What, You’re Homeschooling?

Homeschooling in the Philippines is interesting, to say the least, as it’s still a relatively new idea for most families. But it’s even more interesting to do it outside of the capital, Metro Manila (where there are at least already a handful of homeschool providers.) If you’re considering homeschooling or already are, you can probably relate to the following responses.

This is our first year homeschooling, with a son in Kindergarten, and I’m hoping this blog will somehow help other fellow homeschoolers or fellow homeschool-wannabes, especially those in our country. As such, feel free to leave a comment or get in touch through e-mail, I’d love to hear from you!

Meanwhile, I’m listing down the Top 5 most memorable (although some, also the most understandable) responses from our family and friends when they found out we were homeschooling starting this school year, and why they are actually easily debunked, though of course we didn’t do it to their faces 😀

5. A child learns better from a teacher who’s not his mother.

Yes, i agree that children may sometimes be too comfortable with mommy and daddy so as not to pay attention. And, the mother may not necessarily be smarter than teachers, and possibly not as patient or as “equipped” to teach her child based on general standards. But it is undeniable that the mom, or the parents, know their child best. This means she can more easily adapt to her child’s learning styles, work around the child’s strengths and interests, and all that stuff. And for us as a family, it’s also more of the God-ordained role of imparting truths about His love to our children on a more focused way, i.e. teaching them about Him starting from a young age, and not just teaching dry facts and skills. (Of course that doesn’t mean we overlook the skills and other things, but thankfully that’s where books and the Information Technology can come in handy!)

4. It’s not healthy socially.

I must admit, this was one of my first qualms with homeschooling myself. I’ve seen a few people who struggle with social skills (although of course, they weren’t even homeschooled!). But from articles I’ve read, the main issue is socialization, which isn’t even about learning to interact solely with children of the same age or age group, but learning to interact across ages, which a child develops with a secure foundation of his relationship with his parents. On the spiritual side, a child who grows up confident in God’s love for him will obviously have an easier time interacting with other people versus one who is insecure and believes God is out to get him.

3. My brother/hubby/cousin also went to many different schools and had trouble in each one because of ADHD. 

Hehe. For me, this was a bit like the implied question, “Is anything wrong with your son?” Yes, my son is a little on the active side, but he can pay attention when needed. In fact, in his first two years of preschool I’ve not had any complaints about behavior or performance; instead, his teachers were raving about how pleasant and helpful and very interested he was. (Not to blow my own horn of course *wink.) Also, he LOVED school and all the activities and all that. So I guess what I’m saying is there may be some families who homeschool because of specialized or individual needs, but it is also possible to want to homeschool even when there are no clear or perceived behavioral or developmental challenges.

2. You can still teach him values outside of school.

This response came in a semi heart-to-heart talk, with our explaining that we wanted the chance to impart truths about Jesus and the Bible to our son in a focused way. The family member we were talking to agreed with the importance of teaching these things, but he wondered if it wasn’t enough to teach that after school hours. (Now, this is a personal conviction, so it doesn’t mean it’s right for all families; we know many families whose kids go to conventional school who also grow in love with Jesus.) In our case, though, we felt that having our son come home from school with his energies spent and him (and us!) being all cranky was not a conducive scenario for what we wanted. Instead, we wanted all learning to stem out from the Bible, maybe a little bit like it was during Bible times (as unrealistic as that may seem) where the child learns first of all to appreciate and understand the Word even before learning all else.

On a similar note, I was personally shocked to learn, for example, that John Wesley’s mother would teach them to read by, after they learn their letters, bringing them to a closed room on their fifth or sixth birthday and teaching them to read the first paragraph or maybe chapter in the Bible (“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” and they don’t come out until they could do it! (I can’t imagine teaching a beginning reader to read “beginning”!)

And the one that made me laugh the hardest?

1. Can we pay your tuition fee so your child can go to “real” school?

Now THIS response takes the cake for me, because, coming from family, it also came in the context of several euphemisms, so for me, it was a read-between-the-lines response, which implied, “So you don’t have the money to enroll him this year? We can help with that!” I had a bit of trouble turning it down as politely as I could, without looking proud or anything. Seriously, homeschooling MAY be a way to cut costs, but I agree with what all the experts say that cost savings should never be the first reason for homeschooling, as it tends to lead to burnout the fastest. In any case, it’s possible to spend less—or MORE–in homeschooling, depending on the materials used or the homeschool provider chosen. (Side note: If you plan on homeschooling in the Philippines, you can enroll in a homeschool provider, or go independent, but independent homeschoolers are technically considered “out-of-school youth” in our country. 😛 Of course, some families can live with that, while others prefer to have a provider supply them with DepEd accredited grades—will talk more about that in another post.)

Anyway, I think these are the top responses I will likely remember many years down the road. Do YOU have a favorite reaction to news about homeschooling? Or what questions do you still mull over when it comes to the idea of homeschooling? I’d love to hear from you!