When our son was nearing preschool, my husband and I discussed the possibility of homeschooling him, at least during his preschool years. You have to understand, in the Philippines, enrolling in a good preschool is sort of a prerequisite or preview to what kind of education a child will be able to receive. I was not “ambitious” then. Just preschool. Learn the ABC’s, the 123’s, easy peasy.
What happened was we just read a lot of books and spent a lot of time together. No filling in preschool, cut-and-paste, coloring workbooks. Those were boring and too much “work.” And then the kindergarten years started creeping in. “Where are you sending our grandson for school?!” Questions from the grandparents started. “Oh, we’re homeschooling him.” “What?!” My son still did not know how to read (at that time). And then the coronavirus pandemic sneaked up on all of us. Suddenly, “forced” stay-at-home learning was implemented.
Then Covid Happened
It was the pandemic that uncloaked a panic for education. My sister-in-law was encouraging us to enroll in an online Zoom science class. (My little boy was in an astronomy phase. “How are planets made?”) My own sister was sending me brochures of online play groups. I did not want to enroll because we did not want to be tied down to a schedule in front of the computer with someone lecturing. Play--we could do that on our own. We were playing. Even the Sunday Schools had become online. Try it, my sister said, who is a member of a church offering online Sunday School. At least you can get Bible classes for free, she says.
So we tried it. It was conducted via the Zoom app. After the initial praise and worship portion (which was a mixture of YouTube and quick introductions from the leader), we were separated into breakout groups. My first observation was that you can only view a limited number of kids at first glance. You have to adjust the settings to view all participants. And then all the faces would become smaller. For a little kid (at least us), this was very distracting. We would be squinting, looking closer at the screen, and clicking. But we did want to see all the other kids’ faces so my child and I would go up and down the gallery looking at who was talking, who was doing what, what did they look like, etc. It actually defeated the purpose of us participating in the lesson because we were just distracted and all over the computer.
I thought this was a first-time thing, but it happened again the second time we participated in the class. We enjoyed the singing and dancing at the start (We were singing and dancing along.), but when it was time to listen to someone talking, that was when we got all fidgety. This was Sunday School--supposed to be a great time to interact with other children, but the online format just did not fit us. However, I was glad to have experienced it because my husband and I were set on enrolling our child in a program that majorly made use of Zoom and discussion sessions with tutors. Clearly we would not fit.
Why We Choose Homeschool
Aside from it being parent-led, homeschooling is about personalizing the education to the child--which online schooling is not. In online schooling, someone else organized the learning structure and schedule of your child; you are not your child’s teacher. Granted, maybe age was a factor. Our son is simply too young to be participating in online classes and groups. But then, I think back to the bottom line of why my husband and I chose to homeschool our child. We want to be the main influencer in his life. We want to be his teachers and to spend lots of time with him (when he is most alert and active and not when he is tired after school and homework). We want to be the ones who will mold him as he grows up and share with him our faith in Jesus.
So we will continue what we are doing right now. Truthfully, there is a lot of trial and error in the process. We do not always have our homeschool routine down pat. And it may not be the most popular way of learning in the new normal (We are very unstructured.), but it works for our family. Our son is learning and absorbing, and that is what homeschooling is.
Written by Katherine Tanyu
Aside from God, her family, homeschooling (and books!), Katherine's love lies in stationeries. She and her husband manage growing stationery brands Forestmill®, Prevailed® and Boss StationeryTM in the Philippines. She is also the community moderator of a Facebook group for Office and School Supplies Wholesalers. Feel free to reach out to her via their Facebook page or email kmtanyu@gmail.com.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).