Day In the Life with Tina: What Does Homeschooling in the Philippines look like?
Here’s a little look at the Day in the Life of Tina, mama to a 13, 10, 6, 3 and 1 year old. At Learning Well, we understand that homeschooling doesn’t look the same for all of us. We understand it doesn’t have to either for us to learn and glean good things from each other. Each Wednesday, on our Instagram feed, we feature a new homeschool mama to take over the feed and show us what her day looks like.
Some of us homeschool for religious reasons and that inspires our homeschool days. Some of us homeschool from the road and never do school in the same place twice. We might have been homeschooling for years and years. Or we may have just begun our journeys. We understand that those details don’t really matter though. The common thread that binds us all together is our desires to educate our children differently.
We might all homeschool differently, but we can always look for ideas from each other that inspire, encourage and equip us in our own homeschool days.
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So, each week, we create blog posts for you to access later of each of those “days in the life”. We hope you keep coming back for more inspiration. Keep going, mama! These days at home are so worth it!
Day in the Life of Homeschool Mama Tina
{MEET TINA} Hey friends! One of my most favorite things about curating this feed is “meeting” mamas around the world that are schooling their kids at home just like I’m doing. It makes the world feel a little smaller. You may have noticed #lwdayinthelife is a bit different today. We’re starting late in the day because our featured mama is located in the Philippines! So excited to see her day! Follow along and show her some love. Here’s more from Tina @tinasrodriguez:
Tina is a self-professed “media missionary” who loves God, her husband, her 5 kids, books, and dark chocolate. She believes in passion-led, purpose-filled, lifelong learning. This is mainly because she comes from a medical background but is now pursuing her childhood passions as a writer, editor, and occasional resource speaker. It’s also why she and her husband homeschool their kids, in the hope that each of them will more ably discover their passions and God’s purpose for their lives.
Tina aims to help people discover and grow the “riches” they already have via Truly Rich and Blessed (www.trulyrichandblessed.home.blog), and is also one of the #crazyhomeschoolingmoms who organize the #PhilippineHomeschoolConvention. She and her husband are also the founders of “ROCKERS (Roman Catholics Keeping Education Real) Philippines,” a group supporting Catholic Filipino homeschoolers since 2011.
Good morning from the beautiful province of Bulacan in the Philippines! This is Tina @tinasrodriguez, and I’m still overwhelmed at the fact that Alicia has invited me to share a day in our homeschool life with you all!
It’s 7:30am here and the kids are still asleep. I always try to start my day in prayer and reading Scripture. We’re a Catholic family, and our faith is the one thing that anchors our homeschooling journey.
After my prayer time, I try to squeeze in some work (I work from home—and anywhere else as long as there’s Internet—as a writer, editor for a children’s inspirational magazine, content creator and manager). It’s always easier to work when the kids are asleep!
Our five kids’ ages are almost 13, 10, 6, 3, and 1. So in this current season of life, my husband and I are thankful that our bigger kids are so helpful with chores and caring for the littles!
It took a while for us to discover what homeschooling philosophy/method/style works for our family but now I am not ashamed to say that we are a Catholic “classical unschooling” family. Any other mamas here who work from home while homeschooling? Anyone else who calls themselves “classical unschoolers”?
It’s almost 10am here in the Philippines and all the kids are up! They usually wake up in “batches” between 8am and 9am — depending on our activities the day before. This morning, it was the youngest two who got up first, followed by the two oldest. Our third child was still a bit sleepy when I took the last photo.
The kids usually spend a brief time outdoors before coming in for breakfast… or at least, I try to make sure that they do! Then they come in for breakfast with my parents. We are blessed to be living with my senior citizen aged parents here in the province. We moved here last December, and it has been really good for the kids especially! Homeschooling is so much easier when you have a loving, understanding “village” around you… and here in the Philippines, living with extended family members is quite the norm.
Also part of our morning routine, praying the Morning Offering and saying “Good morning” to Jesus! Ideally, I would prefer reading aloud to the kids during breakfast, and we used to do that when we still lived in the city. But in this season of life when my parents are part of our everyday routine, I just let what I consider my “ideal” go, and go with the flow! So breakfast is focused on family conversations (and sometimes, dealing with sibling squabbles and tantrums). Just #keepingitreal here!
Everyone is still gathered around the table for breakfast as I post this, and I count it a blessing that we get to spend time together this way.
