Homeschool Room

Setting up a study room is very important when you decide to homeschool.  In my experience, my children needed to identify a space where we would conduct our classes.  It doesn't have to resemble a traditional school, but I chose to do my best to make it look like one.  I use decor that isn't expensive.  I don't need to spend a large budget on this.  What matters is keeping the room organized. Over the past two years since we started homeschooling, I can't remember how many times I've reorganized our classroom.  One of the main reasons I do this is to break the boredom of looking at the same room. A new look adds excitement to our classes.  Classroom themes are also helpful when introducing new lessons to them.  It really takes time, but I enjoy doing these things for my children. I also have to admit I'm still not doing everything perfectly, as I have limited time and energy with many other tasks to accomplish aside from this.    

I will show you the latest look of our homeschool room.  This is also to document our homeschooling so that my children can look back at it after a few years.

Clay Modelling and Play Pretend

Does your child love to play with clay?  Do they also enjoy playing pretend?  My children love making things out of clay and they love to engage in imaginative play too.

Today, I have granted their request to let them play with clay.  We have bought a guidebook teaching how to make figures out of clay, and they are excited to try it.

Mt. Maculot, Cuenca, Batangas

I was reminded of my childhood days after watching a video clip on Facebook.  You can click here to watch it.  It was so nice reminiscing about the moments I had, especially those times when my brother and I would spend our vacations in the province.  I was born in Cuenca, Batangas, where my grandparents' house is situated in the mountains of Mt. Maculot.  I am glad and proud to have experienced life on the farm, and I also want my children to have a taste of what it is like to live a very simple life in the province, something that most young generations no longer experience nowadays.  Games and toys are very different now as technology advances, but  I believe that my children can enjoy both the privileges of the latest technology and nature.

Villa Escudero Day Tour

We are glad to have our children being homeschooled; this gives us the freedom to take trips more often and to schedule them freely, even on weekdays. Homeschooling has provided us with an opportunity to save extra money for these activities, and it is cheaper to travel during weekdays without having to deal with large crowds.

Land and Water Formations Plus Volcano Experiment

Our study on "Land and Water Formations" is one of the most enjoyable lessons we've had to date.  If you are looking for activities related to the lesson, this post might help you. A homemade clay recipe is also included in this post.

It's Writing Time: How I Encourage My Children To Write

I am so thankful to have plenty of time to spend with my children.  This is one of the benefits of homeschooling them.   Yet I would be a hypocrite not to admit that I do wish for some days off, especially now. Lately, I've been daydreaming that someone would give me at least a whole day of vacation and would also take over all my responsibilities (household chores, homeschool classes, bakeshop management, church responsibilities) while I am away, as I want to spend this time "ALONE. " 

It was a more significant challenge to convince my eldest son, JC to write. I didn't have any problem with him writing on the walls compared with his other two younger siblings. Naturally, he's not interested in grabbing crayons, pencils, pens, or any markers.  He is not the typical child asking for pen and paper and making scribbles.    Now, he can read books because he knows and recognizes every letter's shape and sound.  I am glad he learned to read on his own.  You might wonder how he learned reading without me teaching him.  It was through Starfall.com he knew how to read.  I let my children use gadgets and surf online (yes they really can!) even at their youngest age.  He is also good at adding and subtracting numbers.   But yet, as a kindergarten student, he should also learn how to write the letters properly.  So here's what I did to encourage him to write.

Let's play ball

One of the privileges a homeschooler can have is the opportunity of having a more flexible schedule compared to a child enrolled in regular school.  Children can learn more when they can actually experience the things taught in the classroom.

Toddlers' craft activities (3)

Greeting cards are perfect gifts in special occasions because of its message that touches the recipient's heart.  The idea of being it handmade adds up to its value. Heart's month is just around and you might be thinking of something to give to those dear to your heart.

I will be sharing you the crafts that my children and I have worked on during our homeschool sessions.

Sewn Cards

Mommy I am bored

Have you ever felt tired doing the same things everyday?  I guess at some point of our lives, we do.  When I was a student, I remember having a hard time waking up early in the morning to go school.  (Nakakatamad nang mag-aral at gumawa ng mga projects!)  How I wish that school days are over!  This happens during the mid-year of  every academic year.  For some employees, they consider looking for a new job when they found themselves doing a repetitive job every day that means doing their work having no challenge at all.  These are some typical examples that would end us up getting bored in the things that we regularly do.  

Homeschooling: First Week

We officially started our first day of homeschooling last Monday, August 13, 2012. We were able to get through for the whole week.  Cheers!  I am so excited to share this news.  My fears and doubts are starting to disappear.

Here are some of the doubts that I was able to answer as we take our homeschooling journey.

Setting up a school at home

We learned about homeschooling last 2008, and JC was only 5months that time.  It really caught our attention and we said to ourselves we are going to homeschool our children.  One of our main reason is we want to be the main influence in their lives.

JC is now four years old and he needs a proper education.  We've thought ten times if we are going to homeschool or not.  Then we've come up to a decision and pursue homeshooling.

Here's how we started:

First, we have to find a curriculum.  We choose to get the curriculum at Living Heritage Academy under the Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow also known as SOT.   We searched the info on the website and communicated with them.  We learned that he needs to have a diagnostic exam.  This exam will determine if a child is ready to take the program and to assess also of what level a student will take based on the result.

JC's diagnostic exam