We are Homeschooling!

For my old readers and followers, you might remember that I homeschooled Ren when he was just 5 years old (a Kindergarten). Our reason at that time was because we transferred from Manila to Cavite,  we did not enroll him to school.

He went to a progressive school after our 1 year of homeschooling. He is not a typical kid so we have chosen a non-traditional school because we thought that it suits him more. The school is small and they are only less than 10 students in the class.

We were happy and relaxed when he was in preschool, most of the time they go out of the classroom and not that strict if the kids will not sit properly or move around the classroom.

When he entered the elementary years, that’s when we had a lot of adjustments. He always got into trouble for not focusing, not sitting properly, showing odd behaviors (and a lot more). It was really challenging. I wanted to transfer him after Grade1 but we thought that perhaps it’s because he is still adjusting and he needs another year to grow. Plus we love all the friendly and supportive classmates. Bullying has never been an issue because his peers are all nice (even their parents).

But when he reached Grade 3 and really felt the pressure, he was the one who asked me to transfer school already. I told him about the consequences of doing so. My husband knows that I am also having a hard time understanding the rules of the progressive school, but to be honest I can disregard my feeling if my son still loves to go there. Thankfully he came to the point that he want’s an easier, more appropriate alternative for his grade level.

That’s why even though the new school we have chosen has a tuition fee twice as his previous school, we decided to transfer him there. But, unfortunately, we are not satisfied after a year of being with them.

That’s why our family decided to try homeschooling. Our way, our rules and for the best interest of our child, which is what matters.

Our immediate family, of course, questioned our decision, my mom would say, how about his classmates? He needs to have socialization. Well, we can’t blame them. They were used to the traditional way and somehow we survived it. But if we have an option like what kids and parents have now, my husband and I will choose a different approach.

My husband is always on the honor roll and yet he told me that if homeschooling was an option during his time, he would rather choose it than go to school hahaha.

Academically, Ren can keep up with his peers, we don’t worry about his grades. Yes, he’s having a hard time with Filipino and Sibika and I think most English speaking kids nowadays are the same, but still, he manages to pass.

What we want him to improve more is the focus, right behavior in handling challenging tasks and learning life skills.  We want to challenge him more and give tasks that will practice how he’s going to solve it.

I’m thankful I have my husband with me on this journey, we decide who will teach certain subjects. The Philippine History was under me, and I’m soooo happy that because Ren’s curriculum is under the International British Academy, our book is in English. Yahoo!!!

There’s an option to do independent homeschooling (meaning there’s no provider), but I can’t do that option because I’m afraid that without a pattern to follow, we won’t be able to do it properly. I can research online about Grade 5 curriculum, yes, but the next question that I have in mind is the accreditation. We don’t want to go through the process of going to the DEPED ourselves and have an exam there for his year to be credited.

That’s why we decided to get an accredited provider. We have chosen IBA because it’s the nearest homeschool provider in our area and that Ren can go there once a week to attend a club of his choice.

We started last August 6 (same time the school opened), and we are now in our 2nd week. For the first few days, my son with tears in his eyes told us that he misses having classmates (yes he is sociable, just awkward sometimes). We explained that he already have classmates during his socialization session every Sat and that he can go to a club at school once a week to have friends. He felt okay afterward.

We like that now, we can do more with our time and we don’t need to travel and waste time on the road.

He is now studying French (at IBA they are required to study one foreign language for Year 4 and up). He will also study piano for music and football for PE (these are both outsourced). For the computer, he’s studying basic coding and I also introduced MS word and its uses (we didn’t follow the curriculum of IBA for this subject).

The whining and complains are still there, pero sana in time, he can manage to control it.

I am looking forward to doing educational tours with him and to teach him how to do the laundry (he now knows how to cook scrambled eggs and wash the dishes kasi).

Madami pa kaming dapat gawin, pero ang taas ng kumpiyansa ko na kakayanin namin ‘to. Please wish us luck!