Homeschool Family In Focus: The M Family–Part 1

IN FOCUS is a new section of Beyond The Silver and The Gold where I will feature homeschooling families, homeschool students and homeschool graduates. I hope that they will be able to encourage all of you in your own homeschool journey.

My first guest is The M Family. I ‘met’ the daddy online when he shared about putting his homeschooled son through high school via the Rizal Experimental Station and Pilot School of Cottage Industries while also using their own materials. They have asked to remain anonymous so I will only refer to them as MD for MDaddy and MS for MSon. I am BSG for Beyond The Silver and The Gold.

BSG: Tell us about your family - how many children, your work, your wife's work, the ages and school grades/year of each child.

MD: I have two children, MS is now 21 and MD(daughter) is 20 (talk about RH bill and not knowing to compute!) I am a seminary teacher (college) and a pastor as well. My wife teaches too, in the elementary level in the same school that I teach at. Both of my kids are now in UP Los Banos. My son is an irregular senior and my daughter is an irregular sophomore in the said school.

BSG: Are all your children homeschooled? Why or why not?

MD: All my kids were for a time home-schooled. My son was purely home-schooled from Grade 7-8 then First Year to Fourth Year, a total of 6 years. After finishing Grade 8, we decided to look for a HS (high school) that would be basically a home study program. We figured that it should be one that will allow him to finish his home school program as well as allow him to have credentials that will allow him to get into the UP. REPSCI fitted in nicely.

With my daughter we took another tack.Our school (seminary) opened a secondary program, so we decided to enroll her there. It is just right where we live. We live on the campus. I would have home-schooled her purely if our school did not open a secondary program although admittedly it would have been a harder task. My daughter has another gifting. They are both creative so think of schedules when two kids schedule out.

The boy loves schedules and lives by the clock, sleeps by the bell, the girl when she was younger was a free spirit that is before her UP days.  

BSG: What made you decide to homeschool your child up to his high school years?

MD: Our school did not have a secondary program at that time. Think of the hassle and expense of sending kids to high school. Baon, projects and contribution. You see the "education is expensive, try ignorance thing" sang all the way on my mind, when we began high school.

Aside from the issue about finances, one big issue was the quality of education issue. I was always asking, “Are schools better now than they were before? Can my son or daughter have a better education than the one I had before?” Big deal for my father because my siblings and I attended the Science High School. I felt that if a school is not as good as the science high then I must look for one or make one. I made one. It was easier,  initially there was only one student and it was not limited to the sciences. It offered the whole of life.

The consciousness that we as parents hold their lives in a balance is a motivator enough to make as teachers do well as teachers of our kids. 

Above all, there was that issue on bullying. My son was bullied when he was in the elementary grades. This was not present in a home school. I thought that he needed to be more mature, intellectually, emotionally and physically. A four year HS program I thought was not enough for such a tall order. So I began with a two year home school junior program. When he was through with it, I thought it would be nice if he finished a full four year home school for the secondary grades.

Another issue addressed was boredom. Modesty aside, he performed well in class but as a fast learner he felt bored when he had to wait for others. So he often made a mess out of himself because of boredom. When he had to compete with himself - it was another story.

Peer pressure issues also made us decide that home schooling is (a) better alternative. I thought that if my kids' lives will be decided by other kids then it would be the end of our story. I felt there just had to be a better alternative.

Another issue usually not present with homeschooling families is Communication.  Usually communications between parents and kids during their delicate high school years are reduced to grunts and yawns on the dinner table. What better it is to have a son and daughter who can tell you their stories when they were in high school over the dinner table.

Socialization has been an oft mentioned issue as we home schooled our son. That probably is not a challenge for my kids. My son and daughter have so many cousins that they don't feel awkward with others. We also live in a campus. When my kids (specifically my son) were in home school, he would sit in classes either in high school or in college. He thought it was cool to be with older guys

When he was bored, he would just pack up and play his violin and guitar.
I could not do that in regular school, drop out, sleep and rest. 

Sounding good so far? MD really thought about what was best for their children and gave them what they needed. Stay tuned for the second part of this interview with MD. MS will also have his own interview as a homeschool high school graduate.

If you want to know more about Rizal Experimental Station and Pilot School of Cottage Industries, please click here.

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