How are we regarding homeschooling Colombia?

Have you ever wondered how many people in Colombia currently bet on home education or homeschooling? Do you know what the laws in our country say about educating our children at home?

Today we are going to tell you everything you need to know about homeschooling in Colombia and how prepared we are in the country to adopt this modality.

Is there clear data on homeschooling in Colombia?

Although homeschooling has been around for a long time in society, it has become much stronger in recent years.

The truth is that there is no official data on the people who have made the decision to educate their children from their homes.

Figures shown by the Colombian Family Education Network show that in recent times the trend of homeschooling in Colombia has grown quite a bit and that the number of children and young people who carry out studies from home exceeds the figure of eight one thousand.

That may seem like a fairly small number, but from 2016 to 2019 alone, that number quadrupled.

The foregoing truly demonstrates the growth of homeschooling in Bogotá, Medellín and throughout Colombia.

Is it legal to educate your child at home in Colombia?

Of course it’s legal! There is nothing in our laws that does not allow us to educate our children as we believe is best.

The law indicates that we must educate children. But it does not regulate how.

Our decision as parents is whether we want to go to school or do homeschooling in Bucaramanga, education at home in Medellin or in any other corner of the country.

What is truly important and must remain within the law is to guarantee the state that we are educating our children in the proper way.

For this, your children must be certified, present the ICFES tests in order to finally obtain the high school diploma.

Of course, you must be clear that your child must wait until the age of 18 to present the tests and obtain said diploma.

How to certify a homeschooled student in Colombia?

As we have mentioned before, to obtain the most important certificate (the high school certificate) the student must be 18 years old.

In addition, he must be able to take a single exam in which he will demonstrate if his studies have been good enough to be worthy of the high school diploma issued by the state.

We know that it can be a bit complicated to wait until you are 18 years old to obtain the diploma, which is why it can be validated year after year.

That is why some families decide to make working relationships with schools or other educational centers to allow their children to obtain the certificates year after year.

This practice of validating year after year can be a bit more expensive and will depend on your way of thinking.

The most convenient thing is to wait until the age of 18 to present the exam, in this way, the student will also have much more maturity to face university studies.

As you can see, it is not that complicated to certify a homeschooled student in Colombia.

And it is that since homeschooling in Colombia is legal, carrying out the procedures with the state is very simple and will not entail many problems.

How to prepare your child to be certified and obtain a high school diploma?

One of the great advantages of homeschooling is that it offers you the possibility of educating your child according to his tastes, his strengths and what can really be useful for his life.

Similarly, it is important that you help yourself by following the Basic Competency Standards (recommended by the Colombian Ministry of Education) to help you know what guidelines to follow in your child’s education.

Taking into account the recommendation that we give you, you can be the one to decide:

• how to follow the curriculum for your children
• what decisions to make when teaching them
• how to obtain the necessary information to educate them.

As you can see, homeschooling is a somewhat complicated process that entails a lot of responsibility and work on your part as a parent, therefore, you must be very aware when making the decision to homeschool.

Do not be scared, after taking practice at home education you will be an expert in the different ways of educating your children and you will be able to give them a much better education than the one they would get in a school.

What methodology should I use to teach my children in Colombia?

Again, we return to what we mentioned before, everything will depend on the decisions you want to make, you are totally free to educate your children as you prefer.

It is advantageous to try to use pedagogies recommended by experts such as Montessori or Mason, we also recommend seeking advice from people who have already gone through the process and who have more knowledge about what methodologies can work better.

You have a world of possibilities from which you can choose and making a wrong decision is not so bad, you just have to correct along the way and keep looking for the methodology that best suits what you and your children need.

In Colombia there are many possibilities regarding methodologies to follow, including, for example, you can help yourself with tutors or online schools to cover that knowledge that you may not have the experience to impart (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, music , among other things).

Successful cases of homeschooling in Colombia

Have you ever heard the name Mateo Hernández? He is one of the most important biologists in our country and has repeatedly commented that he owes much of his success to the way his parents educated him from home.

Bet on educating at home or not? That is a very important question that you must answer yourself, what you should know is that more and more people will bet on homeschooling thanks to the great advantages that this form of study and learning has for children and young people.