Creative Hemispheres

As a follow-up to a post I had previously written about Homeschooling in the Philippines, I have been doing some more research into the topic as I play with the thought of homeschooling the Spawn next year.

The decision is still up in the air and one of the major stumbling blocks I’ve encountered was finding out if a homeschool education would be accepted at Universities here. Luckily, after some digging, I was able to find all the information I needed on this topic and I share them with you here.

The two most popular accredited local homeschool programs are The Masters Academy founded by the CCF (Christian-bias) and The Catholic Filipino Academy founded by Bo Sanchez (Catholic-bias).

Homeschooling via these, or other DepEd accredited local programs save parents the hassle of going to DepEd in Pasig every year for an annual PVT test for their child to get a certificate of completion in the grade level they are in (needed for entrance into many highschool and universities.) More on this further down.

For those who find that locally provided programs do not resonate with them, you also have the option of “importing” programs like Calvert, Sonlight, Oak Meadow, or other popular Homeschooling programs. Many of these programs act almost like distance learning programs where a tutor/mentor is made available to the student and regular testing is sent to the curriculum provider in order to receive a diploma. DepEd will then recognize this diploma and record the student as having a foreign or international school education.

And for those who are more into the unstructured, free-flowing type of “unschooling” you have the freedom to design your own program according to your teaching philosophy and your children’s learning styles. In these cases, it’s probably best to take the Philippine Validating Test yearly to ensure that your child stays “on the radar” and you won’t have too much difficulty in producing papers to highschool and college institutions when the time is right.

To take the PVT, you should have the following ready: a letter of request, addressed to the Regional Office; endorsement from the region; and the transcript of record of the grade/year level to be validated.

Kids Ahoy, located in Greenhills actually offers among their different packages catered to homeschooling families, an option to take annual examinations and testing through them so you will not have to take the trek to DepEd and whatever else that may entail.

Alternatively, if you decide not to take an annual PVT or other accredited examination, your child can still get into highschool depending on the specific requirements of each school. Some more progressive schools may accept just a detailed transcript of records of the homeschool curriculum you chose and a portfolio of the child’s work over the years. Other schools may accept the child on the basis of an assessment test. But be forewarned, that many will require some sort of accreditation.

The same is true for colleges. Most will want to see accreditation or the PVT certificate. Some, like UP, may accept a child based on their SAT scores (This policy is subject to change, so call ahead to see what you might be up for). In any case, always keep detailed home records and transcripts for your homeschool.

And finally, I share some sites that I found most useful in my homeschool exploration. I hope they help you save time in digging up resources for your own homeschool journey!

Center for Excellence in Public Elementary Education
This site lays out the yearly expectations of DepEd for kids in public schools in the Philippines. A good basis for do-it-yourself homeschoolers who want to design their own curriculum. (Not all the pages in the curriculum have been filled out but the Filipino, Hekasi, and Makabayan pages for all year levels are complete.)

The Ontario Curriculum
Complete Curriculum Documents provided by the Ontario Ministry of Education. Useful for me because the Spawn and I are dual-citizens of the Philippines and Canada so I’d like to know that he’s maintaining the same standards as kept in Canada.

Center for Innovation in Mathematics Teaching
A completely FREE complete Mathematics curriculum based on a Hungarian Series. Complete with lesson plans, practice books, activity sheets, and visuals for each year level.

Mater Amalbis
A FREE Catholic Homeschool Curriculum based on the teaching philosophy of Charlotte Mason. This curriculum is complete from Prep to Grade 6. It was written for British students but has some alternate book choices for US students. Filipino students will have to find their own resources to adjust.

An Old-Fashioned Education
A FREE Christian Homeschool Curriculum also based on the teaching philosophy of Charlotte Mason. Written by a homeschool Mom for her own kids. Written for US Christian Fundamentalist students in mind so Filipinos will have to adjust where necessary.

Free Homeschooling Curriculum Materials
Links to maaaaaaany homeschooling resources and tips and tricks from a retired homeschooling mom. I particularly recommend downloading her Excel Spreadsheet to help keep records and hours of your child’s homeschooling activities.

Chess for Kids
DepEd announced plans of including Chess in the Philippine curriculum. Whether or not these plans are followed through, the game of chess is a great brain exercise and studies show that kids who learn chess do well in other subjects as well.

Mathabacus
The abacus is still used in many Asian marketplaces today and kids who learn to use an abacus early on have greater mental math skills.

International Children’s Digital Library
I have been coming back to this site for many years now. It’s a collection of fully illustrated children’s books from around the world. Registration if free but not necessary to read the books.

Project Gutenberg
Free copyright free books to download. The collection grows everyday! Many free or budget homeschool curriculums use copyright-expired titles so instead of spending cash on buying a book, get it for free instead. Read it on an ebook reader instead of printing to save on paper as well!

And on that note, what better excuse reason to get a Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6 for Christmas? ^_^

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