Musings of a Father

Nowadays, being a father means facing a lot of stiff competition. The concept of fatherhood has been murky blurred by the onslaught of fictional heroes that young kids prefer to idolize and be their hero.

My son Zek likes Ironman who can vanquish his opponents in a zap with his state-of-art weaponries.

He likes the mythical powers of Thor and that powerful hammer of his.

He feels safe thinking that Spiderman has his back.

Darth Vader also kinda appeals to Zek since he knows that it is “good” Anakin behind the mask.

 Even a non-biological entity like Optimus Prime easily catches his fancy.

Well, OK, we do have Voltes-5 and Super Rangers back in our youth that also occupied our imagination but the kids today are much more exposed to the highly visual, high-definition world of superheroes and animation that can make fathers like us uncomfortably competing for any form of adulation and emulation from our children. The times has changed in leaps in bounds.

Or so I wrongfully presume.

For how can I deny the fact that these fictional heroes are in reality no match to us fathers in terms of respect and love by our children. Below is a simple yet infallible proof of that.

My son likes superheroes no doubt,  BUT HE LOVES ME.

What I lack in super powers, I can more than make up with my loving times spent with him.

So to all fathers out there, let me borrow a few song-lines from a good friend Jani Lane of Warrant (yes, it is that 90’s heavy metal band and one proof that this kind of music genre is not only about noise)

I don’t need to be a superman

As long as you will always be my biggest fan

Heaven isn’t so far away

Closer to it everyday.

Happy Father’s Day to all loving fathers out there!

25 Manners Every Kid Should Know By Age 9 (from Yahoo Shine)

Thanks to Tita Lalet for sharing this article

Helping your child master these simple rules of etiquette will get him noticed — for all the right reasons.
By David Lowry, Ph.D.

Your child’s rude ‘tude isn’t always intentional. Sometimes kids just don’t realize it’s impolite to interrupt, pick their nose, or loudly observe that the lady walking in front of them has a large behind. And in the hustle and bustle of daily life, busy moms and dads don’t always have the time to focus on etiquette. But if you reinforce these 25 must-do manners, you’ll raise a polite, kind, well-liked child.-

Manner #1

When asking for something, say “Please.”

Manner #2

When receiving something, say “Thank you.”

Related: Kid-Made Thank You Notes

Manner #3

Do not interrupt grown-ups who are speaking with each other unless there is an emergency. They will notice you and respond when they are finished talking.

Manner #4

If you do need to get somebody’s attention right away, the phrase “excuse me” is the most polite way for you to enter the conversation.

Manner #5

When you have any doubt about doing something, ask permission first. It can save you from many hours of grief later.

Manner #6

The world is not interested in what you dislike. Keep negative opinions to yourself, or between you and your friends, and out of earshot of adults.

Manner #7

Do not comment on other people’s physical characteristics unless, of course, it’s to compliment them, which is always welcome.

Related: Raise Polite Kids

Manner #8

When people ask you how you are, tell them and then ask them how they are.

Manner #9

When you have spent time at your friend’s house, remember to thank his or her parents for having you over and for the good time you had.

Manner #10

Knock on closed doors — and wait to see if there’s a response — before entering.

Manner #11

When you make a phone call, introduce yourself first and then ask if you can speak with the person you are calling.

Manner #12

Be appreciative and say “thank you” for any gift you receive. In the age of e-mail, a handwritten thank-you note can have a powerful effect.

Related: Print and Color Cards for Birthdays, Thank-Yous and More!

Manner #13

Never use foul language in front of adults. Grown-ups already know all those words, and they find them boring and unpleasant.

Manner #14

Don’t call people mean names.

Manner #15

Do not make fun of anyone for any reason. Teasing shows others you are weak, and ganging up on someone else is cruel.

Related: Raise a Compassionate Kid

Manner #16

Even if a play or an assembly is boring, sit through it quietly and pretend that you are interested. The performers and presenters are doing their best.

Manner #17

If you bump into somebody, immediately say “Excuse me.”

Related: Quiz: What’s Your Parenting Style?

Manner #18

Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, and don’t pick your nose in public.

Related: How to Handle Inappropriate Behavior

Manner #19

As you walk through a door, look to see if you can hold it open for someone else.

Manner #20

If you come across a parent, a teacher, or a neighbor working on something, ask if you can help. If they say “yes,” do so — you may learn something new.

Manner #21

When an adult asks you for a favor, do it without grumbling and with a smile.

