Why are we homeschooling?

First Communion

Homeschooling, presently, has gained quite a solid base following after many years of being frowned upon and misconstrued as a sort of deficient learning method. We clearly remember before how well-meaning friends and family members around us either giving us their blank stare of disbelief or an upfront unsolicited advice to bring our son to a traditional school whenever we told them that he is being home-schooled.  

Looking back, our home-school journey started with painful a family tragedy. Back in 2008, while we were living overseas, we lost our 22 month-old daughter. We were devastated. But with God’s healing and loving support of people around us, we slowly picked-up our broken hearts and discerned how to move forward with our eldest son Zek who was barely 4 years old at that time. Wanting to spend more time with him, intent in sharing our own and shared family values and for lack of any Catholic educational institution in our host country, we searched for options, found a few choices and ultimately decided to home-school our son.

We him enrolled into one of the pioneer-provider of home schooling in the Philippines, the Catholic Filipino Academy (www.catholicfilipinoacademy.com) from Pre-school up until Grade 6.

We had a great time learning lessons together, making it fun and creative. Despite living in a foreign land, Zek learned a lot about our Filipino culture specially our religious belief while taking advantage in learning other things around him. We use lots of Legos, game boards and materials that can be interactive to help us to have more fun in learning. Admittedly, making every lesson interesting to Zek was really a great challenge for us every time. He’s unending questions wore off our energy and our patience so we needed a lot of time out just to gain back our strength to finish our daily tasks. Praying together everyday is what makes us at peace together and helped us persevere.

Zek is more of a visual learner with an entertainment type of personality. We needed to prepare a lot of drawings, posters or visual aids for each topic and we did a lot of art works together that all our walls around the house are filled with hanging papers. We looked for his activities related to his lessons for the mastery of his skills. We visited museums, watched theater plays and frequented theme parks. We also enrolled him to a music class for he loves to sing. We also encouraged him to write about every event that he attended to or any outdoor activities he did into his blog site from www.zeksantos.ph to www.readyzekaim.blogspot.com for this is one of our way to keep track of his amazing journey in learning besides making his portfolio with his progress reports to be submitted quarterly.

My Lego Collections

After more than 7 years of homeschooling, we still ask the same question to ourselves every now and then especially during tough times teaching our eldest son. For now, he has started his Grade 7 in a traditional school because we feel he needed to learn and experience a real-world educational environment and to learn to deal with different kinds of people and situations too. We also decided to build our own house away from the city to improve our lingering health concerns like endless asthma attacks, sinusitis, rhinitis and the host of other pollution-related allergies.

Now that our youngest son Aim has turned 5 years old and is a preschooler, we are leaning towards independent home-schooling based on his learning pattern and do his lessons according to his interest. Aim is showing skills as an auditory learner and loves to read books. With God’s guidance, we will hopefully journey with him as well throughout his young learning life.

CFA Graduation Day

We are always thankful and grateful to God for all the amazing years of home schooling journey of our family.  After all, enjoying while working together with our kids is always a mutually learning experience we look forward to.

May God bless us all.

How a Child Learns

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.

If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.

If a child lies with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,

he learns to find love in the world.

-author unknown

Happy Birthday

Dearest Maia,

Your Mom and I will never stop imagining how radiantly beautiful you will look on your every birthday. You are going to have another grand day with all the angels and the saints as you sing and worship the Lord.

Your kuya Zek misses you a lot and still asks the question "why?" you have to go to heaven much too soon and your younger brother Aim often looks at your wall portrait with a faint smile as if he knows you even if he was born long after you've left.

Happy 7th birthday dearest Maia. 
We love you forever.

Christmas Party 2013

It was another fun-filled day for the poor kids of Bulihan as Maia Outreach Program hosted a neighborhood Christmas party organized by Tito Rommel Santos. It was held 4:00pm on December 24, 2013 at the Bulihan Multi-Purpose Hall.

Opening remarks and prayers were lead by Papa Ben and Mama Tonette respectively. Magician Ren brought out the fun and laughter with his kiddie games, magic tricks and puppet show. In between shows, yummy snacks consisting of fried chicken, spaghetti, sandwiches and juices were given to the kids and their guardians.

Before the program ended, cash-raffle prizes were drawn and gifts/cash were also distributed.

In behalf of our MOP family, we would like to give our sincerest thanks to the on-and-off-camera sponsor and donors.

Maribon Catering – for the yummy snack treat and venue decoration.

