Like many foreigner families visiting and living long term in the Philippines, particularly Siquijor where there are only a handful of designated places for children to socialise, play and be creative, We focus on homeschooling our child. However, this can be a lonely and time consuming life choice for any family. We are aiming to grow a non profit educational institute to give homechooled and international children a place they can play, socialise and learn, while they stay with in the legalities of the Philippines school and education visa system.
With a long term goal of establishing an international school on Siquijor as the nearest one is across the water in Dumaguete but unfortunately this is extremely expensive and not a possibility with the small amount of parents and children involved.
The group is non profit, parent and volunteer run.
After much discussion, we decided to continue homeschooling individually and join as a group to continue their montessori style learning while socialising with other children. We hope to create employment for the locals and somewhere for people to bring their children if schooling in the Philippines is not an option.
The children are young, all 5yrs and below. They are already learning so much more by being around each other, with many becoming bilingual in the process.
We don't have a designated stable meeting point and there are so many distractions for them when we meet. Therefore, the basic requirements would be a small plot of land, a simple local style building and basic furniture and supplies.
There is future plans to :
1. Register and obtain a non profit organisation license.
2. Incorporate an alotment for educational purposes to allow the children to learn the basics of planting and harvesting fruit and vegetables.
3. Build a shaded playground with local materials for a safe place for children to socialise and play.
We are putting in what we can and counting in donations to build, but to have this in reality, we are a long way off.
This is what our crowd funder is for, in the hope to use any donations for the success of this idea.
Any little helps us, and we will post pictures and insights along the growth and journey of this project.