Homeschool, here we go!
Hi, ladies and gents, it's been a while! I took a mini hiatus for a couple of weeks on the blog to better prepare myself and my student, Miss Artsy, for our first year of home school. We are still working out the kinks although now on our 2nd month, but doing great none the less on all fronts. God is good. I might as well share with you what we've been up to and give you a glimpse at our home school journey.
Mr. D and I weren't that confident that we could do independent homeschooling, so we opted to enroll our daughter with a home school provider instead. After a ton of prayers, research and advice from local veteran homeschooling families, we finally decided on Peniel Integrated Christian Academy.
Why we chose Peniel:
I called them up and requested for the list of requirements necessary to enroll my incoming 5th grader for their home school curriculum. The kind lady I spoke to actually thought that we were a family of missionaries or something at first. This, was after finding out that we were from the same area as their school, which was kinda funny. Maybe she thought it bizarre that we'd choose home school when we could just go for regular schooling for our child, since we do live close by. Apparently, most of their home school students are from Filipino and foreign families based abroad or who travel a lot as a whole, which we're definitely not haha. I just told her the truth, that after 2 years of prayers and research we came to the realization that home school is the best option for our kids. It's as simple as that. Anyway, she provided the list that I asked for, then we scheduled an appointment for enrollment. Mr. D went there one morning, got Miss Artsy officially signed up and took home the books.
The minute I saw the books, leafing through both the text books and teacher's guides was the first thing that came to mind (I read it somewhere, a homeschooling blog beginner's guide). After seeing what I had to teach my student, 9 subjects all in all, I have to admit that I got a little frazzled. It finally sank in that I was going to do some serious teaching and learning. Praying for strength and guidance was the only way to go when fear started to creep in. In the end, Fear got replaced with more Faith, in Him.
Lesson planning which I will talk about next time, and making a study space for my student was next on the list. Here's a portion of Miss Artsy' room that we converted for homeschooling purposes:
We took out the toys that were originally crammed up in those shelves and decided to store them in boxes for the mean time. The space isn't finished yet, all we did was just filled it with books and other study materials, pinned up her calendar and tidied some more. We're actually waiting for the chalkboard to be delivered.
On the left side of this shelf you'll find all the 5th grade books provided by Peniel + some more that we decided to add. And on the right side is where she put the books on her reading log for the whole year, which is still growing in numbers by the way. I don't know if her room has enough shelves to house the books that are coming haha.
Mr. D and I weren't that confident that we could do independent homeschooling, so we opted to enroll our daughter with a home school provider instead. After a ton of prayers, research and advice from local veteran homeschooling families, we finally decided on Peniel Integrated Christian Academy.
Why we chose Peniel:
- It's a Christian School
- They support open curriculum
- No monthly or weekly meetings (perfect for me!)
- They are very active online (they actually send the Quarterly exams thru email)
- Affordable tuition fees and books
- DEPED Accredited
- Awesome reviews from local homeschooling families
I called them up and requested for the list of requirements necessary to enroll my incoming 5th grader for their home school curriculum. The kind lady I spoke to actually thought that we were a family of missionaries or something at first. This, was after finding out that we were from the same area as their school, which was kinda funny. Maybe she thought it bizarre that we'd choose home school when we could just go for regular schooling for our child, since we do live close by. Apparently, most of their home school students are from Filipino and foreign families based abroad or who travel a lot as a whole, which we're definitely not haha. I just told her the truth, that after 2 years of prayers and research we came to the realization that home school is the best option for our kids. It's as simple as that. Anyway, she provided the list that I asked for, then we scheduled an appointment for enrollment. Mr. D went there one morning, got Miss Artsy officially signed up and took home the books.
The minute I saw the books, leafing through both the text books and teacher's guides was the first thing that came to mind (I read it somewhere, a homeschooling blog beginner's guide). After seeing what I had to teach my student, 9 subjects all in all, I have to admit that I got a little frazzled. It finally sank in that I was going to do some serious teaching and learning. Praying for strength and guidance was the only way to go when fear started to creep in. In the end, Fear got replaced with more Faith, in Him.
Lesson planning which I will talk about next time, and making a study space for my student was next on the list. Here's a portion of Miss Artsy' room that we converted for homeschooling purposes:
We took out the toys that were originally crammed up in those shelves and decided to store them in boxes for the mean time. The space isn't finished yet, all we did was just filled it with books and other study materials, pinned up her calendar and tidied some more. We're actually waiting for the chalkboard to be delivered.
On the left side of this shelf you'll find all the 5th grade books provided by Peniel + some more that we decided to add. And on the right side is where she put the books on her reading log for the whole year, which is still growing in numbers by the way. I don't know if her room has enough shelves to house the books that are coming haha.
We also took the time to finally install our DIY clock that has been laying around the house for 2 weeks. It took Mr. D a good 20 minutes to do it but it was worth it in the end. It inspired our Miss Artsy more with her own DIY projects, the clock is giving her ideas she says haha.
Well, that about sums up what we've been busy in lately. More about our homeschooling journey soon! Blog hiatus over! It's good to be back. God bless po. :)
Well, that about sums up what we've been busy in lately. More about our homeschooling journey soon! Blog hiatus over! It's good to be back. God bless po. :)
