TL;DR: Homeschooling in the Philippines runs under DepEd Order No. 001, s. 2022, which treats it as an Alternative Delivery Mode that a school (not a family directly) must be permitted to offer. Private schools need a Permit to Offer from their Schools Division Office; public schools need Regional Office authorization. Learners enrolled through a permitted provider get a standard LRN, take the same NCAE and NAT assessments as regular students, and transfer records the normal way, through DepEd's Learner Information System, not by hand-carrying documents. Families homeschooling independently, without a permitted provider, have no automatic DepEd report card trail and instead use the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) to convert their child's learning into a recognized grade level.
Most of the confusion around homeschooling in the Philippines isn't about whether it's legal, it clearly is, but about what DepEd actually requires to make a child's homeschool record count. This guide breaks down DepEd Order No. 001, s. 2022, the provider-versus-independent split covered in our main homeschooling guide, how the Learner Reference Number and Form 137/SF10 records actually work for homeschoolers, how assessment and promotion happen, and what a family needs to do when a homeschooled child moves into a regular school. Every rule below traces to a specific DepEd issuance, linked in Sources.
What Is the Legal Basis for Homeschooling in the Philippines?
Homeschooling operates as a recognized Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) under DepEd Order No. 001, s. 2022, the "Revised Policy Guidelines on Homeschooling Program," dated January 21, 2022. It builds on earlier laws, Republic Act No. 9155 (the Governance of Basic Education Act) and Republic Act No. 10533 (the Enhanced Basic Education Act, the K-12 law), which gave DepEd the authority to regulate alternative pathways to basic education. DepEd reiterated the same order in later memoranda, including a 2024 reiteration circulated by division offices, confirming the 2022 guidelines remain the current policy as of school year 2025-2026.
The key structural point families often miss: the school, not the family, is what DepEd permits. A family does not apply to DepEd directly to homeschool; they enroll with a school (public or private) that has been permitted to run a Homeschooling Program.
Does a School Need DepEd Permission to Offer Homeschooling?
Yes. Under DO 001, s. 2022, a private school must secure a Permit to Offer the Homeschooling Program from its Schools Division Office (SDO) before it can legally enroll homeschool learners and issue DepEd-recognized records. A public school offering the program instead needs authorization from its DepEd Regional Office. DepEd's own announcement on the order states plainly that private schools need "a Permit to Offer the program," while public schools require Regional Office sign-off.
In practice, this permit is issued per school, by region and division, not as one master national list, which is why parents researching a specific provider should ask the provider directly for proof of its current Permit to Offer rather than assume DepEd accreditation from marketing copy alone. DepEd NCR, for example, publishes its own running list of "Schools with Homeschooling Permit" by city for its region each school year; other regions maintain their own division-level records.
Disclaimer: permit status can change between school years and varies by Schools Division Office. Confirm a specific provider's current Permit to Offer directly with the provider or the relevant SDO before enrolling.
What Does DepEd Require Inside the Homeschooling Program?
Once a school is permitted, DO 001, s. 2022 sets requirements for how the program runs day to day:
| Requirement | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Homeschool Coordinator | The school head assigns a coordinator responsible for enrolling learners, monitoring progress, and supporting parents through implementation |
| Parent as primary agent | Parents/guardians are the primary agents of the teaching-learning process, including designing and executing lessons, per DepEd's own framing of the order |
| Learning materials | Learners must receive textbooks and modules in print or digital format |
| Learning space | A conducive learning space at home is a program requirement, not just a recommendation |
| Individual learning plan | Each learner needs a plan specifying learning areas, competencies, and learning tasks |
| System assessments | "All learners enrolled in the program shall take the National Career Assessment Examination (NCAE) and the National Achievement Test (NAT)" |
That last point matters because it directly answers a common question: homeschooled children under an accredited provider are not exempt from DepEd's system-wide assessments. NCAE and NAT results are used the same way they are for regular students, to gauge academic level and identify strengths and weaknesses, not as a pass/fail gate specific to homeschoolers.
How Does the LRN Work for Homeschooled Children?
A homeschooled learner enrolled through a permitted provider gets a Learner Reference Number the same way any DepEd learner does: on first entry into Kindergarten or Grade 1, generated by the enrolling school (in this case, the homeschool provider) and recorded in DepEd's Learner Information System (LIS). See our LRN guide for the full mechanics of how the number is structured and how transfers use it.
The complication shows up for independent homeschoolers, families who never formally enrolled a child anywhere. Without an enrolling school, no LRN gets generated automatically. These families typically only need to resolve the LRN question when their child is ready to sit the Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) or otherwise re-enter the formal system, at which point the receiving school or testing center can request one be issued through the Division Office.
How Does a Homeschooler's Report Card and Permanent Record Work?
