Our family had been homeschooling since the birth of our eldest child. We had been independent homeschoolers for a long time. It was only last school year that we enrolled our two older children in a homeschool provider. We never had recognition days or graduation ceremonies ever since. I didn’t see the need for it in the past. We had different priorities.

Fast forward to 2020. Almost everything suddenly became online, including classes in traditional schools because of the pandemic. Regular schools either ended the school year early or had virtual recognition rites because of the quarantine.

The many virtual graduation ceremonies and recognition rites by various schools and of our own homeschool provider moved me and my husband to do something similar before we start the new school year this 2020.

We’ve decided to do our Recognition Day in our homeschool in September because I planned to start our homeschool this year officially using the Department of Education’s calendar. We, actually, homeschool throughout the year. So, in the past years, we do not have a specific first day of school. We simply have a field trip to kick start the school year.

But since this year is extraordinary and we are quarantine schooling, we’ve decided to be one with the rest of the families who are educating their children at home this year (#WeLearnasOne) in our own little way.

On September 13, 2020, I cooked pancakes with chocolate chips for breakfast. I also cooked beef stroganoff for lunch. We were doing a unit study on Russia in the past weeks; so, cooking a Russian dish was just perfect to cap our unit study.

We started our Recognition Day’s program at the International Catholic Academy for the Gifted and Talented after lunch by joining an online Mass. One of our reasons for homeschooling our children is because we wanted to give them a solid foundation. We wanted them to be rooted in Christ and in God’s Word. We wanted to pass on our Catholic faith to our children. The Mass has been an integral part of our homeschool. We had been attending daily Masses daily in the past years that we had been homeschooling. It is only on rare occasions or because of something beyond our control that we miss attending daily Masses. Our eldest child even served as pianist in our parish’s daily evening Masses since he was seven years old. If we are not on home quarantine, he would still be serving until now. Thus, it is but fitting that we begin our celebration with a Holy Mass. Our eldest child was our pianist also during the online Mass.

After the Mass, we sang the National Anthem which was played on the keyboard by our eldest as well.

Then, I gave a short impromptu opening remarks and opening prayer. This was followed by the awarding ceremonies.

My husband prepared the slides while I prepared the certificates for our children.

Since we didn’t have any recognition rites in the past years that we have homeschooled, I never gave the children any awards or certificates. I didn’t give them any grades as well. Learning, being together, and making each other happy were rewards in themselves. The kids didn’t have a concept on grades or passing from one grade to another. Passing was never a question because learning was their passion and they just moved from one grade level to another when they were ready. Sometimes, they moved from one grade level to the next in some subjects within the same year. They were, generally, fast learners.

Therefore, this Recognition Day was a first in our family and in our homeschool.

We proceeded with the awarding per grade level starting with the youngest student/child. Our youngest was not yet enrolled with a homeschool provider last school year. We were doing a mixture of pre-school and kinder lessons last year. We were taking it very slowly. We were more relaxed compared to how his older brothers were homeschooled around that age. I think since he was the youngest and he was only four years old, I didn’t want him to hurry in growing up. He was also still very playful and had a short attention span. I just followed his cue.

But even though we were very relaxed, he showed a lot of improvement. He surprised us and impressed us with his milestones and accomplishments in the past school year. These moved me to give him the following awards: Most Improved in Reading both in English and Filipino, Most Improved in Math, Most Improved in the Arts, Most Prayerful, and the Little Bookworm Award. He got a total of 6 awards.

Our second child was already in Grade 2 last school year. He passed the PEPT for Kinder and Grade 1 early in 2019. This enabled him to enroll with a homeschool provider last school year. He got a total of six awards also. These were his awards: Excellence in Math, Excellence in Sports, Most Improved in Reading in English, Most Improved in the Arts, Little Bookworm Award, and Helping Hands Award.

Although my second child was enrolled in Grade 2 last school year, he was already doing Grade 3 Math around the last quarter of 2019. Math is one of his areas of strength. He was also doing very well in sports. He has won medals in karate and chess tournaments in the past school year. He even qualified in the finals of the National Age Group Kiddies Tournament for Chess, but this tournament was canceled because of the pandemic. He is slightly dyslexic; yet, he has improved a lot in reading English and he is reading way above his grade level. This is a big blessing because many dyslexic children are late readers. I think his giftedness is overcompensating for this disability. I gave him the Helping Hands Award because he has been a helpful child and brother this school year and even in the previous years. Helping is natural to him. He is happy to help most of the time. He even goes the extra mile when doing his chores.

My eldest child was in Grade 5 last school year. He passed the PEPT from Kinder to Grade 4 early in 2019. This allowed him to enroll with a homeschool provider last school year. He got seven awards during our Recognition Day. These were his awards: Excellence in Music, Excellence in History, Excellence in Science and Technology, Excellence in Sports, Most Improved in the Arts, Little Bookworm Award, and Servant’s Heart Award.

My eldest has been passing the ABRSM exam in piano in the past two consecutive years with distinction. This is the highest rating for a student who takes this globally recognized and standardized exam for musicians. Because of his sharp memory which seems to be photographic, he remembers a lot of facts about our lessons on history and science. He is also very adept and intuitive in technology. Aside from that, he is also engaged in a variety of sports and has won medals in both karate and chess tournaments like his younger brother.

My eldest got the Servant’s Heart Award because he has been faithfully serving as the pianist in our parish since he was 7 years old. We never gave him any formal certificate, award, or recognition for that. Serving God and the Church were already his rewards. Using his talent and having the opportunity to help our community through his talent were rewards in themselves. The joy of service was his reward in the past years also. But this year, I wanted him to receive a little recognition for his efforts through our homeschool Recognition Day. I want him to know and feel that aside from God, we recognize his contribution and his service in our parish. He has been dedicated to his service that he served as pianist up to the last day that we were allowed to go to public Masses. He was unstoppable! I had to insist that he wear a face mask if he wanted to keep on serving because there was already a pandemic.

All three of them have demonstrated a lot of improvement in their drawing and coloring skills. That’s why they all got the Most Improved in the Arts Award. All of them are also voracious readers! Reading is one of their favorite past times. Thus, they got the Little Bookworm Award.

The boys had an intermission number during our program also. Our eldest played some songs on the piano. The two younger boys sang You Raise Me Up while their eldest brother accompanied them as pianist.

We closed the program with a short closing prayer and by eating banana cupcakes and ube ice cream.

Our Recognition Day was simple but memorable and meaningful. Our boys were happy that they got awards/certificates. They were happy to be recognized for their milestones and achievements in the past year.

I’m glad that we did this activity this year. I had fun and even shed a few happy tears looking back on the past years that we homeschooled. Our boys are growing fast and I thank the Lord that we have spent a lot of time together making memories and learning together. All these things and their achievements would not be possible if not for the grace and mercy of God. We give back all the honor and glory to Him!