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| When the box arrived, it felt like Christmas! |
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| I am learning how to teach someone to read! Good luck to me. |
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| We chose Singaporean Math just to jump right into the bandwagon. |
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| Colored books! Nice! |
Things are getting busier and busier. And before it takes
all of me, I want to be able to write things down. I’m homeschooling! Yay! And
I’m the only person I know among my circle of friends and teachers doing it.
Yay! Pompoms raised! Feet leaping from the ground! I am my very own cheering
squad... in Malaysia!
Home schooling didn’t really occur to us until a few months
back (March 2013). My mind has always travelled along the line of getting him
ready for school, which paved a laborious trail of assessments with the
Developmental Pedia, therapist assessments, parent teacher conferences, therapy
appointments etc. They were all very helpful with absolutely no regrets. Ozzy and I would recommend it to anyone who
needs them, but with a warning that it does come with a huge price tag and a
huge demand for time. Financially, I really have no idea how we survived it at all.
There was an obvious multiplication of the loaves that happened there.
If you feel that your child has special needs, by all means
don’t hesitate to start them young. Early intervention is still the best thing any
parent can do for their child. My whole relationship with Ozzy, his
relationship with himself, and my personal well being were rescued from being a
complete disaster.
So why am I home
schooling? We expected a lot of change and uncertainties when my husband’s work
had to be done in Malaysia. And since it wasn’t a permanent assignment, we felt
that it was best to have more room for change rather than structure. I was also
worried that I would put him into a system that doesn’t know his learning style
and I wasn’t willing to start from scratch. Not to mention, the anxieties of
starting from scratch. The school year in Malaysia starts in January too...and
to come in June would mean his classmates would have been trained and
structured. I can just imagine all the
letters I’m going to get from the teacher, the sad faces, and cultural
differences. It was a personal choice not to let him go through that.
We enrolled him in Kindergarten with Kolbe Academy. It’s a
Catholic Home School Program that is Classical and Traditional. My husband
asked me what that meant. I told him simply: they learn from the classics and
the lessons are taken up from easy to hard, from small ideas to big ideas. I’m
comfortable with this. Often times, we associate traditional schools with private
schools in the Philippines where kids are asked to line up and follow
procedures. This isn’t what “traditional” means at all. “Traditional” refers to
the method of teaching, not the policies of the school. I’m still looking
forward to putting him back to the school edifice in the Philippines when the
time calls for it which is one of two major reasons why I chose this program.
Like in any other school, we have a number of hours to complete (attendance, 3
hours for 180 days), coursework to follow, and grades (for me to submit). At
the end of every quarter, we send sample work and report cards to our adviser
to assess and qualify. Kolbe is in California. We may request for a formal
report card to be sent to us at the end of each school year. I have already
spoken to the registrar via phone call and she was very helpful in setting up
all of the things we needed including books. We are taking up Language Art,
Singaporean Math, Science, and Religion.
I was asked before how do you home school? First of all, I
am newbie, but this is what I would recommend.
1.
Do your research way ahead of time. I kind of
ran out of time because I had to suddenly do this and so I only started asking/
researching about home schooling in April. Luckily, I had an aunt who worked
with cases of home schooling and she was able to give us guidance on this.
Until the last minute of enrolling, I was asking and consulting.
2. Not all parents can do this. I was reading the
welcome packet and what struck me was the line “first, do no harm” and so it
would be best to know yourself and your threshold. My developmental pediatrician
asked me to practice before I decide on it and so we practiced for two months
and it was very helpful (that was while, husband goes to MY, packing, moving to
my parents house, moving to MY.) Do expect that as teacher, you would also have
a learning curve and the first month is always the period of “breaking in” of
both teacher and student. There should be minimum expectations and a lot of
getting-to-know. And because this is a child, not a class of 40, your influence
is affective 100 percent.
3.
I change
lighting to create mood for study. My
developmental pedia suggested I put on a costume, but I’m too lazy to even
think of it. So I change lighting all throughout the day. I draw the curtains
for waking up, kitchen light for meals, lamp for watching t.v. , and the not so
bright white light for house chores. When we study, I put on a study light, and
this helps him put his mind into studying. Light changes everything in the room
and affects the color that hits your eye. His response has been automatic
lately. I guess he has been Pavlov-ed.
4.
For younger kids, physical activity is necessary. For this reason, we swim everyday. This helps
Ozzy sit down when it’s time to sit down and focus. Kids feel more successful
when they are able to finish their task and so fidgeting and complaining during
a task is not a point for giving up. Master motivation or rewarding as
necessary. Kids feel better when they are able to complete even if they are too
impatient to focus while doing it.
This is my story so far. It’s life lived from day to day.
Happy Feast of the Assumption to you all!