A learner enrolled through a DepEd-permitted provider receives the same forms as any regular student: an SF9 report card each grading period and a cumulative Form 137/SF10 permanent record that follows them for life. These are issued by the provider (or, in partner-school arrangements common among online-leaning providers, by the DepEd-accredited partner school whose records the provider uses).
Independent homeschoolers without a provider have no equivalent institutional paper trail. Their pathway to an official, DepEd-recognized grade level or credential runs through an exam instead of accumulated report cards, most commonly the PEPT.
What Is PEPT and Who Actually Needs It?
The Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT) is DepEd's placement and equivalency exam for learners with an incomplete or nonexistent formal school record, administered by the Bureau of Education Assessment. It's the main tool independent homeschoolers use to convert self-directed learning into a DepEd-recognized standing, and it's also used more broadly for out-of-school youth and adults returning to the formal system.
- Who it's for: learners without a continuous, documented school record, most relevantly, children homeschooled independently rather than through a permitted provider.
- What it covers: five subject areas, English, Filipino, Science, Mathematics, and Araling Panlipunan.
- Passing standard: an examinee needs at least a 75% rating in every subject area at a given grade level to pass that level.
- What you get: a PEPT Certificate of Rating (COR), which schools use as the basis for grade-level placement or, at the appropriate level, entry requirements for further schooling.
- Registration documents typically required: an authenticated PSA birth certificate, any prior school records (Form 137/SF10) if they exist, ID photos, and the accomplished PEPT registration form.
Learners enrolled through an accredited provider generally do not need PEPT, they already have DepEd-recognized report cards accumulating year to year. PEPT exists specifically to fill the gap for those who don't.
Disclaimer: PEPT schedules, testing centers, and specific document requirements are announced periodically by DepEd's Bureau of Education Assessment and can change by year. Confirm the current administration's requirements directly with DepEd before registering.
How Does a Homeschooler Transfer to a Regular School?
This works the same way any DepEd transfer does, because a homeschooler's academic record, once it exists in the system, is treated like any other learner's record.
- The family enrolls the child at the receiving school, providing the child's LRN if known (from an old SF9, provider-issued ID, or the provider's registrar).
- The receiving school enrolls the learner in DepEd's Learner Information System (LIS), which automatically flags the transfer to the previous school or provider.
- The provider's registrar sends Form 137/SF10 directly to the receiving school, by mail, courier, or through the Schools Division Office. Under DepEd Order No. 54, s. 2016, "learners and parents are not allowed to hand-carry the Permanent Records (Form 137)" between schools, the same rule that applies to any regular-school transfer.
- The receiving school places the learner based on the transferred record (for provider-enrolled homeschoolers) or PEPT/A&E results (for independent homeschoolers without an existing record).
For a homeschooler moving from an independent setup with no provider, the practical order usually reverses: the family arranges PEPT (or, for older out-of-school learners, the ALS A&E Assessment) first to establish an official grade-level standing, then enrolls at the receiving school using the resulting Certificate of Rating or A&E Passer Certificate as the entry credential, since there's no prior Form 137 to transfer.
Practical Tips for Parents Navigating the Requirements
- Ask providers for their Permit to Offer, not just a DepEd logo on their website. A permit is issued per school, per Division Office; a general claim of "DepEd accreditation" isn't itself proof.
- Keep every SF9 report card. These are the fastest way to confirm your child's LRN and academic history if you switch providers or transfer to a regular school later.
- Don't assume independent homeschooling blocks re-entry into formal school. PEPT exists precisely so independent homeschoolers can convert their learning into a recognized grade level when they're ready to enroll elsewhere.
- Start PEPT paperwork early if you're going the independent route. Gathering an authenticated birth certificate and any partial school records takes time, and testing dates are periodic, not year-round.
- If a provider can't produce documentation of its Permit to Offer on request, treat that as a real red flag, not just an administrative gap.
Ready to find the right school? Browse schools or compare tuition and reviews across hundreds of Philippine schools on SchoolFinderPH.
Sources
- DepEd Order No. 001, s. 2022 — Revised Policy Guidelines on Homeschooling Program (official)
- DepEd — DepEd Strengthens Homeschooling Program Implementation, Regulation (official)
- DepEd NCR — Homeschooling Program, Schools with Homeschooling Permit SY 2025-2026 & 2026-2027
- DepEd — DM No. 098, s. 2025, Administration of the Regular Philippine Educational Placement Test (PEPT)
- The Filipino Homeschooler — PEPT: What Is It and Who Is It For?
- SchoolFinderPH — Is Homeschooling Legal in the Philippines? Complete Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — ALS Enrollment Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — Learner Reference Number (LRN) Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — Form 137 (SF10) Guide
- SchoolFinderPH — Homeschool Providers in the Philippines Compared
