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New homeschooling parents in the Philippines, it’s ok not to enroll with a provider

7 September 2020 1 Comment

This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more.

Homeschooling in the Philippines is generally classified into two modes:

Enrolling with a provider accredited with the Department of Education (DepEd)
Not doing the above — usually referred to as independent homeschooling

Enrolling with a homeschool provider never really appealed to us. This is probably an unpopular opinion, but it just feels like a cash grab. When it comes down to it, you’re really just paying them for DepEd accreditation. Some of the more expensive providers have advisors for portfolio reviews, but s/he will meet you probably only once per quarter, for just an hour or two each time. Ultimately, you’ll still be the primary facilitator of your child’s education — not the advisor, and certainly not anyone else from the provider.

I wouldn’t have such a dim view of homeschool providers if their tuition fees were commensurate with the minimal services they provide. However, some providers are surprisingly more expensive than traditional schools with actual face-to-face instruction. Besides, they really shouldn’t be calling it “tuition” — strictly speaking, tuition is defined as “the money paid for being taught”. In that case, the fees should be paid back to the parents!

Now, I don’t begrudge the existence of homeschool providers; it’s a free market after all. I do feel that new homeschooling parents should at least be made aware that enrolling with one is NOT the only way to homeschool, and that independent homeschooling is a totally viable option for Grades K to 10. Interest in homeschooling is at an all-time high during this COVID-19 pandemic, and many of these parents are simply advised to enroll with a provider.

For parents who do know about independent homeschooling but are nervous to take the plunge, don’t fret. Worried about DepEd accreditation? For Grades K to 10, your child can either take the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) or enroll in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program. Taking the PEPT during its regular annual schedule costs only PHP 50, while enrolling in the ALS Program is FREE. What about curriculum materials, you ask? You can easily buy local K-12 textbooks online straight from the publishers themselves or through third-party resellers. Want US-based materials instead? Many of them are available as PDF downloads, which you can have printed for cheap at your local print shop. Some are even available as online courses. As for homeschool support, there’s no need to pay for an advisor — there are TONS of homeschooling blogs and vlogs offering free advice (Google is your friend). You can also join local and international homeschool groups on Facebook.

Got more questions about independent homeschooling? Let me know in the comments section.

Homeschooling in the Philippines: Q&A on the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program

25 May 2020 6 Comments

This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more.

In my previous post, I wrote a primer on independent homeschooling in the Philippines. If your child wants to go to college at the end of your indie journey, there are several ways to do that. The most popular method among indie families is to enroll in the Department of Education (DepEd)’s Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program and take the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Test.

This Q&A is for indie families who are interested to choose this route.

Update: Many changes were made to the ALS Program in recent years due to the full implementation of the K to 12 Basic Education Program. And now with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, our lawmakers are giving it special attention through Senate Bill No. 1365 (Alternative Learning System Act). The information here is still valid for now, but expect changes in the near future as the government figures out the “new normal”.

What is the ALS Program?

Basically, it’s a way for out-of-school youth and adult (OSYA) — DepEd’s official term for people who did not complete formal education — to earn the equivalent of a diploma. If you’re familiar with the US GED, it’s similar to that. The ALS Program is how People’s Champ Senator Manny Pacquiao got his diploma. Here’s a picture of an actual ALS Secondary Level diploma from 2013 (equivalent to a high school diploma):

As learners who are not in the formal education system, independent homeschoolers are technically viewed by DepEd as OSYA.

How much does it cost?

The ALS Program is FREE.

Wow! So how do we sign up?

You enroll at a Community Learning Center (CLC). There are several different levels; the ones relevant to homeschoolers are:

Level	Duration	Description
Advanced Elementary	8 to 10 months	For those who want to stop homeschooling at Grade 6 level and go to JHS
Junior High School (JHS)	2 years	For those who want to stop homeschooling at Grade 10 level and go to SHS
Senior High School (SHS)	Not yet implemented	For those who want to stop homeschooling at Grade 12 level and go to college

Note that sessions aren’t everyday like in regular school; at most it’s only a couple of hours a week. According to DepEd Order (DO) 2019-013, “[t]he actual program duration will depend on the learner’s educational background or existing knowledge prior to enrolling in the ALS program.”

DepEd is still working on the SHS Level program. In the meantime, indie kids will have to actually attend a regular two-year SHS to be eligible for college.

Where can we find a CLC?

You may call or visit your nearest DepEd office. A popular CLC among indie families is MyHill ALS.

Some indie families have reported being turned away from their local CLCs because they are not the stereotypical OSYA. The reality is that many DepEd personnel are not familiar with independent homeschooling. Do not be deterred if this happens; go to another CLC or escalate the matter, because rejecting learners from ALS is antithetical to their mandate of “Education For All”.

What happens after we finish the program?

You take the corresponding A&E Test, which is administered once a year. Here are the age requirements as per DepEd Memorandum 2019-006:

Level	Age on Test Day
Elementary	At least 12 years old
JHS	At least 16 years old
SHS	Not yet implemented

What’s the test like?

DepEd is continuously tweaking the A&E Test, but as it stands right now, it’s a multiple-choice examination with a 60% passing rate. Here are the languages used in the A&E Test for each Learning Strand as per DO 2019-013:

Learning Strand	Language
Communication Skills	Filipino and English
Scientific and Critical Thinking Skills	English
Mathematical and Problem Solving Skills	English
Life and Career Skills	Filipino or English
Understanding Self and Society	Filipino or English
Digital Citizenship	English

Is the test hard?

