TOPAZ HORIZON

We are so excited to start homeschooling this year! Well, I am. My kids vacillate - sometimes they're so excited, they're the ones planning their lessons. Most times, they mourn the coming end of the longest summer vacation of their lives. So let me edit my first sentence. I am so excited to start homeschooling this year! I even made our schedules. Check them out.

My littlest is now Grade 1.

Our school week starts on Tuesday. This is because my husband and I have work. Mondays are usually our busiest days, whether it's for work or for errands, so my husband said we should leave Mondays open for us. To make their Saturday feel like a weekend, I lumped all the "dirty" classes on that day.

The kids' weekend will then be Sunday and Monday, which they honestly wouldn't feel anyway because we're all under quarantine. If I didn't force them to look at the calendar, they won't even know what day it is.

All my sons' schedules are the same, save for my Grade 4 boy, who has an extra subject, HELE (Home Economics and Livelihood Education), which can be an hour long in case we do cooking, carpentry, or typing. But if his little brothers want to join those activities, they can. Here's what their schedule is like:

Get Ready!
After breakfast, this is when the kids will brush their teeth, comb their hair, and change into their school robes. Yes, we got Harry Potter robes! The kids took Sorting Hat quizzes and got sorted into their houses - my eldest is Hufflepuff, my middle boy is Gryffindor, and my youngest is Ravenclaw! This is a good way to get them into the right frame of mind for school while still being fun and nerdy haha.

Circle Time
To start the day, we'll all gather together for the national anthem, for prayer, and to study Bible verses, inspirational quotes, poetry, singing, reading aloud, and whatever we feel like talking about together. I only allotted 15 minutes for this but we can be flexible and extend to 30 minutes if the discussion is really good.

It's really important to encourage discussion during this time, not while in class where I think I'll be instructing more than conversing. Of course, questions are always welcome but I used to be a teacher and there's a time for instruction and then a time for questions. Because if you just keep opening the whole day to the kids, they'll never stop talking. A huge part of learning is listening.

Of course, a big part of learning is also discussing the topics, questioning, and investigating, hence Circle Time. I also want Circle Time to be their chance to learn communication skills, correct pronunciation, the art of conversation, critical thinking, and debate. 

Part 1
My kids love Math and Music so I decided we should start the day with those subjects. Then I followed up with the subjects they don't like, Filipino and Araling Panlipunan.

Part 2
After recess, we'll study Science, Reading, Language, and Writing. Science because it's always fun and can perk them up after Fil and AP haha. Reading, Language, and Writing are quiet subjects, which is good for me so I can leave them while I prepare lunch.

Wrap Up!
This is going to be like Circle Time but it's more of a summary of the day. The boys can tell me if they need more time on a lesson or they can move forward. Our homeschool provider also recommends that the kids keep a journal of their day so that they themselves have a record of their progress. So we can do 5 minutes of journaling before packing up.

My middle boy is in Grade 3.

The rest of the day is devoted to whatever they want. Sleep, play video games, play with each other. Extra-curricular activities like piano lessons, art class, language classes, quiet reading of books, and of course their chores. They can also study their lessons more, if they like.

Meanwhile, the afternoon is when I can work.

I hope this works!!!

This is just for the first month. For our first week, I don't think we'll actually follow it. I want us to settle down into the schedule. We all need to adjust to an academic routine again since there was no school for almost half a year. I plan to just get all of us get used to do the Get Ready! and Circle Time periods. I think we'll all be struggling with inertia. I, for one, need to wake up early again!

I read in some homeschooling blogs that it's good to start the first week of homeschooling on a Wednesday so everyone only has 3 days of school and won't get shocked by the change haha ("10 First Day of Homeschool Ideas" by The Reading Mama). We'll see! I'm pretty sure we won't follow our schedule hahahaha I'm just going to be chill about this whole business.

Wish us luck!

My eldest is in Grade 4.

1. My husband and I have virtual meetings with our colleagues. In our experience, more than an hour in a virtual meeting is inhuman hahaha It's never pleasant. I mean, the first 30 minutes to an hour is fine. But more than that, even I, a grown-up, couldn't sit still. What more for little boys?

2. We did try and see how the kids would take it. Over the summer, we took a few online sessions with MyNanai, an online babysitting service. My eldest actually lasted an hour without fidgeting. My two younger ones? They started standing up and leaving the session at the 30-minute mark. How rude! So mortifying haha. So when our boys' school said they'll have their classes from 7:30am to 2pm, we decided we didn't want our kids to go through 6 hours in a virtual class.

3. We were unsure of the future. During the summer, DepEd kept changing their mind about everything. Then the boys' school said they might ask the kids to come to school by the third quarter. We just knew, with how things were going in our country, that there was no way our kids will be safe by September. So we decided to keep them home.

That's it! That's why we're homeschooling! It's not because we think it's the best way to educate our kids. We don't even know how I'll be as a teacher. I bet I'll tear my hair out in a month's time haha. We're all approaching homeschooling as OUR best option, given the circumstances. And if we enjoy it, then hallelujah!

I'm actually looking forward to it. Wish us luck!

UPDATE: First week of homeschooling done and we didn't follow the schedule! We just went with the flow. The kids wanted more time for Math because they love Math. For one Araling Panlipunan class, we made the Philippine flag so that suddenly became AP and Art! Gotta be flexible =)