A special request

This is a difficult post for me to write, mainly because I thought our fundraising was completed.  However certain circumstances have arisen which have required us to once again come to you seeking financial and prayer support.

Please let me explain.

Even before we came here we had planned to look into the different school options for our kids, Julia and Daniel.  Because very little information about the school systems here was available to us beforehand, about all we knew before we arrived was that there are local Filipino schools, private Filipino schools, and private international schools, but we were in the dark as far as the quality of the education.  We left Canada with the plan to find out more about the schools when we arrived, and with the option to homeschool as a last resort if we didn't find anything suitable.

Upon arriving here we began to pray a lot that God would give us wisdom as to what would be the best schooling option for our kids.  We do not want their education to suffer or to be behind where they should be after our time here.  Like any parent, we want to see our kids have the best opportunity for a quality education.

The first type of school which we began to find out about was the Filipino public system.  We heard good and bad about the system; mainly that the academic side is quite good, but that the classes are quite large and that the kids are taught simply to memorize and regurgitate information.  While this has been, and continues to be quite effective for many kids, we did not feel that this environment was the best option for our kids and their learning styles.

We then looked into a popular international private school, which seemed at first to be a natural choice.  However after discussions with the kids and after looking into the costs associated with the school we decided to look elsewhere.  Again, it seems to be a great school, but not a great fit for us for several reasons.

Then another school, a Filipino private school, was brought to our attention.  We decided to check it out, and quickly came to realize that the style, size, and content were just what we were looking for.  We began to entertain the idea of this being the school for the kids.

In this process we also decided to give homeschooling a chance.  We began to go through some of the lessons which we had brought with us, and very quickly discovered a few issues.  It became quite clear very early on that this was not going to be something which would be very healthy for any of us, as the kids had issues with not only the material we had for them, but also the idea of us as teachers and the lack of social interaction with other kids.  Kerri and I also found it very difficult to not become frustrated with trying to teach our own kids.  Daniel made a comment to me that he would rather have me as his daddy than his teacher.  Homeschooling doesn't seem to be a good fit for our family.

All of this brings us to the point we are at today; we would love to send our kids to the private Filipino school we checked out.  While it is considerably less expensive than the international private school, there is a significant and unexpected cost involved.  Here is what it looks like (in Canadian $):

School Bond (one time fee per student, refundable upon leaving the school): $505.54
Down payment (for this year): $251.67 (Daniel), $267.35 (Julia)
Total tuition (for this year): $1427.21 (Daniel), $1516.45 (Julia)
The tuition can be paid in full up front, or monthly: $154.04/month (Daniel), $163.63/month (Julia)

So that is where I have to come to you seeking your help.  We need financial support in order to make this happen.  We would love to have one or more people who would like to specifically partner with Julia and Daniel in this way.  This could be a one-time donation, large or small, or an ongoing monthly donation for Julia and Daniel's schooling.  As always, this can be done through our blog website donation buttons, or can be mailed to our Calgary address, which can be found on our blog website as well.

And as always, please pray for us, both that we would have the finances to be able to do this, but also that God would use us here.  Thank you for your support!

Oh, you may also be wondering what I will be doing if the kids are in school during the day.  Well, having them in school would give me the opportunity to be able to pursue other areas of ministry.  I have a couple of things in mind, which I will elaborate on more at a later date.  And of course, there is still the everyday stuff which needs to be done, like grocery shopping, house maintenance, and all those typical things which tend to fill up one's day!