Reasons Why I Started The Great Leap Academy

I am not a professional educator nor do I have a business degree. I came up with the premise for this business before I knew much about it. I am simply a mom who homeschools and sings and really hopes to make a difference in this world. I have traveled to many different countries and this has helped me learn the ins and outs of what a real world education looks like. The decision to start an enrichment school business was born of a magical, spur of the moment epiphany and I was encouraged to make it a reality by the shortcomings I saw in today’s society and with traditional schooling. These shortcomings are:

1.      Society deems that going to college is a must when it shouldn’t be.

In today’s society it is often implied to our young people that it is impossible to succeed in life without a college degree. This could not be further from the truth. While college is one way to be successful, there are so many other ways to achieve success as well. If your child strives to become a doctor, then college is a must to make that dream a reality, and there is nothing wrong with that. But if your child wants to be something else such as a farmer, an artist, an insurance agent, or an actor then those are all attainable without a college degree. There are plenty of mid to high paying jobs available that do not require a college degree and do not want to limit my child’s future with just one path for him to choose from: college or nothing. College is not meant for everyone and there are so many other options out there.

2.      Irrelevance within traditional schooling.

Part of the problem that I have with traditional schooling in today’s society is the teaching of mostly irrelevant or useless information. An example of a subject that is irrelevant to be taught in school is Filipino. Don’t get me wrong, I want my child to learn how to speak Filipino, but I accomplish that by speaking to him in Filipino and going to different historical places. To me that is the best way to learn a subject, by immersing yourself in it and making it a part of your daily life. For me, studying Filipino for 10 years is a waste of time.  Being forced to learn what “pandiwa” and “pang-abays” are will not be relevant in your adult life.

Unless a child aspires to be an engineer, architect, or mathematician then I see no reason for him to waste years of his life studying subjects such as Trigonometry or Geometry. It makes more sense to cater the learning to the subjects that most interest the child and it is easy to determine what children are interested in during the early stages of their lives. As a homeschooling mom I encourage my son to study what interests him most. If I can tell that he likes dinosaurs more than constellations, then I focus on dinosaurs. If he does not seem interested in learning about the parts of a flower then I try teaching him the parts of a car instead.  My style of teaching is based on the things my child is interested in as well as other important factors such as character formation, financial literacy, literacy in reading and writing, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, learning to use a calculator, learning how to pay bills and write a check, and other general life skills. Basically, I make sure he learns the basics but allow him to do in depth studies on the subjects that he finds interesting. I find this to be more efficient and easier than forcing him to spend an entire semester studying something he finds boring.

3.      Traditional schools kill a child’s creativity.

 (Photo Credit: https://abeerelkotb.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/reflection-on-video-4-school-kills-creativity/)

During his famous TED talk in 2006, Sir Ken Robinson discussed his beliefs on why traditional education kills creativity. According to him, traditional school is built to be a one size fits all program which forces children to all think the same way. To me all children are different and should be allowed to express themselves and learn in their own way. Some children are visual learners while others are kinesthetic learners. The style of learning that works with one child isn’t necessarily the best style of learning for the next child. There are many different forms of intelligence, such as being nature smart, musically smart, reasoning smart, word smart, etc. Just because a child does not make the honor roll doesn’t mean that he is not smart, it just means the school is measuring everyone on one form of intelligence which is different from his. Traditional school does not afford children to be able to share different forms of creativity or imagination or grow their kind of intelligence. Our children are the future leaders of our country and we need them to be able to think outside the box, and traditional schools do not encourage them to do so.

4.      Most enrichment centers in the Philippines are focused on one program and they are far from one another.

This is a problem to most parents, especially during the summer. When a child wants to be involved in different activities, or two siblings have different interests, each center is far from the other. For example: one of your children wants to take up ballet but the other child wants to take up painting and music. Well, the ballet school is 1 KM from your home, the painting classes are 5 KM from your home, and the music school is another 3 KM from your home. All this driving around from place to place is time consuming and not cost effective. This is one of the many reasons why my partners, consultants and I developed the Great Leap Academy.

