Almost Direct Tax on a 7 Year Old

10/21/11

My seven-year old son is also being taxed by the government in the least expected place, his kiddie bank account.

After a few days of being sick in bed, I finally got around to updating my financial excel file. I was perusing the grocery receipts, as well as atm and other bank papers when I chanced on his bank passbook which I had updated the past few weeks. I was glad to see that he’s cash has earned, albeit little interest. I know beforehand that the bank interests in the country are not that big really. The ultimate goal is teaching the kid the value of saving and not really to earn big interest, yet.

Upon a second look, I also noticed another column of a slightly smaller amount which, upon a correct guesswork, is the withholding tax. Now don’t get me wrong here about the notion of nobody is exempted in taxes. I know that everything can be taxed even a preconceived child. It starts from the pregnancy test kit that a lady buys at a drugstore up to the milk, diapers, and school supplies that the kid will consume. This is a harsh reality of taxation.

I have recently read somewhere in the papers that the BSP has been trying to encourage children to open their own savings account since Filipinos are not really big savers but more on big “loaners/londoners.” But how can one encourage these young people to be active savers if even they would see right there on their passbooks that almost 20% of the already meager interest that they get. Again, we are not really after the earnings that they’ll get here but to encourage them to save up. But how would you be encouraged to save up in a bank if you’re money will only be slapped with tax? Wouldn’t there be any tax exemptions for these children in their savings accounts just to invest in our country’s possible future savers?

Reading Log (as of September 2011)

August is P's birth month. Chuseok fell on Sept 12 this year. Upon DH's idea, P got himself a new ebook reader, Kindle, as a gift. It seems that the previous PDA's which he has been using as ereaders are not enough to hold the ebooks that he wants to read every now and then. Here is the book list.


Enid Blyton Series (15 Mystery,8 Adventure,1 Secret Seven, and 21 Famous Five, 5 Secret, 2 Adventure Four, 2 CIrcus, 6 Malory TOwers)
Thornton Burgess Series (13 books) 
Redwall Series (20 books)


Over the weekend, TM has to catch up with P in reading Roald Dahl's books. TM only managed to finish four from the list.


Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Danny the Champion of the World


We managed to find the proper reader to be able to read the illustrated books using a laptop. And P was able to read the following:
The Enormous Crocodile
The Magic Finger





  

G1 1st Quarter (Aug-Sept 2011)

Academic and Linguistic

It has been a couple of weeks since the kiddo took this year's quarterly major exam. We managed to go past the first part of Filipino subjects, attend some extra-curricular activities and end up somewhere in the upper part of the class.

August flew by with activities such as poem recitation, scouting and P's birthday. The poem recitation was not that demanding as they only have to memorize and recite two poems in Filipino and English. P fared well but didn't manage to get any extra award. Nonetheless, Teacher Mom was contented that he seemed to enjoy the short time on stage without much fuss. What surprised me was the other awards that were given or I meant the little thingies such as crown-kind-of-thing that looks so cheap (pardon the term, I am not referring to the cost at all) and inappropriate. It looked like a mini-JS Prom award. A sash or an award would have looked better.

So far, what have they covered in school curriculum?

1. English – sounds, vowel sounds (initial, median, ending), nouns (proper and common), alphabetical arrangement, spelling
2. Math – numbers 1-100, addition up to 3 digit numbers, subtraction, place values (3 digits)
3. Science – parts of the body, taking care of the body,
4. Filipino – mga tunog, katinig, patinig (unahan, gitna at huling tunog), pagbaybay
5. Sibika at Kultura – mapa at Pilipinas, direksyon at lokasyon, pook pasyalan at mga sagisag ng bansa

Physical Education

Scouting was the next activity and since it was a first, TM has to really be there, on the sidelines, that is. He has to eat lunch in a restaurant which turns out to be a place where utensils are not the norm. Later that day, the Teacher Guides had to inform us what happened during lunch time. He's the only one who doesn't know how and cannot eat without utensils. OUCH!! on our parenting skills!! Finally, DH hopefully realized that a little bit of "cowboy" eating should be made familiar to the kid. (ah! Mommy note here.)

Following activities were more on physical group games and despite the physical exhaustion of watching and cheering, Moms and kids sure had a blast. Even if it cost our educational budget around 600++, it was another fun-filled learning experience and we hope to be able to join again next year.

Just after a week or two, it was followed by an intramural meet. Now, this one should be another physically-demanding activity but kiddo ended up joining a board game event. Ha! It was another worthy time to spend watching him play against other kids his age with a game that he also enjoys. It was a mere game at first, and it felt good to watch the kids play “seriously,” as well as loose graciously as well.

