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Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok

Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok

as a Health Resource for Homeschooling

When homeschooling, one of the biggest challenges is making health education both accurate and engaging. Traditional textbooks can feel clinical or disconnected from everyday life, especially for younger learners. This is where the Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok book series shines—it blends storytelling with practical health lessons in a way that feels natural and relatable, and culturally grounded with each story often set in a typical Filipino family setting.

How we use Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok

We’ve been integrating the Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok book series in our homeschooling lesson plan for many years now. You don’t have to start at the first book. You can dive into what your child is interested in or what’s happening in your life at the moment. For example, when their lolo and lola’s house got flooded during a typhoon, we chose to read “Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok #18: Lagot! Baka May Lepto Sa Baha!”. When our youngest was diagnosed with asthma, we read “Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok #15: Nakupo! Hinihika si Hermie!”. Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok touches on several different health topics.

There are plenty of ways you can use the Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok series at home. What we like to do is read and narrate first. Each book is written in Filipino and English, so you can pick which translation is more suitable for you. After reading, our kids usually make a “keeping” about the topic. They like making comics or infographics about the topic. Sometimes, we also watch a short online video relevant to the topic. You can also do a demonstration of what you’ve learned. Some examples may be practicing proper handwashing, learning the best practices in managing a particular illness, or what to do to prevent spreading infectious diseases.

Here is a feedback from one of our kids: “Tito Dok covers a variety of medical issues, from diseases, broken bones, dog bites, worms and ticks, and even pregnancy. The stories are told creatively, being told from outside the human first, then moving inside the body as we watch the organs — which are now talking characters — fight the illness and react to the medicine. Once the patient is well recovered and the story is nearly over, we then learn how to prevent the catching and/or spreading of the disease. The text is also available in English and Filipino in a single book, making it possible to use it as a language learning resource.” – I (12 years old)

Other ideas on how to use Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok
  1. Read Together (Day 1–2)
    Read one story aloud or let your child read independently, depending on their level. Pause occasionally to ask:
    “What do you think will happen next?”
    “Why did the character feel that way?”

    This builds comprehension while setting up the health lesson.
  1. Discuss the Health Lesson (Day 2–3)
    After finishing the story, talk about the key message. For example:
    Hygiene (handwashing, dental care)
    Nutrition (balanced meals, hydration)
    Safety (first aid, avoiding accidents)

    Encourage your child to explain the lesson in their own words.
  1. Apply in Real Life (Day 3–5)
    Turn the lesson into action:
    Practice proper handwashing techniques
    Plan a simple healthy meal together
    Create a daily hygiene checklist

    This step is crucial—health education sticks when practiced.
  1. Extend with Activities (Optional)
    Reinforce learning through creative work:
    Drawing scenes from the story
    Role-playing doctor-patient scenarios
    Writing a short “health tip” inspired by the story

Using Mga Kwento ni Tito Dok as a homeschool health curriculum is about making the topics come alive. The stories create a bridge between knowledge and practice, helping learners understand them with the help of their imagination. Tito Dok makes health education understandable, relatable, and memorable. With discussion, and real-life application, these stories can shape lifelong healthy habits—one engaging lesson at a time.

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A Living Book About Lapu-Lapu

Finally, we found a living book about Lapu-Lapu! When we started homeschooling two schoolyears ago and began planning our curriculum for Philippine History, we wanted to go through it in chronological order. We figured we’d start with alamat — then go pre-colonial — then the Spanish invasion — then the revolution — and so on.

For Year 1, we focused on Philippine Legends and mga alamat. There are a lot books and resources on these. The Philippines is rich on different stories that have been passed down from generation to generation. There are countless legends with countless versions; stories about fruits, about certain places like mountains and lakes, animals, and many more.  For Year 2, we started our journey in pre-colonial Philippines. This is where our challenge of finding good books and resources started. We read books like First Around the Globe, Si Diwayen, Noong Bago Dumating ang mga Espanyol, Enrique El Negro, An Introduction to Philippine History, and Si Ambongan. Yes, all these are great books and the kids really enjoyed reading them, but we felt like we wanted to immerse them more in pre-colonial history. We specifically wanted to learn more about Lapu-Lapu. So, we finished all these books before the schoolyear ended. At the time, we couldn’t find more living books about this era so we decided to jump ahead to the early Spanish era and read books like Mother Ignacia and Si Segunda, Noong Panahon ng mga Espanyol during the latter part of the schoolyear.

Fast forward to today, the beginning of Year 3 (SY 2021-2022) — we already have our book list partially planned, still with the intention to focus on Philippine precolonial history. Our list is as follows: Manila My Manila by Nick Joaquin, Prehistoric Philippines by Ambeth R. Ocampo, The Other Philippine History Textbook 1 by Christine L. Diaz, Stories Rarely Told 2 by Augusto V. de Viana, Barangay by William Henry Scott, Filipino Prehistory by F. Landa Jocano, and Readings in Philippine History Honoracio de la Costa, S.J. These are all excellent resources by very well respected authors and historians. Then a book club mate mentions this book — Lapu-Lapu: The Bisayan by Sofronio B.Ursal. It is a historical fiction book that presents an imagined biography of Lapu-Lapu. It is fiction based heavily on historical facts and research by many other historians, very much like Enrique el Negro by Carla M. Pacis. We have it now and after pre-reading it we feel that this is a book the kids are going to enjoy, much like how they enjoyed reading Enrique el Negro and First Around the Globe. On top of that it references many other Philippine history books including some that are on our original book list. We are so happy to come across this book and very much looking forward to reading this with the kids.

List of aforementioned books with links:

Lapu-Lapu: The Bisayan by Sofronio B. Ursal

Philippine Legends

First Around the Globe by Reni Roxas and Marc Singer

Si Diwayen, Noong Bago Dumating ang mga Espanyol

Enrique El Negro by Carla M. Pacis

Si Ambongan

Manila My Manila by Nick Joaquin

Prehistoric Philippines by Ambeth R. Ocampo

The Other Philippine History Textbook 1 by Christine L. Diaz

Stories Rarely Told 2 by Augusto V. de Viana

Barangay by William Henry Scott

Readings in Philippine History Honoracio de la Costa, S.J.

An Introduction to Philippine History by Jose S. Arcilla

Filipino Prehistory by F. Landa Jocano – *message us so we can help you get your copy