I am a product of a multi-cultural type of school. I was not homeschooled and my parents would not have known that something like that existed back then. Still, only now in my adult years do I realize how lucky I truly have been that my parents did what they did when it comes to my schooling.
So let me give you a background of my childhood. I started my primary years in a traditional Philippine Catholic private school, one of those expensive ones run by priests and nuns. After 5th grade, my parents decided to move to China for a diplomatic posting and took all of us 4 children with them. For some reason out of the 4, I was the only one enrolled in the International School of Beijing, while my 3 brothers were enrolled in Chinese schools (I would have to ask my mother why that was). On my 9th grade, my parents decided to transfer me, again, this time to the Chinese school were my brothers were studying. Just when I was making best friends for life, right after highschool graduation my parents decided I should go back to the Philippines - for college. I silently hated my parents each time they pulled me out to enroll me in a new school because they made me leave my friends, people I was close to, in my mind.
College in the Philippines was a breeze for me, everything was so easy academically. All those times I struggled with my English and Chinese in highschool, just to understand my teachers, classmates and likewise BE understood gave me a life skill that gave me an edge in college and the corporate world.
Two things I learned, when I got accepted for a position at a prestigious embassy in the Phillippines. One, employers only care about you having a college diploma, it doesn't matter where, whether well-known or unheard of. I came from an unheard of college in the country side. Two, employers only care about your real-life work experience and how good you "sell" yourself to them. In other words, if you have a diploma and speak well, chances are you'll get the job. They don't ask for your grades.
Once I had children of my own, before homeschooling entered my mind, I was starting to get overwhelmed and frustrated with all the activities that my sons did for school: money contributions for a group project where he got grades even if he didn't do anything but pay the money, buying all sorts of cartolina, researching about the Pascalene, staying hours after school for some theatrical practice that would later cost me 250 pesos to watch my son who was barely in the play.
I started asking myself is this really what kids need to be successful when they grow up? For 5 years I went to every year-end school recognition, hoping each time that the principal's opening remarks would finally impress me. I also transferred my kids to a more expensive private school thinking that should solve my issues finally. It didn't. I was getting sick of myself complaining and whining without getting results.
THE GOOD DAYS
I wanted my kids to experience a school system that was better than what I had (without spending a fortune). I had teachers in I.S.B. who read aloud to us, I had computer class with real hands on computer activities, I actually did something for group projects and PE was actually running outside in the woods of some park in Beijing, instead of staying inside classrooms doodling in notebooks which was already the PE of my kids in their last private school.
I found the answers I was looking for in homeschooling, which allows me to:
THE BAD DAYS
It was not always harmonious in my family. Do you know Ned Flanders, yes the cartoon character? Well we are more like the Simpsons. There was a time I snapped, yelled and screamed and threw things and the kids just stared at me in shock, including the neighbors. But I got better at managing my temper and at homeschooling.
Sometimes I found my attitude still inclined to the traditional type of schooling and forced my kids to answer all the math exercises in their textbooks and my son's eyes would well up with tears. I realized what I was doing and said sorry to my son. I thought what am I doing this is not why I chose to homeschool them.
As parents we really should stop trying to be perfect. So what if they only answered 15 out of 30 numbers in that Algebra lesson? That gonna be the end of his potential career? Course not. Besides everyone has potential, but it means nothing until it materializes.
THE VERDICT
Homeschooling is not easy. I like to think of it this way and I read this from another homeschooling mom's blog, Penelope Trunk. She said homeschooling is like breastfeeding. It's difficult for the mother at first, but if she strives on she'll get the hang of it and the mother has peace of mind that the baby gets all the good benefits of breastmilk.
So is homeschooling for everyone? Why not?! But it doesn't make me a better parent than you just because you don't homeschool your kids and I do. Just like breast feeding is best for babies, homeschooling is best for kids, if the parent is willing.