He did manage to join a running race after some coaxing but didn’t even made it half-way since he fell and didn’t know what to do after falling. His face seemed to say, ”Should I continue running to the finish line or what?” Unfortunately, TM had so much hope that she positioned herself to take photo around the finish line and kiddo didn’t see her when he fell. We’ll try to be better next time around.

This seemed to take place again a few weeks later when P was assigned to give the prayer during a school program. Since we were informed about it the day before the program, we weren’t able to smoothen out the memorization part of the short prayer. It ended up in a prayer with a long dead-air and almost wasn’t going to finish at all. TM had to blame herself again for not pushing the kiddo to memorize his part well and not being able to position herself strategically in case kiddo needed some more sideline coaching. ON the second thought, would it have been better left that way? Sometimes, the kid has to realize that there are times that he has to perform and rely on himself alone. TO be or not to be…that is the question.

Medical
July 22 – He hurt his finger on the school’s restroom. TM had to rush to the school clinic to see his badly-hurt finger. It was bloody (P cannot stand the sight of blood) and very painful. He almost missed the English Club activity. Good thing that he was able to calm himself and still join later part of the spelling game.
The bandage and the ointment had to be administered for more than a week. Sometime around the early part of August, I bumped into the medical personnel of the school and gave them update on how the wound is healing. They also had to inform me that P is underweight. He’s on the thin side and a little taller so the ratio really categorically underweight. Now, what do we do about it?
Sept. 13 - He lost his upper front tooth. A classmate accidentally elbowed him and out came his tooth flying. The next day, I searched for the culprit and gave her some sweets as a thank you for saving us the trouble of getting that loose tooth out. 
August and September. As of writing this entry, P has been consistent on his monthly fever occurrences. The joke is his all-time favorite medicine is paracetamol that he has to take it every month. What gives?
That’s about it for now for the chronicle of P’s learning experiences --- academically and whatnot.
Until the next entry: Math-related homeschooling for extra math events at school and other weak subject focus.

1st Quarter is Over

It has been a couple of weeks since the kiddo took this year's quarterly major exam. We managed to go past the first part of Filipino subjects, attend some extra curricular activities and end up somewhere in the upper part of the class.

Academic and Linguistic

August flew by with activities such as poem recitation, scouting and P's birthday. The poem recitation was not that demanding as they only have to memorize and recite two poems in Filipino and English. P fared well but didn't manage to get any extra award. Nonetheless, Teacher Mom was contented that he seemed to enjoy the short time on stage without much fuss. What surprised me was the other awards that were given or I meant the little thingies such as crown-kind-of-thing that looks so cheap (pardon the term, I am not referring to the cost at all) and inappropriate. It looked like a mini-JS Prom award. A sash or an award would have looked better. 

So far, what have they covered in school curriculum?

a.     English – sounds, vowel sounds (initial, median, ending), nouns (proper and common), alphabetical arrangement, spelling

b.     Math – numbers 1-100, addition up to 3 digit numbers, subtraction, place values (3 digits)

c.     Science – parts of the body, taking care of the body,

d.     Filipino – mga tunog, katinig, patinig (unahan, gitna at huling tunog), pagbaybay

e.     Sibika at Kultura – mapa at Pilipinas, direksyon at lokasyon, pook pasyalan at mga sagisag ng bansa

Physical Education

Scouting was the next activity and since it was a first, TM has to really be there, on the sidelines, that is. He has to eat lunch in a restaurant which turns out to be a place where utensils are not the norm. Later that day, the Teacher Guides had to inform us what happened during lunch time. He's the only one who doesn't know how and cannot eat without utensils. OUCH!! on our parenting skills!! Finally, DH hopefully realized that a little bit of "cowboy" eating should be made familiar to the kid. (ah! Mommy note here.)

Following activities were more on physical group games and despite the physical exhaustion of watching and cheering, Moms and kids sure had a blast. Even if it cost our educational budget around 600++, it was another fun-filled learning experience and we hope to be able to join again next year. 

Just after a week or two, it was followed by an intramural meet. Now, this one should be another physically-demanding activity but kiddo ended up joining a board game event. Ha! It was another worthy time to spend watching him play against other kids his age with a game that he also enjoys. It was a mere game at first, and it felt good to watch the kids play “seriously,” as well as loose graciously as well.

He did manage to join a running race after some coaxing but didn’t even made it half-way since he fell and didn’t know what to do after falling. His face seemed to say, ”Should I continue running to the finish line or what?” Unfortunately, TM had so much hope that she positioned herself to take photo around the finish line and kiddo didn’t see her when he fell. We’ll try to be better next time around.

