I know this for a fact because my husband and I attended the Philippine Homeschool Conference in 2008 and it more than just opened our eyes. It allowed us to embrace and understand the concept of homeschooling. Although it did take a while for us to formally get into fully experiencing its benefits, the elation of being there as you see your son progress academically is priceless.

The Philippine Homeschool Conference will have you more than just warm up those chair pads. Happening this coming May 19, 2012, from 8AM-4PM at 5/F St. Francis Square, Julia Vargas, Ortigas Center, Mandaluyong City. With this year’s theme, “Laying a Strong Foundation,” it will definitely allow for you to come up with an educated decision whether homeschooling will be the best option for your family or not.

Christian Homeschooler is our family’s way of blogging about our homeschooling journey that started in 2009. We have been using School of Tomorrow’s homeschooling curriculum and have been vouching for it ever since. If you would like to enroll, please contact the numbers I provided via the FAQ page. Families cannot enroll via Christian Homeschooler. For some reason, I always receive enrollment inquiries to the tune of, “We would like to enroll our children to your school.” And while we do pray to be able to start our own school using the SOT curriculum, it currently is not existing yet. It actually is an encouragement for us to continue praying about it.

I actually salute the number of families who are considering homeschooling. Before we actually formally homeschooled, a lot of well-meaning friends and relatives tried to talk us out of it with matching list of suggestions of enticing and popular metal buildings a.k.a. traditional schools. This is still happening,  especially from the majority of the population who are not exactly that informed about what homeschooling really is.  We are thrilled that this page has been ministering to a lot of families. It has always been our prayer when we thought of creating a blog especially for homeschooling.

Our encouragement is that you do your own research. List down its pros and cons. And last but not the least, pray that God will lead you as you decide. You will know for sure when He has provided that peace in your heart to do what you should. It cannot be as clear as that. As unqualified as I felt of my ability of being a home educator, we pressed on anyway and God has been graciously showing us on a daily basis how this really is it for our child and our family, ultimately.

But aside from our homeschooler getting used to Teacher Mama searching for birthday and Anniversary Gifts for Husband and family online, he really is not very familiar with holidays. The holidays he is used to are birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas Day and Easter. Learning about holidays is a fun way of learning about history and culture (local and international). We would often go to Wikipedia to learn more about them if we are not very familiar with a holiday. It also allows us to appreciate our country more during special national holidays.

Rev. Delbert Hooge announced during Living Heritage Academy’s (LHA’s ) Banquet/ Awards Night (March 30, 2012) that the home education program of the Philippine School of Tomorrow for elementary and high school levels have been accredited by the DepEd. LHA is now renamed as Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow – Home Education Program . Praise be to God!

My husband and I were thrilled to hear the news. We did miss the Banquet/Awards night because we were overseas. But we celebrated with our fellow homeschoolers using the School of Tomorrow curriculum, nonetheless. Living Heritage Academy’s not being accredited back then yet did not stop us from using it anyway as we homeschool our son. More than fancy contemporary wall mirrors and facilities of the more popular and traditional schools, we have always been more interested with the substance of the curriculum. Three years along and we are no less than sold out to School of Tomorrow’s system.

My thoughts go towards the fact that the School of Tomorrow curriculum has, from the start, been using the K-12 system. With our local traditional education going towards that system very soon might have preempted the School of Tomorrow’s homeschool program to be finally accredited by DepEd.

When our son was three years old, he has always answered us with “tuba,” whenever we ask him what instrument he wants to learn. We never actually took it seriously. A three year old with an enormous tuba is a very silly picture. After having been a part of a reputable Karate class for more than a year, we also enrolled him in a voice class. He is currently doing piano lessons. Lately he has interest in playing the drums and guitar. We don’t really mind seeing him wound up on bullet cables and all these musical contraptions. My prayer is that he will love playing his instrument of choice and use it for God’s glory.

A friend thought at first that we were shifting because Jed still looks like he needs numia even after more than two years of regular karate classes. But more than that, we are really just hoping to explore other kinds of karate classes. Then if our homeschooler is not up for it, he can always go back to Shotokan anyway.

So far, this homeschooler is doing a great job. The progress he has been making has been very impressive. He now has a collection of personalized coins and toys for rewards. My husband wants to keep him homeschooled. And the little guy would rather not hear of it. That’s two against one right there. While I love to be with him every single day, a part of me desires for him to be acquainted with kids his age.

Being homeschoolers, this serves like our field trip of sorts. We get to expose our son to a different culture, their history and lifestyle. The gazillion of photos that we came home with will come very handy as we read more about Vietnam and Cambodia in our Social Studies class.

Buffet Breakfast was always filling at Thien Xuan Hotel

While I can only wish I can say the same for the other hotel we stayed in from our trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, which is Ha Hien Hotel. Even Cabanas offer better service. Although they have what could be considered high quality furnishings and being a new hotel. The room was just way too tiny for a Superior Double.  It also took forever for water to warm up. Water was rusty the night after we arrived too. And here’s the kicker, bottled waters are only given upon arrival. It’s not on a per day basis. So regardless of how long you stay in the hotel, you only get 2 bottled waters on the first night. What’s the logic in that when you pay for the say amount for the second night as much as we did the first night. Oh well!

Because we wanted to try a different hotel, we stayed at Ha Hien instead. To think that their published rate of the room we booked was $50. Pricier than Thien Xuan. If you are staying in Ho Chi Minh, save yourself the trouble and go book with Thien Xuan instead. They took care of everything we needed. Changed our dollars to Vietnam Dong at the same rate you can find outside the hotel. They booked our trip to Cambodia and was very helpful throughout. Their staff are very accommodating as well. Unlike most staff at Ha Hien. Will soon post a review of all the hotels via MarriageAndBeyond.com.

Jed at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

He did bring with him a couple of books and a few of his tool toys from his tool box, including a flange, his DSi and also got to take home a miniature “siklo.” A kind of vehicle used widely in Cambodia.

We have gazillion of photos to sort and we are just grateful that God allowed our family to experience such fab vacation. It was also our first time to have a full week of vacation. Very often our getaways last no more than 3 days and it was kind of more exhausting than otherwise.

Meanwhile, back at the homefront, our homeschooler is back on doing PACES.