by The Happy WAHM
It’s been a while since I’ve last written anything about our homeschool, and I’m going to tell you why.
I’m insecure. That we’re doing it wrong. That we’re not doing enough.
I’m afraid. That we’re doing it wrong. That we’re not doing enough.
I’m unsure. That what we’re doing are wrong. And that what we’re doing are not enough
You get the picture.
Family, friends and acquaintances would ask me, “What school do they go to?” And I reply, “Oh, the eldest is in college, a Chevron. And the younger ones are still homeschooled.”
If we’re lucky, there wouldn’t be a raised eyebrow, but the follow-up question would be, “What grades are they in now?”
And because we are no longer accredited with any homeschool program provider, I really don’t know. And the fear creeps in.
Are we doing it wrong? Are we doing enough?
Our 12-year old homeschooler just draws most of the time. I would ask her to prepare a grocery list, and she would give me an illustrated list, like I don’t know what a juice pack or a tissue paper roll look like. I could be having a bad day, and she would come up with something like this.
By age, she should be in Grade 7. And because I downloaded the Department of Education’s curriculum to serve as my guide in knowing what they should be learning for the grade she’s supposed to be in, I know that she should be learning Ang Ibong Adarna for Filipino this year. Next year should be Florante at Laura; the year after next should be El Filibusterismo, and the next, Noli Me Tangere. Knowing we’d be needing all these books anyway, I went ahead and bought all four last year at the Manila International Book Fair, taking advantage of the discounts. And alas, she has read them all.
Today, I overheard her discussing Gas Laws with her dad. And then there’s Basic Accounting with me.
Our 10-year old, by age in Grade 5, is studying Physics, reading Larkin Kerwin’s Introduction to Atomic Physics, and The World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics, edited by Timothy Ferris. I’m not saying he understands what he’s reading at this point, but those are the books he’d rather read. Physics, astronomy, geography and history are the subjects he’d rather study. We have the whole suite of textbooks based on what private schools require, and they have remained unopened, unused. And he’s not writing cursive yet. 🙁
No, I’m not sure if they are learning what they should be learning if they are in a regular school. Yes, my biggest fear is that they’ll fail the PEPT and not be accepted to college.
But what I’m sure of is that they understand life and living within our means, they understand the value of family and of hard work. They respect rules. They understand the importance of education. They have goals. They know how to care for the environment and each other. And they know that they were created fearfully and wonderfully by God.
I may not be sure if what we’re doing is right, or if they’re enough, but I know that our children are once-in-a-lifetime individuals who deserve a unique once-in-a-lifetime education.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
Or you can be my writing challenge partner.
Send me a topic that you want me to talk about.
by The Happy WAHM
It has been said that knowledge is power. But is it, really?
Not quite.
Knowledge, like our net worth, is only potential power. It is not actual power. It is not realized power.
Only when knowledge is applied does it become powerful.
Everything I know is crap, unless I put them into action.
Like I’m so knowledgeable in affiliate marketing, but until and unless I do something about what I know, like actually doing it, then it has no power. I do not benefit from my knowledge, at all.
Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice. – Anton Chekhov
I’ve been dabbling in affiliate marketing for a few years now, but that’s all I’ve been doing. Dabbling. Not really working on it. Not really focusing on it. I’m not even lifting a finger to do more than mention it in some conversations with friends who ask, “Do you have income streams aside from virtual assistance?” And I simply say, “Yeah, I do affiliate marketing.” And that’s it.
A couple of weeks ago, I’ve started putting my knowledge into good use. Someone approached me about setting up an affiliate marketing program in their e-commerce site. I actually set up their online shopping cart last year, but they want to boost their sales through affiliate marketing. So I set it up, and now I’m thinking, why not offer the service to everyone? And that’s what I’m going to do.
So if you are reading this post, and you have an online shopping cart and want to boost your sales through affiliate marketing, please contact me!
Or, if you have a product or service that you want to offer online, I can set up your shopping cart for you!
Meanwhile, take advantage of this special offer from Audible. They’re giving a free one-month trial and you get to choose two (2) audiobooks that you can download for free. If at any point in the next 30 days you feel that you don’t want to continue to full membership, just go ahead and cancel before the trial ends. The best thing is that you get to keep the two audiobooks that you have already downloaded. Neat, huh?
Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks
. It only takes a few minutes to register. 🙂
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
by The Happy WAHM
17/365Challenge: My favorite quotes on knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge is knowing what to say. Wisdom is knowing when to say it.
Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life. – Sandra Carey
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. – Immanuel Kant
Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living. – Anthony Douglas Williams
Knowledge is realizing that the street is one way. Wisdom is looking both directions anyway.
Knowledge is learning something everyday. Wisdom is letting go of something everyday. – Zen Proverb
To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. – Marilyn vos Savant
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. – Isaac Asimov
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. – Charles Spurgeon
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
Or you can be my writing challenge partner.
Send me a topic that you want me to talk about.
by The Happy WAHM
16/365Challenge: Stress is what I’ve been trying to avoid. And today, I came across something that says going through stress has benefits, too. So how can stress be good?
I have not written much about health in this space, although it’s actually one of the four major categories that I love to write (or talk) about. The other three are education, livelihood, and parenting.
I was editing a book earlier, and I came across this word… hormesis.
According to Google, hormesis is a biological phenomenon whereby a beneficial effect (improved health, stress tolerance, growth or longevity) results from exposure to low doses of an agent that is otherwise toxic or lethal when given at higher doses. (gettingstronger.org)
In other words, hormesis is a term used to describe favorable biological responses to low exposures to stressors by exposing yourself to discomfort.
So we complain about traffic. We complain about the heat. We complain that we have so many things going on at our respective workstations that we have breakfast for dinner.
Well, guess what? Experiencing these discomforts, which lead to stress for some, if not most, of us, is actually good! They make us stronger.
Think how long our ancestors have lived. They did not have the luxury of cars, so they walked (or run) to get from point A to point B, which help build strong bones, strengthen muscles, improve cardiovascular fitness, and burn plenty of kilojoules. They did not have the luxury of electric fans or air condition. So they sweat it out, which purges the body of toxins that can clog pores and plague the skin with pimples and blemishes. They did not have refrigerators to store food, so they would sometimes go hungry, until the next successful hunt or harvest. And yet, they lived healthy and strong.
In more layman’s terms, hormesis is like what they do in allergen immunotherapy, where they introduce very low doses of an allergen, then gradually increase the dosage to build up tolerance.
So, experiencing stress in small doses can be beneficial. I know that when I’m stressing, I get to accomplish more, because my stress motivates me to focus on my work and my goals. According to research, stress produces a fight-or-flight response. This response is designed to help us react when something potentially threatening happens, to help us deal with it and learn from it. Further research shows that short-lived stress can improve alertness and performance and boost memory.
So there! Next time you’re stressing, just think back to this post. For as long as you don’t allow yourself to wallow in your stress, then you’ll be good.
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
Or you can be my writing challenge partner.
Send me a topic that you want me to talk about.
by The Happy WAHM
15/365Challenge: Thrilled to the bones that a yarn mix has been named after my baby, Crafted Crafts. So today, I’m sharing with you Crafted Crafts Cottonberry.
Remember my post where I first introduced my Crafted Crafts logo?
Well, the logo has been edited, and now comes in two variations. Thanks to Lique of Artique whose hands were responsible for these beauties. Her original design is still up at the site, but last December, I asked her to make the colors brighter, as I find the original teal shade kinda sad. 🙂
But who am I kidding? The reason that I actually had the color changed a bit was that I could not make the teal at the site match the shade of the teal on the logo. Ergo, I sent Lique the hex code of the teal I used at the site and asked her, nicely, to please make the colors match. 🙂
Then last week, while I was looking for a green cotton yarn for a poncho project, Jherae, one of the fantastic duo responsible for the unique Sugar Free yarn mixes that you’ll only find at their cave, showed me the teal that she was still winding. I was so excited that it was exactly the shade of teal of my logo! So I went ahead and asked if she could put a little bit of pink in it, sent her my logo, and in no time, she came up with the Crafted Crafts Cottonberry mix. 🙂
Nice, yeah?
Now I’m busy looking for a project that I can use this for. Or I can just keep it as part of my hoard.
If you are a crocheter looking for one-of-a kind yarn mixes, try Sugar Free! I love all their mixes, and I love the story behind the brand more. Will be talking about them in more detail soon!
Do you have questions, comments or feedback about this post?
Please leave me a message, or post them, at my Facebook Page.
Or you can be my writing challenge partner.
Send me a topic that you want me to talk about.