Related: Use this Table-Setting Map as a Guide

Manner #22

When someone helps you, say “thank you.” That person will likely want to help you again. This is especially true with teachers!

Manner #23

Use eating utensils properly. If you are unsure how to do so, ask your parents to teach you or watch what adults do.

Related: Mrs. McVeigh Weighs in on Proper Utensil Use and More!

Manner #24

Keep a napkin on your lap; use it to wipe your mouth when necessary.

Manner #25

Don’t reach for things at the table; ask to have them passed.

G1-Q4 Progress Report

AWARDS: Best In Math

                  Most Creative

Sessions/Activities:

Mondays, we let Zek sing the Phil. National Anthems all by himself.

Fridays, MAPE lessons as required from textbook then do some outdoor games and exercises based on current lesson. We weren’t able to join Friday club for 4^th quarter as we’re hoping to as soon as we arrived back here in the Philippines so we settle on what available activities we can do on our own here at home.

 Our day started with a prayer as he wakes up then breakfast which ends up to 9:30am then we let him play first with his cousins since and when it’s time for them to go to school then we started doing our lessons too right after we had lunch. We let him watch his favorite cartoon network channel also since he wasn’t able to do it back in china.

 We’ve got different schedule this time as we have new environment and people around us back home here in Philippines.

 Progress per subject:

CLE: Zek knows more about God’s work and stories from the Bible. He is now getting more familiar of the church activities since we can regularly go to mass when we arrived back home. He still have lots of questions and confused why God is in heaven and we cannot see, talk or touch Him.

Math: Zek learns more about fractions, money and measurement this last quarter. He also enjoys our lesson of telling time although still have some difficulty with minutes of the clock. He is now familiar with identifying graphs especially when related with toys.

Language: Zek is now recognizes with writing of sentence, difference of asking, commanding, and telling to exclaiming sentences. He can easily do the punctuation marks after each sentence but still need assistance with constructing or arranging sentences to form a correct pharagraph.

Reading: Zek loves to identify expressions of each faces. He enjoys re-telling the stories we read on his own version and very observant on details especially when he is interested on the story we are reading.

Science: He learns a lot on this 4^th quarter about the environment, how to save the earth and weather conditions in the sky. He loves to draw each weather type in connection with different countries. He always watch the weather report on TV news.

Filipino:  Nakapagsasabi ng tungkulin at tuntunin sa pamayanan. Natutunan ang mga pangungusap at di pangungusap sa paghahambing sa bawat uri katulad ng pautos, pakiusap at padamdam.

Sibika: Nasasabi ang mga uri ng tulong ng pamahalaan at mga pinuno sa baranggay. Nasasabi mga karapatan at tuntunin sa pamayanan kung paano pangangalagaan ang kapaligiran at pagtulong sa kapwa tao maging sa pamilya sa loob ng tahanan.

MUSIC: Zek enjoys learning about the music beats with his favorite star wars movie theme song but still get confused with how the notes getting their sounds and names.

ARTS: We learn more about the environment this quarter and applying it on his daily activities. We started recycling garbage for about a year now.

He still loves drawing and really gets focus when he’s in the mood to express his emotions on paper just about any time of the day or even during our lessons.

PE: He’s now familiar with most of our native music but still have difficulty with understanding with the lyrics in tagalog.

Problems Encountered / Solutions:

1. Zek starting to dislike our daily routine and we do struggle again on our  everyday schedule of lessons especially when we get back home.

We still do our regular studying time but the mood is not the same since we’ve got lots of distraction coming on us here in Philippines but we still need to finish our work on time and explain to him that we’re nearly over.

2. He easily gets distracted and doesn’t want to do lessons on time.

I need to patiently keep on asking him to start doing our lessons then we can play and do everything we want after. I keep on asking him, “can you help mommy to finish our work?” then he replies accordingly to our daily activities.

3. We weren’t able to go Friday club for this last quarter as we hope to do so.

In alternative, we go out for any activities we can find in the mall or play with other friends and relatives who can visit us during the weekend.

Happy 7th Birthday, Zek

To Our Everdearest Zek,

Amazing how time flies!

It seems just yesterday when your mom and I were relentlessly storming heaven with prayers for our first child which we have been waiting for fours years. And now, here you are, seven years old and on the very cusp of boyhood who is raring to explore and discover the world to quench your ever-expanding curiosity and to openly accept more responsibilities befitting your age.

You have brought unspeakable joy and innermost pride in us as your mom journaled your every bit of milestones and achievements. Each single smile and giggle of yours resulted into our own smiles. I can never forget those days when your mom excitedly and proudly narrates to me your gimmicks-of-the-day highlights as soon as I arrived home from my work.

