3. Before you start homeschooling Why Catholic homeschooling? Commonly used homeschool programs by Catholics in the Philippines Time for sharing and interaction Closing Prayer

4. Know the benefits and the potential disadvantages

5. You get to: 1. Control what your children learn and when they learn it. 2. Show your children that learning is not boring, but exciting. 3. Build intimate and meaningful relationships with your children. 4. Tailor your teaching to fit your children’s dominant learning styles.

6. 6. Create a weekly schedule that fits your needs and allows you to do things without the constraint of a traditional classroom schedule. 7. Transfer your values and beliefs to your children and address their questions when they have them. 8. Protect your children from the negative influences they may encounter outside the home.

7. 9. Teach more effectively by interacting with your children 1-on-1. 10. Nurture your children's natural (musical, artistic, mathematic) talents so they thrive and grow. 11. Address "big issues" with your children when you feel they're ready. 12. Share with your children the common, everyday joys of life.

8. 13. Help your children mature through the difficult times in their lives. 14. Share the joy of teaching your children with your spouse. 15. Take vacations during the school year and make them educational.

9. You may have to: 1. Spend 24 hours a day with your children for several days at a time. 2. Justify homeschooling to family and friends who oppose your decision to learn at home. 3. Be very patient with your children when it seems they aren't learning anything at all. 4. Deal with the frustrations of sometimes being "behind.”

10. 5. Spend more money on your children's education than you're accustomed to. 6. Get out of your comfort zone to learn how to homeschool effectively. 7.Encourage your children even when you don't feel like it. 8. Seek advice from other homeschooling parents when you encounter problems you're not equipped to handle.

11. 9. Research a few curriculum programs before you find one that works for you and your family. 10. Put forth more effort to find children with whom your children can build quality relationships.

12. AActivity PProcessing JJeremiah 29:11-13 111For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the LORD—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.12When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. f 13When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart,

13. What do you REALLY want for your family?

14. Fr. John Hardon’s article on “Parents for Eternal Life...what they (children) mainly need is to know why God made them; why they are on earth at all; why they are in this world; that they are here in this life in order to prepare and train themselves for the world to come. In a word, children are to be taught that their short stay here in time is only a preparation for the world that will never end. They are to be trained for heaven.”

15.  “The Church teaches that, ‘Under God, parents are the first in time, first in authority, first in responsibility, first in supernatural ability, and first in dignity to educate their children for eternal life.’”  “...believing Catholic parents...must be convinced that their primary responsibility as parents is to prepare the children that God gave them - for eternal life.”

16.  “ “We are told the one reason; I should say the main reason, why Catholic parents are the primary teachers of their children is because they have the supernatural grace to do so. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: ‘Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children’ (2225).”

17.  “Parents must always keep this vision clearly in their minds: we are fathers and mothers of children for heaven. Our one hope is to be reunited in heaven with our families, and children and grandchildren and great, great grandchildren, in the everlasting City of Jerusalem which is our heavenly home.”

18. "Of course, our most important goal is to educate our children for eternity. How? By living and being what we want our children to be. We must be truthful, brave, forgiving, thoughtful, faithful, virtuous, self-disciplined, kind and cheerful if we want our children to be! Our Faith is caught, not taught... we can't give what we don't have. Overwhelming? Not when we remember that a baby learns to walk by falling! God measures our effort and appreciates every little thing we do for love of Him. He invites us to keep "walking" and grow more in love with Him each day.”

19.  Catholic Filipino Academy (www.catholicfilipinoacademy.com)www.catholicfilipinoacademy.com  Kolbe (www.kolbe.org)www.kolbe.org  Seton (www.setonhome.org)www.setonhome.org  Catholic Heritage Curricula (www.chcweb.com)www.chcweb.com  Homeschool of Asia Pacific (www.homeschoolofasiapacific.com)www.homeschoolofasiapacific.com  Five in a Row (www.fiarhq.com)*www.fiarhq.com  The Master’s Academy ( www.tmahomeschoo.org – under construction)www.tmahomeschoo.org  Living Heritage Academy under School of Tomorrow (www.sotphil.net)www.sotphil.net

20. HHomeschool Association of the Philippine Islands (HAPI, pinoyhomeschool@yahoogroups.com) CCatholic HS yahoogroups (Catholic_HS_Phil_AsiaPacific_World@yah oogroups.com) LLiving Saints Homeschool Support and Tutorial Center (www.progressivelittlesaints.com) NNEW/PROPOSED: Aquinas Learning Center (www.aquinaslearning.com)

21. Catholic Filipino Homeschooler Blogs: wwww.thelearningbasket.com wwww.raisingfilipinoboys.com wwww.teacherblessie.blogspot.com wwww.andthesethygifts.com wwww.homeschoolingkiddos.blogspot. com wwww.teachermamatina.blogspot.com

26. RReal-life homeschoolers speak out QQuestion and answer portion PPlans for the future FFirst Friday playgroup/club 11 st Philippine Catholic Homeschoolers Summit 2012