New to Expat.com, but in the Philippines for a decade.

GuestPoster9673 wrote:

I have been in the Philippines with my wife and our daughter for almost a decade.

I am retired (semi).

My wife and daughter are both dual citizens of the United States and the Philippines.

We bought land on Panay and built a house there.

We plan to return to the U.S. in a few years for our daughter to attend college. My wife and I will be returning to the workforce at that time.

In the meantime we are "loving living" in the Philippines.

Good to hear and welcome to the forum!

Are you sure that the grade and high school education you give your child(ren) here will translate well in a college Stateside? The level of education here in general is really low, and doesn’t translate in good at every level (I taught at a college here and looked at others).

Interesting that you bought land and built a house on Panay?
We live in Iloilo and have been casting about for a decent lot from Maasin to Guimeras and in between. Living in Villa west of the city centre, we’ve been looking for about 4 months, but as we get further into it, it’s is discouraging at best.
Where did you end up building?

Glad to hear back on how things unfolded for you,...

Bruce

I am positive, since I home school. We have engaged in SAT diagnostics for the past year and my student is consistently above the 90th percentile. We already have a strategy devised for her U.S. high school diploma and are planning to do the SAT and possibly the ACT as well. She should be a college freshmen by the time she is 17. We even have a short list of Universities and specific programs. She has been a coder for a few years now and excels in mathematics.

I have taken a lot of standardized tests like the ACT, SAT, GMAT and have held a few tech certs in the past, so I have been teaching her strategies for test taking.

I don't think we will have any problem at all (other than sorting through all of the scholarships). 

As for buying and building, I have outlined the buying process here: philippinedestiny.com/2019/09/buying-land-in-philippines-subdivision-survey.html

That is the first in a multi-part series and links to other parts are included.

I have not written about building yet.

Thank you!

Welcome to the forum Philippine Destiny, informative info on your site.
I personally hope you contribute further here.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl wrote:

Welcome to the forum Philippine Destiny, informative info on your site.
I personally hope you contribute further here.

Cheers, Steve.

Thank you very much and I do hope to contribute more.

robal wrote:

Philippine Destiny wrote:

I have been in the Philippines with my wife and our daughter for almost a decade.

I am retired (semi).

My wife and daughter are both dual citizens of the United States and the Philippines.

We bought land on Panay and built a house there.

We plan to return to the U.S. in a few years for our daughter to attend college. My wife and I will be returning to the workforce at that time.

In the meantime we are "loving living" in the Philippines.

Good to hear and welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the welcome.

I had to delete my original account and I am back with this new one now.

Welcome, thank you for your contributions to the forum.. and raising a capable daughter, haha.

There are accredited universities here in Philippines and tuition is 1/10 of the US.

moonunit0103 wrote:

There are accredited universities here in Philippines and tuition is 1/10 of the US.

I just finished (2 years ago) paying the four year college tuition for a relative here in the Philippines who is now a teacher.

1/10 the tuition is an exaggeration. And it is all relative. Quality is very wide ranging.

And the term "accredited" needs to be explained. Accredited by whom? The accreditation may not meet the requirements of our specific plan (if it did then I would have a different plan).

When you add in the grants and scholarships that we will have at US universities the cost may be less than even the cheapest Philippine university. It may actually be free.

We also have a good idea of the job field after graduation. A US degree will make getting a job with US employers go smoother. Many employers, particularly my former employer, require foreign degrees to be evaluated by a 3rd party service. And there is no guarantee of a pass.

Our daughter might actually go to the same university that I graduated from and maybe even through the same program, since it is now 100% online. I could then help her get a job with my former employer.

We have our plan all mapped out from primary/secondary through college and all the way to the workforce.

We have been living in the Philippines and homeschooling here for ten years and are now in the high school phase.

https://www.philippinedestiny.com/2019/ … pines.html

How was homeschooling?  I would like to know more about experience.

What University did you attend?  US University have become feminist indoctrination camps.  Nice girls from good homes go away to college now and come back with green hair, tattoos, etc.

Not sure if I would pay for college unless it was STEM.  My daughters became a dental hygienist and the other a chiropractor.  In the US, many college grads are saddled with huge school loans, yet are waiting tables, unable to find a career in Gender Studies.

moonunit0103 wrote:

How was homeschooling?  I would like to know more about experience.

What University did you attend?  US University have become feminist indoctrination camps.  Nice girls from good homes go away to college now and come back with green hair, tattoos, etc.

Not sure if I would pay for college unless it was STEM.  My daughters became a dental hygienist and the other a chiropractor.  In the US, many college grads are saddled with huge school loans, yet are waiting tables, unable to find a career in Gender Studies.

This is my homeschool article:
https://www.philippinedestiny.com/2019/ … pines.html

I majored in Business Information Systems. I came out of college with $0 in loans. I was eligible for grants and scholarships and worked two jobs through most of it with one of my employers paying the tuition for about a year.

I understand the state of university politics. Colleges and universities have been left leaning since at least   the 1960s (long before that honestly). STEM is not immune.

We like the more rural state universities. We are also looking at online programs where we can live in any part of a particular state and still get in-state rates. One in particular is affordable even if attending from the Philippines. It started out as a two year school and began offering bachelors'. They serve the military community, so they began a robust set of online programs.

I am from Virginia, and am impressed with Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA. Is the largest online University in US.

I attended Virginia Tech undergraduate, Mercer University for Pharmacy, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry. 

I read your website about homeschooling. Very good information.

Is your wife Filipino?

It is looking like the powers that be are planning very bad things for Virginia. Lines are being formed.

Not sure what to make of it, but I have friends who are looking to move, one is interested in the Philippines.

Is your wife a Filipina? What drove your decision to move to Philippines?  I have been here 6 months this time, married, and have applied for a CR1 Visa for her to come to US. I am happy here, but have some medical issues that require that I be in the US.

moonunit0103 wrote:

Not sure what to make of it, but I have friends who are looking to move, one is interested in the Philippines.

Is your wife a Filipina? What drove your decision to move to Philippines?  I have been here 6 months this time, married, and have applied for a CR1 Visa for her to come to US. I am happy here, but have some medical issues that require that I be in the US.

What is happening in the US is happening everywhere.

Anyhow, my wife and daughter are both dual citizens of the US and the Philippines.