We were blessed to have been given the rare chance to be completely together even as I worked in this foreign land. We have traveled to a few known destinations, enjoying the food and friendly people along the way. We’ve have seen modern and scenic spots as well as traverse through all modes transportation – airplanes, high-speed trains, normal trains, fast ferries, slow yachts, fast cars, slow cars, big bus, small bus, big bus that looks small because of too much people forcefully packed inside, a dirt-bike and a dirty bike.

When you entered your wonder and discovery years, we started to have lots of adventures as we fought each other as Spider Zek and Daddy Oc. We also became buddies and goofed around a lot as Sponge Zek and Patrick Dad only to be each others nemesis once again as Obi Zek Kenobi and Dad Vader. We ruled the Kingdom of Far Far Away as Zhrek and Dadkey and we defended Cybetron from the attacks of the Decepticons as Optimus Dad and Bumble Zek. We raced and won over cars as Lightning McZek and Dator. Sometimes, I stayed on the sidelines to watch you fight the forces of darkness alone as Zek 10. Whew! Being a full-time partner of your heroic pursuits and exploits can be tiring, so in our lives away from our secret superhero identities, we just let ourselves be father and son to thumb-wrestled with each other, play kick-ball while running or visit your favorite toy-shops to look at the latest editions.

Homeschooling is another on-going memorable opportunity for you and your mom to bond in an educational set-up. Yes, there were tough moments and, at times, road-block experiences for her along the way but I stood witness to how far and enriching your sessions with her have been. All your first vocabularies, words, phrases and sentences were lovingly and patiently taught by her. You made her proud with every step of the way. You loved art-attack activities very much and I will never forget you putting a small blanket over you paper and color eagle art so it will not be cold during winter time (Believe me, it speaks volumes about the kind-hearted boy you are J ). We went to a lot of educational places but I will always remember how you felt sad to leave the train museum which you really enjoyed visiting. However, the pinnacle of our joy in homeschooling is the opportunity to be your very first “evangelizers” in knowing our Lord from whom everything comes and to whom everything will end. We have been training you to become a prayerful person in the future who will have a deep personal relationship with Him which is the most important choice you will ever make – to be for Him always, in anything and everything that you will do.

Not all the time was light and warm for us though, and in a way, we thank God that you were spared from the deep hurt that befell your mom and I after your sister Maia’s sudden departure. We know that you continue to miss your sister a lot as you oftentimes asks us when will she come back and how far is heaven so that we can try to fetch her already. In your own innocent ways, you have made her short stay with us memorable for her and I always imagine her looking down after you, totally proud for being your young sister.

As your sibling is just a few months away, your mommy and I are pretty sure that you are going to be once again a great kuya to him/her. You never hide your excitement as you often ask when he/she will be out of mommy’s tummy. But sorry buddy, our new baby is not a quadruplets as you giggly hoped for so you have your undivided attention when he/she finally arrives.

I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for any short-comings that your mommy and I have shown to you. Particularly for me, I know that you remember the times when I lost my temper and snapped at you during some of our study periods. I promise to work extra hard not to do that anymore so that you will be more encouraged to enjoy your learning rather than to be fearful in forced learning.

Zek, know this well - if I try to narrate all our happy, funny and bonding moments, it would take me more than 7 years to do it. So now I must stop and simply let you know how your mommy and I feel at this moment for you.

We love you so much and we will always love you in our uniquely-for-Zek-only love, as we also have our uniquely-for-Maia-only love and a uniquely-for-new –baby love. There is nothing in this world that can ever take away our love for you, no matter if we are strong and able enough to show it or if we are already gray-haired, toothless and too-old to even remember your name.

So seven years is over and your next 7-year chapter starts today.

We wish you all the best.

God bless you, son.

Day 7

7 Birthday prayer-wishes for you

1.      1. May you continue grow knowing and loving God.

2.      2. May you continue to be a sweet and kind boy as we have known you all these years.

3.      3. May you continue to increase in wisdom and knowledge

4.      4. May you continue to improve your focus to your studies and tasks

5.      5. May you continue to be more obedient,responsible and helpful.

6.      6. May you continue to be confident in your talents yet humble in your accomplishments.

7.      7. May you be safe and healthy at all times (read - learn to eat more vegetables).

