TMA Homeschool Becomes Homeschool Global

TMA Homeschool has upgraded its identity with a new name — Homeschool Global (HG). After nearly 17 years of serving homeschool families, this rebranding better encompasses the plethora of TMA Homeschool’s support systems for homeschoolers.

As I write this, I may sound a bit biased because I’m directly connected and invested in this program. My kids are enrolled under HG and my husband is the President of this company. So let me just get that out there to be forthright.

 

IMG_0629It’s not a perfect program but it’s definitely a pioneer of the homeschool movement in the Philippines on many levels. It was the first-ever accredited home education program of the Philippine Department of Education back in 1999 as TMA Homeschool. It was also the first to offer high school accreditation for homeschoolers and U.S. accreditation for families who plan to send their children abroad for university. Students under HG have transitioned to top schools all over the Philippines. Furthermore, it offers an open curriculum system that gives parents the flexibility to customise the education of their child.

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HG was also the first homeschool provider in the Philippines to develop a portfolio system for evaluating children’s progress. Another plus is that HG has a host of advisors, both Academic and Family Advisors, who are homeschooling or have homeschooled, who are committed to helping parents successfully teach and train their children. At the end of each year, HG also implements achievement testing to cull data and provide parents with valuable information on areas of strength and weakness in their children, as well as comparisons to global norms.

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Since 1999, HG has served thousands of families both here and overseas. Through the years of dealing with all kinds of families HG understands that families need more than just accreditation and curriculum to homeschool their children well. They need to belong to a community, receive academic support, attend relevant trainings and events, get connected to other homeschool parents through cooperatives and playgroups, and have access to enrichment classes, testing services, as well as group learning opportunities for their children. They also benefit from being a part of a program that can represent their concerns to the Department of Education. These are some of the support systems that HG makes accessible to families.

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My kids will be having their portfolio reviews with HG very soon as we close our homeschool year. To be honest, these seasons can be stressful because I have to look through the work my children have done and make sure they’ve complied with the requirements for their level. Not every parent likes these reviews and some choose to homeschool with other providers who have a more cookie-cutter approach to evaluating children’s progress. Some parents still prefer the more familiar school-ish methods of testing and assessing kids given their own experience with conventional models of education.

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Personally, I believe that the portfolio method of evaluating student progress is a superior way of gauging a child’s total development. During a conversation with an official of the Department of Education a few years back, she acknowledged that portfolio reviews are the way to go and lauded TMA Homeschool for implementing this.

Pen and paper evaluations, although simpler to use and standardize, can only tell so much about what children know and do not know, while portfolios show things like projects, life experiences, research, compositions, applied learnings, and the unique creations of students. Kids are encouraged to present their work and talk through the highlights of their year, as well as synthesize their learnings, which is so much more like what they will be doing as professionals or business owners in the future.

Here are sample contents from the portfolio of my fourth grade son, Edan:

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Portfolios aren’t always displayed as physical folders, too. Older children often decide how they will put together their own portfolio. Many times this is in electronic form and they get to present to their peers as well as an advisor. (Elijah is busy finalizing his portfolio on the computer.)

I’m personally thankful for all the advisors from HG who have walked along side me in this homeschool journey and given me greater insight into my children’s personalities, strengths and weaknesses. The feedback from these porfolio reviews has been vital because it has challenged me year after year to think through how to better teach and equip my kids.

Beyond the personalised support, I suppose what HG really gives me is peace of mind. It’s assuring to know that my family is under the umbrella of an organization that has a long-standing relationship with the Department of Education and gets the real essence of homeschooling. HG is unique in the sense that it’s not just comprised of educators but of people who were homeschooled by their parents, people who successfully homeschooled their kids, people who are still in the trenches of homeschooling, and people around the world who are part of global homeschooling initiatives. In short, I’m pretty confident that HG knows homeschooling more than any other program in this country.

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HG Website: HOMESCHOOL GLOBAL

Facebook: HOMESCHOOL GLOBAL

Yet like I said earlier, it’s not a perfect program. I remember instances when Edric (aka the President) would ask me, “Is it worth it? Should I keep pushing the cause of homeschooling. I am tired.”

He would get discouraged when parents were disappointed with services or the organization made mistakes that compromised the homeschooling experience for families. But the feedback through the years whether good or bad has been beneficial, both to humble Edric and the team, and to make them revisit their motivations and evaluate the systems that HG implores to help parents.

By God’s grace, I have seen HG improve every year and I can vouch for the heart of the people behind this program, especially the President’s (wink, wink). I know that Edric and the team remain committed to changing what needs to be changed in order to help parents successfully homeschool their children.

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Okay, so let’s get real. At the end of the day, it’s not a program like HG that’s going to make your homeschooling the amazing experience it ought to be. It’s your commitment to the goal and vision God has put in your heart for your children. If that means God has called you to homeschool your kids, then choose a homeschool provider that will best enable you to pursue that goal and vision. For our family, this happens to be HG. But, you have a number of providers to choose from today versus 10 years ago. It’s a great time to homeschool!

Let me end this by saying that even if I highly recommend HG for personal and idealistic reasons, I’m first and foremost an advocate of homeschooling and I’m here to encourage you and equip you in whatever way I can. So whatever provider you settle with, may God enrich, empower, and bless you on your journey as a homeschooling parent!