The Great Leap Academy is the first enrichment school to take different kinds of research-based, internationally-recognized enrichment programs and put them all under one roof. Coming to our center is like being able to shop for different programs based on your child’s interests or weaknesses. At Great Leap Academy you will find a roster of programs including:

·         Music Together - from the U.S.

·         Ikids Mental Arithmetic – from Malaysia

·         Mighty Math – from Singapore

·         Mighty Science – from Singapore

·         And so much more!

Here at Great Leap Academy we believe that it is essential to expose children to many different enrichment programs, which is why we offer a full suite of supplemental classes that consist of:

·         Math

·         Science

·         Music & Movement

·         Drama

·         Ballet

·         Sports

·         Reading & Language

Our in depth classes are taught by specially trained teachers who give each child in-depth, focus experience learning. You will be amazed by how much your child will learn and how much fun they will have doing it! Our balanced approach provides opportunities for your child to grow, develop a positive outlook, acquire a love for learning, and become confident during their well-spent time at The Great Leap Academy.

The Great Leap Academy also offers a one on one tutorial program which supports additional learning to homeschoolers and after-schoolers. This program can help your child succeed in either traditional school or homeschool. Parents can choose from many different lesson types for these sessions and a lesson plan will be curtailed to your child’s specific needs.

I realized that there should be an enrichment program like this in the Philippines, and since there wasn’t, I made one. It was a problem within our society and I set out to solve it. Overcoming problems is what helps us to evolve. Finding a solution to a problem is what led us to create The Great Leap Academy. I hope you will join us. :)

3 Reasons It Is OK To Homeschool (or Unschool) Your Teenager

School break season is over and children are heading back to school. While many children are excited about getting back into the classroom, there are many others whose stomachs are filled with dread at the thought. The transition from grade school to high school can leave some teenagers feeling overwhelmed or unhappy. The social hierarchy of high school has students dealing with the formations of cliques, bullies, and social pressure to fit in which can lead your once happy learner to become sullen and feeling lackluster about school. If your teenager has fallen out of love with school, there are other learning options available. Allowing your child to learn at home in his own way and at his own pace may sound scary when you have always followed the rules of structured learning, but many teenagers who are struggling in school become happy and find a renewed vigor for learning once they are able to learn in a home environment that they are comfortable in. If the thought of letting your child learn at home has you feeling a bit wary, consider these facts:

Children Who Are Unschooled Do Go To College

            

It is a myth that only those with a high school diploma can go to college. Millions of homeschooled kids have attended college locally and even in Ivy League colleges in the States. In fact, many homeschooled/unschooled kids enroll in college as early as when they are sixteen. While they may sometimes have to go through more loopholes than traditionally schooled kids, the fact of the matter is that anything that can be done with a high school diploma can also be done without one. Many unschooled adults hold a college degree, and not because their parents forced them to go to college, but because they themselves wanted to go.

Many Unschooled Children Grow Up to Have Strong Leadership Skills

            

In a structured school setting, much emphasis is put on learning academics, but there is no focus on teaching time management and self-motivation. The students do what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it because a teacher or a parent tells them that they have to. But children who learn outside of the structured school environment have the responsibility put solely on their shoulders. If they want to become a doctor one day, then they have to take the initiative to focus their time and energy performing tasks and learning skills that will get them there, without anyone standing behind them telling them that they have to. For this reason unschooled children do better when they go off to college than many traditionally schooled children simply because while all that freedom and responsibility is new to traditionally schooled children, there are skills that unschooled children have already mastered. The early development of these skills leads unschooled children to grow up to be highly motivated, self-driven, and responsible adults, who in turn make great leaders.

Unschooled Children Are Sociable

            

There is a bit of a stigma surrounding untraditionally schooled children that leads people to falsely believe that they are “weird” or socially awkward. This could not be further from the truth. Children who are schooled in a home environment participate in sports, church, and community activities just like traditionally schooled children. If anything, unschooled children are often better socialized than their traditional counterparts because instead of doing the majority of their socializing solely with children their own age, unschooled children socialize with children and adults of all ages, which better prepares them for having to deal with people of all ages once they reach adulthood.