Like them on : https://www.facebook.com/MaribonCateringMalolosBulacan

EU3 Mobile – for the lively light and sounds mobile

Like them on : https://www.facebook.com/jeunesseben.santos?fref=ts

V.R.O.O.M. team with Mr. Pie Guttierez – for the cash and gifts giveaways with

Brgy. China – for the gift-giveaways

Brgy. Bulihan – for the friendly discount of the multi-purpose hall

And for those who have contributed, in their own small and humble ways, in bringing the Christmas smiles into these wonderful kids, our heart-full thanks as well.

God bless po.

Comfort Zone

I was born and grew up in the city. I am used to simply going out of our house and finding all that we need by just a walk away, our friends and relatives are all just literally a call away. So I can not imagine myself living in a place far, far away from everything especially away from all the significant friends. I’ll honestly freak out unless I've got all the necessities I need around me within reach.  But the reality for the past years is that I all my family members and old friends are far away already since we stayed overseas. We meet new friends but the distance between is a sad fact that remains. My husband, kids and I, most of the time, feel alone. Under this situation, we have always chosen to stay in the city and make the most of what is around us.

As of writing this article, we are in the situation of moving to a place far, far away from the city (OK, allow me just to exaggerate a bit, he. he.). It's about 45 minutes in a private car depending on the traffic flow. In contrast though, it is just a 25-minute drive away from Rowin’s company. I should be having a heavy heart regarding this un-welcomed change, making a long argument and becoming a selfish stubborn person that I can be to not to allow this to happen. A part of me is protesting why do I have to give up everything and be a "captive" of my own family when all I need to do is work my way up my professional ladder again. I must admit that I had high expectations when I was still studying, dreaming to drive my own two-door top down white car, to have my own big dream house (but I surmised that this is just a fad that can easily fade away) and traveling around the world enjoying every beauty of God’s creation. On the other hand, I unceasingly pray to God for a happy, peaceful and loving family too (this needs a continuance of good relationship and ,with lots of prayers, will give a lifetime of personal achievement). 

Amazingly, my husband did not even sweat out when he asked me to relocate again to this far-flung place for I did not want to waste my energy disagreeing or giving him a heartache knowing it was his foremost decision to move there. I prefer for us to be in good spirit as much as possible to wherever destinations or whatever situations we may be. Our relationship is more important than anything else and so I agree instantly though I still have some hesitations. It all ends up to having more quality time that could be spend into more productive and valued moments together especially with the home-schooling of  Zek. This would also imply less exposure to crowded areas thereby avoiding most of the common possible acquired  illnesses for Aim. Meanwhile, me and Rowin could catch a breeze of fresh air and spend more time to refill our diminishing love tanks.

I prayed to God that He disciplined me from all my selfish ambitions us as we follow His path. If it’s my way that is not according to His will, then may He transform my heart towards the right direction for there is no easy way to a good life, prioritizing the importance of values and not our valuables.

Lots of things needed to be considered, like basic necessities, schools and after home-school activities for Zek, supermarkets or markets nearby, reliable hospital (our top priority for my allergic, asthmatic, prone to sickness boys) but unfortunately, the nearest one is about 15 minutes travel time by car. Thinking all of these stuffs reinforces my worries and these concerns me a lot. I do realize that this shows me how little faith I have in our God. I feel shamed by these moments that I need to undergo every time we face changes away from our comfort zone when our regular daily life gets disturbed.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” - Matthew 6:25-34

Truly, it all goes without saying that to depend on God’s unconditional love to us is always the primary option and the rest will follow as we humble ourselves before Him. 

As Rowin is leading our family, I will be ever supportive of his headship as I can be and we will be praying together that may the Lord strengthen us, lead us and show us His wisdom that we may gain knowledge from it according to His will. Yes, not our will be done. 

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' says the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

"...be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." 1 Peter 5:5-8

E.R. Moments

Since we get back end of July here in China, we have been in and out of the emergency room of the Maternity and Child Hospital in Zhuhai. This is not counting the regular visit to the doctor’s clinic for check-ups. Despite the stress and sorrow, we somehow were able to make every visit a learning experience for each one of us except of course for our one-year old son Aim who’s getting all the pains during these visits.

Rowin and I were challenged in understanding every hospital signs translations and communicating with doctors and staffs speaking very little English. On the other hand, they were very patient to explain their intention and were helpful, accommodating every request we have just to reduce the trauma for Aim (imagine IV injection through the hand vein instead of the head!)

Sleepy Zek was supportive and cooperative all those times, getting a lot less of his regular night sleep without any single protest though we have been going very early in the morning usually between midnight to the wee hours in the morning. He just spent most of his time turning the hospital TV into his personal entertainment watching cartoon cable TV Channel even if it was in Chinese languages. He alternated this with his math worksheets or computer games, things he cannot just do on a regular day of lesson time. And the best part of each trip was a Mcdo breakfast meal, just like his daddy promised!

