Homeschooling versus Public Schools: Which is the Better Option?

One mom who is still considering homeschooling her children posted a question in our yahoo group. She has already done research online and finds all the information overwhelming. After all the research she still isn’t sure how she can start. However, her question really is this: Is it more costly to homeschool compared to just sending her children to their city’s public school?

Her concerns are real and valid for someone just thinking about it. It’s valid for all of us! Considering too, that their city prioritizes the education of their children thereby making education available to everybody. I’ve read an article before where one mother states “Tamad na lang ang hindi makakapag-aral dito sa Makati.” (Only the very lazy ones won’t be able to study here in Makati.) Admittedly, the government of Makati has a very good public school program. Everything is provided for the student, schoolbooks, bags, uniforms, and supplies. We should be thankful to the city of Makati for this. Online casino Ireland. ###

But homeschooling our children is quite different. I won’t dwell on the difference much here because it’s been written about hundreds of times.

HOMESCHOOL AND THE INTERNET

It’s no wonder that someone can be overwhelmed by the information that you can get from the internet. If you google the word “homeschool”, there are over 13 million sites talking about  homeschool. It CAN get overwhelming, I assure you. When I started using the internet for information about homeschooling, I, too, became overwhelmed. I got so many information about it, I did not know what to do. Now, I have . learned to look at homeschool sites with a more discerning eye. I don’t accept each and every information there is about it. However, I learned to separate what was useful for my family and to discard what is not applicable.

I was able to do this by taking some valuable steps for our homeschool. Mind you, when I started homeschooling my children I did not do as much research about it as I should have. The things I did were just to attend a homeschool seminar and speak to a few families about it. I did not read books on how to do it, what are the different philosophies, etc. As my children grew older, with their interests becoming more varied, I had to stop and consider what we were doing. it was only then that I started really reading up on homeschooling. 

I found a guide online that you can use for free to help you set up your homeschool. The guide design-your-homeschool is written by Marianne Vanderkolk. It starts with setting your goals, looking at your family and understanding their personalities to help you decide what philosophy of education to use, it will then move on to choosing a curriculum and setting up your home for learning.The guide is here. Honestly, this is just one of those guides that you can use in your own home. The books that I have on my sidebar are also a big help for me.

With regard to the cost of homeschool, cost can be as low or as high as you want it to be. We are fortunate because now there are already several homeschool providers here in the Philippines. You can choose to do it independently, meaning not to enroll your children in any homeschool but keep on teaching them at home, or you can enroll them in a homeschool program that is available now. There are various schools offering different homeschool programs. Some already have a set curriculum that you purchase, some will allow you to choose how and what to teach your children. The tuition varies in every homeschool program but I assure you that it is way lower than enrolling the children in a private school. I found two sites that offer a complete curriculum and these are totally free: Ambleside Online and Old Fashioned Education.

Ambleside Online was created by a group of mothers who believe in Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education. Charlotte Mason is an educator in the 1800’s but her books and teachings are still alive till now. Her philosophy can be found here.  Ambleside Online has created a complete curriculum from Kindergarten to High School using books that are also available for FREE online. These women have been educating their own children at home using the CM philosophy and came together to create a complete curriculum to help other homeschool families.

Old Fashioned Education is a site created by another homeschool mother who believes that education not only should be free, but that we should use old and good quality books. By old I don’t mean literally old, it just means that books created a long time ago have more quality than the books created now. Old Fashioned Education is also a complete curriculum from Kindergarten to High School . This curriculum is a combination of using textbooks and classic novels to educate your children. Again, most of the books she recommends using can also be found online.

Both of these resources will mean that you can educate your children at only the cost of your internet connection, your electricity, your printer, paper and ink. I have already read several reviews by homeschool families using the Ambleside Online and the Old Fashioned Education curriculum and I assure you that a child educated this way will be a well-educated child indeed.