Why we chose to homeschool, Ephemeralization and Classroom assessments

Canva lets me do impressive graphic design work!

Why we homeschooled

For about a school year, we enrolled our kids to a homeschool provider. These are our primary reasons:

1. To provide the best education to our ADHD-suspect kid
2. To ensure the kids don't only learn knowledge, but grow godly characters which we value more in our family
3. To ensure the kids apply all they have learned in all aspects of their lives - no double lives
4. Last line of defense - gave up career, homefront and kids are the only turf I would like to triumph on and I am not happy with what I am seeing
5. To accommodate the location transfer of our family

Guess what, after a school year, our family realized that it is not for us. Why?

1. Our kid turned out to be normal and fit for traditional schools
2. Our walk is more important than our talk, and I am worst at both. Really, there are times when I am so terrible that I don't even want to be me.
3. Our kids are still young that there are no secrets yet. Plus living within the same community as the school and their classmates' family allows us to know their classmates' families too and vice versa.
4. The kids have grown up to the point that they need more independence and therefore more time for me to pursue what I am passionate about
5. We have found a verdant and booming place and are choosing to calling this home

Buck Fuller's ephemeralization

ephemeralization to describe the notion that over time, the cost of producing anything approaches zero while its quality continues to increase… until eventually, we can do everything, with nothing ~Buckminster Fuller

I came across this great polymath during my early web design days. I hope that all basic education teachers and students know about him.

Classroom assessments
My undergraduate course for this semester is Assessment of Learning. My former college classmate is my professor. I'd say he is doing a great job. For this class, he asked us to write a reflection paper on classroom assessment. Here it goes.

Assessments are like medicine. They are necessary, but their intended users do not like them. 

Just like a bitter pill, I personally do not like classroom assessments because most of the quizzes, exams, recitations, reportings, research papers, group activities, and tons of homework I encountered involved heavy memorization of information that were stored in the short-term memory of my brain. These information, a semester or school year after, were forgotten and replaced with other memories.

Half of me considers this cyclical process an easier way out, a required compliance in order to further one’s goals in life that is still attainable to those who chose to take a different, less structured path of becoming a self-made man or woman without the necessary educational background. The other half trusts, relies and thrives on this established norm.

My former teachers used different forms of assessment to accomplish their work requirements. My friends and I have been blessed to have several teachers who valued us as individuals more than our assessment results. They remained helpful friends even long after graduation.

8-year old questions

About iOS 10's ability to delete some pre-installed apps
If they will let users delete the App Store, how can we get new apps?

*Of course, the App Store cannot be deleted and Apple clarified that these native apps will only be hidden from the user but will still eat up the device's memory.

About movie villains who want to destroy the world
Where will they live once the earth has been destroyed?

Anna Quindlen on Parenting, Patient Love for my Daughter, Playful Love for my Son, iTunes App Most Used

Famed author Anna Quindlen, in an interview shared her parenting insight:

Kids should have enough freedom on their own - once they know the rules.

I agree very much.

Kids are smart. You don't need to tell them often what to do. Plus, they pick up what you do. More is caught than taught. If there's one thing that should be stressed out to them again and again, like a broken recorder (this little kids won't have any clue what cassette tape recorders are!) are the rules, the virtues you hold dear.

A friend in her senior years sagely advised me, "Just remind them again and again."

Then I remembered. The stories my mother told me, told others, were repeated numerous times to drive her deepest values. And yes, I absorbed them. It worked! I got pissed hearing the story again and again. But looking back, my life echoed those wishes she repeated again, and again.



Anna Quindlen's Books

Got another parenting strategy now!

Patient love for my daughter
I love my kids, yet I don't know how to show it. I'm so interested with my work that I don't get to play with them often, not unlike when they were still toddlers.


Their maturing minds allow them to reason. They argue with me. I like it that I lose most of the times. My reasoning is often confusing - to the dismay of my husband.


One big challenge I face is overcoming myself when it comes with my daughter.

She's my Mini-Me alright. And we clash personalities.

Because of this, she gets grumpier. I see myself in her more. I fight back with anger, it doesn't work. The two persons I see are both unpleasant in my eyes. Got to draw back and reflect.

Got to be patient with my daughter. Bite my tongue when I don't have something good to say. Never let myself snap in front of her.

Yes, God has been teaching me patience all throughout these years. I don't want to fail at the cost of my daughter.

Playful love for my son
Thinking about my 4-year old son, I would suggest having kids when you're older. The older you can, the better. Why? Three things:

1. Kids' inherent playfulness - foolishness at times, is refreshing for my age.
2. Rough play is a free workout session. Or better yet, a kid serves as a giant plush toy that's so fun to hug tightly. There's a Filipino term that loses its meaning when translated - gigil!
3. Their ideas are colorful!

Trouble remembering your passwords - Get 1Password

Most used iTunes App for Work from Home Moms

• Email - Okay, this comes installed. I LOVE how Apple's Gmail and Yahoo may get instantly pushed notifications on my phone. Saves me a lot of in-front-of-the-computer time! Too bad Google Hosted App Emails for businesses have trimmed to five (5) free accounts maximum. I still know of an account with 200+ allowed users.
• 1Password - Computer and 1Password on my phone work together. I don't let my PC remember my passwords for security reasons.
• Kindle - Got Kindle, I'm solved! There are lots of classic books that are free, and bestsellers are cheaper in Kindle than the actual book. Choose your device and download one now!
• TuneIn Radio - My kids don't know radio as an individual device. For them, radio is car radio or music playing. Why not, we listen through the Internet. Local stations are there, along with all the world's radio stations. Talk about choices!