posted by Jennie on Aug 26
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Archive for the ‘Education/Homeschool’ Category
posted by Jennie on Aug 7
PANATANG MAKABAYAN
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas, aking lupang sinilangan
Tahanan ng aking lahi, kinukupkop ako at tinutulungang
Maging malakas, masipag at marangal
Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
Diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang,
Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng paaralan,
Tutuparin ko ang tungkulin ng isang mamamayang makabayan,
Naglilingkod, nag-aaral at nagdarasal nang buong katapatan.
Iaalay ko ang aking buhay, pangarap, pagsisikap
Sa bansang Pilipinas.
(English version – translated)
I love the Philippines, the land of my birth,
The home of my people, it protects me and helps me
Become strong, hardworking and honorable.
Because I love the Philippines,
I will heed the counsel of my parents,
I will obey the rules of my school,
I will perform the duties of a patriotic citizen,
Serving, studying, and praying faithfully.
I offer my life, dreams, successes
To the Philippine nation.
posted by Jennie on May 22
posted by Jennie on May 21
One month. This is what I have left to figure my schedule out when I start homeschooling my sweet little guy. Early this coming June, we are going to have him assessed. What we are going to use for our homeschool curriculum is the international standard of School of Tomorrow (S.O.T.) a.k.a. Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) .
We will then know from the result of the reading assessment if my son will be enrolled in Preschool with Ace and Christi or ABCs of ACE. The former is the program for children who have been tested NOT ready to read, while the latter is for those children tested READY to read. My son has been reading simple three and four letter words from age 2, so I am fairly confident that he is going to do the ABCs of ACE instead. But we will know for sure when we get him tested. He has to score at least 80% during the assessment.
I am both thrilled and nervous. Treading a brand new milestone with the little guy, with its success probability practically burdened on me is a huge challenge. My motivation is definite and I am choosing this as a part of the vocation I picked when I left the corporate world to totally support my husband seven years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Apr 19
Less than two months. That’s practically all I have left to decide how we are going to go about our homeschooling set up here at home. The major things that takes up my schedule is the number of hours I work in the laptop, time with the little guy and the chores. Homeschooling should not take so much time everyday, especially so that we are just doing the preschool curriculum. But then again, it will still be an extra task in my already overloaded daily routine.
It really should not be so hard to figure out what should come down and what to do about it. But I still have these nanny issues and some concerns on getting a helper. Before I decided to work from home in 2007, I was a regular employee in one of those International companies in Ortigas.
Hiring the second nanny (the first one ran away with her boyfriend) was a mistake. My very own eyes witnessed how the one who was suppose to be the caregiver of my son hit my then one year old Jed with a balloon stick. Even with the mark on the child’s arm, she vehemently denied it! Que Horror! This is a nightmare to any parent. I swore that if I would ever have to leave my son to a nanny again, I am going to have one of those security cameras from GE home security. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Mar 29
Parents have such great influence on our child. Aside from the obvious that we pass on the character that we have to them from early childhood to the developments along the way as he grows up. It all boils down to the concern of bringing up a healthy, God fearing individual who one day will be able to answer more than just the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
A child’s social competence, school readiness, curiosity usually predetermines his success in school and career choices. One thing that parents should avoid is the premeditation of what career a child should take. This usually becomes an issue during a child’s adolescence. Self estimation should always be considered, and we should allow them to that. It might be true that you more than any other person should see the giftings of your child, encourage him every step of the way, but the decision has got to come from him. Chances are he might not have the same career in mind at adolescence than the one he will decide on when he’s ready for college.
If he would rather be enrolled in an electrical school when he grows up, so be it. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Mar 18
The Number One Reason to Homeschool
By: Davis Carman
I hope the following “top ten” list gives you a reason to smile. These may not be actual reasons that families choose to homeschool, but they sure are some of the real life benefits you can enjoy. Drum roll please.
- Your kids never miss the bus.
- Reading the Bible and prayer are allowed in the classroom.
- You don’t have to make up snow days because you never miss school due to bad weather.
- You don’t need a note for the teacher when you visit the doctor.
- You can wear pajamas all day long if you like.
- Recess can last two hours on a nice, sunny day.
- Your children don’t have to read until they are actually ready.
- Playing with Legos® can count as learning.
- The principal and teacher can kiss and hug in front of the students.
- You get to experience God filling in gaps so big that a school bus could drive through them.
According to several research organizations, the current homeschool population in America is estimated to be 1.5 to 2.0 million students. In a recent report by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the number of homeschool students grew 77% from 1999 to 20071. While the growth of the homeschool population is worth noting, a pressing question is “why?” Why are so many families choosing this educational alternative? The NCES study has collected data on this subject.
posted by Jennie on Mar 17
Our family is going to tread another milestone and boy are we excited! We are happy that our son will have the best education and have it right from home. For those who have just recently stumbled upon this site, we will have him go through School of Tomorrow’s curriculum. We have heard a few detractors about this kind of set up but we will figure something out and have him meet fellow homeschoolers during weekends.
