Homeschooling : How Do You Educate?

The Big Decision

My husband and I started talking about homeschooling three years ago, when my eldest was about to finish second grade. He was attending a Filipino school here in Abu Dhabi, UAE where we are currently based. For us, the idea of homeschooling being a lot more flexible was the main reason why we eventually left the system.

We knew it would be very challenging, considering that we both were working full time jobs. However, it was already challenging for all of us over all even before the shift.

You see, we all had to wake up at 5:00am to to be ready at 6:00am, when the school bus arrives. Imagine being on the road already at 6:00am while the class only started only at 8:00. We will again see each other at 6:00pm after work, and then only will I check his notebooks to find out what assignment he had. We shall then struggle and hope to finish by 9:00pm, so he can retire for the day and be ready for the same grind the following day. The cycle went on for four years - 2 years of kindergarten, then grades 1 and 2.

You see, within these four years, I hated assignments. He had piles of assignments he needed to labor on every night. Then the tests, and projects. The students would be asked to bring hard to find materials, right the very next day. Sometimes he failed to bring these assignments because he failed to write them on his notebook! Great.

Laying Down The Foundations

We were exhausted, our son was, too. Definitely. So when we started homeschooling, we somehow laid down a bit. We focused on behavior, character and values. We always made sure to integrate our learning into real life situations. We teach them chores and instill discipline.

Academics, though definitely important, are for us only second to raising little people with big hearts.

Now, we shall officially have three homeschoolers. Nothing has changed much on our approach, apart from our eldest needing to spend more time now for his school work. The two smaller ones only need to spend a minimum of 1 hour daily. The rest shall be learning through play and immersion.

Regulations

We have enrolled with a homeschool provider to help us with the accreditation and records keeping. We are following the US curriculum, which means that if ever we will go back to the traditional PH school setting, they will need to take additional units for Filipino and Social Studies as per the Department of Education curriculum requirements. We intend to homeschool up to high school though, and with that, the regulations will be different already. The governing body in the Philippines for college is Commission on Higher Education and my kids can be admitted just like any foreign students will.

On a side note, independent homeschoolers are also on a rise in the Philippines. Each year, to gauge the student's progress, they can send the child to take the PEPT (Philippine Educational Placement Test). This lets the family have records supporting the grade level assessments of their children.

Tests

In our homeschool, we take different approaches to test our learners. For our eldest (incoming 6th grade), he is already used to the usual pen and paper testing methods. We also utilize the Charlotte Mason method they are asked to explain what we have just learned in any manner they can - written, narrative, drawing, etc.

The younger ones are mostly learning through play, and we do not yet go "hard" on tests. However, we believe that they would have to get used to standard test systems, as we do not know when they might encounter this in the future.

Learn how to follow directions, is the simplest but most important rule here. Though I can be lenient when in comes to "not following directions" sometimes (as long as they are able to explain their work and prove competency), but strongly point out where they missed following the directions. It is crucial because this can also apply on how they should follow rules and regulations in the bigger setting.

Flexibility

As I mentioned one of the major reasons why we chose to homeschool is the flexibility that we get from it. Our "school" is practically "portable", as we homeschoolers say, "the world is our classroom."

Having said this, discipline with time management is also important for us. Right now, we let them understand our overall objective for the quarter, for example. When we know the date of our portfolio presentation, that is highlighted and we work around the goal to finish before that given time.

We start our day with chores first, then homeschool at around 10:00am. My eldest is already an independent learner, and chooses which subjects to do in a particular day. I do not have any issues with that. The same goes with my smaller learners. They practically dictate the mood and setting of our day. We take it one day at a time, with our eyes to our timeline.

Glad We Took The Big Step

It was a big step for our family, when we started to homeschool. The idea was not that openly accepted in the Philippines at that time, I was even hesitant to tell my own parents. With the recent developments in the world, and its impact to the education sector, my mom was the first to say, that she is glad that my kids are homeschooled.

Putting our children's education into our own hands is a great responsibility and a big challenge. But still, I would say that this is one of the best decisions we ever made.