School
I didn't think much about how my kids were performing in those early days, even though other people would occasionally remark on how well they were doing. I suppose I was vaguely aware of it, but I didn't consider it important. When teaching, I was happy as long as my children were happy with the way things were going.
(I never compare my kids to other parents' children, and I think every parent should avoid doing this. Every child is different, and the competitive drive — if it exists at all — should come from the kids themselves, not their parents!)
It was only when my kids went to school that it really became clear how advanced they were, and that the school would not be able to cater to their needs.
On the first day, one of the teachers ran up to me and excitedly told me that Aisha, 6, had reading age of a 14-year-old. Abraham had to work on his own because he was so far ahead of the rest of the class, and Sufiah, 5, was performing at the level of a 12-year-old in all subjects.
But Iskander — who had just turned 3 — turned out to be the troublesome child again. He hated the idea of going to nursery and used every method at his disposal to try to stay at home, including directing us to travel around town in search of a "better" nursery! (Iskander's note: I can just about remember doing this! The "other nursery" didn't exist, of course.)
I was reluctant to agree to letting Iskander stay at home, but he was so insistent that I eventually relented — he promised me that he'd be good, and read his way through a whole series of books just to show me that he was committed to learning at home.
After a while, everyone else — especially Sufiah — also wanted to learn from me at home, so I decided to let them stay. I was very hesitant about doing this, as I knew it would be extremely difficult to bring up four children entirely on my own without much in the way of resources.
But it did seem to work out well, and my children continued their smooth progress. Things remained like this for several more years.