The last mom to be featured on our series Heart and Mind of a Homeschooling Mom is someone I’ve met personally when I was just beginning my homeschooling journey, Ms. Lynden Tablante.

Hi Lynden! Thank you for agreeing to be featured on my blog. Please share something about yourself for our readers. 

I am a home schooler mom, home keeper, mission partner and helpmeet to my husband Dennis who is an engineer by education, an academician/school administrator (Malayan Colleges Laguna) by profession, and a Sunday School Teacher/Home Cell leader /church deacon by vocation.  Prior to homeschooling,   l used  to hold a managerial position in the Treasury and Investments Department  of a local universal bank.  We are blessed with three kids – Paolo Miguel (13 years old), Aliya Magaret (10 years old) and Sean Andrew (6 years old).  We started homeschooling in June 2009  and we are well on our 5^th  year now.

Why did you choose to homeschool  your children?

In a planning seminar I attended during my working years in a bank, we were asked by the facilitator to complete the sentence “I want to be the best ________”.  I remember jotting down the word “mother” in the blank, passionately so, as I was pregnant with my first baby then.   Surprisingly, all working moms in the group gave the same answer!  It was the facilitator’s comments afterwards that struck me and stayed with me through the years. He said, “If you want to be the best mother, then you ought to be in your homes!”  I did not yield immediately to God’s prodding then.  I waited for the string of promotions to come – and so they did, one after another.  Lulled by the allurement of financial stability and empowerment,  it took me more years before I realized I already had  three kids growing and spending more time without me ( and vice versa).  In my personal quiet time, God’s words in Matthew 8:13  “Go back home” were as darts piercing my heart and soul.   The still, small voice reverberated more loudly and clearly as days went by.  Hence, my decision to resign from work and be a fulltime mom after 17 years in the corporate world.

But ,why homeschool?  That was another feat to battle with. My initial idea was simply to resign from work, manage the household, set up a small business, and let my two older children  continue their studies in a Christian school.  When my husband broached the idea of homeschooling, I was not very enthusiastic about it.  After months of praying, researching, attending seminars and conferences, and digging into God’s Word – I was more and more convinced that the homeschooling path, albeit less trodden and unconventional, is what God wants my family to take.  We took His commandment in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 as our mandate, not an option.  It requires that parentsteach their children to apply all of the Lord’s commandments in every circumstance of life.  Clearly, this is what homeschooling is all about! I cannot just relegate this God-ordained responsibility to anyone or to any institution, no matter how well-meaning they can be.  After all, it will be us, parents, who will be held answerable to God for who raised our children, and how they were raised.

What are you using with your children?

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”— Deuteronomy 6:5-7 (ESV)

“Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life.” – Charlotte Mason

• “Education is an atmosphere” doesn’t mean that we should create an artificial environment for children, but that we use the opportunities in the environment he already lives in to educate him. Children learn from real things in the real world.
• “Education is a discipline” means that we train a child to have good habits and self-control.
• “Education is a life” means that education should apply to body, soul and spirit. The mind needs ideas of all kinds, so the child’s curriculum should be varied and generous with many subjects included.

The principles stated above are the guiding principles my husband  and I follow in teaching and training our kids.  As God’s stewards, we agreed to seek His will so we can raise them up in the admonition of God’s Word especially in this time and age that even the approach in education has become so utilitarian.

With the earnest desire to educate our kids at home, we use the following programs and curricula which we know would prepare them in acquiring virtue and would prepare them for life ahead:

Sing, Spell, Read and Write Phonics Program

Sing, Spell, Read & Write uses phonics songs, interactive charts, and games to teach the alphabetic principle, phonemic awareness, sound/letter correspondence, short vowel sounds, and blending – in a fun and meaningful way. By the end of Kindergarten students will be reading fully-decodable story books with single-, short- vowel words.

…Using this program, my son learned to read and write with comprehension at age 4.

 School of Tomorrow ‘s Accelerated Christian Education (ACE)

For over 40 years, the A.C.E. program has been the trendsetter in Biblical educational reform. Its philosophy is built on basic principles of the Word of God. Students are taught to see life from God’s point of view, to take responsibility for their own learning, and to walk in Godly wisdom and character. Its learning principles are as follows:

1. The students must be on a level of curriculum where he can perform.
2. The student must set reasonable goals that can be achieved in a prescribed period of time.
3. The student must be controlled and motivated.
4. The student’s learning must be measurable.
5. The student’s learning must be rewarded.