Zek was also curiously observing the reactions of each patient child in the E.R getting their infusion shot mostly done on the head for babies and on extremities for some toddlers. But he never did watch Aim’s turn to get the IV injection. He somehow felt his pain too.

Being in the medical profession (though I was not able to practice full-time after marriage), I thought that I have enough health safeguards to keep my family from getting ill often or to at least prevent those critical ones. But the reality is that in spite of my full-time personal home care, being cautious in everything we do, overly protective in their activities, practicing hygienic routines and keeping the floor sanitized if not squeaky clean, they still easily can catch colds. Zek has coughs, sometimes with fever, almost every month and it the same with me and my husband. Aim’s diarrheal bouts, in all likelihood due to his G6PD, cow’s milk allergies, lactose intolerance or Gastroenteritis is like a never ending battle for him since birth accompanied. He vomits at some occasion and his skin rashes never go away.

These situations lead me all back to our Almighty, God our Healer, our Creator and the Most High.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” PROVERBS 3:5-6

Every IV injection to Aim’s body quiet us down to pray on our own ways that the nurse will get it in one attempt, that may the therapy being done without undergoing the same procedure again up to the time we checked out, hoping that it will always be the last. Aim got five times of IV injections within our four visits that made his arms and feet swollen, had fifteen times bowel movement in less than 16 hours and he lost almost 2 kilos in which was hard gained since birth. We can feel some of his bones directly under his skins. We do not get tired carrying him for long hours during the entire IV sessions and even back home since he does not have the energy to cry anymore, has totally lost his appetite and shows no interest about his surroundings.

This is such a low point for us and in this entire event we keep humbly seeking God’s wisdom and guidance for it is always a rewarding feeling whenever the medications, therapies or any treatment done are showing signs of good effect.

Healing is a long course of action in any aspects and our faith in God too is still a work in progress that we may keep it all high up to Him. 

My prayer is that may God guide us to pursue His will in our daily struggles in life and that we may make use of our sacrifices and suffering to be our submissions and offerings to Him.

26 Pages

In our present age of internet and electronic banking, more and more people are into paper money as growth instrument of their personal riches and treasure.

Some people have a portfolio list of their blue-chip stocks purchases.

Some people hold onto their investments in mutual or hedge fund management.

Some people safe-keeps a folder of land title certificates of properties they own.

For me and my wife, however, our most prized possession of paper record consists 26-page deposit of “wealth” that we are keeping and which we traditionally review once in every year for the past three years. Each passing year, it is becoming clearer to us how we can still consider ourselves to be one of the richest family despite losing one of our priceless treasures. Tears still run across my face every time I re-read each and every single page, while the pain and deep longing surfaces up from their very long slumber.

Yes, three years ago, we lost our daughter Maia.

But that devastating moment also made us realized how enormously loved we are by God, by our families, our relatives and our friends.

Matthew 5:4 says “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Yes, our greatest paper treasure is the 26 pages of double-columned compilation of all loving assurances, spirit-filling empathies and advices, strength-renewing anecdotes and faith-building messages that we received from a lot of close people and even from people we never personally met before. Actually, this compilation did not even include those who personally embraced us, condole with us and cried with us, but this is enough testament for us on how God can send and use willing people to be sources of comfort in times of distress.

So to all our dear friends who allowed yourselves to be God’s instrument of comfort during our desperate time of grief, once again, our sincerest gratitude.

We may not be able to thank you enough but we will do pay it forward to others who are in need.

Sirach 6:14-17

Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure.

Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth.

(originally posted on October 26, 2011)

A Different October

October is here.

Nostalgia is once again in the air for us as we usher in the month when we lost our little daughter. I agree that the incident happened nearly two years ago but for those who have lost their loved ones, I am sure they will understand it when we claim that the heartbreak and the pain will never really go away. We can only find comfort in knowing that we have our own angel in heaven who looks after us and intercedes on our behalf.

Two nights ago, I had an early trip down bitter-sweet memory lane when, until the wee hours of the night, I browsed through the photos of our beloved Maia while she was still with us. And as usual, I had a lot of tearful moments as I stared at her lovely eyes and cherubim face. I smiled at her funny pictures as well and could only sighed over the photos of her enjoying her moments with Zek. I terribly missed her.

A few days ago, our son Zek saw a black with yellow-striped butterfly which he vainly tried to play with as it instantly flies away whenever he tries to reach for it. Our Maia loved butterflies as well and she also ran incessantly at it whenever she saw one. And when it has flown away beyond her reach, she would bid it farewell,”bye-bye butterfly”.

Today our angel Maia has given us her irrefutable presence in our lives.

My wife tested positive for our new baby.

