15 September 2018

Why We Homeschool

Finally, you will now know why we are doing this rather unpopular lifestyle. Yes, homeschooling isn't just a type of education for children. It's a choice that families make to achieve the success they all want for themselves as a unit and as individuals. 

Here's our story. 


It was few minutes before 4 in the morning of a regular school day, I just finished breastfeeding our one month old baby and had put her back to sleep. I was about to prepare breakfast for my firstborn Sophia when I heard her sniffing differently. On most days, I would have still woken her up and have her take medicine before she goes to school. But on that day, my heart said otherwise. I allowed her to sleep. The next few hours proved to me that momtuition will always be correct. She got high fever, sore throat and really bad case of colds. After three days, she got better. I then overdosed her with veggies and fruits and vitamins and rest and TLC. But still, she got sick again. Like, she had it every other week until the school year finished. 

Aside from feeling so bad for paying her school service in full when she really didn't use it, as well as her tuition fee, I felt like I was doing something wrong. According to her pediatrician, she has allergic rhinitis. It’s an hereditary illness that she most probably got from my side. My father died of asthma when I was eight. I'm generally strong but have acquired asthma growing up. Sadly, my daughter got it, too. 

That was the moment I opened up the idea of homeschooling to my husband. He was not convinced yet even if I have shared with him stories of success. He felt that time that it's just for the wealthy families who have resources to travel the world and all. I told him about some blogger friends who basically live like us and are homeschooling their kids ever since. That was also the time I scheduled us one weekend to attend a homeschooling expert's seminar workshop. I wasn't so sure how 'cause he still had little complaints here and there but at least, he finally said yes to trying it out for a year. 

The reaction and reception of our families were different, though. They were sad and shocked. They questioned our decision. They felt that we have wasted what she has started at her former school, a prime exclusive school for girls. They were offering other options, other schools. They were worried for Sophia's social interaction. They felt she will be left behind. 

We were firm and still stood our ground despite it all. Most importantly, we respected what our families thought about it. Homeschooling is practically teaching by example and we started with that experience. Also, when we attended our provider's Introduction to Homeschooling, they said that those kinds of reactions and opinions are expected from those who don't know anything about it. 

In fact, when I first discussed it with my husband, he also had inhibitions. 

He didn't like to fully give up our daughter's school because it was the only symbol of our "success" – that we can actually send her to an expensive institution. Yes, that was how we used to define parenting success. You see, it was easier to make people understand why we don't have our own home yet or why we don't travel abroad like other families or why we don't own branded shoes and bags – we were spending more than a hundred thousand pesos per school year for our child. Yes, I may get occasional projects here on the blog but still, we depend on a single income. Our parents don't give us financial support like some families we know. What you see is a product of my husband's hard work and my management. So I did what I can to enlighten him. I told him that parenting isn't about us and our pride; it is giving what is best for our child – not OUR best but THE best for her. 

As days progressed, my husband was around 90% convinced that we can give homeschooling a chance. You might be wondering why we didn't think of enrolling her to a private school nearby. Well, we chose a school far from where we lived because that time, it was our and the best.

We are now running on our third month and it's been pretty stressful, to be honest. And Sophia now has maintenance medicine for her allergic rhinitis. We have already set our goals and plans for her, her sister and our family but for now, we are excited to live each day as it is. I know that the struggles we usually face on a day to day will help us achieve success not just in homeschooling but also in building our character as a family.

***
You may see some photos on my Facebook page: Sophia's Homeschooling Journey and on my Instagram Stories highlights entitled homeschool.

8 comments:

  1. I have allergic rhinitis as well, which I got from both parents (my mother has asthma pa). As a young adult now, I feel Sophia's struggle of waking up at around 4:00am every school day and going home late in the afternoon. There were also days that I didn't feel well upon waking up or I was nosebleeding. My school was almost an hour away from where we live; I wake at 4:30 am, leave the house at 5:30 since classes start at 7:00, and go home at around 4:00 to 5:00 pm everyday. There were even times that I was brought to the clinic because of my allergy attacks and nosebleeding.

    Anyway, your family is very fortunate to have homeschooling as an option to help Sophia alleviate her allergies because during my time, my family didn't have that choice or the chance to. Homeschooling was not widely accepted during my time, unlike now there are more families who homeschool and also there are more homeschool providers. My family was one of those who weren't open about the idea of homeschooling since I'm an only child, and they didn't want to give up on me going to a regular school. In fact, I did a research about this back in high school, and I have to say that it really does go down to the WHYs.

    Nevertheless, may God bless you and your family in this new journey!

    P.S. I was going to transfer to Sophia's former school back in 4th grade, but God had a different plan for us which was to continue studying in my former school until I graduated high school. I transferred schools college na lang.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seeing her suffer from her allergy and not having the enthusiasm to go to school just really made me "mom up" and decide quickly. I'm really grateful my husband is fully supportive. And buti talaga, merong homeschooling. God is good! ❤️

      Delete
    2. So sad that society measures parenting success by where you send your kid to school. Namumulubi na ang iba at lahat, gusto pa din paaaralin ang anak sa napaka-mahal na eskwelahan. Goes to show how social climbing works in different ways.

      Delete
    3. Some parents pa actually discouraged us before na huwag ipasok sa exclusive school for girls kasi daw hindi makakasabay ang anak ko sa mga kaklase niya. Meaning, dapat same ng gamit sa school, etc. Bakit kako? Hindi naman yun ang habol namin. Yung quality ng education naman talaga. So we went ahead. Totoo namang mahal ang tuition sa school but to be honest, we got what we paid for naman. Ibang-iba ang environment nito sa ibang schools. Wala kaming masasabing masama talaga. And that time, may ganon lang kaming mindset na alam naman naming mali but dahil hindi lang naman kami ang ganon, sumabay na kami sa agos. Thank God He gave us wisdom not to be swayed by our wrong thoughts. Thus, homeschooling now. After all, ang edukasyon ng anak namin ay para sa kanya at hindi naman para sa amin. ☺

      Delete
  2. Hi mommy denise. Thank u for this article. Im considering din to homeschool my girl pero as of now I think ndi pa pde cguro pgdting ng tamang panahon ksi ndi ko sya matututukan coz im working as a teacher dn. She's studying now in an eclusive school for girls and tama ka iba tlaga ang environment compare sa other school. Npaka mahal tlaga ng tuition fee nla. Sna you will continue to share sophia's homeschooling journey pra mas magkaroon pa kme ng ideas reg. Homeschooling..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for joining us in our homeschooling journey, Aimee! :)

      Delete
  3. I take up education kaso hindi ako nakapagtapos..gusto ko sana i homeschool si ate raine kaso baka di kami supportahan ni hubby kaya ipapabasa ko ito sa kanya para magkaroon naman siya ng idea about home schooling.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just want to say that I also homeschooled my boys for a similar reason - in one school year, they would get fever 5 to 6 times. And my youngest also had allergic rhinitis so he was more prone to cold and flu.

    With the fevers from school, My Boys siguro couldn’t recover fully kasi after a few days, kailangan balik naman sa school. Kulang Pahinga. I worried about what all these fevers, colds, flu, inhalers, antibiotics and sometimes even steroids would do to their bodies in the long run.

    That was 4 yrs ago. My boys are now happy and healthy... ang fever nila mga once a year nalang. And they have grown so tall from all the sleep... and eating any time they want. Lol. Health wise, homeschooling was the best decision for our family.

    ReplyDelete