Unschooling Our Kids

Our two older kids, JJ and JM, attended private schools. Their learning pace was alright but we noticed that their homeworks per subject that they brought home everyday were equivalent to a day's learning and we were the one's who were assisting them in doing the same. Furthermore, we noticed that the topics they were being taught in school were matters within our knowledge and ability to teach them.

Ever since we got married, my wife and I decided to shun 8 to 5 jobs and consider them only in extreme circumstances. This is in line with our desire to be around our kids as much as possible. As a matter of fact, we were able to do this by having home-based work or night shift schedules where we leave our kids at night after they fell asleep and return home before they wake up in the morning, giving them a sense that we never left them.

This sense of togetherness has grown and rooted deeply in us that even our kids are enjoying and craving for it every time. This circumstance, in addition to other considerations, has convinced us to home school our kids. We enrolled them with the Catholic Filipino Academy (CFA), a home school provider founded by Bro. Bo Sanchez. We homeschooled JJ and JM for 1 year. It was a wonderful, challenging and adventurous experience of how home schooling is all about. It was really a challenge in the sense that we needed to find balance between enjoyment of learning and the pressure of accomplishing the lesson plan within the given time frame. There were many times when tensions erupted because we tried to enforce learning on them at times when they were not open to it. We have since made adjustments as we continually learn from our experience.

Home schooling is not always rosy as had been depicted in several advertisements from some home school providers. I saw several ads showing the kids and parents happily reading a book with all those wide smiles and such. I am not saying that home schooling is altogether difficult. While the satisfaction and joy parents and kids derive from home schooling is great, I am not discounting the times when tensions and flare ups sometimes occur that cause discouragement to kids and disappointment to parents. A lot of parents quit home schooling right after the first try because they were only told about the advantages of homeschooling but not properly informed about the challenges and how to surmount such events every time they occur.

Before our kids were accepted for enrollment by the CFA, they mandated us to attend a seminar during which they discussed the advantages and challenges of home schooling. In addition to the seminar, the CFA provided continuous support to parents in resolving issues related to home schooling. This support helped us survive the first year of home schooling.

Homeschooling our kids with the CFA was an adventure. Overall, it was a great learning experience for us as with our kids. But then certain turn of events challenged us to move our kids from home schooling to unschooling. 

The difference between home schooling and unschooling is that in home schooling, the kids are enrolled with a home school provider that provides curriculum, books, examinations and report card to the students, whereas in unschooling, the kids are not enrolled in any home school provider and it is the responsibility of the parents to create their own curriculum with the liberty to use any books on any subject matter they want to teach their kids. Furthermore, students who were enrolled with a DepEd accredited home school provider can enroll with the regular schools at anytime while unschooled kids need to undergo DepEd validation exam if they want to go back to a regular school.

Harold R. McAlindon said: "Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

By unschooling our kids, we are making our own path as we move forward. It is a great challenge for me and my wife to ensure that our kids are learning great things that are beneficial to their physical, spiritual and emotional maturity. We made this decision knowing through faith that God will always bless us and His Holy Spirit is always with us to give us the knowledge, wisdom and intelligence we need to properly mentor our kids.

God Bless Our Family!