FAQs: What are the benefits of enrolling my child in your programs?

Online/Distance Learning Benefits

Little Me Academy (LMA), known for its innovation, personal focus, and global perspective, is the first DepEd accredited Online School in the Philippines with its permit granted in 2018 for High School initially, and the first Quipper-powered school in Mindanao since 2016. Quipper is a Japan-based Learning Management System that has built-in DepEd Kto12 curriculum courses updated weekly with quizzes, assessments, performance tasks, slides, videos, and many others. Therefore, the major benefit of enrolling your child in our Online Program is our rich online learning experience. For many schools, the whole process of shifting for the first time from in-person classes to online/distance learning will not be easy. Adjustments by teachers, parents, students, and families in general will take time and along the way, some will find it emotionally overwhelming, academically insufficient, or simply challenging. By contrast, LMA has already gone through the tough years and is now better positioned to support and guide learners who will enroll in the program.

Furthermore, studies have identified several additional benefits of attending class online. Among them are:

c) Communication: Many learners are more comfortable engaging in meaningful discussions online than in a classroom. These learners might have hearing or speech impairments; speak different languages; have severe social anxiety; or simply need more time to organize their thoughts.

d) Personalized learning: Not all kids learn the same way. Web-based learning allows teachers to personalize learning by delivering the same content using different media, like videos or simulations. Online classes providing easy access to materials and lectures also let learners study when they feel most focused and engaged.

e) Accessibility: Online programs transcend time, geographic, and other barriers to education.

f) Adaptability: Learning management systems that integrate text-to-speech and other adaptive technologies support learners with physical, behavioral, and learning challenges.

g) Efficiency: Studies show online learners tend to achieve the same learning results in half the time as classroom-based learners;

h) Engagement: Online instructors can use games, social media, virtual badges, and other engaging technologies to motivate learners and enhance learning.

h) Effectiveness: Online education may seem relatively new, but years of research suggests it can be just as effective as traditional coursework, and often more so. According to a U.S. Department of Education analysis of more than 1,000 learning studies, online learners tend to outperform classroom-based learners across most disciplines and demographics. Another major review published the same year found that online learners had the advantage 70 percent of the time, a gap authors projected would only widen as programs and technologies evolve.

Home School Benefits

There are 3 general styles of homeschooling: Homeschooling with a Provider (accredited by DepEd), Independent Homeschooling (not DepEd accredited; follow any curriculum you want as guide), and Free Homeschooling (tailor-make your own curriculum from so many free homeschooling resources online). Little Me Academy is the first school in Cagayan de Oro accredited by DepEd as a Home School Provider. Initially, we adopt the “School-at-Home” model of homeschooling or “Traditional” Home School which is basically the same as any public or private school classroom, but it’s implemented at home. In particular, Little Me’s home school education is typically organized around its complete curriculum packages, arranged by school year, and will have the same curriculum as used in the classrooms. All teaching guides, manuals, and instructional packages as well as the learner’s resources will be provided by Little Me. Therefore, it has the following benefits:

a) Ease-of-Access: While Montessori or Waldorf can diverge from traditional educational expectations, Little Me Home School allows the family to share in the time-honored strengths of a traditional education model that nonetheless boasts many of the benefits of home-based education.

b) Conventional: Little Me Home School education is easily understood in terms of conventional school. Not everyone who is looking at homeschooling is interested in “revolutionizing” the entire educational system, or willing to throw out all the methods and strategies of a conventional classroom. Our School-at-Home education is fairly conventional in this way, so it suits families who have no desire to “reinvent the wheel” (of education).

c) Formal Standards: Our School-at-Home curricula and classes are typically aligned with the K to 12 learning standards. In this way, parents already know what they are getting, oftentimes in measurable and standardized categories that translate well into future college admissions and scholarship applications.

d) Parallels Public or Private Schools: Learners can stay on roughly the same pace with peers at the local public or private school. By conforming to government standards, Home School learners can be reassured that their education is comparable to that of their conventionally schooled peers.

e) Short-Term Friendly: Some Home School needs are short term, with learners reentering traditional school after a season at home. This short-term may occur when learners are in unsettled locations or experiencing unusual living situations, as a consequence of a demanding work schedule (such as tennis, or acting, etc.), or perhaps as the result of an extended injury or illness. Our School-at-Home education allows the impacted learner to spend a semester or a year out of the classroom, then to return, without missing a step.

f) Parents/Families are in charge of their child’s learning: The parent has full authority over the learning journey of the child. The parent may be the teacher or a tutor can be hired as a teacher as long as qualified based on DepEd’s eligibility.

Modular Open Online High School Benefits

Being many steps ahead of everyone else in Online/Distance Learning experience, Little Me Academy’s Modular Open Online High School poses a lot of benefits:

a) Rich experience: LMA has gone through the first years of intro-ducing a new platform and program. We are here to not adjust with the student but support and guide the learner towards his /her success.

b) Structured flexibility: A student can either move ahead or finish at a slower pace depending on his/her unique circumstance in accordance with DepEd’s policies (5 years in total to complete for Junior High School, while 3 years for Senior High School). Among the many students who can benefit from this program are students who frequently travel with parents, competitive athletes, musicians and performance artists, housebound students, OFWs who want to finish high school, students who work, students who prefer learning from home independently, and students who have fallen behind or want to get ahead.

c) Individualized support and asynchronous learning environment: Students do not have to worry about synchronizing his/her schedule with classmates or those in the group. This allows for more time with modules that may require more attention and effort. Further, the courses do not have to align with DepEd Kto 12 curriculum in the classroom in toto but are based on the Essential Learning Competencies adjusted to suit learning outside classroom instruction and very minimal teacher supervision;

d) College Preparation: Since courses are broken into modules or units, students are pre-oriented to work like College Students and expected to have the self-discipline to complete their work on time or as scheduled. The resemblance will give them a glimpse of College life.

Face-To-Face Class Benefits

We must never forget how wonderful it is to forge relationships face-to-face. Over the years, traditional in-person or face-to-face learning has given us these benefits and still will:

a) Networking and socializing: This gives students space for a real-life human interaction with another person where they exchange handshakes and conversation especially after a sudden lockdown and prohibitions of social gatherings. Students will have the opportunity to connect with, problem-solve, and network with other students from a wide range of backgrounds.

b) Engagement and focus: With face-to-face classes, students are usually in a classroom with the teacher, where the teacher implements

strategies to keep the students involved and engaged as possible because it retains their attention and will most definitely encourage better results. Students are able to concentrate harder on learning because there’ll be less distraction and they can gain greater understanding, stories and real-world examples from teachers and other students. Further, students may feel more comfortable and learn more easily in a familiar, traditional classroom situation.

c) Discussion: A lot of great things can come by being in a room with other people wanting to learn. A student can access more information and richer understanding through the teacher and other students’ body language and voice.

d) Ability to have immediate 1-to-1 if any problem arises:

Every student will be different, some are very independent in the sense that if they have a problem, they will eventually solve it themselves with no problem. However, there are a lot of students who need to be shown or have something explained because they do not understand it. If a problem arises when students are in a face-to-face class, they can simply ask the teacher to explain it better so they know what is going on.

e) Build speaking skills: Traditional classes build public speaking skills even if they don’t seem like it. Answering questions, working with peers and giving public presentations are only a few things face-to-face classes offer to strengthen social skills.