Homeschooling is life learning: A typical day at home

Below is an excerpt from my letter to a newfound friend/co-parent in homeschooling. This is my answer to her question of what a typical day in homeschooling is.



Basically, I stumbled on "homeschooling" as
> naturally as breastfeeding. Maya, at 1 year old could talk
> in phrases already, and was very musically-inclined, so we
> would go through nursery songs (videoke) and other songs,
> and before we knew it, at 1 1/2 she knew all the songs by
> heart (including the National Anthem, French songs from a
> tape given by a Canadian family friend, Kapampangan...) In
> other words, she is gifted, and I just took to
> her rhythm and interests.
>
> A typical homeschooling day in her pre-school years was
> exactly like a typical day in the life of a toddler. Waking
> up, going to the garden, watering the flowers (and saying,
> good moring, red gumamela, good morning yellow sunflower),
> walking around the village, going to the playground and
> staying on the swing (again, singing "sinong gumawa ng
> mga ibon, na lumililipad.. Dyos na nasa langit.. sinong
> gumawa ng mga puno, pusa na nagngingiyaw, aso na
> kumakahol... etc..). It became natural for her to recognize
> animal sounds, colors, shapes from these usual activities.
> Reading became natural from the videoke sessions and also
> because of our bedtime storytelling and even during the day
> when she would just pick a favorite book and go through the
> pictures.
>
> Bath times were also learning experiences as she played
> with the water, and found about what floats, and what
> doesn't, the movement of water as liquid and other
> things that are not.. just letting her play in the bathtub
> basically. And during our infant massages, she learned
> about body parts.
>
> Now that she's six (6) and of the "schooling
> age", my husband is actually insisting that we enroll
> her in a Dep-accredited program. Unschooling is not
> accredited by DepEd, that is why I'm searching for a
> Dep-accredited program that will credit my unschooling
> method. (Read in a blog about Victory Christian
> Fellowship...)
>
> So a typical homeschooling day with Maya now, is a typical
> day in the life of a 6-year old.
> She wakes up, goes to the garden and feeds our pet chicken
> then the dog. Then she explores the garden, finds insects
> to her interests (she would put them in a bottle
> temporarily so we could search on the internet about the
> names, feeding behaviour, etc.. answers to her questions..
> then she would set the insect free..), and just observes.
> She would climb a tree, (even on early evenings, and
> observe the fruit bats in the mango tree of our neighbor.)
> She waters the plants (and again makes more observations,
> asks more questions). Then we would go in for our morning
> praise, she opens the Bible and reads. and we reflect and
> share on it, say our good morning then go for breakfast.
> she helps set the table. She says grace before and after
> meals.
>
> Mealtimes are the best "homeschooling" times,
> because of the "free-for-all" conversations. The
> only "structure" during mealtimes is, speaking in
> English. Since Filipino is their first language. We do have
> usual topics during mealtimes, Maya and her brother
> challenge each other in identifying which one on the table
> is a go/grow/glow food.. which vitamin gives what, etc..
>
> After breakfast, she again helps in putting away the
> dishes, then brushes her teeth by herself. She prepares her
> clothes for our bath time (together with our 3 year old
> son). Bath times are her favorite because she and
> her brother get to play with water in the tub (they have
> cups, rubber toys). Bathtime conversations are also unique
> as well, as the questions are more candid and personal. One
> time we were even able to talk about why it's not
> healthy to touch one's private parts. Her brother
> innocently said that when he rubs his penis, it becomes
> hard (He has a face towel that he uses to scrub himself.)
>
> After bath time, the two of them play, with me in the
> background (as I do my laundry, or go about the kitchen to
> prepare merienda and snacks.) She likes reading stories to
> him and me. Just this morning, she read a record of 7
> stories within the hour. (usually the Adarna collection,
> Tutubi Patrol, and Disney stories like Bambi.). They also
> play with her dollhouse and lego blocks, or sing nursery
> rhymes on videoke.
>
> After lunch, while her brother is on siesta, we have
> exclusive time together, usually two hours before our home
> becomes an open house (the neighborhood kids come over.)
> Maya would always have ideas of what to do, one time she
> was on a painting mode, so everyday we would be painting..
> This summer, we've made our homeschooling a workshop
> mode. So I've been teaching her a declamation piece
> that she could perform when her father arrives from a month
> long out-of-town trip.
>
> when her friends come over, she would play with them
> (hide-and-seek etc..). This afternoon, since it rained, we
> had a jamming session. i played the guitar, they sang, some
> banged on the toy drums and other instruments.
>
> Then it's angelus time, Maya recites the prayers. after
> that she sets the table again for dinner. After dinner, she
> brings the dishes to the sink, brushes her teeth, plays a
> little with her brother, then together they pick up their
> toys before we spongebath.
>
> after the spongebath, is the massage, then bedtime
> storytelling.
>
> this is the typical day, which varies only when we need to
> go to the grocery, or go to the organic market or run some
> errands (like bills payment.) That's when I take them
> to the park, then we visit the wildlife center across the
> park, before going to the market.
>
> Maya enjoys the bills payment, because she holds the
> number, falls in line, gives the money and counts the
> change with me. She likes the grocery best as she has her
> own cart and reads from the list that she wrote down from
> my dictation.
>
> I think "unschooling" is basically
> "lifelearning", or learning from everyday living.
> Maya knows her currency because once in a while I would send
> her to an errand to the sari sari store, to buy milk. So she
> would count her money first, and doublecheck the change with
> me when she gets back. She knows her measurements and
> fractions, from the baking that we do before her friends
> come over. Division/multiplication becomes easy when it
> comes to food (slicing the bread equally for the number of
> children eating.). We do some measurements as well when we
> do "Mister Rogers" stuff (making crowns out of
> used newspapers, making parachutes, etc...).
>
> Since the language of a child is play, play becomes the
> best platform for learning.
>
> For David, I can describe what we do as
> "playschool", for Maya, it's
> "Lifeschool", since she's being given more
> responsibilities (like clearing her study table,
> organizing her closet, helping out at mealtimes, running
> mini-errands) and "freedoms" as well to pursue
> her interests in music, the arts, (she's enrolled in
> ballet class and we're looking for a vocal coach for
> her.), to explore the garden, climb trees, spend time with
> friends. She loves her collection of books
> (stories, Science/discovery books), and looks forward to
> our regular trips to the bookstore.
>
> Let me just say that we did try to enroll her in an
> 'outside school" last year, but that was a major
> "wrong mistake". We did not finish the
> schoolyear, Maya was practically begging me to go back to
> homeschool.