Our older kids usually gravitate to reading books of their choice before and after breakfast. The younger kids usually play and build/create things. I used to worry about this because we would usually finish breakfast so late or end up having brunch even if that wasn’t the original plan! However I try not to worry now. I have been reading and learning more about unschooling lately, so I am trying to be more supportive of their interests. Even if sometimes their current interests and books might be considered “twaddle” or “fluff” to others!
I must admit that while I call us “classical unschoolers,” I am still in the process of diving more deeply into it. I’m still learning and reading more about it.
As I post this, the baby has just fallen asleep in my arms after breastfeeding, and the other kids are back outside playing after praying the Noon Angelus. We are taking advantage of sunny days because it has been raining a lot this month. The truth is dengue fever is very common here in the Philippines so sometimes I am torn between letting them play outdoors at all hours and keeping them inside!
It’s 2:30pm Philippine time. I’ve called the kids to come inside because it is really really hot outside. We’ve had lunch and it’s time for our daily family prayertime. We are Catholics, so we pray spontaneously (when we use our own words), and four decades of the Holy Rosary (we pray the fifth decade at night with my husband, who travels to Manila for work). We used to have this in the morning but since we are usually busy with chores too, we do it after lunch. At 3pm we also usually pray the Divine Mercy chaplet. So some days, like today, our family prayer time flows into what is supposedly our “3 o’clock habit.”
These photos show our usual “prayer and reading spot” in our living room. We have our readaloud time/“Together Time” after our prayer time. I usually sit and nurse the baby in the rocking chair while we pray and while I read aloud to the kids (yes, even the almost 13-year-old). The older kids have their own “assigned” books to read on their own time. Though I plan to do more strewing than assigning starting this October!
Here is our stack of current devotionals and read alouds, though I always feel like there are “too many books, too little time.” You might notice that there are a lot of picture books. Even our “big” kids appreciate them, and I don’t really see why not! They also love chapter books and books for kids their age or older!
At this moment of posting, the kids are taking a bath because they are really sweaty and hot from playing outside. We will get to our prayer time and readaloud time when we can! What comforts me is the knowledge that as long as our kids love the Lord, love to learn, and are given the tools for learning well, they will surely grow into the men and women God wants them to be! All by God’s grace, of course! After all, our measure of homeschooling “success” is not based on what our kids know, but how much they care. So we always try to focus on Matthew 6:33, and emphasize #characterovercurriculum. Our goal is #heavennotHarvard , though if God calls our kids to go to Harvard, too, why not, right?!
Thoughts at 6pm Philippine time: When Alicia asked me to do this Day in the Life, she asked me to describe our homeschool in a few words, and here they are: Christ-centered, Catholic, relaxed, unschooly, lifeschooling, #characterovercurriculum#heavennotharvard .
In fact, yesterday I was with a few homeschooling mommy friends who are Charlotte Mason and classical homeschoolers, and they were sharing about what they have been doing with their kids. One of them asked me if we were still “doing Charlotte Mason” because there was a time when I tried to apply her philosophy of education to our homeschooling. I shrugged, smiled, and said, “Hmmm… I’m not anymore. I’m doing life with the kids.” I used to be ashamed that Charlotte Mason and classical homeschooling didn’t “work” for us. Now, I am learning to embrace unschooling/lifeschooling (especially after attending the online lifeschooling conference by Danielle Papageorgiou and her family). I am particularly drawn to “classical unschooling,” as mentioned earlier, so I am learning more about it as we do life together as a family.
Sharing pics & videos of the kids’ other activities today: Helping their grandfather with the chickens (they usually feed them daily at 5pm)
Earlier today, we moved to our bedroom for our prayer/devotional/read-aloud time because it was too hot in the living room (33 degrees celsius). The kids also made different “creations” with stickers, paper, and tape. With a very cute baby distracting them!
Before lunch, the older kids usually try to practice playing violin. After lunch is for playtime outside or chores or both. Lately though, my mom has someone come in regularly to help with chores. I’m not gonna lie—it definitely is a big blessing to have extra helping hands! Did you know that in many Filipino families, having household help is actually a common thing? We are used to NOT having help though, and we make sure that the kids still help out by doing their own chores. It’s all part of life, yes?! And preparing them for the real world where everyone pitches in and “works”!
