Home-school option seen to ease online class woes

CEBU, Philippines —  Private international school institution Childlink Learning Center and High School, Inc. announced its home-school option to address the difficulties of an online class setup.

“The school also has home schooling, when parents are given the topics to be studied every week. But we also give the home school students the opportunity to join the online classes,” said Childlink founder and school directress Maria Theresa Tio.

“So far, after the first quarter, most of our students have good grades even though classes were done online,” noted Tio adding that aside from online classes, Childlink offers another option to parents, especially those living in areas where the internet connection is slow.

The Childlink Home School Program provides a great opportunity to integrate the child’s social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and character development in a natural and nurturing setting. Childlink learning modules are appropriate for each student.

She explained further that the program offers academic flexibility. “It enables parents to choose the pace and approach for their children’s lesson modules. This means that they could make some adjustments, depending on various situations at home.”

Watching educational videos on YouTube, Tiktok and on TV keeps the child’s interest in the Home School Program.

The school conducts weekly assessment for each student to monitor their performance and to ensure that they learn their lessons.

Whatever program the students are engaged in, Ms. Tio emphasized the importance of the school’s collaboration with the parents of their students.

“We need the support of and collaboration with the parents, (especially) at this time (of the pandemic),” noted Tio.

Additionally, the school also offers After School Care Program, daily tutorial classes for English and Chinese and Music Instrumentation Class.

Since online classes are recorded, parents and students may access the school’s database if they want to review the videos.

 Childlink’s strategy ensures that the quality of education the school offers will not be affected when it transitioned from the traditional classes to e-learning.

Meanwhile, Tio believes that online classes is here to stay, citing other countries like Singapore had been using hybrid learning, a mix of face-to-face and online classes.

In fact, the World Economic Forum cites a recent research that indicates that e-learning or online classes been shown to increase retention of information, and takes less time. This means that the changes in the education caused by coronavirus might be here to stay.

Eventually, education will slowly become technology-based, and automation will become the norm, she added.

Childlink Learning Center and High School, Inc. offers both English and Chinese curriculum for the playgroup, nursery, grade school and high school levels.

It has been designated by Character Education Partnership with headquarters in Washington, USA as the first School of Character in the Visayas and Mindanao, with an accredited character education program.

Established in 1993, the Character organization aims to foster character development in schools and communities.