College in the Philippines was a breeze for me, everything was so easy academically. All those times I struggled with my English and Chinese in highschool, just to understand my teachers, classmates and likewise BE understood gave me a life skill that gave me an edge in college and the corporate world.
Two things I learned, when I got accepted for a position at a prestigious embassy in the Phillippines. One, employers only care about you having a college diploma, it doesn't matter where, whether well-known or unheard of. I came from an unheard of college in the country side. Two, employers only care about your real-life work experience and how good you "sell" yourself to them. In other words, if you have a diploma and speak well, chances are you'll get the job. They don't ask for your grades.
Once I had children of my own, before homeschooling entered my mind, I was starting to get overwhelmed and frustrated with all the activities that my sons did for school: money contributions for a group project where he got grades even if he didn't do anything but pay the money, buying all sorts of cartolina, researching about the Pascalene, staying hours after school for some theatrical practice that would later cost me 250 pesos to watch my son who was barely in the play.
I started asking myself is this really what kids need to be successful when they grow up? For 5 years I went to every year-end school recognition, hoping each time that the principal's opening remarks would finally impress me. I also transferred my kids to a more expensive private school thinking that should solve my issues finally. It didn't. I was getting sick of myself complaining and whining without getting results.
THE GOOD DAYS
I wanted my kids to experience a school system that was better than what I had (without spending a fortune). I had teachers in I.S.B. who read aloud to us, I had computer class with real hands on computer activities, I actually did something for group projects and PE was actually running outside in the woods of some park in Beijing, instead of staying inside classrooms doodling in notebooks which was already the PE of my kids in their last private school.
I found the answers I was looking for in homeschooling, which allows me to:
- teach my kids stuff that's not taught in school - particularly money and entrepreneurship
- keep it short and simple (KISS). we don't spend so much time (anymore) on a topic, if I see that they get it, we move on.
- instill self-studying habits in my kids
- explain to my children why the lessons we are studying was important in life and
- if I didn't understand the lesson myself or couldn't find the value in it in real life, I skipped it
- do away with PTA meetings and other contributions that only benefited the school
- get to know my kids personalities even more, and instantly correct any misbehavior, we laugh a lot and discuss a lot
- spend precious time instead of waste it, how can it be wasting time when I am with my children?
- And now their PE involved real physical movement that got them sweating, whether it was inside playing Just Dance to Wii on rainy days or outside the home playing basketball.
THE BAD DAYS
It was not always harmonious in my family. Do you know Ned Flanders, yes the cartoon character? Well we are more like the Simpsons. There was a time I snapped, yelled and screamed and threw things and the kids just stared at me in shock, including the neighbors. But I got better at managing my temper and at homeschooling.
Sometimes I found my attitude still inclined to the traditional type of schooling and forced my kids to answer all the math exercises in their textbooks and my son's eyes would well up with tears. I realized what I was doing and said sorry to my son. I thought what am I doing this is not why I chose to homeschool them.
As parents we really should stop trying to be perfect. So what if they only answered 15 out of 30 numbers in that Algebra lesson? That gonna be the end of his potential career? Course not. Besides everyone has potential, but it means nothing until it materializes.
THE VERDICT
Homeschooling is not easy. I like to think of it this way and I read this from another homeschooling mom's blog, Penelope Trunk. She said homeschooling is like breastfeeding. It's difficult for the mother at first, but if she strives on she'll get the hang of it and the mother has peace of mind that the baby gets all the good benefits of breastmilk.
So is homeschooling for everyone? Why not?! But it doesn't make me a better parent than you just because you don't homeschool your kids and I do. Just like breast feeding is best for babies, homeschooling is best for kids, if the parent is willing.
| Finally, a theatrical piece, where my children are the stars and I can watch them perform over and over again without having to pay for it! Thanks to the director of this video - Nanay Kai :) Do comment below, I appreciate all kinds of feedback. Click on like if you enjoyed. Thanks and come back to read more on how homeschooling can be a used as a tool to financial freedom! | |