It’s almost 8pm here in the Philippines and the big kids have chosen to do math using their Life of Fred books. Earlier everyone had dinner at around 6pm after praying the evening Angelus (a Catholic prayer), except the two youngest who were still napping. Now, they’re awake and hungry, so it’s time for us to eat!
The pictures here show our second readaloud time for today: poetry, saint stories, Catholic tales, and a story about Martial Law in the Philippines. Sept 21 was the anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, and it’s important to us because both my parents were activists against Martial Law. My mom was a political prisoner for a time. Also shown are some of the locally published books we use.
One of the “classical” things we do as unschoolers is memory work. I learned the importance of memorization from the book “The Classical Unschooler” by Purva Brown. During our daily “Together Time”, we try to memorize scripture verses, hymns, poetry, math songs, and statements from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I say “try” because it’s not a big deal with me if the kids don’t end up memorizing everything.
We also try to include classical music appreciation and art appreciation during “Together Time.” We are not that consistent but again, it’s no biggie! What we hope for is that the kids will soak in all the truth, goodness, and beauty of everyday life, living with the goal of pleasing God alone!
It’s 10:30pm in the Philippines. I mentioned in Stories that I had totally forgotten about the big kids’ music classes in Manila tomorrow, so I ended up cooking their “baon” (Filipino for packed food) around 9:30pm after washing the dishes. This is so I don’t have to do it early tomorrow morning. My husband got home around 9:30pm too, so he ate dinner and helped me in the kitchen. He works in Manila and travels daily to work, usually getting home around 9pm.
We are both blessed with great jobs and bosses, and my husband works in a media ministry and has flexible working hours. Sometimes, he works from home like I do. On days when the kids have activities in Manila with other homeschoolers, like yesterday when they played Praxis and learned about financial literacy, we travel with my husband when he goes to work. It usually takes us around 1-2 hours, depending on the traffic.
Since we moved here to Bulacan last year, we don’t join as many Manila-based homeschool activities/events as we used to. But that’s totally okay. Right now, the only regular activities are on Fridays: music classes in Manila for the two big kids, and ballet class here in Bulacan for the 6-year-old.
I don’t think we would still be on this homeschooling journey if my husband did not support and understand me (and the kids)! I have wanted to give up many, many times… but he always reminds me of our whys. He helps keep me sane especially during the craziest days. Thank God for supportive spouses! This is why I am also in awe of all the solo parents who homeschool! Hats off to you!
I also have to give proper credit to my parents, my mother-in-law, and our homeschooling friends who totally support us. They have seen us through the toughest times, like me dealing with what seemed to be postpartum depression, two kids’ newborn health & weight gain issues, financial problems, our youngest’s premature birth & health issues, and more! I am truly grateful for our homeschooling village!
It’s a bit past midnight here in the Philippines as I post this. My last post for the day! The kids are all asleep, and I’m about to sleep too, or at least try to! If I can’t, I’ll try to do a bit of work. Our bedtime routine usually consists of family night prayers with my husband joining us, and books—readalouds for the littles who still sleep in our room, audio classic books for the big ones who sleep in a separate room.
My husband and I try to take turns reading aloud every night to our older kids, too, but need to be more consistent!
These are our most recent “decent” family photos. The first picture was taken at this year’s #PhilippineHomeschoolConvention . It’s an event that I help organize with three homeschooling mom friends. The second picture was taken at our big kids’ Confirmation and First Holy Communion rites last year. Their Catechism teachers are homeschoolers, too!
I’ve also included some of the books that currently inspire our homeschooling journey. (The one on top is my Bible.) I haven’t finished all of them yet. Not shown are “Homeschooling with Gentleness: A Catholic Discovers Unschooling” and “The Classical Unschooler.”
Also pictured are more books that we use during “Together Time”. We don’t use them daily but we try to be consistent. I try to strew things like Latin and Shakespeare books but more often than not, I invite the kids to go through them with me.
And pictured again, more books that we have been using for bedtime read alouds. We weren’t able to get to any of them today though, since I had to prepare for the kids’ lunch for tomorrow. The kids watched a Harry Potter movie with my parents instead!
Here’s some thoughts on connecting with your teens through books.
Thanks again for joining me today. It has been an honor to share our day with you! If you ever visit the Philippines, do let me know! Maybe we can meet up and share homeschooling stories!
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