            

If your child is struggling to learn or fit in at school, then consider letting him start this school year by learning at home in his own way. Keep in mind that school is one place where children can learn and grow, but it is not the only place. Instead of dreading the school year, you and your teenager could be excitedly imagining new possibilities. If you need more information, there's this book entitled Homeschooling: The Teen Years which you may download in Kindle at $14.00. This book reveals secrets on how to make homeschooling work for you and your teen, plus, it has inspiring stories from real homeschooling families. 

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!

Before Five In A Row

I am a very relaxed teacher mommy. I homeschool (unschool) Little DC everyday in "petiks-mode". Right now I only depend on his time. Everything that we do is learning to him. We do not rely on a structured curriculum or a planned activity. We learn through play, but I always make it a point to read and sing to him every morning and evening. I refuse to call that a structure but a religious routine ever since he was inside my tummy. I am happy that Little DC loves books and learning for him has always been filled with excitement and enthusiasm. Right now we are using Before Five In A Row (BFIAR) books bought from Rainbow Resource for our daily reading ritual. As much as possible, we try to associate or connect our activities that day with the book. My style is, we do not plan the activities out or as written in the BFIAR curriculum, we just go with the flow based on my son's interest that day and try to connect its relevance to the book. So happy that Little DC loves his BFIAR books already. Sometimes he would ask me to read 5 different books in a day. 

Educating for Life: Homeschooling with Passion, Purpose and Confidence

As a passionate homeschooling mom, I had developed a very intense bonding with my son. I am able to get closer to him while enriching his strengths and supplementing his weaknesses. We move as fast or as slow with our learning process and I am able to customize my teaching method. Homeschooling is both fun and a challenge. How about you, how do you raise an achiever? If bonding rings a bell to you, you would probably attend this upcoming homeschooling conference on September 6. 

This event is brought to you by The Learning Basket, Manila Workshops and UNILAB. Veteran and passionate homeschoolers will speak about Educating for life, Homeschool 101, Nurturing the Love of Learning and many more!!! Mark your calendars and make sure you don’t miss this event. You may register at www.homeschoolingconference.com. Hope to see you all there. 

Unschooling my Preschooler: What Does Unschooling Mean?

Unschooling, from the word itself, means not sending your child to the compulsory school as an educational method to learn. Unlike "regular" homeschool, it refuses to use standard curricula. This live and learn together method allows you to teach your child using the conventional way of instructing your child in an on demand basis that you, as a parent, may comfortably bear. Certainly, the interest and questions of the child could lead to reading books or doing projects and activities that may explain more about the interest. Unlike in the traditional compulsory school, the topics of interest in unschooling were not mandated because the curriculum were not dictated.

How does this work? 

My little D.C. asked about how a car runs, his daddy would give him images and pictures of the car as well as explain about the engine. Then we go out to apply what we have learned and check out actual cars and its engine. This hands on approach is a natural way of learning things without any arbitrary authority. As a parent, I won’t pretend to be an expert in anything, but the process unleashes the natural inquisitiveness of my son and allows him to gradually learn what he needs to know when he wants to learn about it and most importantly, at a time he feels ready to absorb new information.

  

A child often gets tired and stressed out doing all the things that were required by traditional schooling. In unschooling, I can set the instruction according to how my son wants to learn. However, this method requires you to make all efforts to actively connect with your kid, knowing what he is ready to learn, and finding the things in the world that might trigger some interest. No one tells your child what to learn or you as a parent what to teach. Unschooling is a kind of homeschooling but a bit different, because homeschooling teaches what was required by the school. The key here is exposure – let the child explore the world and the questions would be raised as he learns about his immediate environment.

Beauty of Unschooling 

It lies in its freedom to let the student pick the topic to learn. No one sets the instruction and crammed up any information to drown in his head. My son figured out things by himself with my help. He learned to think by himself and often times, decide what is important to know at the moment instead of just following a teacher. It is play-based, not structured, and is perfect for preschoolers until age 7. 