Day 6

7 Strong personal virtues

1.      1. Prayerful

2.      2. Sweet

3.      3. Kind

4.      4. Trusting

5.      5. Happy

6.      6. Truthful

7.      7. Friendly

Day 5

 7 Favorite activities / hobbies

1.      1. Lego building

2.      2. Kung-Fu play fight

3.      3. Solving mazes and abstract reasoning

4.      4. Basketball

5.      5. Football

6.      6. Sword fight ala Star Wars

7. Electric Guitar playing ( well this one is not yet a hobby but he has been itching to hold and play one the past few months or so

Day 4

 7 Favorite expressions

1.      1. Hay naku, ano ka ba dyan, Daddy?

2.      2. Balik kayo dito kami!

3.      3. Hmmm….I think I want to buy a…. ( as Daddy and Mommy start to become nervous ha ha)

4.      4. Wow, ang pogi-pogi (everytime we comb his hair)

5.      5. Is that funny, Daddy?

6.      6. Finally, the moment of truth (with matching imitation to Squidwards’ victorious voice)

7.      7. Punta ka na diyan dito (everytime he invites someone to visit us in China)

Day 3

 7 Favorites Songs

1.      1. Ama Namin

2.      2. This Fragile Breath – Todd Agnew

3.      3. Seasons of the Heart - Westlife

4.     4. The Way that you Love me – Boyzone

5.      5. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head

6.      6. The Great Divide – Linkin Park (Transformer 2 theme song)

7.      7. Baby – Justin Bieber

 Actually,  Zek is quite good at memorizing catchy tunes and rhymes that we just hear him singing something he heard from the TV or PC programs for a few times. This is why his mommy is encouraging him to discover his musical inclinations.

Day 2

  7 Favorite Movies or Shows

1.     1. AFV – Americas Funniest Videos (he would religiously wait for this show)

2.     2. SpongeBob (he is watching this too much that he starts to think I am Patrick )

3.     3. Spiderman

4.     4. Transformers

5.     5. Star Wars

6.     6. Jackie Chan cartoons

7.     7. Clutch Power – Lego DVD

7-Day Countdown to Zek’s 7th Birthday

Our Zek will be celebrating his much-awaited milestone which is his 7th birthday and so his mommy and I decided to make a 7 day 7-item pre-birthday trivia revelation about our eldest son. This is gonna be fun for us in this present time and a gem of a memory in Zek’s future recollection time.

So here we go…..

Day 1

7 Favorite Foods:

1. Fried Chicken

2. BBQ Chicken

3. Hainanese Chicken

……pause…(don’t worry, this will not end in all 7 items being about chicken )

4.  Pepperoni Pizza (see )

5. Hamburger (nowadays including the pickle inside)

6. Sweet Pork

7. Bread (nearly all kinds)

Bless the Children

My favorite priest-writer Fr. Jerry Orbos has once again struck my innermost passion as a father with his latest Sunday article coinciding with the celebration of the Feast of Sto. Nino.

Fr. Orbos said:

“Is your child well-fed?” Good question. “Is your child well-led?” A doubly good question. Someone once said that children are like wet cement—whatever falls on them becomes a part of them, forever. Raising children who will become good persons, God-fearing citizens of our country, and responsible stewards of nature is the mission of each and every parent.

Now that is a straight-forward reminder about my mission over all other missions I wanted to accomplish.

God bless us all parents in our primary and most holy mission.

To read the entire article, please use this link -  http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20110115-314692/Bless-the-children

G1-Q3 Progress Report

Sessions/Activities:

Mondays, we let Zek sing the Phil. National Anthems all by himself.

Fridays, MAPE lessons as required from textbook then do some outdoor games and exercises based on current lesson.

Saturday, we do attend Chinese-English library class.

Our day started with a prayer as he wakes up then breakfast which ends up to 9:30am then we can start do our scheduled studies according to the lessons plan. We do first some physical exercises or outdoor activities according to his likes before we begin our daily lessons and worksheets.

Progress per subject:

CLE:  He is learning more and more about God’s love each day with CLE, he has more control of himself now by knowing what he only wants and what is necessary. We are encouraging him to prioritize on what is more important and pray always in what everything he do including the needs of others.

Math: Zek is now familiar with Division, Fractions and Money but is still with some confusion with the different solutions used for application depending on the problem given especially when it comes to money computations though he know the difference between PESOS and CENTAVOS now.

Language: Zek is more confident now in comparing persons, places, objects and animals using adjectives with correct pronunciations. He can identify and describe nouns by their sizes, color, shape and numbers. He can answers to situations and questions that ask WHERE, WHEN and HOW more clearly now.