 Lving Heritage Academy, the homeschool arm of the Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow, Paranaque City

Accelerated Christian Education® has taken the conventionally styled textbook and divided it into bite-sized, achievable, worktexts called PACEs. Each PACE is similar to a unit in a textbook. Each level consists of 12 PACEs in each subject. PACEs integrate Godly character-building lessons into the academic content, and self-instructional activities are carefully designed to develop thinking skills and create mastery learning.  Since 1970, A.C.E. PACEs have proven to be effective tools for goal setting and for achieving academic excellence.

The Student Programs of Accelerated Christian Education® (A.C.E.) give students opportunities to build character and learn leadership skills outside the classroom.

Student Conventions challenge students ages 8 and older to develop their ministry skills by competing in more than 140 events in categories such as music, speech/drama, athletics, arts, and academics.

Suzuki Method

The Suzuki method, also known as the “mother-tongue approach,” is a method of teaching that stresses the importance of parental influence and involvement. Parents and teachers work together to achieve a common goal. Parents are expected to know each lesson and serve as nurturing teachers at home.

 As in most cases, speaking comes earlier than writing.  Children can be taught to play musical instruments earlier even before they read notes from music pieces.  Reading may be learned later.

 Aside from playing the piano, they play the violin too. We grab every opportunity for our kids to minister through their God-given talents

 Classical Christian Education

Following classical approach, it is important to consider the three important pathways:

1. Grammar or language acquisition,
2. Dialectic or critical thinking, and
3. Rhetoric or written and oral composition.

This is called the “trivium.” The central point at which the three roads of the trivium intersect represents mastery of the skills (language, thought, and speech), and it is at this intersection that the apprentice has the necessary tools to move on to deeper study of knowledge within specific disciplines.

Love for reading is one characteristic of those trained the classical way…

Our kids are always excited to meet the authors of the books they read.

Reading aloud, as in any classical education, is a must.  We enjoy every read aloud sessions.

We see to it that learning is not just confined at home, we use the opportunities in the environment to educate them.

We ensure that they are provided the mentors for specialized trainings for arts and music.

How will their life matter? We teach from the Scripture that life is short and that they should use it to glorify God.  To stress the point, we find it fitting to bring them to the cemetery from time to time to show the brevity of life.

Our homeschool journey   allows us to have a disciplined mind to stay on track while honing and perfecting the talents God endowed each one—be it in arts music, sports, writing composition or what have they. 

Are you enrolled in a DepEd accredited homeschool provider or others? Which one?

We are enrolled in Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow’s  Home Education Program  (Living Heritage Academy) which uses the Accelerated Christian Education Program, a comprehensive Bible-based program that serves both the campus-based schools and the homeschools

Until when do you plan to homeschool your child?

From the beginning, we envisioned our children to be homeschooled until 12^th grade.  Our 13-year old is currently working on Grade 11 PACES and by 2016; he will have finished his Senior High School.  However, we are yet to see the ramifications DepEd’s Proposed Senior High School curriculum will have on our existing curriculum.  For now, we are prayerfully keeping our options open

Share one lesson you’ve learned over the years about homeschooling.

It is during this phase of my life where I saw the seriousness of modelling Christ to our children consistently – both in words and actions.  It is so easy to lecture, quote verses, and mimic nobility to our children ; but to exemplify these with authenticity in familiar surroundings, under ordinary circumstances, day in and day out  - require supernatural grace and power.  And, oh how many times I failed!  Yet, God is merciful, faithful and true to His promises.  There was never a day where I dared not seek God’s forgiveness for flaws committed, and not also experience the all-sufficient grace He has lovingly provided.  More than homeschooling my kids, I must humbly and honestly confess that this journey has been about me being “homeschooled” by God.  Looking back, I must say “I am what I am by the grace of God. He is changing me, my husband, and each of my three children – from glory to glory!”

Strive:

a)      Not to impress, but to impact

b)      Not to be the center of attention, but to pay attention

c)       Not to be a supermom,  but a mom with a super-God

d)      Not to be presumptuous, but to be prayerful

Thank you Lynden for sharing your homeschooling journey with us! If you have any questions about homeschooling, please leave a comment and we will try our best to answer your inquiry. 

To read the rest of this series, check Heart and Mind of a Homeschooling Mom.