My Mom-Friday: Family Friday: Keep Calm and Carry On with Homeschool

Second Friday of the month: Parenting / Education

We just started our new school year this month and the boy is now grade 7. I can't believe we are on our third year of homeschool! It doesn't get any easier, and to be honest, there are more days where I still find it hard to find joy in our homeschooling journey. Kaya I continue to seek inspiration from successful homeschoolers and from online resources.

My last post about homeschool was in June, here: Our Homeschool Journey Continues. We just ended sixth grade and the family is very happy that we now have graduate. This also means more challenging roads ahead as we move on to upper school. Thus, I've been reading more and more about relevant topics to help us do better this year, meeting and talking to fellow homeschool parents, and to identify what changes I have to make to maximize our time and his learning potential.

Aside from getting myself organized first, I also need to be on my toes to recognize his new interests and how to nurture them. He will be 13 soon and we will enter a new stage -- as a teen, I am expecting more adjustments again. Ang hirap kasi if your child does not voluntarily share his thoughts and feelings. It's hard to make him talk and tell stories, or share whatever is on his mind. Minsan, I have to think of questions to ask him and get him to talk. May ibang mundo kasi itong batang ito. =) My girl is the opposite -- makuwento naman sobra, and even while I am in bed already, guguluhin pa ako when somethings comes to mind, so even if it's bedtime na, I try to listen to her stories and musings. I so appreciate that she opens up to me that way. Hopefully, this continues until she gets older.

Going back to the boy, every day presents new challenges, new discoveries, happy moments, lazy moments, mood swings. No matter how well I plan a day, there will always be surprises during the day.

Painting classes at Art Smart

Over the past two years, we have learned to adjust to those unplanned moments and actually appreciate the spontaneity and flexibility of homeschooling.

Keep calm and carry on. I don't panic anymore, but... and a big BUT, I still get anxious when the boy does not show any sense of urgency. He's too relaxed and not conscious of the time. We have to work on this.

What keeps me going?

Because my boy likes homeschool
When I see my child discover new skills and nurture his innate talents
When time is on our side -- we make our own schedules and allow us flexibility to focus on the essentials
We can plan more field trips
Opportunities to get to know my son better
I get inspiration and motivation from online resources and homeschool FB groups and fellow homeschool parents:

While the boy has completely embraced his new normal when it comes to his education, I continue to struggle with teaching. I may have to get another teacher for language arts and writing, kasi ang hirap mag turo nito compared to Math! Good thing he is diligent when it comes to reading his books, especially history and science. We will attend science workshops soon, and I am always on the look-out for homeschool group activities that he can participate in.

This year, we will continue to outsource his Filipino lessons, and M.A.PE -- drums for music, painting for art, and swimming for P.E. These are all his own choices. He will also start with TLE next month so we are looking for a course or projects he is interested in learning aside from coding and robotics.

Carry on, carry on.

Click to watch the short video (Drums at Lyric Music school)

8.12.2016

Family Friday: Keep Calm and Carry On with Homeschool

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