Time flies fast. Seems like it was only yesterday when we celebrated Jed’s graduation from Preschool with Ace and Christi. While it is already a given that our family is sold out to School of  Tomorrow’s homeschooling curriculum, I just love how the Living Heritage Academy come up with such wonderful graduation program for us homeschoolers.

I feel that the heart warming program is designed to encourage us homeschoolers to press on. I don’t know how much better it’s going to be like. Because we were told during the graduation that next year’s program will be of the same format as to how they do it in School of Tomorrow.

That’s our giddy boy flashing his graduation certificate with sparkling eyes. All of this makes the challenges of homeschooling (which are not so much, if I may just emphasize) so worth it. This graduate requested for ps3 gift some days ago. But changed his mind for a yakima bike rack for his two wheeler instead.

That’s my homeschooler and me right smack in the middle. The homeschoolers and their parents sang “Trust and Obey” for special number.

Happy graduation, Jed! We are proud of you. Our prayer remains that you will love God above all and grow up to be a blessing to the people around you. Seeing that you are doing academically and non-academically (karate) good as well are just a wonderful bonus for us. We love you to the moon and back.

It was March last year when he graduated from Preschool with Ace and Christi with 2 Awards: Best in Sound Recognition and Most Number of Excellent Marks. It was a pleasant surprise for both the hubby and me, since we did not know until Jed was called that he was going to accept awards. While we are not so keen on him grabbing awards and trophies, that moment really made us proud of our son! Oh how time flies, it’s as if it was just yesterday that he got introduced to Abbie Antelope, the first animal and (æ) sound in Preschool with Ace and Christi.

Homeschoolers under School of Tomorrow are assessed through post test of every curriculum they finish. This allows for a neutral, non-biased assessment of staff and the admin of Living Heritage Academy, which is the homeschooling arm of School of Tomorrow.

The Math Level 1 PACEs instruct the student to ask for a “Math Kit” from the supervisor (that’s me). His Math Kit has popsicle sticks and rubber bands. He practically learned to add and subtract by himself as he read the instructions from his PACEs. I am impressed by how the people behind SOT designed their programs. We are hoping to have them velobind compiled for future reference of sorts.

This old school way of learning arithmetic maybe considered behind by a lot of progressive schools of today. Mastery is the key and I believe that this kind of old school way of learning Math allows for the child to get hold of the basic concept of Math.

Having been introduced to Fingermath several years ago, I cannot help but be amazed at how it works. As amazing as it is, my husband would rather have our son learn Math the SOT way. When he has embraced the concept, then we will probably have him enroll in a Fingermath program.

The teacher who administered the test said that she has no problem with our son’s ability to read. In fact,  she affirms, that he is really good at it. But since it requires preschoolers to pass the post-test exam 100%, he did not make it because of his clumsy handwriting.  I would have to admit that there was a tinge of disappointment. But even as my husband and I waited for our not so little homeschooler to step out of the testing room, I felt a sense of relief that we are in a homeschool program that is of utmost quality. You have to agree with me when I say it is just too easy for homeschoolers with no “quality control”  criteria like such that serves like scales of sorts to let their “student” (or child, for this matter) to level up at their discretion.

Here is to give you an idea of what caused our preschooler to fail his post-test.  As I allowed my son to bury himself in his mountain of books for hours a day (he so loves reading), I took for granted his writing skills. Whenever I would have him sit down to write, he would often say it is too tiring and he would rather read.  You cannot really blame a mother to thrill over her son who has embraced a real love for reading without us having to force him into it. So there goes the balance that homeschoolers ought to be aware of.

Two days since the post test and I would have to say that his writing has greatly improved already. This just goes out to show that the shortcoming is really on me. I did not follow through enough with his writing skills.  I just love that my son adapts easily and understands that writing is part of learning and not just his reading.  Now that he really loves to read, it is something that he looks forward to after his “writing exercises,” while as before he would look forward to playing Wii or xbox after his reading exercises.

The teacher who administered his post test told us to come back after a week or so for our son to re-take his post test.  My son’s failure to pass the first time is not a big deal for us. In fact, it is more of a learning experience for our little homeschooling family.

