I started off talking about my day to day homeschooling activities in Part 1 which comprised recycling, decluttering, focusing, storage. Here in Part 2, I will now talk about what homeschooling is to me long-term.

5. Intentional Parenting. When I first heard the words "intentional parenting", it immediately made sense, in spite of not knowing the exact definition. I heard about it when I attended a homeschooling orientation program. The speaker hadn't yet defined what it was but already, I knew I wanted to be an intentional parent. What does it mean?  I was given a handbook that briefly describes what it is when I enrolled my kids for homeschooling program the second time around. Intentional parenting is parenting with a purpose. It is when you look beyond today and consider how your decisions will affect your children's tomorrow. 
 
6. De-stressing. Relax. Chill out you are on your own time, what's the rush? Relax and enjoy your life, family and friends.  Resist the need to fit the cookie cutter mold.

7. Character Building. No matter how smart or academically inclined someone is, a person's strength of character will always trump high IQ. Heck there is even a movement to make IQ tests obsolete. Tests are still useful in some ways but a favorable character will always be a winner.

8. Integrating. Ok, so we read books, we learn new words, new skills, now what? We apply what we learn, in real life. That's what integrating is all about.

When the handyman and I attend financial lectures or seminars and enjoy what we have learned, we would sign up a second time so our two big boys could listen in. The next day my kids will write and reflect on what they have learned at the seminar and why I took them there in the first place. That way they will understand why we have to bear with living below our means for now (magtiis muna tayo). It's putting words in context, I believe this is imparting to my kids the essence of financial literacy.

"Integrated" is my favorite word when we are collating our portfolio for submission. We don't create a project for each subject just for the sake of creating a project. Example: Science, Math and Technical Livelihood Education can be integrated into one project when I had my 12-year-old son man our food cart for three days (with supervision). He wrote a 2 page reflection on it in English. (He realized the hardships of working so he didn't want to be a foodcart crew when he grows up) Homeschool life is really very much about practical application of what you have learned. 

9. Following your heart, following your dreams. I knew I was serious about homeschooling my kids when I finally had the courage to resign from my corporate job. My goals and dreams became clear: I wanted a life of being able to do what I want for my family and my children, not bound by someone else's rules. It was not an overnight transformation. It took more than 10 years of working as an employee to finally understand what I really wanted in life. I am not an employee but I still have to work, I am still bound by someone else's rules, and there will and should always be a high level of accountability when it comes to personal finances in my opinion, but my goal is to retire young and retire rich. Yes, it's actually a book by R. Kiyosaki in case you are wondering.  

When I listen to my children talk about their ambitions at such a young age, my own memories as a child would come back. Eventhough I had different ambitions, I know I used to sound like them. Children develop their passion for something at a young age, but it dwindles as they grow up due to many influencing factors, including sending kids to conventional schools. With homeschooling, I can capture their passion at work and harness it. Once I know their passion, their dreams also become mine. What parent would not want their children to fulfill their dreams?  Homeschooling maximizes the opportunity for a parent to be an influential figure to their child instead of outside influences.To me that sounds just about right.  

10. Wealth-building. Homeschooling allows me to build wealth by passing on what I know and what I have to my children. It's not how much you have, it's how much you keep through out the generations (Rich Dad Poor Dad, Kiyosaki). We've all heard of families who were once rich and lost their wealth when their children took over. We've all said "such a waste" or "sayang". My parents were middle class, they gave me a good foundation to start with: I was able to go to a private school and finish a bachelor's degree in a university. My parents also helped me acquire a house so I didn't have to worry about a mortgage. They gave me fish. I will be forever thankful for that. But I had to teach myself how to fish to keep the lifestyle that I was given. I see homeschooling as teaching my kids how to fish, so that when they enter adulthood not only will they know how to keep what they have, but they will know how to keep building, expanding and adding to what they already have.   

Are you also on a mission to leave a legacy of wealth to your family? What practices do you have in place to achieve this? Do share, and remember to subscribe to Taumbahay.com

In the Philippines, conventional schools begin classes on the month of June and end in March. Many people, including myself, wonder why our government doesn't change this schedule given the obvious fact that June is the start of typhoons coming in the country. Many classes have already been suspended this month because of flooding and bad weather. 

Someone told me it's so graduating students can "march in March". I wonder if that pun was intended.