Reading: He loves to read more of his short story books now and answering questions after in sequence of event, names of character and places in relation to the story. He can retell more clearly about the book he read on his own words and identify subjects.

Science: He is interested doing our projects in “Heat and Light” and learning fast about forms of Energy, properties of matter with the sound and motions. But still puzzle in some theories with regards the subject unless it is practically represent in daily task.

Filipino: He easily understand now Filipino more clearly and always trying his best to speak the language confidently but still needs assistance with translation on new words for describing everything in details especially using nga salitang kilos na naganap na, nagaganap pa lang at magaganap pa lamang.

Sibika: He learns more about “PAMAYANAN” this time and how to help in relation with basic needs of the family like us. He’s trying hard to explain himself in Filipino language and making a lot of progress.

MUSIC: Zek can now identify pitch names of notes on the lines and spaces of the staff in G-clef but still need a lot of practice for mastery and memorizations of clue words or sentences for both lines and spaces of musical alphabets.

ARTS: He has more ideas now in expressing his feelings or emotions through arts, respect the works of others and can handles art materials properly according to instructions.

PE: Zek is now have more mastery of his basic skills, developed rhythmic skills and has improved locomotors skills with given directions.

Problems Encountered / Solutions:

1. Zek easily gets bored doing a lot of writings or do coloring worksheets

As he do his writing or coloring activities I let him listens to his favorite music so can stay calm and focus on what he’s doing for our time out or sing along together.

2. He easily forgets our lessons that are not interested with him.

We do play games (ex. Teacher Zek & student – mommy & daddy) of subjects that are least of his interest or talks about it whenever we can get the chance to incorporate whatever topic needed to be discussed for his mastery.

3. Most of the songs in our CLE books are not familiar to us even if we do searching online.

For our alternatives, we do let Zek watch “A Smile of Child” TV program to learn some related songs and additional stories according to the Bible that are also needed to be discussed with him.

If Dad/Mom was a Saint

We always pray the Rosary and at the end we always seek
intercession from the saints too,

St. Therese, pray for us.
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, pray for us.  
St. Joseph, pray for us.
St. Peter, pray for us.
St. Barachiel, pray for us.  
St. Ezekiel pray for us.

Here is where Zek gets the idea of the saints and then one by one
we told him short background story of each saints mentioned in our
prayer.  When I asked him the question; “If Mommy is a saint, who
am I?”  He answered, “Saint Therese!” and then I asked him again,
“Why did you choose Saint Therese?” He said, “so you heal people.” Zek gets sick easily due to his allergies and asthma. It is
only me and his Dad who give his medications and get to take care of him every time. 

Posted at Homerun November issue, pls checkout link below;

http://catholic-filipino-academy.googlegroups.com/web/Nov2010part2.pdf?gda=8sXnSUIAAADpWbPl-ZNx7wRwjl46R_-VdhmJB3ez-LYYJ6DyzwRVhSNcsBVd5T_Ry49Wspjla2JV4u3aa4iAIyYQIqbG9naPgh6o8ccLBvP6Chud5KMzIQ

The Making of the Manger

Christmas air is everywhere. OK, so maybe not that much in China wherein Christmas is just another Western holiday that can bring jingles to their cash register but for us Christians, especially the Pinoys, we hold the worldwide recognition for starting our preparations at the onset of the “ber” months.

This year our family decided on the adding a simple Nativity scene for our decoration to bring more awareness to Zek about the birth of our Lord Jesus. And as an added bonus, we let him embarked on a personal experience of preparing and making the manger for the baby Jesus which he excitedly participated in. He glued popsicle sticks together, cut out papers and color them brown.

And so finally, we have our first Nativity scene.

Grade 1 - Q2 Progress Report

Sessions/Activities:

Mondays, we let Zek sing the Phil. National Anthems all by himself.

Thursdays, he attends to his regular violin lessons.

Fridays, MAPE lessons as required from textbook then do some tryouts for “Street Dancing” class for him during weekends.

Saturday, we do attend Chinese-English library class.

Our day started with a prayer as he wakes up then breakfast which ends up to 9:30am then we can start do our scheduled studies according to the lessons plan.We do first some physical exercises according to his mood before we go to our daily worksheets.

Progress per subject:

CLE:  Zek follows Jesus’ examples in loving and caring for others especially when we saw street beggars, he will immediately asks us for something to give to them always. He prays in becoming more obedient and asks help to God in doing his lessons every day. He also prays for Daddy and Mommy to be more patient with him during study time and so with our every activity to do.

