Someone asked me here few weeks ago, where do the kids go to school? I answered, “Oh we are homeschooling”. Homeschooling here is unheard of for the most part and while it’s gaining popularity in the main city like Manila, it is still foreign to some here. We’ve met some homeschooling family in Manila and here in Dumaguete, most of them are missionaries.
We got back on track with our homeschooling after getting settled in Dumaguete. It was very informal (like most homeschoolings are anyway) and challenging since we don’t have much supplies to work with in the beginning. It wasn’t easy…I’ll be honest. Tim and I are both learning continuously to work together and our kids as well.
My eldest is finishing her 2nd grade so we can start her 3rd grade on August. She passed her reading test and got 4th grade reading level in the Sonlight quick assessment test. If you knew me, I love tests. So we did several reading tests aside from Sonlight to know where she is right now and what reading curriculum we should prepare for her for 3rd grade.
My 2nd on the other hand struggles with his d and b and always interchange these two letters. We are getting him back to ReadingEggs to refresh his letters and StarFall has been helpful as well. Reading, reading, reading is really an important activity that we’ve missed these past months of moving and transition and now vowed to continue doing with them consistently. Thanks to my MIL (mother-in-law) who gave books to our kids every month of their first 2 years of childhood, we have plenty ofbooks to read with them.
Our eldest has been good with math although struggles at some areas so when I did a sample test with her to assess her, I think I assessed her to soon. We are going refresh her with fractions, number placements and started the multiplication foundation to do another assessment by mid-July.
All in all, homeschooling is moving up well. Not exactly up to our expectations, but again…we are learning day by day. I’ve homeschooled my eldest in pre-school and kindergarten but almost 2 years in public school, thus demand some time to transition.
