Homeschooling in the Philippines---Will it work?

Possibly.  

There's a sizable number of students who are now homeschooled.  Seems to be trending. 

With the schools in the city so overcrowded now. with tuition fees pushing the parents work their asses off double time sometimes, making them absentee parents all the more, why  not? 

But are you qualified to teach your kid?  Can you afford to be home-based? 

Homeschooling---An alternative learning modality that empowers parents at home to be their kids' own teachers, following the same standard school program, recognized by Department of Education, teaching done at home, with gradings and report cards also to be shown and evaluated by the 'provider' (if the homeschooler is under a 'Provider's' program, not directly under DepEd); different from home study program.

So, are you qualified to apply your kid for the program?

First of all,  The Department of Education requires at least a college level attainment for the home teacher.  Being so probably gives the DepEd the confidence that you, as the would-be-teacher, at least, have acquired the discipline necessary for a person to become a learned individual and that you will then be able to teach and pass this acquired discipline to your student who is your kid.  And when I say necessary discipline, I am referring to self-motivation to get up each weekday to read and force yourself to comprehend the books required by the program, answer the questions on the books, formulate your own questions and scenarios and research for the answers, make questionnaires and reviewers to test yourself, among others. But if you yourself have not acquired and lived that necessary discipline during your time, chances are, you and your kid will end up being lax on the program and eventually getting out of it, with your kid having wasted time instead of being schooled in the real school.

Second, you must have this so-called unconditional love for your kid that can merit you the title Master of Patience.  I, myself, am looking after two kids in primary level and it can really be so frustrating sometimes.  Sometimes, it can make you wonder if the kids have medical issues affecting their cognitive ability.  Sometimes, it can even make you doubt the biological mom's way of taking care of of the kids during pregnancy.  Sometimes, it can make you even hate the thought of having to teach them.  You really got to have a noble motivation to be able to keep being there for your kid no matter how slow the kid picks up.  Something that the school teacher is being paid for, I guess.

One disadvantage of homeschooling, I think, would be just that---losing patience from time to time.  What do you do when you do lose patience today just because your kid can't remember the answers for the questions you throw at him/her, knowing that tomorrow is an exam day for him/her at school?  In my case, I leave them.  As simple as that.  I go watch tv.  Or eat. Or something.  Anything away from them. Ha! Just because I am not oblige to ensure they perfect their exams nor is it my right to force them to register any facts or teachings in their tiny young brains at any given time. But then, that's just me.  Not under any homeschool program.  If you are, you better be better than how I handle it. Ha!

I think, on that issue, private schools would be preferable.  Because teachers in private schools are paid to handle that issue professionally.  They are trained for it.  They know how to handle it and how to make it work.  And, most importantly, systems are in place.

What about public schools?  Based from what is being shared to me by the children I hang around with who are studying in the town school here, including the two kids I personally handle, I say, if you can afford to transfer them to private, or if you are indeed capable of enrolling yourselves under homeschooling program, do it fast!  I would rather not detail anymore as to how I've arrived to that advice, for if I do, it would be better to change the title of my blog to "I Am Hopeless".

One advantage for a parent though is, you get to save money.  Instead of paying for the tuition, you get to spend that money for something else.  That's if the transition is from private to homeschooling and you probably are engaged in some business, not having a company to report to everyday, like corporate moms.

Also, you get to gain a certain degree of peace knowing that your kid won't be exposed to bullies and children with seemingly not-so-stable upbringing? Let me tell you a story.

My nephew, who was once six going seven then, got exposed to a bully one school year.  The first half of the year, he would always tell me stuff that the bully student did to him.  And I would advise him 'do this, don't do that' stuff.  Second half of the year, there's no 'reporting' anymore.  I was thinking then, maybe, the bully just got tired of him or something.  

Few months after, here comes a new image seemingly creeping into my then turned seven year old nephew.  His neighboring playmates would come to me, reporting how bad my nephew have challenged them for a fight.  And that became a trend,  kinda regular for the next following months.  Needless to say, he hit the Red Alert button at home.  It just wasn't him anymore. 

