“My child sits frightened in the classroom.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That second sentence stays with me.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A frightened child is not learning. A frightened child is surviving. And a four-year-old should not need to survive anything \u2014 least of all the place where they are supposed to discover the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not one family’s problem. It is a pattern.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Research Says About This Age<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My instinct was confirmed by research I had already spent months reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finland<\/strong> \u2014 one of the world’s highest-performing education systems \u2014 does not begin formal schooling until age seven<\/strong>. Before that, children play, explore, and learn through daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study by researchers at Stanford University<\/strong>, using large-scale data from Denmark, found that children who started kindergarten a year later showed dramatically lower inattention and hyperactivity<\/strong> \u2014 an effect that persisted years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And long before any study, Islamic guidance pointed in the same direction. The Prophet \ufdfa said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Command your children to pray when they are seven years old.”<\/em> (Abu Dawud)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Even for worship \u2014 the most important act of a believer’s life \u2014 seven was the age given.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why are we sending four-year-olds into formal instruction, and calling it a head start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a Four-Year-Old Actually Needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When I looked honestly at what my son needs right now, the list was short:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Real conversation<\/strong> \u2014 with adults who listen and respond<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \ud83d\udcd6 Stories<\/strong> \u2014 read aloud, every day<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \ud83c\udf31 Nature<\/strong> \u2014 soil, plants, animals, weather<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \ud83e\uddfa Real tasks<\/strong> \u2014 helping at home, feeling useful<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \ud83c\udfc3 Movement<\/strong> \u2014 running, climbing, playing freely<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • \u2764\ufe0f Safety<\/strong> \u2014 feeling loved, not measured<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    None of these require a classroom. Most of them are harder to provide inside one.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And I already had most of them. My sons come with me to care for our birds. They watch eggs hatch. They dig in the soil. They ask questions I sometimes cannot answer \u2014 and we find the answers together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That was already education. I just hadn’t called it that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Decision<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    So here is what I decided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    My elder son will finish this year. Stopping suddenly would be unfair to him \u2014 he has friends there, and routine matters to a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After that, he will learn at home.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And my younger son \u2014 who has just learned to walk \u2014 will not go to school at all.<\/strong> He will learn at home from the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We have given this a name: Nasheman<\/strong> \u2014 a nest. The place where young birds are raised, protected, and eventually taught to fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Because a nest does not cage a bird. It prepares it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “But What About\u2026?”<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I already know the questions. I have heard most of them from my own family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Are you qualified?”<\/strong>
    My wife was a teacher. I tutored children through my own college years, and their parents came to thank me when results arrived. But more importantly \u2014 no one knows my children as I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “What about socialisation?”<\/strong>
    Weddings. Funerals. Visiting the sick. Eid. Neighbours. Grandparents. Cousins. The social world Allah built is far larger than a classroom of thirty children born in the same year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “What about their future?”<\/strong>
    That is exactly what I am thinking about. I want them to grow up curious, confident, and capable \u2014 not frightened, and not trained only to pass the next test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So What Should a Parent Actually Do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I am not saying every family must homeschool. Circumstances differ. But every parent can do this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Open the books.<\/strong>
    Sit with your child for one evening and genuinely look at what they are being taught \u2014 and how long it is taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Watch your child’s face.<\/strong>
    Do they talk about school with excitement \u2014 or silence? A child’s emotional state tells you more than any report card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Ask what the fee is buying.<\/strong>
    What does your child receive there that they could not receive at home?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Protect the early years.<\/strong>
    Whatever you decide, make sure the years before seven are full of play, stories, nature and conversation \u2014 not pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. Stay present.<\/strong>
    Whether your child is in school or at home, the parent remains the first and most important teacher. That role cannot be outsourced \u2014 not for any fee.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A Final Word<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I did not plan to become a homeschooling father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I only opened my son’s books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But sometimes that is all it takes \u2014 one honest look at what is actually happening, instead of what we assume is happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Our children do not need to be rushed. They need to be raised.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And for my family, that raising will happen at home \u2014 in the nest \u2014 until they are ready to fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At Charades4Kids, everything we share comes from this same belief \u2014 that children learn best through play, not pressure. Like a grandfather’s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Where Charades Fits In<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This is also why charades sits at the heart of this website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Everything a playgroup book tries to teach over three years \u2014 words, actions, animals, objects, colours \u2014 a child can learn in a single evening of play with their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When a four-year-old acts out a cat<\/em>, a rainy day<\/em>, or eating a mango<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n