Kuala Lumpur, Nov 2 (IANS) Just talking and playing with her children is the “balanced method” followed by a Malaysian woman whose five kids have entered universities when they were only 12 to 15 years old.
Halimahton Yusof’s method focuses on spending time with the children and having a designated “learning time” daily.

“When I taught my children, it was never formal. We would just talk. We would spend two hours on school work. Then, we would be outside but turn everything into an educational experience,” she told The New Straits Times Monday.

Her eldest son, Abraham, was 13 years old when he received funding and training from the Rover Junior Tennis Initiative for top British junior tennis players.

Aisha was 15 and Iskander was 12 when they enrolled in a university.

Sufiah was 13 when she entered Oxford.

Zuleikha, 14, is now doing a degree in biology and astronomy at the Open University here.

The mother said she only realised that her “balanced method” of teaching children was really effective when Iskander started showing signs of brilliance when he was just two.

“He was able to understand the concept of time by then. He knew there were 60 seconds in a minute.

“I would tell him to wait two minutes while I cleaned the house and he would start the countdown from the bedroom,” she told the newspaper.

At that point, Halimahton felt that she had stumbled upon a system that could help children excel in their studies.

The 56-year-old said she had unknowingly used the system earlier with her other children with exceptional results.

Yusof spent 34 years in Britain and holds a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Hull.

She feels that it does not make sense to teach all children and all subjects in exactly the same way.

“I’m quite happy to adjust my approach according to the subject and the child’s personality.

“Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think it’s healthy to be obsessed with children’s results.”

Iskander, 23, who graduated with first class honours from the University of Warwick’s four-year Mathematics programme at 15, feels that his mother’s approach to teaching is unique.

“I often observe her interacting with children as if she is just playing or talking to them when she is actually teaching them mathematics formulas, chemistry or language. It’s amazing to watch her.”