We spoke with an actual indie teen who passed the Secondary Level a few years ago, and the way she describes the program, it’s somewhat akin to going to a review center to prepare for a board exam. Mock exams similar to the actual A&E Test are given every so often to train you for the real thing. If you have a good foundation and study hard, it won’t be difficult to pass the test.

What happens after we pass the test?

As per DO 2019-013, learners will have to submit a “presentation portfolio” and a “learning project” in addition to passing the A&E Test in order to get their diplomas. However, this is not yet being implemented as of this writing. As it stands right now, you will get your diploma after passing the A&E Test.

Got more questions about ALS? Let me know in the comments section.

Homeschooling in the Philippines: Q&A on independent homeschooling

24 May 2020 17 Comments

This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more.

Long before our child was born, my husband and I were already on the same page on homeschooling. Our “decision” to homeschool basically just went like this:

Me: If we have a kid, I want to homeschool him/her.
Him: Me too.

We didn’t belabor much on the whys and wherefores, as we both wanted the same thing. We were mostly concerned on the hows of homeschooling in the Philippines.

We knew we wanted the freedom and flexibility of independent homeschooling, but we had some concerns, knowing that it can be quite bureaucratic in our country — identification here, accreditation there, documentation everywhere. Will there be setbacks in the future if our kid has none of those? We briefly considered homeschooling with a provider because of this, but all our concerns were laid to rest with further research and meeting actual indie families.

With the world still in the thick of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, many parents are now choosing to homeschool their kids, especially since a serious condition linked to COVID-19 — Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) — has emerged among the young.

This Q&A is for parents who want to go indie from the get-go but still have some reservations.

With COVID-19, the Department of Education (DepEd) is now paying special attention to independent homeschooling after being uninvolved for years. The information here is still valid for now, but expect changes in the near future as DepEd figures out the “new normal”.

What is independent homeschooling?

It is homeschooling without enrolling with a DepEd-accredited homeschool provider.

Is it legal?

Yes. According to The Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, “The State shall protect and promote the right of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education accessible to all . . . Without limiting the natural right of parents to rear their children . . .” The bolded phrase is the legal basis of homeschooling in the Philippines.

That’s good to know. So we’re free to teach whatever we want?

The Constitution also states, “All educational institutions . . . shall inculcate patriotism and nationalism, foster love of humanity, respect for human rights, . . . teach the rights and duties of citizenship, strengthen ethical and spiritual values, develop moral character and personal discipline, encourage critical and creative thinking, broaden scientific and technological knowledge, and promote vocational efficiency.”

TL;DR: Yes, as long as you don’t teach your kid to be a subversive criminal anarchist. Just raise him/her to be a good person and law-abiding citizen, and the government is gonna be a-ok with you.

So how do we start?

The appeal of independent homeschooling is that families are free to design their own curricula and implement them at their own pace. You can even do unschooling if you want. For a guide on what the government expects your child to learn at a certain age, check out DepEd’s comprehensive K to 12 Basic Education Program Curriculum Guides. For example, at Kindergarten level (5 years old), your child is expected to know the following about plants and animals:

Standards and Competencies for Five-Year-Old Filipino Children

The curriculum guides are hundreds of pages long! Can we just buy textbooks that cover all this stuff?

You sure can. Click here for a list of local educational publishers who sell K-12 textbooks online. With independent homeschooling, you are free to choose your own learning materials, textbooks or otherwise. Want to follow a US-based curriculum instead? You can do that too.

Independent homeschooling can also be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. If you want to be frugal, there are tons of FREE homeschool resources online (Google is your friend).

Do we need to document our indie journey?

According to The Constitution, “The State . . . shall exercise reasonable supervision and regulation of all educational institutions.” However, I have yet to hear of an indie family who has gotten a visit from DepEd for an evaluation of their homeschooling progress. We met an indie family whose eldest daughter is now in college; they barely kept any organized records for her.

Update: According to the grapevine, DepEd is now considering to exercise their right of oversight over independent homeschooling. Some parents welcome this, but personally we feel it diminishes the appeal of going indie, because well, it’s not really “independent” anymore. Here’s hoping the “improvements” they make will actually be for the better, and not merely add unnecessary layers of bureaucracy to an already working status quo.

TL;DR: No, but you can choose to compile a homeschool portfolio for your own records.

What if I want to open a bank account for my kid or something? S/he won’t have a school ID.

Get your child a passport. We easily applied for one when our kid was around four months old. Click here to read about our experience at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Some indie families have reported being given the runaround by the DFA when applying for passports for their school-age children, because they lack school IDs. What they did: they simply submitted an affidavit stating that they are homeschooling independently, hence no school ID.

With the upcoming rollout of the Philippine Identification System, the country’s compulsory national identity document, hopefully this ID problem will become a thing of the past.

What about socialization?

This oft-asked question by homeschooling naysayers has been rendered moot by COVID-19 — even they aren’t eager to send their kids back to regular school without a cure or vaccine. Anyway, this is where local homeschooling communities come in; you can find them on Facebook. There used to be lots of homeschool meetups pre-COVID-19, but these have transitioned to online ones through video conferencing apps.

I’m almost convinced. So how does my kid get to college?

By enrolling in the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program and taking the Accreditation and Equivalency (A&E) Test. If you’re familiar with the US GED, it’s kinda like that. We met an indie teen who completed the program and passed the test a few years ago; she’s now in college.

There are other ways for indie children to get to college, but ALS is the most popular one among indie families. Click here to read my primer on ALS.

Update September 2020: Still nervous about going indie? Read my latest post: New homeschooling parents in the Philippines, it’s ok not to enroll with a provider