First off, I would like to introduce myself as a Schoolhouse Ambassador in the Philippines. SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a great resource for teaching children about the Bible and a myriad of core and elective subjects. Our family really loves this huge curriculum website, especially the Bed Bug Bible Gang videos (which has sadly been discontinued recently). If you are an independent homeschooling family in the Philippines, I would love to get in touch with you, help you out, and support you in this amazing journey.
So yes, our family is one of the “indies” in the Philippines. We do not belong to an accredited homeschooling provider. Enrolling with one is a popular choice because they (the provider) provide a sense of accountability and backbone to the entire homeschooling process. When my husband and I were mulling over the idea of homeschooling, I was madly researching the best provider for us. It came down to a lot of factors such as cost, curriculum, and what we get from it. Then a famous classical program arrived in the country, and I found out they were also another provider. (I was looking at the fees breakdown, and the word “accreditation” just popped out.) I was sold. But as I discover more and more about our child’s learning process (This is one of the pros or cons of homeschooling, depends on how you look at it, because I spend time with him 24/7 literally. There are many things to discover and learn day-to-day which I would not have known if he was enrolled in regular school—pre-Covid), I found out that online learning does not work for us. So that famous classical program which heavily relies on Zoom—it was off of our list. Good thing homeschooling is more than online learning.
With much prayer (and lots and lots of research), here we are now independent homeschooling in the Philippines! It was not the easiest decision for us. I was scared to be going at it on my own—coming from the social norm of going to a private school or at least the act of “enrolling” in something (a provider or class). My husband and I never really thought of public school because we ourselves are products of private schools. But homeschooling was definitely out of the norm. And becoming an indie was like another circle out of the norm.
But you know what, as we progressed down the road, I realized that it is one of the wrong notions about homeschooling—about “going at it on my own.” Sure you teach/decide everything about your children’s education, but there are actually a lot of moms (and dads) out there (me included) who are excited to share ideas and basically just support each other.
The “negative” thing about being an independent homeschooler in the Philippines (or you may think of this as actually positive) is that freedom is in your hands. You decide everything, literally—there is no outside body giving you accountability. (Am I doing the right thing??) And there is also the question of how far in the future will we continue homeschooling? Is this the lifestyle for our family? Will we stop midway and decide to try regular schooling? Because that is one of the “perks” of being in an accredited provider. If your family decides to stop, the provider provides the child official school records to help transition to regular schooling. In our family, I love the freedom of being an independent homeschooler. (It is a really good excuse for me to shop for books and say they are for my child, hehe!) Seriously though, I love the time we spend together as a family, and somehow our schedules just interweave—homeschooling really is a lifestyle. We can do spelling just before dinner for five minutes and call it school.
Of course, having no outside accountability requires greater discipline. I am thankful that because we are homeschooling, we are in a safe environment to fall down and make mistakes. We started with a math program for kids which I thought was fun, but clearly it was not fun for my child and was robbing him of the enjoyment of learning the subject. It was a trial-and-error experiment, and I am glad homeschooling gives us a do-over like in a new school year. We get to grow closer together while gaining knowledge at the same time.
Do not get me wrong; homeschooling is not all roses. There are days when things just would not go your way, and you feel you are not accomplishing anything. Today, my child was extra makulit (playfully naughty in Filipino), and I was literally being pulled away from my work. (Literal is really literal--my t-shirt’s neck hole has widened already from all the pulling!) But be encouraged, your children are not just learning academics. They are also absorbing character and life skills from you. (Oh, this is always a constant reminder to me. I pray for patience and God’s grace all the time.) Yes, put everything in prayer--that is a homeschooling parent’s number one armour/vitamin, however you want to call it. God will always provide for everything you need—and that includes homeschooling.
Written by Katherine Tanyu
Aside from God, her family, homeschooling (and books!), Katherine's love lies in stationeries. She and her husband manage growing stationery brands Forestmill®, Prevailed® and Boss StationeryTM in the Philippines. She is also the community moderator of a Facebook group for Office and School Supplies Wholesalers. Feel free to reach out to her via their Facebook page or email kmtanyu@gmail.com.
"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6).