2012, What a year!

Dear Sabrina Banana,

Hi baby. It's been so long since I last wrote you a letter here on this blog. I have been busy...we have been busy together. 2012 had been such an adventure for us hasn't it? So much has happened and I feel like you have matured in so many ways.

We started homeschooling in 2012 and to be honest I approached this with much apprehension and doubt. You have always been shy. It seemed counter-intuitive to pull you out of a traditional school where you would have regular and day-to-day interaction with people your age. So many people tried to stop me, but we talked about it and God is really leading me towards homeschooling and I had to follow him. Boy, am I glad I did.

The development and growth you have shown is astounding to me. There is no way it was because of me, you are growing so beautifully all by God's grace. You learned fractions, time, money, adding, subtracting, energy, simple machines and so many other things but those aren't the things I'm most proud off. What I'm proud off are the moments when you say "Mom, I feel shy but I want to try and talk to her", or "Mom, I want to be a Christian. How can I become one?", or "Mom, I love popcorn so much but not as much as I love God". Those are the moments when I feel like God is blessing me in what I'm doing with you.

I am so proud of you honey.

Love ya,

Momma

Sleepover

Dear Sabrina Banana,

"Why don't you want to take care of me anymore?"

You have been asking us this question more and more lately. You see we are slowly training you to learn how to take care of yourself. Maybe daddy and I should have done this sooner, but we cannot help wanting to take care of you. We do realize that we need to let you grow into the person God wants you to be. So we need to start training you to be more independent.

Last Friday, you were invited to join a sleepover and despite our apprehensions . We trusted the people you were going to be with and I knew they loved you and would take care of you like we would. We were glad that you were able to experience this. You were just as apprehensive as we were. You were wondering who would take care of you, etc

You did it. You told me you were nervous during certain parts of the sleepover but you still tried your best. I couldn't be any more proud. I'm looking forward to more activities that would help you grow in your relationship with other people.

Love ya,

Momma

Teacher Mommy

Dear Sabrina Banana,

We have been homeschooling for around 2 months now and it has been a breeze so far. I am loving every single moment of it and you seem to be adjusting well. I thought everything was going well until you started reacting to my corrections a little negatively. I don't normally shout at you, in fact, I very rarely do. Yet somehow you feel somewhat affected. One time, I asked you to write all the letters from A-Z. I looked at your work and said "Great, you're done. Now let's look at the letters. Tell me which letter you think you can improve". You started to cry and say "You don't like my work".

I said we should take a break. I asked for a break not because you needed it but because I did. I wasn't expecting that reaction. I realized that despite everything going well you are still adjusting to our new roles. From mother-daughter to teacher-student. I realized that I unknowingly coddled you with too many compliments and now it's harder for you to receive feedback from me.

We're working on this. We're slowly processing things and doing things better (I think). The beauty about this is that I know, that you know, just how loved you are and with that as our foundation, I know this glitch won't affect you much.

I realize now that we'll go through more of these issues through our homeschooling journey but I know it will be worth it so I say...bring it on.

Love ya,

Momma

IQ

Dear Sabrina Banana,

I was lucky enough to have access to the most famous IQ tests there are and so I took advantage and you were assessed. Daddy and I marveled at the results. The thing is, you were tested by students and daddy wanted to know if we should have it done officially. I said no. What's the point? I merely wanted to know if your fine-motor delay was hindering you in other ways but other than that, knowing the actual/official IQ doesn't really do anything for me. Are we going to love you more or less? Nope! Are we going to treat you differently? Nope!

I also wanted to avoid bragging or ego. We have nothing to do with your intelligence (or lack there of) it's all from God. And whether your IQ is 70 or 160,  it's our job as parents to nurture that regardless. So what's the point of making the results official? Nothing. =)

Love ya,

Momma

The Best Things in Life are Free

Dear Sabrina Banana,

4 weeks ago, I whined and whined to Daddy that I feel so bad because we don't have any decent library for you to enjoy here in the Philippines. Daddy said I should make the best out of what God has given us here in the Philippines. So I sighed...made one call and found this darling library near us for free!!

This was like a dream come true for you. You were so excited that you were literally pulling on my hand trying to get me out of the door. When we opened the door to the children's area...you looked on a bit shyly. You stepped on the rug uncertainly. It was as if you weren't sure that all this goodness is real.

We stayed there for 2 hours that first time...we have returned 4 times since. I am so happy that such little things can give you such a huge amount of happiness!

Love ya,

Momma

Conversations with Sabrina -- Home

Liv: Honey, you know what your home is in my heart!
Andrea: Huh, why? Did you eat my house?

Homeschooling Adventures

To the people who read this blog, specifically those who are emailing me and asking me to share homeschooling stories, I'm sorry but I really meant for this blog to be for my daughter, if I have anything noteworthy to share, I'd probably post it on my personal blog: Liv at Home

I hope you understand.