The Stay-at-Homeschooling Mom Podcast
Education
Homeschooling in the Philippines – An Interview with Therese (Mommy T.) Habana
Today, we are pleased to speak with an experienced homeschooling mom in the Philippines, Therese Habana, fondly known as Mommy T., to her homeschooling community.
In this warm, engaging discussion, you’ll learn along with Ginny and Mary Ellen as “Mommy T.” details the Filipino homeschool environment and culture and how she got started. She also shares her experience utilizing “Partner Centers” and explains homeschooling accreditation with the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd).
Homeschooling in the Philippines – An Interview with Therese (Mommy T.) Habana
Therese Habana is a homeschooling mom of four active boys ranging from 18 to 4 years old, a busy volunteer parent in the Catholic Homeschooling Families (CHF) community in the Philippines, an entrepreneur, and a full-time homemaker to her husband of 20 years.
· Her family has been homeschooling using Seton Home Study since 2017.
· Homeschooling families fondly call her Mommy T.
· Homeschooling works amazingly well for her family of athletic boys -- two triathletes, one jujitsu martial artist, and one preschooler who never runs out of energy.
What led Therese to homeschool?
She went to a homeschool conference when living in Colorado and thought she should try it. When she moved back to the Philippines to be near her family, she started to homeschool with Seton. Therese became very involved in the community and loved it.
An interesting fact: Mommy T’s son took Filipino as a second language, which is funny because although he is Filipino, his first language is English.
In the Philippines, people homeschool for many reasons:
· Most of Therese’s friends homeschool for religious reasons.
· Many people start as non-religious homeschoolers and become more faithful as a result.
· Academics - Many use Seton books because of the excellent academic.
Seton lists two “Partner Centers” (co-ops) in the Philippines.
How do Partner Centers work?
Partner Centers are for Seton parents to help them with their homeschooling.
The Centers organize conferences so people can display their materials.
Interested families can come to see how homeschooling works.
Children participate in the Partner Centers and sponsored field trips.
Priestly involvement:
It is common for priests to be very involved.
Priests often anoint the children with oil to begin the school year and bless the materials.
Accreditation
A common question is whether Seton Home Study School is accredited by the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd).
Answer: DepEd accredits schools located in the Philippines, and as Seton is an American school with offices in the United States, Seton is outside of the DepEd jurisdiction.
However, Seton records are accepted in the Philippines.
· Seton issues transcripts of records to students and an American diploma to graduates.
· It is more or less the same as a Philippine student who attended high school in the U.S.
· Several graduates are now studying in different Philippine universities.
Transferring to a regular school from Grades 1 to 10:
· Ask the school about its requirements for international students with an American transcript.
· Requirements vary for different schools.
· From our many years of experience, students who used Seton transcripts to transition to Senior High and College in Philippine schools have been accepted and performed excellently in their chosen courses.
“You seem to have much more family support there than we do in the States. It must make having babies and homeschooling easier.”
· Therese has a staff of household help, which is pretty common.
· Her sisters are nearby, and the homeschool friends have become family.
· It is common for parents and siblings to live close together and help each other.
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