Homeschooling Conference 2014

I and my husband just attended Educating For Life Homeschooling Conference last September 6 in Bayanihan Center and I was amazed by numerous people that are so passionate about home schooling.  The conference was organized by Unilab, TheLearning Basket, Manila Workshops and supported by HAPI or the Homeschool Association of thePhilippine Island.

Keynote speaker Irma Chua, who is a mom of six, shared her experience doing homeschooling in the Philippines for about 20 years. Haven’t you realized it yet? Home education is a lifestyle! It is the learning and bonding process that makes our family experience worth dying for togetherJ. 

Big Daddy Jake, Dennis Poliquit, also shared his experience being a homeschooling dad of his two twins. My favorite mommy blogger Tina Rodriguez of Truly Rich Mom shared her wisdom too! 

Formal Homeschooling in the Future

Honestly, I am more on “unschooling” Little DC right now. We do not  have a homeschool provider and we don't follow a formal curriculum. All our activities are play-based and based on my son's interest. I am not an expert and even after the conference, I still have a lot of questions in mind. 

My only problem with formal homeschooling is the formal curriculum and my problem with the formal curriculum is “irrelevance”. There are a lot of topics that I have to teach which for me is not needed for my son’s future. Please correct me if i'm wrong but if I continue with unschooling method and only teach based on my son’s interest, he won’t get any diploma right? I have this kind of dilemma and I still need more time to ponder and evaluate what I need to teach my son.  

Parents should learn to explore viable options for their kids. It may be scary at first, but, all it takes to homeschool (I think) is just time management and PASSION (and may I add Patience! A lot of it!). I truly believe that it is something to keep and develop here in the Philippines, especially now that sending a child to school is getting more expensive.

The event is very inspiring but I wish DepEd would have participated by giving us insights on how to properly organize our home education sessions. (Or maybe DepEd was there but i didn't pay attention coz i was busy shopping books and cds at The Learning Basket?  haha!) 

Parents need a very detailed or a technical guide about home education. Being a newbie, I sometimes find it frustrating to go reading from blog to blog just to search the instructions from DepEd. These questions still remain in my mind

1.   Where do we get the instructions online that come from DepEd?

2.   Where can we get a cheaper resource or materials?

3.   How do we get a good “customized” curriculum that won’t put us in a dilemma later on when we enroll our kids to college?

4.   If I choose to homeschool independently, where can I get the right support? What I mean by this is communicating with the right authority here in the Philippines, not just forums where interpretation totally differs at times.

For me, homeschooling is not a matter of trial and error. This decision must be taken seriously because it involves the lives and future of our children. When you decide to homeschool, you must be passionate about it. It is a decision which requires your commitment to continue your purpose with confidence. Good thing that the speakers were so good in helping us understand what homeschooling is all about.

P.S. We are trying to raise good children who will be the future of our country. Why is it that home education is not getting as much support as the private schools? What do we need to do to set up this system? I need your thoughts teacher mommies. Until we meet again in the next conference!