From Independent to DepEd Accredited Homeschooling

We take homeschooling one year at a time. And after 13 years, we are still homeschooling. From homeschooling one child until all three, and now only two, we may have to stop homeschooling shortly. About the same time last year, we decided to homeschool until high school, so we transitioned from being under a DepEd-accredited homeschool provider to going independent. This move would help us in our plans. We enrolled the two kids in the US, under Homelife Academy through their local partner in the Philippines, Better Together Homeschool International. One of our kids recently expressed her desire to go to school in a traditional face-to-face setup. So this coming school year, from independent, we are going back to being accredited in Philippine homeschooling.

Why Go Back to DepEd Accreditation?

We loved being independent for its flexibility and ease of documentation. And going back to DepEd was not in my mind, well, at least after high school. But since our child wants to go to a brick-and-mortar school, we acknowledge her desires and respect her needs. Since we started this homeschool journey, the kids have always been part of the decision-making. 

Now the schedule is another story. After scouting a few private schools in our area, I learned that the school schedule for Grades 4 to 6 would be from 7am to around 1-2:30 pm. That meant my child would have to be in school for at least 6 hours. My kid and I have to go up early, drive her to school amidst the traffic of the Metro, then pick her up in the afternoon.

There would have been no issue for me to wake up early since our eldest, who has transitioned to a traditional school, already has a morning class. However, our elementary child, who wants to go to school, has a hard time waking up in the morning. And I am not ready to battle with her every single day. Hahaha!

So, my solution is to find a school with a hybrid program. A few days in school and a few days at home. Online distance learning is not an option since our two younger kids don't like online classes. With a hybrid program, we can "practice" with her going to school a few times a week instead of immediately transitioning to a Monday through Friday on-site schedule.

As for our youngest, we could just leave him enrolled under the US homeschool program. But knowing him, he would go where his siblings are. So, to prepare myself for any sudden changes, I opted to move him as well from independent homeschooling to DepEd accreditation. We are also aiming for him to enter a science high school in the future, so this would be a good prep for him.

Homeschool Program and Providers We Chose

We chose homeschool providers that offer modular programs. In their programs, the school will provide all the learning materials and compute the grades of the students. The teaching part is handled by the parents.

This would be our first time to go under a modular program and let the school assess our students. For years, we have been using an open curriculum approach. 

I think the modular program is a great choice since I will be greatly reducing the time and effort to prepare the lessons, grading, and portfolio. This would mean, though, that we will be following the school's learning program and have less flexibility.

However, I reckon that it is still a win-win for us. We can just add to the current curriculum. For example, our son, who is advanced in Math and Science, may find the Grade 3 curriculum boring for him, but we can add additional learning and activities for him if that's the case. Also, it would be a good adjustment for them once we move to mainstream schooling.

For our daughter, we chose St. Mark Integrated School since they have a hybrid program, which we can use in the near future. For our son, we chose Frames of Mind School for their digi-module program.

Let's see what the new school year 2025-2026 can give us. Who knows, maybe after this year we will drop homeschooling? Or maybe the kids might say, "Nah, we want to go back to the US program?" I don't know. Just taking it one year at a time.