Math: Zek is now familiar with addends, sum, minuend, subtrahend, difference or remainder, factors and products up to 3 digits. He sometimes get confused with addition and multiplication so he gets a lot of exercises every day to master the techniques of addition with carrying, subtractions with borrowing and multiplications.

Language: Zek is now comfortable talking about oneself and others using personal pronouns. He is now familiar with SH, TH, WH, CH and IING words with their pronunciations and identifying time expressions.

Reading: Zek shows interest about creatures in the sea and had a lot of questions when we watched the “Little Mermaid” movie.  He is taking time to pray every night all the things he wants to Thank God for all his activities during the day and is more appreciating with his simple Blessings every time.

Science: Zek is learning more about animals in land and water with their body parts and their differences; he loves the birds and gets sad when he saw a picture of it with broken wings.

Filipino: Nalalaman na ang pangalang TIYAK at DI TIYAK, mga Panawag sa tao, pagdadaglat at Inisyal at Panganlang Pambalana. Mas masayang masalita ng wikang Filipino ngayon kahit na hirap sa mga pangungusap.

Sibika: Nakikila ngayon ang mga Pambansang Sagisag at nasasabi. Nagkaroon ng kaalaman sa mga pambasang tanawin ng Pilipnas at magagandang lugar na maaring Makita sa bansang Pilipinas.

MUSIC: Zek is now familiar with musical notes, staffs, clefs, bar lines and draws it correctly. He sings the notes then identifies them according to the musical sounds.

ARTS:  Zek can now create pictures from his imagination, recognizes objects from clay, shows creativity in making print designs and enjoys his works as he completes the activity to show to others after.

PE: he identifies the basic animal movements correctly and is now learning the value of cooperation and sportsmanship as he attends some tryouts of “Street Dancing” class.

Problems Encountered / Solutions:

1. Zek is starting to do a lot of delaying tactics right now.

We do explain patiently most of the time that as we delay things needed to be done the more he cannot do the play he wants and we get less time to do other activities together outdoor or indoor. If he needs more time on every lessons, we give it to him as he needed it depending on subjects we do like in mathematics.

2. He is now taking more initiative to start the lessons but gets tired easily.

So to get the most of his good mood, We let him choose the book he likes to do first then go on to next according to his interest to get it done faster than with usual timeouts from him if he’s starting to get bored.

3. Zek expresses his angers verbally whenever it is too many lessons to do.

We just be quietly waiting for him to let it all out whenever this situations happens as should be expected then we provide him all his accomplishments for studying his lessons well and when he calms down, we ask him again if he’s ready to start again our work. 

Five Things Parents can do to help their children succeed: In school and Life

By Maria Chesley Fisk, Ph.D.

www.ThinkParenting.com

Help your children take healthy, productive steps toward their 21st century adult lives this school year. Here are five things you can do to help your children learn and succeed in their new classes and beyond:

1. Help your kids connect what they are learning in school to the real world.

You can modify the suggestions below to match your child’s age and skill level:

• Math. When at the checkout counter, let your child figure out how much cash to pay and how much change should be returned. Ask her to take into account the driving time needed and tell you what time you need to leave for school or an activity.
• English/Language arts. Look with your child or point it out when you see spelling and vocabulary words in magazines or on the web. Invite him to relax, snuggle, and read with you. See suggestions for studying spelling words at www.thinkparenting.com/parenting-resources.html.
• Foreign Language. Spend time eating and shopping in a community where the new language is spoken. Help your child follow blogs and websites that interest her and are written in the language. Rent movies or TV shows in the language, familiar stories may be most comfortable for new learners.
• Science and Social Studies. See if there are museum exhibits or other places nearby you can visit to make this year’s content come alive. Look on the internet together for websites that connect to the science or social studies content and interest your child. Consider printing pages that he would like to reread.

2. Have high expectations and provide needed resources, but don’t take over. If your children are intrinsically motivated to learn, they are more likely to apply themselves and take advantage of the resources around them. If they are motivated primarily to please you or to earn rewards for grades, they are less likely to really delve into the content and less likely to remember it for long.

3. Remember that much our future adults need to know and be able to do is taught at home. At home, kids learn and practice crucial, practical life skills. These skills include interpersonal, emotional, and communication skills; the inclination to think deeply and creatively; and the ability to work with a team. Abilities in these areas will surely be more valuable in the 21st century than specific knowledge learned at school.

