My Son Just Graduated from Prep in Homeschool

My son just finished prep school, at home. Yeah, you read it right. My wife's his teacher, most specifically his home school teacher. A few days ago he graduated or "moved up" along with other home school kids of the Catholic Filipino Academy, the home school provider.

My son poses with Bo Sanchez during the Moving Up Day (photo courtesy of Rene Espinosa, a fellow home school parent)

When my son was three years old, I ran across a book Bringing Up Boys at the National Bookstore in Greenbelt. That book was about raising boys, but from that book I learned about home schooling as a home-based educational system that has been operating in the USA for some time already. In that book, James Dobson, the author, recommended homeschooling to parents.

I was totally intrigued. At this point, I already noticed the hyperactive behavior of my son. I also saw that he wouldn't fit well in a traditional school system. I knew that because I was (and is) his father. My blood ran in his veins.

I had my own experiences as a hyperactive boy who excelled in school but hated the classrooms. I was a salutatorian with a record of being sent to the principal for disciplinary action, more than once. My son didn't have to go through what I went through. There had to be another way.

My son in his graduation gown prior to the start of the Moving Up Ceremony.

It turned out that the home school system had more to offer than just an "another way" of educating our kids. It provided a lot of answers to the questions that my wife and I had about protecting our kids from the weaknesses of the traditional school system (which I passionately considered very serious, if not fatal) and raising our kids to become Godly and entrepreneurial.

My wife and I became convicts of the concept, thanks to James Dobson.

Me and my son, photo taken by my wife, prior to march of graduates to front.

Later on, we discovered that home schooling was already in the Philippines too. The popular Catholic lay preacher Bo Sanchez, whom we listened to a lot, organized a home school provider called the  Catholic Filipino Academy or CFA. I found out further that CFA was one of the "youngest" home school providers in the country. There were others. During the 2nd Homeschool Conference in Ortigas, the venue was full of homeschool parents!

My son sits with other homeschool kids during the Moving Up Day (photo courtesy of Rene Espinosa, a fellow homeschool parent)

Much as I was intrigued by the home school system as a great way to educate our kids, there was one great price to pay: one of the parents must be full time at home. Homeschooling was great, but it was not for everyone. So, my wife and I made that requisite decision to pay the great price. My wife resigned from her good job to stay home. She also chose to do home-based businesses to remain productive.

My son beamed with pride at his Obedient Character Award.

We also decided to jump with both feet towards entrepreneurship. We invested in other businesses to prop up our economics. Despite initial setbacks, we pursued our decision to homeschool our kids and pressed on with entrepreneurship. We let go of our "good" life in pursuit of what to us was the "great" way to become parents.

A pose at the Sanctuario grounds right after "Moving Up" ceremony.

My wife is my son's teacher in Kindergarten and Prep levels for two years in a row now. Our dream is to homeschool our kids all the way to high school. Everything that we do revolves around this goal. We want to be actively involved in our children's education and formation, and we are enjoying the process.