Twenty-second of May is love

Today B, my first born, turns 6! Smarter, more energetic, more responsible with the little ones, and more malambing. I could never be more delighted than to see my boy happy with his cake and his new set of MegaBloks (cheaper than Lego, but can be built together, love it!)

Happy, happy birthday baby boy! We love you so much!

***
In other news, I am officially the special education consultant of one of the best schools here in my town. I have just gave a talk to the teachers about including exceptional students in the regular school setting. I emphasized more than ever that inclusive education is workable! (See my province is still not that open to the idea of inclusion in schools.) And that it is beneficial to ALL students in more ways than one. I feel so blessed to have a boss/principal who's understanding that I will be homeschooling my boys and so she gave me a more flexible schedule.

Praise the Lord for this wonderful day!

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!!!

Chances, Choices, Changes

I've recently gone to Expomom, where I sat with my little girl N to listen to the talk on homeschooling. What an eye-opener.

If mothers who are non-teachers are able to homeschool their kids {yes, kids, with S, one mom right there has homeschooled her SIX kids; talk about multi-leveling!}, THEN WHY CAN'T I? As a professional teacher, surely I could've just raised my hand and said "Yeah, I'll do it in a heartbeat." But I guess, it is the horror of staying at home that I'm most terrified with. I promised myself, that once my 3rd baby celebrates her 1st birthday, then I'm done being a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom).

{See, I've been hands-on with my 3 kids - B who's almost 6 now, M who's still in his terrible/adorable 2 stage, and my girly N who just turned 1 - since we came home from the States after my 3 year stint as a sped teacher.}

Decisions. Decisions. Decisions. See I've even started a blog to talk about my decisions.

Yet, deep in me, there is much excitement as to the projects the boys and I will do, the trips to the museums that we'll make, and the thought of "Yay! No uniforms and waking up real early for my kids!"

I'll be attending the HAPI conference on the 19th. Let's all pray for the best.