 

 

 

 

21 thoughts on “TMA Homeschool Becomes Homeschool Global

  1. Hi Joy, thank you very much for this blog. I would like to seek your advise. I live in Dubai and hubby and I attended your home schooling seminar when you were here. We intend to homeschool our 2 kids . My first born turns 3yrs next month and other one is 2 years. We intend to move to the US in the next two years (hubby is from there) wherein hopefully I can be a fulltime Mom. What is the age to start homeschooling? Also, would you have a recommendation on a provider that we can use and cost? Happy to use HG if it is accredited in the US.

    1. Hi, if I may suggest, do check out http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com. I am based in the US, and I used this free online Bible-based preschool curriculum with my 2 daughters starting age 2. This curriculum gave me a gentle but thorough intro to teaching my girls myself at home. We have graduated onto a kinder/elementary homeschool curriculum, also Bible-based, and have been doing well, by God’s grace. =)

        1. You are most welcome! By the way, Joy, if I remember correctly, Tiana just turned 6, right? So she seems to be a young 1st grader. Would you mind sharing which materials you are using with her?

  2. I’d like to see the portfolio for preschool so I can have an idea of how I can go about mine with my toddlers. Thank you and God bless.

  3. Hi Joy
    I would really really appreciate to hear from you at this point. My husband and I are undecided if we would finally enroll our 4-year old son with TMA/HG or put him in a regular school just so he could play and learn with other kids before I arrive home at 5:30pm (then I would still be hands on and continue homeschooling ). I have talked to five of my homeschooling mommy friends and I got varied responses. Hope you could share your thoughts. I replied to your email account from tmahomeschool.org. Thanks in advance for your reply.

    1. Pray about it Timmy 🙂 what could you accomplish by homeschooling that you wouldn’t be able to by sending him to conventional school? It will really depend on your family goals and convictions 🙂

  4. Hi Ms. Joy,
    My daughter is in K2 and it will be a great help for me if you could also post portfolio for K2.
    Thank you and God bless!

  5. Hi Joy,
    My husband and I were members of CCF long before we moved to Toronto and we started homeschoOlingetting our daughter before leaving PI (with the help of CCF alabang and the many homeschool seminars that I attended with the church) When we got here she ended up with regular schooling because we needed to work. She’s already 9 and has been longing to go back to homeschooling since grade 2 which we will be doing now ???? and I am a bit a nervous and anxious as to how to start all over again. Will you be able to give me recommendations here in Toronto such as groups that you know who do it too? Or do you have partnerships with parents abroad who would like to follow/use your curriculum. Any information will really help.

    Thank you so much Joy and may our heavenly Father continuously bless you and guide your whole team with this beautiful advocacy of homeschooling.

    Sincerely,
    Cecille Agustin

  6. Hi Ate Joy, I am Marsha from Indonesia. I have been reading your posts and feel really encouraged and inspired by the honest sharing of your triumphs and struggles. I just gave birth to a baby boy two weeks ago, and looking forward to start educating him at home. Will Homeschool Global plan to expand to other countries, like Indonesia? 🙂

  7. Hello Ma’am,

    It was just this afternoon that my husband brought up the idea of homeschooling our children. He was convinced by some his friends that this is a good and biblical way of teaching and raising kids because parents should be primarily responsible in teaching their children. I was hesitant at first because both of us were educated he traditional way and I ws worried about how my children will develop socially if they were to be homeschooled.

    I started researching about homeschooling and I found your blog. I found this very helpful as we start praying and considering homeschooling. Thank you very much and God bless you.

    Jedess

  8. Hi, I am praying for a a Homeschool program for my 10 year old daughter, who is an athlete. ( She is a gymnast)We are considering this program so that she can train more often. I started researching about homeschool and I felt that this will be a great job for a mom like me who is also working, plus the fact that i ‘ve found out that this is expensive. Right now, what I’m thinking is that homeschool is for well off family only. am I right? Right now we are praying for this and waiting for God’s answer

  9. Hi Ms Joy,

    I started following/reading your blog when I came to know Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour. And I am really inspired by your writings. I really wanted to do homeschooling for my children. My husband and I decided to do homeschooling to our children since I already gave u working and be a full time housewife. However, my 11 year old daughter who already started conventional school is hesitant to do homeschooling. She is always in tears and even when I am excited to show, talk about homeschooling she tends to change the subject. She has a lot of worries when it comes to homeschooling. She also mentioned in one of our conversation that she doesn’t like homeschool. I stated all the reasons why we have to do homeschool but she is unhappy and would just tell me that she will do homeschool only because I told her to.

    What should I do? Also, I have this dilemma as to how to teach 11 year old and 3 year old at the same time. Both daughters of mine have opposite attitude. The 11 year old is an introvert while the 3 year old is the extrovert, hyper kid.

    Is it really better not to remove her to conventional school as she is happy with her friends or should I go with what we wanted to do?

    Thank you and God Bless,
    Zusette

  10. Hi,
    I would like to ask if there that a student can move to the next level/grade if he or she will be able to finish the curriculum earlier than usual(eg.6-8 months) or the student really have to finish it the whole year just like in traditional school?
    Thanks!

  11. Hi,
    I would like to ask if a student can move to the next level/grade if he or she will be able to finish the curriculum earlier than usual (eg.6-8 months) or the student really have to finish it the whole year just like in traditional school?
    Thanks!

  12. Hi your homeschool DepEd accreditation is under Victory International C hristian School, I just just want to ask if Homeschool Global is also designed or your curriculum is similar to Accelerated Christian Education (ACE), I will wait for your answer

  13. Hi Joy! My wife and I decided to homeschool our son but we are stuck in choosing which program we are from the middle east. Hope to hear from you. Thanks and God bless.

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