How Homeschooling Saved This Family Against All Odds

During a camping trip, Antonio Ramos noticed that his two oldest children, Pablo and Daniel, thrived by learning through movement and interaction with their environment, rather than sitting still in a classroom.

“Our kids are not meant for traditional school,” he told his wife, Karla O’Neill, in 2014 (the family lives in Puerto Rico). They started homeschooling their oldest child, 6-year-old Pablo, after the trip.

Karla knew it was the right decision. For two years, Pablo had endured awful experiences at school, including malicious actions from other children, potty training regression due to stress, and low self-esteem caused by humiliation from his teachers. She and Antonio had spent time trying to work with the teachers, appeal to the administration, and improve the situation, but nothing was helping.

“He used to have three therapy sessions per week,” Karla said. Now that he’s doing better, he doesn’t need to visit as frequently.

It was still tough to homeschool him because of the harmful impacts of his past experiences. Karla said Pablo believed what his teachers had told him: that he was stupid and he didn’t know anything.

Pablo is now 17, and his educational journey has improved significantly. “Homeschooling saved him,” Karla said, adding that it led him to a passion for history.

Unfortunately, this agonizing ordeal was only the start of what Karla’s family would face.

Starting From Scratch and Learning About Diabetes

Karla and Antonio continued homeschooling until Hurricane María swept through the streets in 2017.

“We had the most damage on the second floor, where we had our library,” Karla said. “The water came in from the windows, and all our books got wet. We had to start from scratch.”

The family was able to obtain new materials and continued with their homeschooling.

They later joined HSLDA. The Puerto Rican government was looking into regulating homeschooling because it had become more popular after Hurricane María and the COVID-19 pandemic. This worried Karla and Antonio, and they knew HSLDA’s legal advice for members could be invaluable. So they became members. 

Karla and Antonio's children: Pablo, Daniel, David, Adriana, Gemma, Misael, Judith, and Ana Cecilia.

In 2021, after Karla and Antonio had their eighth child—Ana Cecilia—they realized they needed more materials for their homeschooling. 

They applied for one of HSLDA’s Compassion Curriculum Grants, which they received, and used to buy two computers, a printer, and a membership for a multi-grade-level math program.

This was very helpful for them to continue homeschooling. It also gave them hope amidst a tough time for the family—one of their daughters, Judith, had been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at just 3 years old.  (Type 1 Diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease that prevents the pancreas from producing insulin, which leads to high blood sugar levels. It requires daily management with insulin injections and blood sugar monitoring.)

Karla and Antonio struggled to help Judith adapt to her condition. They worried constantly about her well-being.

“She could’ve died at any minute because of a drop in her blood sugar level,” Karla said. The family learned to adjust, in large part because of homeschooling.

“We don’t need to worry about sending her to school and explain her health condition to teachers who don’t know about Type 1 Diabetes,” Karla said. “My kids have also grown aware of the implications of their sister’s condition.”

For example, there are times when Judith’s siblings want to have Skittles, but they wait for the appropriate time to have them out of respect for Judith, said Karla. “We’ve had to reeducate ourselves as a family in terms of our eating habits.”

The Value of Life

In November of 2023, Karla suffered a miscarriage and almost lost her life. She was hospitalized two different times, resulting in multi-day hospital stays while Antonio took care of the rest of their children at home. “Because the children knew I had almost lost my life, Antonio reassured them that everything was going to be okay,” Karla said. 

When she was able to return home, she noticed her memory was failing, and she did not feel able to manage their homeschool anymore. She even considered enrolling all her children in public school. But the family found a way to make it work.

The Ramos children at the beginning of their 2024–25 school year.

Antonio and Karla applied for another Curriculum Grant, hoping this would support their current situation, and they received it once again. They used it to buy curriculum, books, and a Homeschool Connections membership to support this new endeavor.

Homeschool Connections is a Catholic homeschool resource that provides affordable online classes and one-on-one support for homeschooling families. The online classes enabled Karla’s children to continue learning while she was recovering from the miscarriage. They were also able to join a virtual co-op in Puerto Rico called Unidades de Estudio, which was very helpful for them as well. 

“We couldn’t have continued homeschooling if it wasn’t for the grant,” she said.

She feels blessed to count on the love of her family during this hard time, and is proud to see her children sharing this love with others as well. “My neighbor lost her husband a while ago, and my children help her carry the groceries and keep her company because they truly care for her,” she said.