A Home Study Program in the Philippines

I read a lot about children being homeschooled in the U.S. One school in the Philippines, Angelicum College, has its own version of the home study program for elementary and high school.

At AC, home study students are given modules to study at home. Each subject has a certain number of modules per year level. These modules contain both lessons and exercises to be worked on by the student. After finishing a module, the student reports to school to take a Mastery Test. If he fails to get a satisfactory score, he has to take another test with a different set of questions on the same module. He does this until he passes the module. After half the number of modules for a subject has been passed, the student is given the first Achievement Test. After passing this, he proceeds with the rest of the modules and their mastery tests, and is then given the second Achievement Test. He needs to pass the second Achievement Test to be considered cleared for that subject for that year level.

The student has a choice on how to tackle his subjects for the year. He can opt to concentrate on one or two subjects until cleared before proceeding with the others, or he can take all subjects simultaneously a little at a time.

Students report to school for the tests twice a week, and they get to choose the day of the week from Monday to Saturday. Some hands-on subjects - like Speech laboratory, PE, home economics and drafting - are scheduled on Saturdays by batches.

When home study students report to school, they come to a large room where teachers' tables are arranged against the walls. All year levels report here and a teacher is assigned to each subject of each year level. They approach the teacher and submit their finished modules for checking. If the work is satisfactory, they are given a permit to take a test. They proceed to the testing area and give the permit to the proctor. They are then given the test indicated in the permit.

The setup allows interaction with students of various year levels. We found this appropriate to our children because they usually find themselves more compatible with those who are older than they are. Friendships are, therefore, not limited to age groups.

It is a good system for those who cannot attend regular daily classes due to some illness. We found that with less stress from daily travel to and from school (with Manila traffic and pollution) our children's health has improved much.

It is also a good system for a child to find his own natural learning style. The child can even progress more rapidly in less time, as compared to the traditional system. Conversely, this allows the child to spend more time on subjects that are more challenging to him.

I wouldn't recommend the home study program if a parent or another responsible adult cannot stay home to guide the child's studies, though. In our case, there is very minimal supervision - the kids love being independent - but they do have questions from time to time.

Our eldest went though the home study program from elementary to high school and is now doing very well in her third year in college. The system has prepared her to manage her time efficiently. She has consistently been in the Dean's List and is also a leader in several co-curricular and extra-curricular organizations and activities.

Her siblings are still in the home study program and are thriving.

It is an educational option that we are lucky to have here in the Philippines.