4. Instill in your children this belief: The harder you work, the smarter you get. It’s true at school and true for all your children are learning at home, including social and emotional, practical, creative, and analytical skills. We are constantly changing our brains. We strengthen neural connections around what we learn and practice, and we lose neural connections we do not use.

5. Teach your children to lead a cognitively healthy lifestyle. People of all ages need adequate exercise and sleep, a healthy diet, stimulating social connections, and new and challenging activities that use our brains. A healthy, balanced lifestyle will help your children perform better at school, feel better, and establish habits that can last a lifetime.

Best wishes for year that stimulates, inspires, and prepares your children for their 21st century lives!

 
Dr. Maria Chesley Fisk is an educational consultant, speaker, and author of Teach Your Kids to Think: Simple Tools You Can Use Every Day. She has served as an elementary teacher, teacher trainer, and consultant to school leaders and is the mother of two boisterous boys. For more information on developing your child’s analytical, creative, social & emotional, and practical intelligence, visit Dr. Fisk’s website www.ThinkParenting.com. 

Home-schooling Tips

Based on our true-to-life funny moments with Zek.

Tip No. 1 : Do not jokingly call your child “masyado” while listening to a Tagalog Christian song ” Ang Buhay ng Kristiano”.
Reason   :Otherwise, your child might learn to sing, “Ang buhay ng masyado ay masayang tunay..(hep, hep) masayang tunay”.

Tip No. 2 : Do not teach music and Sibika together if the Sibika topic is about global direction - Kanluran, Hilaga, Timog, Silangan.
Reason   : Otherwise, your child might sing this way ” Do…Re…Mi….Fa….So….La….Ti….Mog……

Tip No. 3 : Do not teach math while your child is looking at toy brochures.
Reason   : Otherwise, your child might think the 6-12 (years old) means -6 ( because 6 take away 12 = -6)

Now, who says that home-schooling is only a strict activity for parents and children. .

Grade1-1st Qtr.Progress Report

Sessions/Activities:

Mondays, we listen and sing along to Phil. National Anthems in the morning with some church songs too after to warm up our start of the week.

Thursdays, he attends to his regular art classes for additional enrichment activities in MAPE (with cooking lessons too every once a month).

Fridays, MAPE lessons as required from textbook then do some outdoor activities according what games he is interested to do and most of the time we do badminton or his football with some warm up exercises shown from his MAPE Sunshine book.

Our day started with a prayer as he wakes up then breakfast which ends until 11am then we can start do our scheduled studies according to the lessons plan. Zek still needs a lot of mind setting and timeouts every subject so it took us the whole day to finish a day’s task required and does some backlogs during our free time on the weekend.

Progress per subject:

CLE:  He is learning more about God’s gift to us, God created the world and God is our Savior. He will start praying whenever he is afraid like if there is a storm with a continuous loud thunders and lightning. He is just still confused with God’s given talents and how to take care of it and the things around him.

Math: Zek is familiar with Ordinal, Numerical and Word numbers but has difficulty with Arabic counting for now. He gets the idea of counting by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s and 10’s already but still slows on it as same with Odd and Even numbers. We do provide him flash cards of Addition for additional exercises and let him use abacus for larger digits that he can’t count with his hands anymore.

Language: He does a lot of spelling of commonly used words in our daily home routine works and by pronouncing the consonants sounds correctly. He is starting to show proper behavior too when someone is speaking and using polite words.

Reading: We do a lot of practicing with reading and he tries to read a book that he is interested to by himself and understanding the meaning of each new words that he encounters every time. He still had a hard time reading longer words and comprehending them all together but gets the whole idea of the story.

Science: We were able to show him some of his videos while growing and explained the difference, he watched over and over again those he likes most. He can identify his major body parts from head, upper and lower limbs according to the book.

Filipino: He shows interest in using tagalog language for everyday conversation, he became more familiar in Patinig at Katinig and putting them together to make words.

Sibika: He knows now being a PILIPINO and differences with each other’s appearance and the PHILIPPINE MAP with directions. He likes learning the KALUPAAN at KATUBIGAN and resources we can get from it, it is all a new things for him to discover.

MAPE: We do follow the guide to do each week from the book then go out for a walk and play for additional activities. We also started a Violin lesson for better understanding of notes and mastery of skills in the instruments.

Problems Encountered / Solutions:

1.  Zek is still having a hard time explaining himself verbally for every topic given.

But he can always put into drawings whatever he has in his mind so I need to keep a clean bond papers or any kinds of papers handy for him so he can just grab one anytime and sketch things that’s going on in his mind whenever he feels to do something or else our books and notebooks will be filled with all drawing than lessons.

