HOMESCHOOLING HAS BECOME MORE POPULAR IN THE PHILIPPINES, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE OF THE PAST COVID-19 PANDEMIC. FAMILIES CHOOSE TO HOMESCHOOL FOR DIFFERENT REASONS. FOR OUR FAMILY, IT’S ALL BECAUSE OF FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE.
TINA SANTIAGO RODRIGUEZ
“If you want your children to grow up pro-God, pro-family, and pro-life, homeschool them.”
I still remember these paraphrased words from Brian Clowes, a pro-life advocate from Human Life International. He spoke at a pro-life conference my husband and I attended in the Philippines back in 2006. At the time, I was pregnant with our first child, and we were serving as full-time lay missionaries abroad. We had returned to Manila for training and conferences, unaware that God was about to plant something life-changing in our hearts.
Those words became the seed of a calling.
Homeschooling wasn’t common in the Philippines at the time. We didn’t know where to start, especially with limited internet access and being based outside the country. But the call was clear. Over time, the conviction grew deeper. After much prayer, discernment, and research, my husband and I have taken on the role of primary educators for our children.
Fast forward nearly twenty years—by God’s mercy and grace, we are still homeschooling. We have six living children and one in heaven. What began as a seed of inspiration has blossomed into a way of life—a journey rooted in faith, hope, and love.
Faith
My husband and I grew up as nominal Catholics—until we encountered Christ more personally through a Catholic charismatic youth community. That experience deepened our faith and changed our lives.
Still, I often wonder how different things might have been if we had encountered God more deeply at a younger age. As a teenager and young adult, I led a dark, “double life”—but that story is for another time.
Now, as parents, our deepest desire is for our children to know and love Jesus from an early age—to experience the richness of the Catholic faith and cultivate a personal relationship with Him. While it’s undoubtedly possible outside a homeschool setting, we’ve found that homeschooling makes this more intentional. It gives us the time and space to build our family life around our faith.
HOMESCHOOLING PROVIDES US MANY OPPORTUNITIES TO PRACTICE ‘LITURGICAL LIVING,’ I.E., LIVING OUT THE BEAUTIFUL TRADITIONS AND TEACHINGS OF OUR CATHOLIC FAITH. THIS INCLUDES PLAYING ‘MASS,’ OR CELEBRATING ALL SAINTS’ DAY BY DRESSING UP AS SAINTS, AND SO ON.
Hope
We live in uncertain times. The news is often filled with conflict, tragedy, and despair. It’s easy to feel hopeless about the future. But we choose not to give in to that.
And we don’t want our children to grow up fearful or discouraged. Instead, we want to raise them to see the good in people, to trust in God’s plans, and to believe in the beauty of their future. By centering our education around Christ and the values of our home, we strive to nurture a spirit of hope within them, one that carries them through life’s storms with confidence in God’s promises.
Homeschooling is, for us, the most consistent way to instill this hope in our children.
WE DO OUR BEST TO TEACH OUR KIDS THAT THE GIFT OF HOPE IS MEANT TO BE SHARED WITH OTHERS. THAT’S WHY WE INCLUDE REGULAR ACTS OF SERVICE AND CHARITY IN OUR HOMESCHOOLING PROJECTS.’ IN THIS PHOTO TAKEN YEARS AGO, OUR TWO DAUGHTERS ARE DISTRIBUTING LOOT BAGS TO CHILDREN IN AN ORPHANAGE.
Love
All parents are called to love their children—and to teach them how to love God and others. But love isn’t just a feeling or even a virtue. It’s the very reason we exist.
Our ultimate goal isn’t to raise kids who simply “do well” in life, but rather to raise them who “love well”—with generous, faithful, God-centered hearts.
I’m reminded of Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J., in his article “The Teaching of the Catholic Church on Home Schooling—Parents For Eternal Life”:
Parents’ responsibility to educate their children is primary. This means it is their first responsibility. It is primordial; it is inalienable; it is almost impossible to provide an adequate substitute. … What [children] mainly need is to know why God made them; why they are on earth at all… that they are here in this life to prepare and train themselves for the world to come. … They are to be trained for heaven.
What better way to train our children for heaven than to teach them to love?
At the core of everything we do—our lessons, prayers, service, and daily routines—is the desire to raise children who seek God with all their hearts (Matthew 6:33).
WE HOMESCHOOL WITH HEAVEN AS OUR ULTIMATE GOAL, AND WE ASK MARY AND ST. JOSEPH TO BE OUR GUIDE ALONG THE WAY.
At the Heart
This is the heart of our homeschooling journey: faith that grounds us, hope that sustains us, and love that moves us forward.
“So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
FAITH, HOPE, AND LOVE ARE OUR MAIN REASONS TO KEEP HOMESCHOOLING OUR CHILDREN, EVEN AFTER SO MANY YEARS,
And so, we continue—nurturing the seeds planted all those years ago, trusting in the One who called us, and walking hand-in-hand with our children toward the eternal home that awaits.
Oh wow. I am simply awed by what you have done. Faith, hope, and love have been your guideposts along the way. Incredible journey! Thank you for sharing!!!