During our Homeschooling Around the World Series, we have had the opportunity to learn about so many different cultures and locations. This week, we’ll take another look at homeschooling in the Philippines.
Homeschooling affords families the opportunity to teach their children the values, materials, and skills that are important to them. Along with being able to honor the choices we have as parents, homeschooling also provides academic flexibility so we can learn about world cultures and the ability to start teaching our young children in their early years the things we find to be important.
In addition to interviewing our Schoolhouse Ambassador Jonah Faye Talusan, we also interviewed a member of The Old Schoolhouse® staff, Katherine, who is homeschooling in the Philippines. When asking people about why they homeschool, the answers are very similar no matter where they live around the world. Katherine shared with us, “My husband and I want to be the primary influencer of our child. We also want to impart our values. I guess it’s the same reason why other families homeschool—to be closer as a family, among other reasons.”
Beginning the Homeschool Journey
Many families may not realize that the moment their child is born, they are involved in schooling them. We teach our children to eat, walk, speak, and a variety of other life skills. Teaching them to read, count, and study the world around them is a natural extension of being a parent. We can all homeschool.
In the Philippines, one can be an independent homeschooler (not associated with any homeschool provider), but you can also enroll in a provider. Katherine said, “The difference is that as an independent homeschooler, the parent is responsible for registering the child, documentation, etc.” As a family, they have been informally homeschooling their child. She used the term informal in the sense that they haven’t had to decide whether to be independent or not because their child is so young. She said, “We’re just going with the flow of teaching him at home.”
Resources to Teach At Home
When starting our homeschool journey while children are young, there are so many wonderful resources available. From extensive preschool curriculums to a trip to the library, we can make our children’s early years a memorable experience based upon our own values and beliefs all the while teaching them. Many will recommend that when children are very young, you just let them play and explore but there are parents who wish for a little more guidance – and that is okay! You need to do what is best for your family.
If you are looking for more guidance to help you with your preschool-aged children, SchoolhouseTeachers.com has Preschool Playground to help you get started. There is no right way to homeschool children of any age so SchoolhouseTeachers.com provides a variety of resources to help you make the most of the time you spend with your preschool-aged children. From videos that teach the alphabet to eBooks you can read together to learn more about weather, animals, and plants, there are options for every subject area. And if you are living in the Philippines, you are afforded the opportunity to choose which curriculum you wish to use for your homeschool so you could easily use SchoolhouseTeachers.com.
Finding Support
We have been asking everyone in our series: “What support networks are available? Where do you suggest looking to meet up with other homeschoolers in your country?”
Katherine shared, “There are a lot of homeschoolers in the country. Like in the US, there are blogs and online communities.”
In addition to reading the encouraging posts here from the Homeschool Review Crew, you may also wish to find a homeschool support group. You can use Schoolhouse Connect to start looking for homeschool groups in the United States and Canada. When you find groups that are of interest to you, you may need to do some more research and reading. You may also want to ask the following questions of the group leaders or members:
- What is the philosophy of the group?
- How does the homeschool group meet or get together? Do they meet in person or virtually?
- What ages or grades are represented in the homeschool group?
- Are you interested in support for your children in terms of academics, socialization, or other needs? Or are you interested in support for yourself as a homeschool parent?
- Are there fees related to joining the homeschool group?
The Homeschool World
No matter if someone is homeschooling in the United States, Canada, or the Philippines, our journeys are all very similar. As homeschooling parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.), we want what is best for our children. We wish to share the joy of where we live using local museums as well as teach our children about the world around them. We want to create life-long learners who will be critical thinkers. We can do all these things as we homeschool.