Homeschool Domination! :)

I saw this somewhere on Facebook. It's a cool infographic from College@Home. We should do something similar for the Philippines, don't you think? Hmm... another project for us at HAPI, perhaps? ;) (Feel free to share this, teehee!)

Created by: CollegeAtHome.com

Homeschooling Affirmation from a Stranger, Bo Sanchez and Philstar.com ;)

Whether you're a seasoned homeschooler, a homeschool parent wannabe or a homeschooling newbie like me, I'm sure there will come a time when you will need some homeschooling encouragement. :) Well, let me share how I've been affirmed lately about our decision to keep homeschooling (or rather, God's decision to put homeschooling "in our faces"! LOL!)

1. Affirmation from a Stranger

Last Sunday, the kids, their Papa and I were browsing through a tiangge (OK, what's the English term for this?! LOL!) stall after hearing Mass. One of the ladies there, an elderly woman whom I shall refer to as Curious Lola from now on, overheard Tim talking to me.

Curious Lola (to Tim): Where do you go to school?


Tim (speaking softly): Homeschool. (I then prod him to speak a little louder.)


Me: Where daw? (Loosely translated: She said, "Where?")


Tim (raises his voice, almost shouting in a cheeky manner): Homeschool! 


Me (thinking, "Uh-oh! She might think we have socialization issues!"): Don't shout, Tim.


Curious Lola: Wow! Homeschool! (Turns to me)


Curious Lola: How do you do that?


Me: (I start explaining).


Curious Lola: That's wonderful, etc. etc. 

Well, we actually had a fairly lengthy conversation about homeschooling and one or two other topics (which even included her telling me that two kids was just right and it would be better for us to stop at that. Umm... feeling close much?! LOL!). Hubby even thought that the lady was someone I knew personally, since we talked for so long!

Overall though, I came away encouraged by our conversation. I also felt humbled and honored again that God used little ol' me to share about how awesome (and challenging!) homeschooling can be. Yey! Thank You, Lord!

2. Affirmation from Bo Sanchez

At our recent family outing with the rest of my co-employees, I had the great privilege of talking to Bo and Marowe Sanchez about homeschooling! (Yes, the Bo Sanchez, people! The one who founded Catholic Filipino Academy (CFA) and a whole bunch of other ministries and organizations, and is my "idol-in-a-non-idolatrous-way" when it comes to writing! He's actually one of our company's "big bosses" and, of course, its founder, too!)

So this is how our dialogue went (as far as I recall, haha!):

Bo (making conversation because I stepped into his path {promise, I didn't do it in person! LOL!}): So how are you doing? You're doing good?


Me (rejoicing that my plan to start a conversation with Bo by stepping into his path worked): Great!


Bo: That's good. 


Me: Can I just say that your talk at the Homeschool Conference was so inspiring? A lot of the parents there were really in tears!


Bo: Really? Praise God! (or something to that effect)


*On a separate occasion, right after we had taken a group photo (see below, in case you think I'm making things up, LOL!)

I just got this from one of my officemates. See the lady squatting, with two kids? That's me with Rysse (white hat) and Tim (blue hat). Bo is the one in stripes, with his hands on the little boy (their youngest, Francis) and beside him (wearing black) is Marowe. Hubby is the one to the extreme left, in blue. Hehe!

Bo (referring to our kids): So, are you going to homeschool them?


Me: Well actually, we already are. But we're not enrolled under CFA yet. It's kind of challenging with my work so we're independent for now. We're using CHC, along with other things to supplement it.


Bo: Oh, that's great! That's what we started with. 


Marowe: OK lang yun. Bata pa naman sila eh. (That's OK. The kids are still young, anyway). 


Bo: Yeah, just enjoy it. Make the most of these years! (or something to that effect)


Me: Yes, I know. Thanks!


(I then prompt the kids to say "Thank you" again to their "Tito" Bo. (feeling close, haha! "Tito" is Filipino for "Uncle." They do and we all go home happy.)


Thank You, Lord, for that affirmation! :)

3. Affirmation from Philstar.com


In my post about the 4th Philippine Homeschool Conference, I said I'd share my own thoughts on the conference. Yikes! It's been over a month since the event and I still  haven't done so! (Sorry!) I was reminded to do so when I read this article about it on Philstar.com though, which also affirmed me about our journey in homeschooling:
Home Schooling Produces Achievers 

Of course, aside from these, I've also been getting affirmation from my fellow homeschool parents in our Catholic homeschool support group, ROCKERs and homeschool sites, like this post on homeschool preschool from Simple Homeschool. :) I feel less pressured to do and inspired to just be with my kids. (Special mention here: Mariel of The Learning Basket, thanks for your encouragement!)


By sharing these moments of affirmation with you, I hope to encourage you, too, dear parent reading this! :) Or, if you have words of affirmation you'd like to share with me (and others), please feel free to leave a comment. 


Thank you and God bless you and your family! ;)

When God calls you to homeschool, He'll make sure you'll get the message :)

{Warning! Long post ahead! :) It's been over a month in the making though, so I hope you'd take the time to read it! :) Thanks!}


It's been a while since I said anything here on this blog about how God has been working in our lives and family lately. I've been on Truly Rich Mom a lot though, for the 50 Days of Amazing Grace posts, fabulous Amazing Grace giveaways and so much more! (And lest you think otherwise, YES, I have been working, too! LOL!)


I've been thinking about how to write this post for a while now. What pushed me to finally do it is the fact that there have been a number of fellow homeschool moms who have been asking me regarding our latest updates on our discernment. I remember, in my last update about it, I said:

..nevertheless {Lord}, not my will, but Yours, be done.'' 

(Luke 22:42) 

You see, our discernment whether to keep homeschooling also had a lot to do with another major prayer concern in our lives, i.e. whether we would move to Cubao — which is much nearer to my workplace, and hubby's, too — or not. 

To Homeschool Or Not To Homeschool?

Image source here.

If you've been following this blog, you'd know that this newbie homeschool mom and her family are in a discernment process again: to homeschool or not to homeschool? You'd also probably know that I've already inquired at a few progressive schools, namely Brainworks, The Learning Tree and Cradle of Joy. I plan to inquire (again!) at Progressive Little Saints too. In my post here, I even listed down the reasons why I liked Brainworks.

The day after I inquired at Brainworks, we brought Tim to The Learning Tree Child Growth Center for an assessment. It went rather well, and I'm guessing I was more nervous than Tim at the time! The teacher was rather surprised that he still wrote his words with fairly large spaces in between letters (needless to say, writing is our waterloo when it comes to homeschooling! *sighs*) and suggested we let him play more with playdough and other things to improve his fine motor skills for writing.

To make a long story short, Tim finished the assessment and the teacher told me we could enroll him in the "Fives" section (he's turning six in October) if we were really interested, then he could take the exam for Grade 1 at the end of the coming school year (which starts in June 2012). Hubby and I are still praying about it though. (We also need to factor in the COST - homaygosshh, school is soooo expensive these days! Imagine, almost P70,000 for preschool! Me thinks our missionary salaries may not be enough to sustain this! LOL!)