Effective today, October will not just be the “good-bye” month for us but a renewed celebration in welcoming a new life. I am sure our Maia worked this out with the Lord ever since she came home. (Indeed, our loss was heaven’s gain)

Thank you, our dear angel.

All praises and honor we give to you Lord.

Amen and God bless.

(originally posted on October 5, 2010)

The Rosary was my Lifeline

It’s the month of Rosary again, I have this very inspiring article to share to everyone. I hope this true to life story I’ve got online will give us more reason to to do meditation with our holy rosary through the Intercession of our Mother Mary that we may all received the every healing and blessings we need in our llife time too.

And as I write this sharing, we received another answered prayer. I just got a positive result from my pregnancy test this morning.

God Bless us all!

__________________________________

http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Jul1998/feature2.asp#F7

The Rosary Was My Lifeline
By Leah McCarter

IN MAY 1993 I WAS HAPPY. I was 26 years old and a full-time volunteer in campus ministry at a small state college. My boyfriend and I were discussing marriage. I had good friends and lived in a beautiful part of Pennsylvania. I am a convert and my ministry encouraged me to grow in knowledge of the Church. My spirituality was growing by leaps and bounds. Every part of me was certain that I was fulfilling a plan that God had for my life.

One morning in late May I woke up to experience a “blue spot” in my left eye. I assumed that I had scratched it. Because I couldn’t see through the blue spot, I went to the doctor—who sent me to other doctors. The bottom line was a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS).

I had to leave my campus ministry job to get needed health insurance and a living wage. I returned to a job I had formerly held—defeated, disappointed and terribly, terribly afraid.

I was afraid of my own body. The body that I had long trusted to stand, sit and walk on command no longer seemed to be under my control. I was afraid of the future. MS is an unpredictable, progressive disease. Would I be unable to walk in five years? One year? Next week? What was I to become?

And my boyfriend? I was not, as you might think, afraid that he would leave me. No, I was afraid that he would stay with me out of pity, not out of love. I was ashamed of myself—ashamed of my sudden physical deficiencies, ashamed of my failure to be a healthy young adult, ashamed of my inability to handle all of this gracefully, ashamed of my fear.

But I remember most vividly my fear of God. I asked the eternal question, “Why me?” and God was silent. Underneath my fear, I became angry at God and jealous of everyone else who loved and trusted God and was well.

Mass, which I had once enjoyed, became an act of obedience in an attempt to ward off any more unwanted divine attention. I didn’t dare stay home because God might notice and become angry at me. I didn’t want to pray because I didn’t want to draw any of heaven’s attention to myself. I thought if I could just hide I could somehow recover my strength myself.

In my loneliness, pain and attempts to hide, I turned to Mary. Somehow I felt that Mary, being a woman, could understand me. Didn’t I want the same things that she had wanted at one time—to be loved, to have a family of her own? She could understand my fear. (Would an angel have to tell her, “Do not be afraid,” if she wasn’t?) She experienced firsthand the inexorable will of God, and somehow, she could say, “May it be done to me according to your word,” and mean it. And she could still love and trust him in spite of (because of?) it all. The rosary became a thin strand of faith to which I clung.

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Inch by inch I made my way back to being in relationship with the Lord

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I prayed the rosary sometimes three times a day, always asking for healing—not necessarily physical healing, but healing of my heart and mind so that I could accept God’s will. After those prayers, I could pray to God, holding on as tightly as I could to my knowledge that even though I felt so bad, he loved me.

What I have always heard people say about praying with Mary was true—she does turn you toward the Lord. Mary reintroduced me to the human Christ through the events in which he bowed to the will of God no matter what. I was reminded that I wasn’t being singled out for suffering. My “Why me?” changed into “Why not me?”

It was such a gradual process! For so long I felt as though I was walking blindly through total darkness and was so completely alone. I felt no one could possibly understand the emotional and spiritual suffering I was going through, but I was wrong. The rosary opened me up and helped me to stop focusing on myself by forcing me to meditate on the sufferings of someone else—Christ.

The Sacrament of Penance helped me tear off the veil of secrecy from my fear. Saying the words “I’m afraid of God” aloud and learning that I wasn’t the only person to experience this fear was a tremendous relief. I needed reassurance that God hadn’t left me alone. Exposing my fear to the light was healing.

Finally I realized that God was not punishing me, that he wasn’t angry at me, hadn’t abandoned me, and truly loved me. Inch by inch I made my way back to being in relationship with the Lord. That is not to say that I never get angry at God anymore. But I do trust and know him in a different way now, a more intimate way than before.

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Leah McCarter was married in June 1994 and became pregnant in 1997. During her pregnancy she experienced the cessation of all debilitating symptoms of MS and gave birth to a healthy son last October. His name is Daniel.

(originally posted on October 4, 2010)