This is Part 4 of our homeschool series. So far we’ve covered what homeschooling actually is, gotten honest about the pros, cons, and how to start, and shared what homeschooling while traveling actually looks like for us day to day. We promised you the specifics next — the actual curriculum, providers, and tools in our homeschool bag. Here they are.
A quick caveat before we dive in: every homeschooling family in the Philippines ends up with a slightly different mix, because so much depends on your kids’ ages, your travel schedule, and whether you want DepEd accreditation. What follows is what’s working for us right now, not a claim that it’s the only way — or even the best way for your family. Take what’s useful and leave the rest.
Why We Went With a DepEd-Accredited Provider
When we were researching how to start (back in Part 2), one decision came up early: go fully independent and design our own curriculum from scratch, or enroll with a DepEd-accredited homeschool provider that handles the paperwork, record-keeping, and eventual transition back into traditional school or college if our kids ever want that door open. We chose the accredited route through Homeschool Global Philippines, largely because of flexibility: they let you choose from a few different curriculum tracks — including an open curriculum you build yourself and a structured option built on BJU Press materials — rather than locking you into one system. For a family that’s on the road as often as we are, that flexibility mattered more than almost anything else.
Accreditation also gave us peace of mind for the boring-but-important stuff: report cards, a permanent record, and DepEd recognition of the school year, so Kaylee’s education is documented the same way it would be if she were in a classroom in Tagbilaran instead of a hammock in Panglao.
What’s Actually in Our Homeschool Bag
We mentioned our “portable school bag” in Part 3. Here’s what’s actually inside it, subject by subject:
- Math and Language Arts: Workbook-based lessons from our provider’s curriculum track, done in short daily sessions rather than long blocks. Short and consistent beats long and rare when your afternoon might get swapped for a boat ride.
- Bible: A children’s Bible Kaylee reads from directly, paired with a simple family devotional we go through most mornings. This is non-negotiable for us — it’s the anchor Deuteronomy 6:6-7 talks about, the part of the day that happens “when you sit at home and when you walk along the road.”
- Reading: A rotating stack of physical books matched to whatever Kaylee is currently interested in — sea creatures after a snorkeling trip, Philippine folklore after visiting a heritage town. We’ve learned that a book she chose herself gets read; a book we assigned mostly doesn’t.
- Science and Social Studies: Mostly unit studies built around wherever we are — the geology of the Chocolate Hills, the marine life on a house reef, the history behind an old church we’re visiting. We keep a simple list of “destination + topic” pairings so we’re not improvising from zero every time.
- Filipino and Bisaya: Practiced conversationally more than academically — with hotel staff, tricycle drivers, and market vendors — supplemented with a basic workbook for reading and writing.
- Journal and sketchbook: One notebook, no rules. Some days it’s a paragraph about what we saw; some days it’s just a drawing of a sea turtle. This is where a lot of the “unschooling” side of our approach lives.
Staying Screen-Free When the Wifi Isn’t Cooperating
We mentioned in Part 3 that spotty internet in parts of Bohol and other islands we visit makes anything requiring reliable wifi a gamble. That pushed us toward resources that don’t need a connection at all:
- Printed workbooks over apps. We print or buy physical workbook pages in batches before a trip, so a dead signal never means a canceled lesson.
- Educational board games and card games. These travel well, need zero battery, and sneak in math and vocabulary practice without feeling like “school.”
- Nature-based learning. Scavenger hunts, shell and leaf identification, and simple science observation — Bohol gives us more natural material to work with than any textbook could.
- Downloaded resources before we travel. When we do need something digital — an ebook, a video, a reference — we download it while we still have a strong connection, rather than counting on having one later.
What We Tried and Dropped
In the interest of being honest, as always: we tried running a full online, video-based curriculum early on, and it didn’t survive contact with our actual travel schedule. Between unreliable wifi and the awkwardness of syncing to a set class time while island-hopping, it created more stress than structure. We also tried a very detailed, hour-by-hour daily schedule, which looked great on paper and lasted about a week before real life rearranged it. What’s replaced both is looser and more resilient: workbook-based core subjects we can do anywhere, anchored by the same Bible time every morning, with everything else built around whatever the day’s destination has to teach us.
A Word on Cost
We get asked about this a lot, so in the spirit of transparency: DepEd-accredited homeschool providers in the Philippines commonly range from roughly ₱15,000 on the low end to ₱75,000 or more per school year, depending on the provider, curriculum track, and grade level. That’s a real cost to budget for, on top of workbooks, books, and supplies. It’s worth shopping around and asking providers directly for a current quote, since pricing and packages change from year to year.
Why We Keep Coming Back to 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” That verse is why Bible time isn’t just one more subject on our list — it’s the lens the other subjects get viewed through. A science lesson about coral reefs becomes a chance to talk about creation. A hard travel day becomes a chance to practice patience and gratitude out loud. The curriculum equips the mind; we want Scripture equipping the heart alongside it.
If You’re Building Your Own Toolkit
If you’re a Philippines-based family considering this for your own kids, our honest advice is to start smaller than you think you need to. Pick one accredited provider, one simple daily rhythm, and one non-negotiable (ours is Bible time), then let the rest take shape as you actually live it. You’ll adjust more in your first three months than any amount of planning ahead of time could predict — and that’s normal, not a sign you’re doing it wrong.
That’s the real, unfiltered version of what’s in our homeschool bag right now. It’ll keep evolving as Kaylee and Kaeden grow and as our travel schedule changes — and we’ll keep sharing updates here as it does. If you have questions about any of this, or you’re on your own homeschool-while-traveling journey and want to compare notes, reach out through our Let’s Connect page. We’d love to hear from you.
— Kristian & Nichelle
