About

Hi! Thanks for dropping by and welcome to my blog 😊.

I’m Rose. I’m a Bible-believing Christian, a widow, and a solo mother from the Philippines. I homeschool my kids, a dear daughter (currently in Year 3) and a dear son (currently in Kindergarten), following Charlotte Mason‘s (CM) educational philosophies and methods.

My late husband was a minister. Back when we were in the big city (years ago), I served as a volunteer teaching the Bible in a Growth Group setting under the Young Adults as well as the Youth Ministry of our local Church.

Education

I have a BS as well as an MS degree in Environmental Science (ES).

Here’s a secret. I took up ES in college because it was the only thing I found interesting among the programs my college offered back then. And I took a master’s because my mom wanted me to, to which I agreed because I felt like I didn’t learn anything at all from all my years in school that I felt I needed to study more to be equipped to face the so-called real world.

But here’s a deeper secret… even after earning a master’s degree, I still felt the same. Shhh!!!

Anyway, back when I was in grad school, I thought graduate studies and doing a master’s thesis were the hardest things in life… until I became a mother and realized they were a piece of cake. I actually quit midway (through grad school) but went back after a couple of years when I felt like my life was headed nowhere so I figured I might as well do a thesis and finish what I’ve started. I had the option of taking a comprehensive examination but exams are not my cup of tea, so I opted for a thesis).

But I felt rewarded when my graduate thesis got published in an international journal afterwards. That was unexpected so it was a complete surpise. It was all by God’s grace. I never wished for it nor was I even aware of such things as ‘getting published’ back then.

Professional experience

My first job was as a contractual employee under the Environmental Impact Assesment and Management (EIAM) Division of the CALABARZON Regional Office of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) where I evaluated Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) and gave recommendations for the dis/approval of Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) applications.

The job also required me to conduct spot inspections to monitor companies’ compliance to environmental laws and regulations. If a company is found to be non-compliant, I had to recommend the issuance of a Notice of Violation and call the Pollution Control Officer for a meeting to settle things (usually payment of a fine). It was a job I did not enjoy because you are perceived as a “police” out to get someone. And, I did not want to be the bearer of bad news.

I also had a very short stint with PHIVOLCS but working as a front-liner in times of emergencies (e.g., earthquakes) and on shifting and graveyard schedules didn’t appeal to me so I quit after three short months. Hehe.

(That being said, due to my introvert nature, I prefer working in a cubicle than in a field so, yes, it is quite ironic that I have degrees that require fieldworks 😜. And I realized that just now).

My other work experiences include engagements as a contractual Research Assistant on official development projects such as the JICA-sponsored Capacity Development Project on Water Quality Management (CDPWQM) of the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), as well as the World Bank-sponsored Formulation of the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Plan (AFMP) 2011-2016 project of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

I last worked as an Innovations Manager under the Operations Group of Manila Water (when it was still under the Ayala Group of Companies), the concessionaire of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) for the East Zone of Metro Manila. I worked there for three years.

But quit three months after I gave birth to my eldest and haven’t worked in an office since.

Personality

I think I’m a highly sensitive person (HSP) as defined by Dr. Elaine Aron. No, I am not using it as an excuse for my failures and mistakes because at the end of the day, a mistake is a mistake. There are no excuses with God, no matter what state your mental health is in or what mental health condition you have. A mistake is a mistake, sin is sin.

I also have what you’d describe as an obsessive-compulsive personality (OCP, which is different from OCD). I like to keep things, material or otherwise, neat and in order. I thrive in planning, schedules, routines, lists, etc. That is why I find being a mother and/or parenting very, very challenging (especially now that I am a widow and a solo parent), given the nature of kids and life with kids.

I’m in the process of breaking and surrending my need for control. And I still have a long, long, long, long way to go.

Writing as a hobby

I love to write for fun. My father was a journalist and my mother was an English teacher (and a Grammar Nazi, seriously) who also wrote so maybe that’s where I got my flair(?) for writing. But I don’t have perfect English or grammar. Even after earning a master’s degree and getting my thesis published, I’m still at a loss with all the parts of speech and I still find it difficult to write and (especially) talk in English.

I think I find pleasure in writing because I am an introvert so writing has become a way for me to share my life. Because, as Charlotte Mason says, narration is natural. Therefore, sharing one’s life is as natural as it gets.

I’m a hobby blogger. I started blogging in Friendster, then Multiply (yes, I’m that old, I know), then dabbled for a short time in Blogger before finally settling in WordPress around 2012. In my blog I share my thoughts and significant moments of my life.

I got ‘published’ again when an article I wrote was featured in the online Love.Life column of INQUIRER.net in 2022. The editor changed my submitted title and made edits in my original article, i.e., a major paragraph was removed so there’s a part in the article that is a bit inaccurate. But overall, the flow and thought of the article is still intact.

It was only published online, though, not in print. But it’s not bad for someone who once submitted an article for said broadsheet’s YoungBlood column but didn’t got published then.

It’s already a big deal for me 😁.

Charlotte Mason homeschooling

So I decided to create this new blog that focuses on my family’s homeschooling journey. This also serves as my way to keep a record of my kids’ school, so I can have a “paper trail”, so to speak, albeit digitally, to have something to look back on in the future.

I am a novice Charlotte Mason parent-educator, having homeschooled for only three (going four) years, not much experience under my belt, I know. So… yes, I am NOT a CM expert. I am learning along the way and I still have a long way to go to fully comprehend CM’s philosophies and how they all tie up together.

Also, being a solo parent with no nanny nor helper at home (I literally do everything all by myself), or simply being human, I fall short of fully implementing CM and sometimes (actually, a lot of times) overlook and fail to do Nature Study, Handicrafts, Drawing, and Foreign Language with my kids, to name a few.

But I will try to share everything I know about CM and how we apply them in our home learning. But, one more thing, this is not a blog to learn about CM. This is simply my way of ‘keeping’ (documenting) my kids’ education.

We are semi-independent homeschoolers in the Philippines. For the first two years of my eldest’s education (Kindergarten to Year 1), we were enrolled in a local homeschool service provider which liased with the Department of Education (DepEd) so my child could be accredited under the government’s school system.

But we ceased enroling under a service provider when my child started Year 2 so she is no longer under the system, hence, we are considered as independent homeschoolers. But she is enrolled in a US umbrella or cover school for record-keeping.

Start here

Start by reading my homeschooling “Why Series“:

You may also start with where I got my blog title or the beginning of our homeschooling journey.

Or simply go to the Blog Archives.

Happy reading!