In school, sometimes or most of the times, kids are being forced to learn and do homeworks that they do not like. In unschooling, the challenge for both parent and child is the search for the answers. It is a learn as you go way of finding information. The choice and the control reside with the learner in all ways. With unschooling, you do not need to coerce your kid on some imposed educational agenda. I let my son take charge of his interests and choices. My role is like a helpful, supportive mom and a friend. 

The World Is Our Big Book: Why I Homeschool My Son?

As a new homeschooling/unschooling parent, i thought of writing my first blog to answer the most famous question of all time, "Why I homeschool/unschool my son?"  

As early as 1 year old, my little D.C. can sing chorus phrases in tune, can comprehend and speak straight, can name 4 kinds of dinosaurs; distinguish wild animals from tame, nocturnal from non nocturnal and can identify animal sounds.

He learned it not from books, but by visiting different places. Educating at home most of the time is boring, so we go out at times and travel. As I always say, “we have the whole world to teach our child.” 

I am proud not because of his early achievement perse, I am proud because we are able to make learning and achieving most things in a very relaxed manner, in his own time and pace. I actually don’t care if he’s advance or not, what’s important is, he is interested to learn and enjoys it. Who wouldn’t? Our field trip is once a week! J

Homeschooling is increasingly becoming popular here in the Philippines. One of the reasons I decided to teach my little D.C. at home to make sure he gets to maximize his potential and creativity being taught one-to-one personally by myself. Though he has enrichment classes on the side, being his mom, I know best how to make him learn without putting so much pressure on him and on me. 

Why homeschool makes better students?

Imagine a classroom with a maximum of 50 students. Your child would be lucky if the teacher, who would soon get exhausted managing 6 classes a day, could even get near him and see what he is doing. Attention is the key to learning.

Although there is a similar potential of exhaustion by moms, it would not be as intense as the regular teacher feels. This means a mom could definitely nurture and maximize the level and type of input a child could get in any required session. The one-to-one type of parent-child teaching provides the child your full attention and let your child learn at his own pace. With the modified input, your child highly benefits a customized academic environment with an exceptionally effective approach to instruction.

Stress and Pressure

Imagine the pressure on having to wake up at 4am everyday just to make it to a 7am class and coming home at 3pm with 7 home works. Isn’t that so exhausting?

The child must develop his natural ability and creativity without any pressure and stress. Research shows that stress may affect child’s brain development while pressure in early childhood may decrease confidence and self esteem, which may lead to early decrease of interest in learning. Also, children with lower self esteem normally do not socialize and may become victims of bullies. Contrary to popular belief that homeschooling isn’t really set up for socializing, it turns out that homeschooled children have better social skills and fewer behaviour problems than their demographically matched schooled peers.      

Building Self-esteem

As a parent like me, you must agree that love and intimacy affect the learning process of any child. Because I accurately monitor how well he is mastering his creativity and skills, he felt motivated by the love and attention I gave, thus more self-esteem. Considering that he is not in a group situation, he has no fear of making mistakes, which made it possible for me to easily target his pace and his skills accordingly. Our high quality, intimate mother-son level of interaction allows a customized level of individual attention that surpass any teacher-student relationship. Plus, my direct instruction is backed up by a good lunch or snack, which in a lot of ways, ensures an almost hundred percent lesson retention. My technique proves to be exceptionally powerful – food incentive! ;)

Music and Travel as Important Factors

What better way to teach your son science, reading, history, geography, and language? Go travel. How do you enhance his creativity, critical thinking, comprehension and character? Make music together! 

My little D.C. has a wide vocabulary and can comprehend easily because i really believe that reading aloud, listening to good music and creating music together help improve these skills. Not to mention, he's a 3 year old with a very very sharp memory. He still knows where we celebrated his 1st birthday, and all the countries we have been to. Music can help sharpen memory too. Music and travel are very important factors to our great learning experiences which we cannot do more often if we put little DC in a traditional school. Letting your children take part everywhere you go and in everything you do is a must in educating for life.