CHIJ School has always strongly believed in the holistic development and has embraced the uniqueness of learners. With an increase in parents’ preference for home-schools for educating their children, CHIJ understands that parents nowadays prioritize a more individualized and supportive learning environment which would enable students to have a more personalized learning experience. Home-schools require 100% of parental involvement and CHIJ salutes parents who go many extra miles for ensuring the educational development and progress of their children.

As much as we completely understand the reasons that parents have for opting for home-school, we also see the necessity for students to understand and experience how to function in a regular classroom environment, thus helping them build confidence socially and gradually develop independence. This experience would also help in making a less sudden, rather smooth, transition to the universities in their near future. CHIJ, being a small scale school, is the best choice because we can provide a gentler bridge between homeschooling and that environment.

 Homeschooled students may be used to learning independently or one-on-one. CHIJ will give them experience with teachers, classmates, group discussions, deadlines, and classroom expectations without overwhelming them since our classroom sizes are small and learning can almost be personalized. Small class sizes can also help students develop friendships, participate in groups, speak up in class, and navigate disagreements, all of which are essential communication skills that need to be developed at a young age.

At a higher level of education, students are expected to manage schedules, assignments, communication with professors, and daily responsibilities themselves. All these experiences and skills are not quite applicable in home-school education. CHIJ can give students opportunities to practice these skills while still having a supportive environment.

One major advantage of CHIJ School is that teachers can notice when a student is struggling and provide individualized guidance due to small size classrooms. This can be especially valuable for a homeschooled student who is learning how to adapt to conventional academic expectations.

To sum it up, going directly from a highly individualized homeschool environment to a large university can be a significant change all at once. CHIJ School can function as a ‘bridge’ with a solid foundation where students experience a more conventional educational setting while retaining a relatively personal and supportive atmosphere.