Hmm, 5 more requests to be approved, just a few clicks and 2 gets in, the rest rejected. Oh, they have a chance to request again but they should fill up the form.
At Pinoy Homeschool yahoogroup, we get emails everyday from parents in the Philippines (some from abroad yet connected to the country in one way or another) who want to look into homeschooling as an alternative education for their children. Many are already homeschooling. Some have replied to our auto-gen form for a basic profile to be filled up, once we get this completed form, it is as lot easier to approve membership requests. For the rest, they will have to submit the form. You see, we have 300+ already and we have to manage the group wisely. We do not want to the member's inboxes to get junk mail through the group, so we have to screen the application forms carefully.
Homeschooling is getting recognition in the Philippines as more and more families get interested in this alternative lifestyle. I say lifestyle because educating your children at home changes the typical day in a 2-income family setting many in our generation has grown up with where everybody wakes up early, father goes to work all day, mother goes to work outside the home OR stay home... and the children go to school to be with other children and one adult teacher for about 6-8 hours. Everybody meets at night for a 2 hour dinner and proceed to spend a few hours together in front of the TV or better, just hit the bed due to exhaustion.
Homeschooling shatters this picture. You will see totally different life behind the walls of a homeschooling home. But I will not delve into that now. Instead, let me lead you back to our subject matter.
Just the other day, I have read a blog which says that homeschooling will not work in the Philippines and many commentors affirmed his stand. I disagree. The post is mainly "haka-haka" - an opinion, usually without basis. He mentioned an educator in the US and built his presuppositions on one person's statement.
Homeschool, I strongly believe will work in the Philippines. Why? Because the Filipinos are great learners. For one, try to observe a young child exposed to TV at home, he immediately learns the jingles of ads, lines of an actor in a re-run movie like "'sang bala ka lang" or " bukas...luluhod ang mga.." and all about lives of celebrities. That in itself is one good reason why homeschool is an effective way to learn. Don't get me wrong - I am not advocating your child to watch a lot of TV. We have no cable and seldom watch commercial TV. But a child has more chances of learning well at home than in school with 40-70 kids in a class versus one adult teacher... Let me guess, that teacher will have to employ creative crowd control measures to make them all learn. I mean, all of them! Else, she joins the rank of Dr Biyo, the teacher who won the INTEL Excellence in Teaching award besting 4000 teachers from all over the world. Unfortunately, there are only a precious few of the Biyo tribe and we have millions of children hungry for learning.
Here are just a few of the many reasons why homeschool will work in the Philippines.
1. Homeschooling in the Philippines is constitutional. It is stated in .."The 1987 Philippine Constitution Article 14,section 2 (which) provides that the State shall encourage nonformal, informal and indigenous learning system, as well as self-learning independent, and out-of-school study programmes particularly those that respond to community needs."
In the list of the current Literacy/Non-formal Education Objectives/Strategies of the Department of Education(Philippines), one of the objectives stated is the provision of an alternative pathway of learning to out-of-school youth and adults to gain reading, writing and numeracy skill. Personally, I do not like "out of school youth" as a term/brand given to homeschoolers, but for lack of terms in their already established system, this is being used to classify anyone who has no school records. They fit unschoolers or independent homeschoolers in this category, but still we prefer to be called homeschoolers. So, what we are doing is not unlawful.
2. Filipinos are flexible and resourceful. As I have said, we are good learners. We easily adapt to a new lifestyle once we make up our minds for it. We never pass up a chance to learn new things from a variety of materials.. ranging from indigenous komiks, magazines at "lumang dyaryo", second hand books, old stories/oral tradition, etc. With a computer at home and a handy printer, learning is just at our fingertips. A parent and child may work together at home or if not possible, in a quiet internet cafe downloading materials from the web and having it printed there. Second hand books are quite cheap, BookSale and BooksandMags have good titles with prices ranging from P10 and up! It just needs a lot of patience and a good booklist to know exactly what you are hunting for. Our society is awash with all kinds of available learning opportunities the whole year round. If you get a weekend newspaper magazine, many of the week's activities like plays, classical concerts, seminars, lectures, free cultural shows/movies, workshops and what-have-you are listed in the back or lifestyle section of weekly publications. It doesn't have to be expensive.
One of DepEd's tenets in non-formal education is what they call the Flexible Learning Philosophy. DepEd has defined Flexible Learning Philosophy as "..an approach to learning, which gives learners as much control and choice as possible regarding the content, sequence, time, place and method of learning within the constraints of limited resources. This includes: allowing multiple entry and exit points; using a range of alternative delivery modes which support self-paced study options; having flexible programme requirements; encouraging the formulation and renegotiation of individual learning goals, individual learning plans and individual learning agreements; encouraging learner choice of curriculum materials according to individual learning needs, interests and learning styles; providing for pre-entry and on-going counseling; recognizing learners' prior learning (RPL); using learning portfolios and other authentic assessment methodologies; and providing access to appropriate interactive learning resources." Hmmm, doesn't this sound close to homeschooling? Add the word family there and it is exactly homeschooling ;-)
Anyway, watch this 24 Oras segment on homeschooling and what DepEd has to say..
3. We love to do "bayanihan". Read: Homeschool coops, support groups, homeschool libraries, used curriculum/book fairs, training and seminars for the parents, etc. Through Homeschool Coops, families who have limited resources may still be able to homeschool their children. This erases the notion that homeschooling is only possible for middle income families or parents with teaching or college degrees. If you do not have a teaching or college degree, it doesn't mean you don't know anything. You may be a good entrepreneur, a good cook, or have a unique hobby or talent. You may share your knowledge and skill in managing a small business, baking and cooking, playing chess/scrabble, teaching a musical instrument, a sport, a craft, writing, or you may good in conducting team/group dynamics workshops.
US Study (HLDA) shows that there is no direct correlation between school attainment of teachers (in this case, parents) and their students' (in this case, homeschooled children) SAT results.
Past government non-formal programmes and activities show that these are most functional if developed community based. Homeschool coops are community-based support groups. It has all the great features of non-formal, family-based schooling using quality materials. The movement is very young in the Philippines but it has so much potential. The number of homeschool veteran-parents increases yearly, many of them have successfully graduated their children through homeschool. And their experiences are worth gleaning from and they are always willing to help. This means that the knowledge pool is growing and getting better each year. Homeschool Coops are great venues to invite them resource speakers for trainings and seminars of others parents who are new and willing to learn. I am confident we will not run out of speakers in future homeschool conventions/events.
4. My favorite reason why it works anywhere is Deuteronomy 6:1-9, in whatever country you may be. It is for any Bible believing parent and family who affirms that homeschooling is a way of life God has called them to do.
So there. Just four reasons for now... you may have more in your mind, so why don't you add them on the comment box?
Will homeschooling work in the Philippines or not? Will it work for you? ____________________________________________________
