Homeschool vs. IB School

I graduated high school from St. Mary's in Calgary, Canada. I'd say that I probably had one of the more positive high school experiences, at least compared to most of my friends and acquaintances who have described scenarios of fights, gossip, cliques, sex, drugs and rock and roll. We were relatively sheltered at St. Mary's, a public Catholic High School with an International Baccalaureat program. Don't get the wrong picture. This isn't your typical Catholic school. Yes, we did have Religion classes, but my senior year, we were tasked with learning about Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism...perhaps to compare and constrast how awesome Jesus was compared to those others, but nonetheless....

Anyway, given that there was an IB program there, most of my friends were "smarty-pants." Not really nerds, though some were, but just regular folks like me - precocious, a little above average and motivated to learn as compared to other high school students. It was really the first time that I felt like I was part of the majority.

When I think about my daughter, I always imagined that I would send her to an IB school as well. This is assuming that she'll be book smart like her father and myself. JT and I definitely share a love for reading - a love that we hope to pass on to Elyanna. Between the two of us, we have hundreds of books, so many that we had to fill a whole wall of our formal living room with shelves and now call it The Library. We try very hard to read to Elyanna everyday.

So yes, her education is very important to me.

That extended preamble brings us to the topic at hand - what is going to happen with Elyanna's education once we move to the Philippines?

The first option that we thought of was homeschooling. Given that we will have more time to spend with our daughter, why wouldn't we spend that time teaching her Math, Science, English and History? There are benefits - learning would be very different for her. It would be hands-on, self-motivated and not at all like the regimented structure that her father and I grew up with. We can be very creative with our lessons - going out to tidepools to look at creatures for biology class, counting out a cash drawer at the front desk to learn arithmetic, reading a book together, book-club style as a family and reporting on it later. Those activities sound idyllic. In addition, school could happen anywhere - whether we're on the resort on a remote island, visiting family/friends back in North America, or touring the world on the off-season.

But it seems such a huge responsibility. Instead of relying on the village that is a school system, we would be solely responsible for Elyanna's education, a large influencer on her future. That is a large burden to take on! Could we do it?

I've told JT that I'm comfortable with that option until Elyanna get to 6th grade. After that, I'm not so sure.

We've talked about hiring a tutor. Someone who could be a caregiver and also be more qualified (someone with training in education) to teach our daughter. But how much would that cost? And the search for someone like that seems daunting.

I've had discussions with my Tita C about American Schools in the Philippines. There are IB schools in Manila, of course, but the only one that was even close to where we might be is in Cebu City. A couple hours away are the resorts, so perhaps we could send her to a school there. That would mean that she would commute or maybe I could get an apartment in the city and stay there with her during the week. Not the best option to be separated from her father, but it is an option.

So yes, this does weigh on my mind. I ultimately believe that Elyanna's life will be far richer on a resort with her parents than the traditional suburban lifestyle. We love her enough to ensure that becomes true.