There are a lot of things to do and there is no way to do this by cramming. I have got to get myself oriented, for one. Although the hubby has attended the administrator’s training a few years back (which is practically a license for him to set up his own school), we still have got to know the dynamics of homeschooling. This can be the most exciting time yet for our little guy.
posted by Jennie on Mar 14
Last week, the hubby and I planned to go to The School of Tomorrow headquarters to inquire about the dynamics of preschool homeschooling that we are about to start with our little guy very soon. Sad to say, we were not able to do that. But we did accomplish a handful of other things. So we are just going to take it easy on ourselves and just reset the whole plan to this coming week.
The truth of the matter is, a lot of things are lined up for this milestone that we are about to tread in the next few months. We are more than thrilled but the preparation can be really something. I have got to pick up my working gloves on and spin the house around to make it homeschool friendly of sorts.
I figured some things have got to go. It is nearly impossible to get an exclusive corner without having to shuffle things around. Good thing, I have kind of gotten used to that, that I can actually say I’m an expert at it already. :-)
posted by Jennie on Feb 17
The hubby and I were invited last Thursday to a gathering over dinner in connection with the Tulay Program, a partnership of Microsoft and Blas Ople Foundation that provides free computer classes for OFWs and their dependents. As ministers, this venture is an encouragement to both me and Jeff. After all the negativities of our society and the current situation that can really gripe our senses into hopelessness, if we dwell on it, the existence of such program can really be a refreshing one. Apparently, the project dates back to 2003 and now they have launched they it across the country, even overseas to reach out to Filipinos working abroad.
with fellow bloggers, graduates of the program, trainers and a couple of media people from Inquirer.net
The hubby and I were given the opportunity to meet with a few of their pioneers who graduated from the program. The first that told us her story was Elisa Moran, she used to be an OFW based in the Middle East and she is now a queen of her very own business which started last year. It was a blessing to know that at 60 years old she unraveled the path of technology starting from scratch. I went giddy when she went excited over announcing she now has her own Facebook account, which I found really groovy. ;-) These social networking sites aren’t just for the youngsters, you know. The program emphasizes the importance of the knowledge of OFW families to know how to go about communicating via the internet. This will save the families a lot of money instead of going by the traditional overseas calls.
Lilybeth Deronia and Lola Buhay Tan
I was the most fascinated by Lola Buhay Tan’s story. She is also a graduate of the program and she is 80 years old! She is a living proof that the saying “Old dogs can’t learn new tricks” is a total fallacy. What ultimately motivated this sweet lady to acquire the computer skills that she now has is the hope that she will be able to communicate with her nine children. Some of her children are based in the United States, Middle East and Europe. And mind you, she also has her very own Facebook account. What an encouragement.
with Laurie Mae Moreno, PR Manager of Microsoft Phils.
posted by Jennie on Nov 30
This post is a week late. T’was a busy week for us and even as I know I should be sharing more than just photos – this will do for now. The weeks to come will be a tad busier with the hubby officiating a wedding and some anniversary preparations and trip we hope to make in the next couple of weeks. So please pardon my short posts. Family comes first. 
posted by Jennie on Nov 25
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are drastically reducing their one-year subscription price to $7.95! That’s the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore! This is their lowest price ever on the magazine and they want all of you to take advantage of this offer and share the info with your friends.
Please don’t miss out. Your one-year subscription will pay for itself time and time again as you receive practical tips and Biblical encouragement to keep going strong in your commitment to homeschooling and to the Lord. Since it’s a quarterly magazine, they even have a monthly subscriber’s only E-Newsletter called Teacher’s Toolbox that will give you seasonal teaching ideas and a free E-Book download! It’s like joining a unit study of the month club! The free E-Books alone are valued at almost $250/year. It’s really perfect for people who are homeschooling on a shoestring or just wanting to add in some little extras to your teaching. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Nov 25
The homeschool convention that we attended last Saturday was such a success that we are actually considering to homeschool our son longer than just the preschool years. There are a whole lot of benefits and almost zero downside to it. The socialization aspect is going to be immaterial since we will enroll our son in a once a week get together with fellow homeschoolers. That would be a big comfort for us not to have to get him to unlearn unnecessary things that students pick up even from the most Christian of schools, if you know what I mean. At least until he is done with the formative years. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Aug 30
Seriously, I never meant to go on hiatus. There were just a handful of maintenance issues I had to deal with in three other blogs that I author. On my way to being webmaster extraordinaire? Hardly. It’s just that it was the first time in several months that I was actually able to tweak those Blogger sites that I have. In all my previous attempts, I never failed to receive all those nasty bx errors. I really just had to take advantage while I can, who knows when those bx errors would come back to bug me again. I had to unclutter my sites while I still can.
Total makeover. Care to swing by these sites? Simply click on the screenshots.
posted by Jennie on Jul 31
There is a good reason for me to reconsider things that I have been busy with lately. First, I enrolled and successfully finished my Continuing Professional Education (CPE) last year and recently passed the board. I cannot say that what I am currently doing is unproductive. Because seriously, I earn decent money with this current occupation. Still, I have been thinking that maybe at the right time, I can go take my MBA admission essay and get qualified to enroll in a reputable school for my Masters Degree in Business Administration.