After a heartfelt prayer, boom!  I figured out the cause.  It was the bully.  My nephew stopped reporting to me about he got bullied because the bully stopped bullying him indeed! Not because he got tired of my nephew but because they have become friends!  My nephew probably got tired of being on the defense and realized, its much better if he joins the bully.  Now, he had become a bully himself.

Luckily, perseverance helped us cut the budding horns.  That, and all the other good stuff we arm our kids with.

So, there---With homeschooling, your kid is certainly secured.  Emotionally.  Mentally.  Physically.  Spiritually, too.  Now, isn't that the primary responsibility of any parent, anyways?  To make sure the kid has all that?  And on top of that, you really really get to bond with your kid!  Who needs to socialize with school friends when the kid hasn't even discovered yet the friend he/she has in his/her own parents yet!

Non-believers of homeschooling would often use that as an issue.  Socialization skills . Personally, I could not think of any influence my elementary days could have possibly have on me and that which might have affected my socilization skills.  It's when one becomes a teenager that socialization  starts to matter. 

Pediatrics Books say these (and possibly Google, too! Ha!) :

7-9 years old --- more into learning things, this is when they are so hungry to learn, when they come    up with so many questions

10-12 years old---age of industriousness, when they feel fulfilled being able to help, or do something good out of their own initiative, this is when their industriousness starts showing 

13-up---this is when they start being interested mingling with others (socialization, right?)

So, if you want to homeschool your kid who is under 13, go ahead! Don't worry abut socialization skills!  Your kid doesn't need it yet!  Take advantage of how homeschooling can bond you more with your kid and take this wonderful opportunity to concretely put your love  into action.   Re-learning  school stuff to be able to share it with your kid in the most effective way you can is a concrete form of sacrifice for the sake of love.   What's the point of both parents working out of the house when  you can cut back school expense tremendously and thereby having no need  for one of you to work, maybe? And instead, use the time to spend it addressing the academic needs of your kid---homeschooled?


 Besides, with your kid coming up with so many questions every now and then, most of the time out of the topic, what makes you think school teachers address all of it?  Only parents with unconditional love begetting unconditional patience can provide that.

In conclusion, no one can really be sure if homeschooling will work or not.  It's a matter of purpose, I believe. It's how you value your time with your kid and how conscious you are on the quality of love your kid is getting from you. That can make or break your homeschooling program!

(If indeed you are interested in the program, I strongly suggest you check this out:


BO SANCHEZ' Catholic Filipino Academy! )




Oh, this is the part where white spaces should follow to end this article but I can't help but add the following up, saw this from the above link---by Bo Sanchez (Google this guy, you'll be drawn to him!)


 SOME OF THE FAMOUS PEEPS WHO WERE HOMESCHOOLED!

• Albert Einstein (Scientist)
• Leonardo da Vinci  (Painter/Sculptor/Inventor)
• Claude Monet  (Painter)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  (Composer)
• Douglas MacArthur (U.S. General)
• George Patton (U.S. General)
• Thomas Jefferson (U.S. President)
• Abraham Lincoln (U.S. President)
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt (U.S. President)
• Theodore Roosevelt (U.S. President)
• George Washington (U.S. President)
• Woodrow Wilson (U.S. President)
• John Wesley (Founder-Methodists)
• Blaise Pascal (Scientist)
• Winston Churchill (British Prime Minister)
• Hans Christian Andersen (Writer)
• Agatha Christie (Writer)
• Charles Dickens (Writer)
• Mark Twain (Writer)
• Daniel Webster (Writer)
• Andrew Carnegie (Industrialist)
• Charles Chaplin (Actor)
• Florence Nightingale (Nurse/Hero)
• Sally Ride (Astronaut)
• Albert Schweitzer (Physician)
• Leo Tolstoy (Writer)
• C.S. Lewis (Christian Apologist)
• Alexander Graham Bell (Inventor of the Telephone)
• Thomas Edison (Inventor of the Light Bulb)
• Orville and Wilbur Wright (Inventors of the Airplane)
• Joan of Arc (Saint-Martyr)

 


CONVINCED YET???  ",)