Schooling: Unlearning and Relearning

With the country on General Community Quarantine, life is slowly but surely easing into the new normal to get the economy moving. Of course, children and seniors are still asked to stay home unless they have to do essential appointments such as checkups and whatnot.

Now that it's June, this used to be the season for the start of the school year, for most schools. This has all changed as the pandemic has taken control and has willed everyone to stay indoors. Parents are scrambling for information as to how schooling will be for their children while schools are nonstop adjusting their curriculum and learning methods as they change their learning deliveries. There's not one concrete answer to how you can school your own child/children. But trust me, I've been on non-stop research for the modalities since late April and I've attended countless orientations in order to put myself in a category that I and my family can comfortably adjust to in terms of Damien's schooling.

Honestly, I have prayed long and hard to be able to get to this decision and it wasn't easy. It wasn't easy because it's the road we've never traversed on and it's a road that I know will have more challenges than we've ever faced in terms of family dynamics and I am so anxious about it. My family and I have decided on this because it is the best and safest decision for Damien and that it always going to be our top priority.

As I have been blessed with a job where I work from home, our office was not affected with the pandemic wherein we had to shut down however, since our clients are from Japan our classes have increased to 30% percent faster than we have anticipated because of the work-from-home order that the Japanese government also ruled over during the summer months. So, I was still full-time working while dealing with the quarantine and the new dynamics here at home. With that in mind, I needed to get a provider that didn't require much of online time as I will be leading most of the lessons so that the flexibility is still there on his pace of learning. I also didn't want too much online classes because that would require us to provide him with his own gadget which is a non-negotiable for us right now.

The first thing I had to learn was that there are a lot of terminologies when it comes to homeschooling and it's really quite a different world once you dive into it. Also, the method had to be something we needed to be particular about. We needed to be particular because we needed to learn it as well. Such pedagogies can range from Montessori to Charlotte Mason down to Waldorf up to eclectic. I didn't realize that with all the researching I was doing, I was also diving into becoming a homeschool mum. It's not something I anticipated myself to be but I certainly welcome the new experience. 

So, here we are. Smack in the middle of month of June (which reminds me, we are halfway into 2020!) and already prepping for our first homeschool year. Will this be something semi-permanent for us? Will homeschooling be something I will embrace until Damien hits his last years in high school? I cannot answer that for now. But what I will promise myself is to be patient and kind because everyday is going to be different from the last. There will be days that are more challenging and there will be days that will seem smooth. But I always need to prioritize and remind myself why I am doing this. And why we know this is the best choice for us.

And now...we start the school year!