Hopunit1.docx

The steps to take after a decision to homeschool has been made can be overwhelming. The journey to homeschool is not only a journey of the student but a journey of the entire family. Everyone is involved, everyone is affected and everyone adjusts. So, from the decision you now need to act. 1. Take time to read this FAQs from the website of Homeschool Association of the Philippine Island: http://www.hapi.ph/faqs.html 2. To date, there are two locally published books on homeschooling in the Philippine setting. These are "I-Homeschool: How To Do It Without Losing Your Mind," by Nove Tan available from https://ihomeschool.ph and "Why You Should Homeschool" by Edric and Joy Mendoza, available in leading books stores. These books are highly recommended for every homeschooling family. 3. Homeschooling is a learn as you go journey with a lot of trial and error. There are many ways we can empower ourselves so we can be better prepared and hopefully minimise the errors along the way. a. Do your thorough research with the help of books, Internet sources, and interview a homeschooling friend who has gone ahead of you. b. Attend workshops/ seminar or conferences on homeschooling. This FB Community Group has weekly announcements on homeschooling empowerment/ enrichment classes for parent-teachers and for their children as well. c. Network with other homeschoolers for support and community. 4. After the major decision to homeschool, other decisions have to be made. Here are some concerns that you need to address. a. Will you enrol with a homeschool provider or will you be an independent homeschooler? b. What curriculum will you use? c. What is your budget for homeschooling? d. Who will do majority of the teaching? What subjects will be outsourced? Head again to HAPI website http://www.hapi.ph/articles.html for more information on other matters that need to be considered 5. Delegate what you can to others. Homeschooling is not a one man or one woman show. We need the community to raise, train and educate our children. Some may decide to seek help for household chores/ workload, or outsource some subjects to tutors, join extra curricular classes ( sports, music, art, theatre, dance, etc) or join academic classes offered by some institutions for homeschoolers. Some may take on subjects they feel confident to teach and outsource other subjects. 6. FInd a support group. Ideally the support group members should live close to each other. This will make regular meetings doable. The ages of the children of support groups should also be within some range that allow positive and growing engagement.