We really admire all of you Moms for doing everything in your capacity to keep your kids productive, happy, and consistent in their progress! Homeschooling can be challenging especially when you have more than one child to take care of along with work responsibilities, but it can also be rewarding to witness your child learn and grow. There are different approaches to teaching your kids and every learning experience is unique, too! So, we talked to Mommy Charina, Mommy Chanel, and Mommy Marielle to know more about what it’s like homeschooling their young kids based on their own personal experiences. Check out their stories right here!
Charina Dañas is a financial consultant and a part time college instructor with two boys: Cale who is 5 years old, and Constantine who is 3 years old. Mommy Charina decided that homeschooling was the best option for 5-year old Cale this year after observing his participation during an online summer class.
As a college instructor, Charina is more attuned to handling older students or young adults. So one hurdle she had to face was unlearning and relearning teaching strategies to be able to home school her 5-year old. Add 3-year old Constantine running around in the mix, you can imagine how things can get quite chaotic at times.
Mommy Charina also gives Cale options and allows him to choose what he wants to do for the day whether it be his worksheets, to read books, or to build something.
Chanel Abelo-Aldaba is a full time mom and a part time commercial model. You might have seen Chanel in popular advertisements on television and on print! She has two kids: 4-year old Cassie and 2-year old Joaquin. Chanel is also a former Sunday school teacher for 4 to 6 year old children at her church, and so the current situation became an opportunity to share her love for teaching with her own daughter through homeschooling.
Chanel and Cassie are currently following the Charlotte Mason method for homeschooling under an accredited homeschool provider. Chanel sourced materials from their provider as well as online shops which she discovered through researching. What makes homeschooling a challenge, however, is when little Joaquin is running around, and distracting his big sister. Having other work duties also makes it quite difficult for Chanel to manage her schedule sometimes, but this mom always powers through.
Chanel also shares that Cassie seems to enjoy Literature the most because she loves having stories read out loud. The apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree, because Chanel is a book lover herself!
What makes homeschooling rewarding for Chanel is when Cassie applies the values she learns in everyday life.
Marielle Justine Sumilong is a full time instructor at a state university. She is a mom of two boys: 4-year old Yain and a newborn baby. Mommy Marielle just gave birth to her second child two months ago and now she’s back at work as a faculty member as well as Yain’s teacher!
Marielle has also been introducing Kindergarten-level activities to her 4-year-old since the start of the quarantine in March. By the time Yain’s program officially started last June, they were already prepared with a set homeschooling routine.
Much to Marielle’s delight, Yain has developed a liking towards numbers and problem solving. He even asks to do more exercises and worksheets! How amazing is that? Yain is also a visual learner, so his mom teaches him Math concepts using pictures and objects like pompoms, legos, and real money when they talked about Philippine currency.
Mommy Marielle values having the flexibility to choose what to teach, how long they will study in a day, and what materials to use. There’s no need to pressure themselves to cover a given number of topics within a fixed timeline and they get to turn everyday chores into learning opportunities as well.