ALS or DepEd’s Alternative Learning System has been sort of a buzz in the homeschooling community for a while now, most particularly among independent homeschooling families. We could not determine whether it’s an option for our family or not because I’ve not found anyone who could actually explain what it is not until last Saturday, February 29, when I attended a seminar hosted by MyHill-ALS, a project initiative of Don Bosco Parish Makati, where the project proponent, Eliza Cornejo, opened our minds about ALS. To many of us, we think of ALS as just a short remedial program for the […]
Sending our Teen to High School at Abot Tala Self-Directed Centre
We’re at a crossroads with our eldest son Pablo’s education. On one hand, we had acknowledged his learning style and educated him using unconventional methods; on another, we live in the Philippines where accreditation hover ever so heavily above you. To give you a brief recap on our homeschooling, we had been on an independent, interest-led homeschooling journey for many years, so when we decided to go back into the system, our children were only allowed to enrol at the grade level next to their last DepEd-accredited levels This poses a great challenge for our family, especially if we want […]
PHC 2019: Homeschooling….For What Purpose?
I always look forward to the annual Philippine Homeschool Convention by Educating for Life team. I love listening to the speakers talk about their own experiences in homeschooling, and the methods and strategies they’ve used to accomplish their goals. And I always go home fired up and fueled, and ready to take on another year with my kids. This year, though, I was only able to siphon wisdom from the morning sessions because we couldn’t stay the whole day. We’ve been up to our necks with stuff the past few weeks and we badly needed to rest. Among the many […]
My Thoughts on Homeschool Co-ops, Communities and Special Activities
When Pablo was 3 years old, I decided to put together a small play group for him. Fortunately for us, many of our friends from church gave birth to their kids around the same time Pablo came into our lives. Two of these kids – Jaden and Danae – remain constants in his life (thank God for technology!). And although seasons have changed and they no longer see each other as often as they used to, they still consider each other friends, support each other at every chance they get, and trust each other. Those play group days were a lot […]
Wika’y Galing at The Learning Library
Lukas and Judah attended Wika’y Galing classes at The Learning Library BGC this summer, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience for both of them. As you must know by now, my kids aren’t speakers of the language yet, but Pablo, our eldest, has been trying harder to use it recently, with admirable progress, I must say. As for the two younger kids, The Learning Library in BGC was really a Godsend. Pablo and Lukas attended their summer classes at their Makati branch two years ago, but we’ve decided to keep all special classes – dance, theater, academic […]