This is the part 2 of the Homeschooling in the Philippines post.
Socialization. This is one of the foremost questions that people ask to families who decided to go the non-traditional way of educating their children.
I want to ask one question: How many of you here are still friends with or in touch with your elementary or high school friends? I would even like to proudly say that our batch was a closely-knit batch for we have been classmates from Kindergarten to High school. We are still in touch with each other. We communicate through our Google group, we see each other during holidays in the province or maybe once or twice a year for reunions. But that’s about it.
Through it all, I have learned to socialize, learn manners and unwritten friendship rules and just be myself and enjoy the company of friends.
Socialization does not just limit itself to one’s peers. It goes beyond dealing with other people. Socialization in my case is not a real problem since I bring my children with me to work, twice a week. They have seen and met my husband’s friends and my friends. They are learning to (even briefly) socialize with people from different walks of life, like those food servers in the mall where we wait for my husband to pick us up before we head for home, the Kuya and Ate at work where they are being asked to request for things that I need and even socialize with my colleagues.
There, in my workplace, they have forged friendships with other children and they look forward to seeing them and playing with them. They do not really mind if at times they have difficulty having conversations with some of them.
Interactive. Learning should be interactive. Questions should be asked and answered. Answers can vary too, and the way these answers were found should vary too, for there are different sources where answers to questions can be found.
How?
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I am a special education teacher and I have three children. My eldest daughter goes to a non-traditional school. My two younger children are being homeschooled using a regular Catholic curriculum.
Homeschooling is a relatively new idea of educating children in the Philippines. There were those who scoffed at our decision to home school. The first questions we encountered were: “What about socialization?” “What about building friendships?” “It is not all about learning the academics, you know.”
Yes, I know.
Primary reason why we decided to homeschool my son Julian is because he gets easily tired and is prone to asthma attacks. For him to not miss out on learning opportunities, we decided to homeschool him until he gets stronger. He loved homeschooling so we decided to have him enrolled again this school year, along with his younger sister, Tania.
So, what are the different issues that may come up in the years that a child experiences when he/she goes through the process of being educated?
Stress. Stress comes early in the lives of school-aged children. Exams, quizzes, projects, getting up early to catch the school bus are just some of the stresses that they encounter. What about bullying? Not being to understand what the lessons are all about because the teacher talk fast? What about stress from their parents to study better because their education is expensive? There are so many different stresses that they have to go through. At an early age.
Home schooling is not that stressful when proper preparation and mindset are both done. Sure, it can be stressful too, especially if the parents-teachers are tired and not feeling well or the children do not readily comply. Otherwise, it is a wonderful learning experience for both the children and their parents.
No need to wake up early to catch the bus or avoid traffic. No need to panic when a project due today was forgotten at home. No need to panic when the child got sick or hurt at school.
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