This past school year was different for our family. We started the first semester of school attending a private school in the Philippines. The second semester we were back in the states and I was homeschooling the kids again. Life is never easy and things don’t go as you plan, but life continues and we adapt. Still, I think that our kids had an enjoyable school year and are enjoying not having to wake up at 6am every morning now.

1st semester

6th grade Classroom Without Walls activity.

Kalani in math class.

Kalani’s group project on creating a new society.

Mason with his 9th grade buddy.

Math games with a parent and classmates for Mason.

Mason’s 1st grade class.

2nd semester

We visited the ER and learned about sprains, splints, and how to use crutches.

Home Economics class and cake decorating skills.

Attending the temple monthly with other homeschool friends.

Playing volleyball

Going to reptile shows.

Visiting the Natural Science Museum.

Visiting the zoo.

Homeschool activities

Participating in theater plays with other homeschool kids.

Spending time with family and creating memories.

Now that summer is here our kids still have to keep up with their reading and math skills. And if they get too bored there is always a paper that they can write or math sheets they can do. But, we also plan on swimming and playing with cousins during the summer. These children of ours are only young for a short time and I am glad that I get to spend most of my days with them watching them learn and grow.

Kalani went to a “real” school for the first time last week.  We have been homeschooling her for the past 3 years, but with our move to the Philippines we decided to enroll her in the International School of Manila or ISM as it is referred.  So far things have worked out well.  This “night owl” daughter of ours that stays up until midnight in the states and doesn’t wake up until 9am, is now waking up before 6am and starting school by 7:30am!

We started the enrollment process in August since there is a limited amount of space available.  The class sizes are about 23 students.  In the 3rd grade, there are 6 classes.  Kalani didn’t start school right when we arrived since the school was on a week long holiday.  Then she needed to take an assessment test and have an interview with the elementary counselor.  The assessment test was done on a computer, and I was told it would take 90 minutes to complete.  Kalani finished it is 45 minutes and I was told she did well  (not sure what her score was, but it doesn’t really matter).  She took the test one day, interview the following day, then gave the teacher a full day to prepare for a new student and finally she had her first day of school on Friday, November 9, 2012

Elementary School playground/courtyard

She wears some kind of uniform everyday for school…it is nice not to fight over what she wears.  There are some options.  There is a PE uniform that she has to wear on the 3 days that she has PE. (and she could wear the PE uniform everyday if she wanted to AND if we let her)  Then she can choose from 4 different color polo shirts, and shorts, capris or skorts to wear.

Happy and ready for the first day of school

On the first day of school she woke up at 5:30am and ate breakfast at 6am.  (we are still living in the serviced apartments and breakfast starts at 6am)  Traffic is bad in Manila.  The school is only 3 miles away from where we are staying.  But, because of traffic it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes to get to her school.  So we leave at 6:30-6:45am to make sure she is at school by 7:30am.  I was so happy to pick her up at 2:20pm and to see a big smile on her face!

Big smile after her first day of school

Kalani asked me if I was going to homeschool her again when we return to the states.  I said that I would like to continue to homeschool her if that is what she wanted.  She said, “yes” that she wanted to be homeschooled again when we returned.  I said that was fine, and then followed up by asking if she was happy to be attending ISM.  She said yes, that she is enjoying herself by going to school.  Then I asked if she wanted to homeschool because she gets to sleep in…again she said yes!

When Matt and I came on a house hunting trip to the Philippines in September, we were told about The Mind Museum.  I love taking the kids to museums and letting them learn while having fun.  So, we spent a couple of hours there and had Kalani bring along a friend she met at church.

Learning about static electricity

Crazy mom hair!

Kalani inside a large bubble

Mason making a bubble “just like his sister”

The museum wasn’t super cheap, but it was a needed activity for our family.  You can only do the same things a number of times at the temporary housing before you get stir crazy.  It was also a bit upsetting that we paid $11-$15 person and could only be there during a certain 3 hour time frame.  But, the museum was pretty cool and there were things that we didn’t get around to seeing or doing.  I’m sure that we will attend again before we leave the country.

I never did an end of the year re-cap of our homeschool year for 2011-2012.  So, this is to try to capture the fun things that we did during the year.

We tried Co-op for the first semester and these are the other kids that also participated

Homeschool friends held a “Thanksgiving Fest” at their home

A couple of families came over to make candy houses…these are Mason’s and Kalani’s master pieces

Valentine party and card exchange…Lots of kids and lots of fun

Easter Egg Hunt and picnic with friends

We attended the Houston Symphony

Kalani had a science class once a month at the Natural Science Museum…this class was about teeth

We hosted a book club at our home twice a month…this was a fun activity for “James and the Giant Peach”

A group of us went camping

The kids had art club twice a month and end of the year they made tie-dye shirts

We attended the Police Academy during Police Week

We went back to a wildlife park that we attended a couple of years ago

We do our schooling at the dining table

We have loved homeschooling.  I have a good idea of what Kalani knows and what she struggles with.  We try to teach her about the world and her interests.  If she has a question, we search out the answer.  We also do many social activities so she can interact with other kids and I can interact with adults.  And because Kalani is around adults often, she isn’t afraid to ask questions or make comments to them.

More homeschool photos

For the past 2 years I have taken our kids camping by myself while Matt worked.  Finally after being married for 9.5 years and having 2 kids, Matt joined us on a camping trip!

"We are a happy family"

Mason loved playing with our friend's dog

Kids enjoying nature

Talking to friends around the camp fire

5 families that all went camping together

Thanks to our friends who planned this trip and invited us to tag-a-long.