2. He can’t manage to finish all subjects in a day.

So we do first all the subjects that I can get his interest with and make him do all the worksheets from the book then the rest will be done when I get him into good mood to sit again and work. The rest will be divided during the week as home works or assignments with his Daddy to work it out with.

3. Focus in one thing is hard to Zek to do.

Zek got a lot of things going in his mind. He can’t focus in one thing for a long time. Besides a clean paper to be readily available for him to scribble each time, we also need to patiently listen to his stories always then he will be willingly do the work after. This makes our study time longer every day.

I am running out of techniques to keep him working, as my frustration is getting harder and harder for me to deal with as we go on to each subjects.

A Rewarding Challenge

http://catholicfilipinoacademy.com/uploads/Aug2010issue1.pdf

About two years ago, my husband and I started searching for a reasonably priced international or even a bilingual school for our then four-year old son. Not surprisingly as in most cities in China, these schools are either over-expensive or lacking in educational similarities to those in our country that we strongly feel that our son may need in the event that we opts to go back and let him study in Philippines. Another major concern there was the lack of a Catholic religion subject which is what every Catholic parent should desire for their child to learn.

And so we took a leap of faith and decided to home school our son.

Not far from that decision was our choice to try Catholic Filipino Academy.

And so our son, Zek is well into his second school-year in CFA as a Grade 1 student.

It has been a rewarding daily challenge for us so far.

The Challenges. We got the anxiety in our lives upon receiving the entire Grade 1 student lessons plan, books and workbooks for all about 10 subjects. Normally, Zek takes his time (even longer time in some cases) before he can finally settle in his study table for the day’s lesson, which is good for 1 to 3 subjects only. But now, we have to cram-up these 10 subjects into his daily sessions which is a daunting task for both of us.  Add the fact that Zek likes to have instant “time-outs” during actual lesson time so he can narrate a story or game he just remembered or ask a question that is totally unrelated to the topic on hand. And I need to make sure my answers to his queries are satisfactory for him or else I run the risk of being asked the same question repeatedly. I can sense his increasing boredom with our daily study routines. I also feel inadequate at teaching some subjects like Sibika which is also, admittedly, un-interesting for me. I needed extra push or assistance from my husband in this regard as well as on other subjects whenever he has free time.

The Responses. As I have often been reminded by our Parent-Teacher coach and other mentors, I need to make all topics as interesting as it can be for Zek to absorb and learn more from the lessons.  Zek loves to draw and helps him release some of his hyper energy so I make all available clean drawing papers for him to scribble. Besides our white board and rectangular glass center table within easy reach, I recently bought a Crayola window glass marker for him to express all his drawing ideas at the spur of the moment. Otherwise, he will easily make his books and workbooks his own handy-dandy drawing books. Mostly after his drawing time, he will be more focus on the lesson. We also cheered him on to finish his subjects with little surprise-rewards he really likes, a cup of Chinese nai-cha (milk tea) or a visit to a nearby toy store. I also incorporated his favorite Lego toys and stuff in some of my teaching method.

Outdoor activities for him is planned carefully to avoid the sweltering summer heat that may trigger his asthma attacks and other allergies that goes with it (e.g. we temporarily hold off his Wushu classes and enrolled him in a Violin lesson instead in addition to his regular Arts and Cooking classes). We play badminton and kick-ball games before 10 in the morning for some healthy sunlight exposure.

To address my own personal stress and “time-outs” too, I enrolled myself in Yoga for an hour class a day in 2-4 times a week with schedules that coincides during the arrival of my husband from work. And it is working wonders as well to rejuvenate my strength and patience.

The Rewards. Despite the odds and continuing challenges, I still do enjoy home-schooling Zek. We are so blessed to have this option so that our family can stay together despite my husband’s work in China. Our set-up gives me a lot of quality time with him and I can always assure him that “Mommy and Daddy loves you Zek” whenever he himself feels low in his performance. And no other feeling can really compare to that of knowing and personally witnessing your child grows in knowledge and love. He listens more to his playmates concerns, is more able to control his irritability and frustrations now. I will cherish forever seeing our son slowly maturing into a cheerful, expressive and loving child.  

We pray that we continue to patiently teach him and to avoid expecting adult judgments on his every action. By God’s grace, we can keep on developing our willingness to listen unconditionally without showing annoyance as we face our daily tasks to prepare him for his better future.