And so I was very happy with HAPI!

Still feeling fatigued and feverish, I attended the much awaited 4th HAPI Conference at St. Francis Square. Now HAPI is the Homeschooler's Association of the Philippine Islands. It was a whole day event, with exhibitors of homeschool providers and books, AND, free coffee!

So who were the speakers? Calibers.

First off, there was the assistant secretary of the Department of Education, Tonisito Umali, who asked the audience to continue to lobby on homeschooling. He himself had his son quasi-homeschooled at Angelicum. According to him, Dep-Ed recognizes the homeschooling system, and by that, it means that should any child want to ease back into the PUBLIC school system, it can be done. However, there are still private schools who are wary of the homeschool front :(.

Next was  Bro. Bo Sanchez. I was teary-eyed for the most part of his talk. The audience prayed, laughed, cried, and stood and sat (to wake up the sleepers), and affirmed his ideas. He said that there are 3 blessings of homeschooling --

WORTH, for when parents commit their time to teaching their children entirely, children realize the value of their self-worth;
WISDOM, for homeschooled children gain wisdom and not only knowledge through a plethora of information;
WORD of God, which basically is the goal of almost all homeschoolers, the preservation of Christian values, and to raise warriors for the Lord.

The bulk of the talk was from Debra Bell, the world renowned author of homeschooling books, who I merely read while in the US. She gave brilliant points to backup her advocacy for homeshcooling. I can feel her frustration with the American public school system, as I was once part of it. I know where she's coming from, and why she's got such a fired heart and a brave soul to continue advocating for educating children at the homefront.

Towards the end of the conference, there was a raffle and I was so hoping to get an iPad, but I was not lucky enough. It could've been a wonderful surprise to my kiddies all eager to see me home that night. Nevertheless, the conference was not only an eye-opener, but an affirmation of that nagging desire in my heart to truly focus on my children.

So with a big teacher outside voice, I SAY YES to homeschooling. Let's do this boys!!!