I took this picture yesterday as he finished the story of Try Try Butterfly. This little kiddo has improved a whole lot since we started. While some montessori programs teach students to do cursive writing at 4 years old, I’d rather not be so uptight on those stuff just yet. I allow my son to work at his own pace. The stress of learning and studying might be inevitable in the future. But I want him to enjoy as he learns for now and he’s doing good so far. The progressive approach that the program that we use works best for us. Like how the tracing using the index finger of letters as opposed to having the child write on paper right away made a lot of sense as we went on.

Writing is something that, should I say is not yet a piece of cake for him. But I think he is doing pretty good on Word Building and comprehension wise, I am one happy teacher mama. Mistakes usually happen when he does things in a hurry. But otherwise he’s good.

We won’t be enrolling our son right away to Level 1. I guess we both need a break from the program, much like how my face could use an anti wrinkle eye cream from all those sleepless nights. I work from home. So the stress can be overwhelming sometimes. But I’m not complaining. We are in no way in a hurry. He’s only but 5 years old anyway. We’ll probably head on to enrolling him in a soccer clinic or Taekwondo as we transition to Level 1. And then there are some advanced lessons too that we can do as we get this little guy prepped for the next level.

I have loved our previous curriculum and I never thought our current program could surpass my “like” for the previous. I am all the more convinced that whoever designed the progression of these programs knew what he or she was doing. It is parent/teacher friendly that I am now able to work in between classes. For someone who is working from home without an assistant in the house, this is one thing I cannot emphasize enough how much I appreciate.

As my 5 year old son already knows how to read quite well. He goes through his paces, goes through the instructions and does his self tests, all by himself. During exams in between lessons, I get to do my virtual assistant job and also compose random web articles like colon cleansing and even beauty reviews that I post in my beauty blog. I am kind of excited to know how the Level 1 program will be like. I have been reading feedbacks from the homeschooling group I belong to that SOT’s curriculum on Math isn’t that strong. I have yet to see that. My husband is great with numbers and a Mensa member at that. I figured he can well assess if the upcoming programs will be lacking in content. But so far, we’re good with School of Tomorrow and we love homeschooling!

Haste means hurrying to fast. If you are hasty, you are doing something too quickly to do it well. Waste means you spoil something good or don’t use it properly. If you do thinks too quickly , you may waste time because you have to do those things over again.

I love that our homeschool curriculum incorporates such valuable lessons.  There are just a lot of things we are really thrilled about in our current homeschool program. ABCs with Ace and Christi is proving to be an even more exciting program for us. I love how this program transitions the child to work at his own pace now that he is able to read instructions as opposed to last curriculum’s visualized instructions.

Living Heritage Academy is fast. We only placed the order the week before and when I called in to order the alphabet flash cards last week, which I thought was not included in the package, I was told that the ABC’s with Ace and Christi materials were already ready for pick up. This means we are ready to start the school year anytime we want.

Now I cannot anymore delay doing the alli reviews and the other backlogs I have piled up. I will barely have time for this when we start with school. I’m one busy momma, but I’m sure as thrilled as this little guy is.

After going through a workshop, we’re off to preparing for the next level our son will be enrolled in – ABCs with Ace and Christi. As of late, my little guy has been waking up spelling words, from rocket to pool and finding things that rhyme. How’s that for a preparation that is not even teacher motivated.

I’m happy that with the kind of program our family is registered in, we can actually save a lot. We don’t need to buy school bags year in and year out. We actually make use of the promotional bags that I receive from the press events that I attend, to take care of his paces, some school stuff and art materials. We don’t have to pay school service for transportation, et.al.

As for the real workshop that our son will attend after the trial session in Center for Pop, it will be up to him. We’re going to ask him if he enjoys the sessions. If not, we’re going to have to look for another worthy workshop for him this summer. A swimming class, perhaps?

Parents were asked to leave the auditorium and the teachers taught them a couple of songs with actions that they will altogether sing as part of the program on their graduation day (a few students were not able to make it for the rehearsal).  After an hour or so, while I was downing this energy drink that one might mistake for one of those weight loss drinks (b/c of the packaging), we, parents were called in to let us learn the songs ourselves so that we can rehearse our kids at home.  Here is a portion of their rehearsal time.

It was a delight to see Jed breezing through the practice, even coaching fellow students to make the right motions from time to time. Next practice will be on February 26, it will also be their pictorial day. Needless to say, my husband and I are blessed to have gone through our very first school year of homeschooling seeing our son progress so much.