OAP: "8 Things I learned About Home Schooling in the Philippines"

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Monday, November 24, 2008

8 Things I learned About Home Schooling in the Philippines

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I'm seriously considering to home school Aidan in 2009. I would like to be one out of the 4,000+ Homeschoolers in the Philippines.

We attended the 2nd Philippine Homeschool Conference led by The Masters Academy Home School Program last Saturday. My quest for finding the best education for my sons (initiated by this post: Reedley International School), led me to conclude that Homeschooling is the best education that I can give the next generation of Filipino Leaders. Let me share with you some of my learnings and insights about homeschooling:

1. There are four (4) kinds of education in the country today: Traditional Education ( like Xavier, ICA, Ateneo and De La Salle); Progressive School (Explorations/ Keys, Raya School, Multiple Intelligences, Makati Gospel, Waldorf School), International Schools (Beacon, International School, Brent, Chinese International School, and Reedley IS), and Homeschool.

2. There are three (3) types of Homeschool: a. Independent (not affiliated with any program but gets the best from available modules), b. Local Homeschool Program (most popular would be The Masters Academy with bias on Christian teachings, and Catholic Filipino Academy with bias on Catholic teachings by Bo Sanchez), and c. US Based (like Calvert Home School Program).

3. Homeschooling is a privilege and a blessing. Not everyone can afford to homeschool because one of the parents needs to be full time in the Home School Program. Homeschooling is one of the opportunities I wanted to pursue when I decided to change career.

4. There are three (3) major reasons for Home Schooling: a. To give the best education at home, b. For Religious Reasons, and c. Because of poor learning environment at traditional schools. It would be wrong to do it solely for the purpose of cost savings.

5. Homeschooling is bringing a customized educational experience at home. This is the best definition of homeschooling and it aims to enhance the natural gifts of your child with academics as a foundation.

6. Here are successful case studies of Home-schooled kids, check out: Christopher Paolini who wrote Eragon, Tim Tebow who is the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, and locally, Paul and Carolyn Tan-Chi of Ateneo UAAP Basketball fame.

7 Three (3) Success Factors for a Home School program -- a. An Obedient Environment, b. a Nurturing Mother, and c. Parents as role models for the kids as demonstrated by the Holy Family:

" Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (See Luke 2: 51-52)

8. The no. 1 critical element for Home Schooling -- Jesus Christ needs to be at the center of the Home School Program to be successful.

Live an Awesome Life,