I have already enrolled my kids with our homeschool provider, although, it's not a requirement for homeschoolers in the Philippines to follow the same schedule of the public and private schools. If I am being honest, I am afraid to go completely off the schedule of everyone else's, even though I could. There is that fear of slacking off, and following the government's mandatory schedule (for conventional schools) keeps me on my toes.

Homeschooling can be so broad and so simple at the same time. It really depends on the kind of personality you have and how you want to look at it. I prefer to simplify, simplify, simplify. So here are the 10 things that came to mind as I began to prepare the house for homeschool year 2013 - 2014. 

1) Recycling. Books from last year will have to be stored properly and labeled so that the younger siblings can reuse them once they reach the grade level. My school-age kids are currently in prep, grades 4 and 8. Last month, I went to True Value and bought 4 pieces of underbed storage bags. It was buy 1 take 1, for only 250 pesos. Scratch papers will be ring-bound for doodling so I don't have to buy sketchpads. I bought a ringbinder a year ago for 2,000 pesos (see photo above, the item with teeth on the right bottom part)  and it's been a great organization tool that saved me money. I'd also download digital books for free, print them, and bound them for my kids to use. 

2) Space Saving. I just love space saving furniture. Racks and shelves have been installed on the walls so we can easily reach what we need. We have a step stool to reach higher shelves. As much as I'd love to splurge on hanging shelves that you see on IKEA, unfortunately they are too pricey for my budget. So what I do is just buy a  plain coated board and get the handyman to drill on the walls to hang them. Space saving is necessary if you have a big family like mine and don't have a mansion to live in. We have 3 bedrooms and a basement - A master bedroom, the kid's bedroom, and a guestroom. The basement is for stuff I don't want to see but the handyman still can't bring himself to get rid of.

3) Delegating. I have four kids, a husband, a golden retriever, a yard with tall grass growing, and no house help or yaya. If I tried to do everything myself, I would go crazy. I have snapped in the past on one of those bad days for trying to be superwoman. Right now everything is verbally communicated, Cam sometimes does the dishes, Colin refills the water bottles, Codi puts away the toys. I'm thinking of printing out an actual schedule of chores so I don't have to say it everyday. 

4) Decluttering. If I kept every nice drawing and every junk the handyman got for free, my house would be a hybrid of dump site and junkyard. Maybe some people can work well regardless of clutter being present. I can't. It just ruins my mood and I can't teach well. I'd like to believe that this way of life will let my kids know the difference between what's organized and what's not. My house is not spotless by any means, the best way to describe it: it looks like I am homeschooling 4 kids. 

5) Focusing. It is said that you only need 4 hours a day to homeschool. I would say this is true, but in actuality you cannot study 4 hours straight. There are many distractions in between like kids getting hungry, needing to go the bathroom, phone calls, emails, etc. So it's important to be able to get back on track where you left off. It's a skill you have to continuously work on. 

I am on day 2 in writing this post because I've had to cook, do the laundry, and put pants on my 3-year-old daughter. I kept her busy right now by suggesting she go brush her teeth, she then asked if she could also brush the teeth of her troll doll, I said "sure, sweetheart (anything to get my post done and for you to leave me alone)". 

I decided I will break this post into 2 parts because now I have to text the water guys to deliver 6 rounds of purified water otherwise we won't have anymore to drink for the day. Then I need to wrap the new books with plastic cover. 

We plan to "officially" begin on the curriculum that we just bought by next Monday. Learning together as a family has not stopped though, I continue to read to them at night, play Monopoly together and delegate tasks to the bigger kids on a daily basis. 

My kids also learn on their own. They draw, go online to research on origami, art, and yes they play online games just like any regular kid. They ask me about words they don't understand. My 6-year-old asks me to type stuff for him on the iPad, but instead I make him do the typing so he will learn to spell. 

So that's it for part 1. I really am excited to homeschool this year because I have acquired new skills, I feel more confident in managing my home. You don't have to be a homeschooler to apply the 5 things I mentioned above. Do share with me what you do to manage your home, and subscribe on my blog for free!

Read Part 2

When I wake up unusually early and can't go back to sleep, do you do the same thing I do? I sit in front of my laptop which I've left turned on overnight. I normally open facebook, check emails, then browse for things to read from 4 to 6am in the morning.

If you are struggling with money, your kids will struggle with money. If you've been working hard, your kids will be working hard. If you are frugal, your kids will be frugal. If you are working for someone else, your kids will work for someone else. If you are a drunkard, your kids will drink too. If you smoke, you better just hide it from them. You get the idea.