My homeschool adventures!

What's under the sea? Book

Wonderful! Simply wonderful, those 7 months just seem so fast. About a year ago, I was in a turmoil. The burden of walking even for just 5 minutes is simply like carrying 2 pails of water but balancing it on my buttocks! Being pregnant with twins is far, far different than a normal pregnancy would be (yes, believe me! I know!) ;)

I've finally decided to homeschool my son. After 5 years, I've had a go for it. I was excited, ordering from Sonlight (www.sonlight.com). It took me 2 months just to research on the best curriculum, manipulatives, subjects. Then, finally... I was able to checkout and pay! Wow! I'd say, it was all worth it. Not exactly cheap, almost the same as enrolling in a regular school, but the best part I get to grab the cool books, and games plus I can pass it on to my twins later on.

Our Box day has arrived from Sonlight!  Inside is our 1 year of homeschool adventures!

Books, Books, Books and colorful (not photocopied/boring books!) textbooks!
We enjoyed everything from our box day! Imagine... all these for school!? Every kid would love this, isn't it?

Singapore Math is our Math Curriculum

We're already at 4 weeks! How wonderful that I can discover every bit about my son. The best way to grab his attention, his learning style, why he's a bit anxious when he makes mistakes, to seeing improvement on his writing style (why he sometimes reverse the letters that people even thought that he's just dyslexic, which is not! The strokes where he starts writing was the main culprit why this happens).

I learn as well from homeschool. I learned to relax more and not pressure my son to learn. We have a year to do it (and even extend if I'd desire to). Just today, I bought another language arts series ClickN' Read (www.clicknkids.com) since he loves PC games. The very reason I pulled him from regular school is because I don't want him to be pressured into reading, when he's just being ready to read. All kids are different and unique. My son loves stories, he's an auditory learner. He can grab hold of information accurately when he does things simultaneously (ex. Story time while playing with his Lego). I didn't pressure him to read, instead, we went back to basics learning the letters and its sound. Started with letter F for a week, then E, then just inject some other letters between the week. At week 3, he started to show interest in all the other letters. Just filled his mind pasting, coloring, of the letters we've learned for 3 weeks. At week 4, wow! He asked me to teach him how to read! I almost cried. I thought, we were too slow or is he getting bored with me. But, hearing this is like getting a free, all-expense paid trip! Haha! then, I showed him a word that he'd first identify... the word DAD! we made sounds, then blended and finally he caught it! He said.. DAD!!!

He was so proud, he kept that piece of paper and ran to his DAD and told his dad, he can now read! He said... "look, dad! Duh-Ahh-D! DAD!" He was shouting and telling everybody about his new word. I reap these rewards from even the simple things that my son discovers. I'm excited that next time it will be more than just simple words that he'd discover.

Homeschooling is not a very easy thing. Discipline, flexible consistency, and lots of patience is entirely needed to be successful. It is not easy, but it is simple. We start at 9:30am and done by 11:30pm! With those hours, Ice would be so tired he'd rest almost automatically after we do goodbye school hugs (which we do after we end school for the day). I'm Taking it one day, one year at a time. I'm hoping to do this as long as I can even with the twins.

What excites me more is that one day, my son kept on asking me to do school on a weekend, or when school was once cancelled because of a typhoon for 2 days. Of course, we don't do school also if DEPED cancels regular school! (We are a school after all). But, he'd simply begged for more. I love it when I see that he wants to learn. We are now reading chapter books instead of the picture books we've been reading before. I thought, he'd get bored with books w/o pictures, but then, his comprehension on books is way too advanced for a 5-year old.

This year is a year of breakthrough, release and an outpour of God's loving kindness to our family. His provision is enormous, no one in his own mind could even understand how we were able to manage the things that has happened to us. But, last year's trouble is a double portion of his provision this year. To be a homeschool, work at home twin mother, I'd say truly that all things work together for good to those who love Him (and are loved by Him) and are called according to his purpose.