 This seemed to take place again a few weeks later when P was assigned to give the prayer during a school program. Since we were informed about it the day before the program, we weren’t able to smoothen out the memorization part of the short prayer. It ended up in a prayer with a long dead-air and almost wasn’t going to finish at all. TM had to blame herself again for not pushing the kiddo to memorize his part well and not being able to position herself strategically in case kiddo needed some more sideline coaching. ON the second thought, would it have been better left that way? Sometimes, the kid has to realize that there are times that he has to perform and rely on himself alone. TO be or not to be…that is the question.

Medical

July 22 – He hurt his finger on the school’s restroom. TM had to rush to the school clinic to see his badly-hurt finger. It was bloody (P cannot stand the sight of blood) and very painful. He almost missed the English Club activity. Good thing that he was able to calm himself and still join the later part of the spelling game.

The bandage and ointment had to be administered for more than a week. Sometime around the early part of August, I bumped into the medical personnel of the school and gave them update on how the wound is healing. They also had to inform me that P is underweight. He’s on the thin side and a little taller so the ratio really categorically underweight. Now, what do we do about it?

Sept. 13 - He lost his upper front tooth. A classmate accidentally elbowed him and out came his tooth flying. The next day, I searched for the “culprit” and gave her some sweets as a thank you for saving us the trouble of getting that loose tooth out. J

August and September. As of writing this entry, P has been consistent on his monthly fever occurrences. The joke is his all-time favorite medicine is paracetamol that he has to take it every month. What gives?

That’s about it for now for the chronicle of P’s learning experiences --- academically and whatnot.

Until the next entry: Math-related homeschooling for extra math events at school and other weak subject focus. 

Homeroom Clean-up (Super Late Classroom Brigade)

We just did a quick makeover of my kid's G1 classroom today. MF1 was the one who informed me of the plan. Since I was going to wait for my kiddo anyway, I pitched in and dragged MF2 to help out too. Just between 4 Moms, the Adviser and 1 Dad, we managed to hung the new curtains, sweep the floor a bit more thoroughly and discard some unwanted things in the room. I wish somebody took some photos of my Mom Friends climbing up the windows and step ladder.

After more than a month, the room finally looked like a classroom. A few more add-ins on the walls and it would truly feel like a second home for our kids.

I'll probably take some photos one of these days. :)

Hitting G1!

Summer flew by with a lot of catching up on reading, and more reading: Famous Men of Rome, Hardy Boys series, etc. We also did bits of lessons on Fil and more or less a month of Kor language learning and at the same time, deciding on the primary school to attend this coming school year.

P took the entrance exam and passed it with flying colors, after which is the reading assessment and enrollment. We were given a short list of school supplies to prepare for the incoming school year.

The List included:

9 notebooks (to be changed every grading period)

2 G1 pad paper

1 eraser

1 pencil sharpener

2 pencils (specifically Mongol according to the list)

1 roll of tissue

2 pcs. 1x1 ID photos for their ID

June comes by and off to a good start upon attending the first flag-raising ceremony for the school year. Since he's a transferee student, he doesn't have any uniform yet. Luckily, quite a number of other classmates were, too.

So far, we managed the first few weeks of school: buying his textbooks, attending meetings (HPTA, extra-curricular groups, etc), submitting the seemingly endless photos for school files, getting familiar with his classmates and their parents, and teachers of course. We do homework, and advance reading specially on his Fil and Makabayan subjects as he really needs to have it, or else he'll draw blank during class.

In between these, we were able to squeeze in lots of playtime and running around. Teacher Mom is really glad that P has found a bigger place to run around and use up his energy. Stress notwithstanding, we're looking forward to a school year full of activities, and challenges that will make us all learn and grow.

Early Summer Trip/Educational Tour/Wedding

The month of March closed and April started on high note since we had the chance to attend a wedding in Tagaytay (Thanks to Tita A and Tito H.) Along with the main wedding trip was an educational trip somewhere in the immediate area of Manila.

P enjoyed going to the Children's Museum, and Luneta Park. That was the first day itinerary when we got back to the Metro.

This entry will chronicle how we spent our time for a few days far from our island province. :)

Day 1, March 29th

Airport at 8 A.M. Since we live near the airport, an hour before the ETD is enough for us to check in and wait for the plane to arrive. P was so excited since it's been a while since he has traveled via air that he has almost forgotten his previous experiences. Upon getting to our seats, he took the time in reading the emergency guide, and even competed with me for our only copy of the airline magazine. Good thing was that there wasn't much interesting there for a kid like him so he had to hand over the mag to me. Still, he didn't give much chance to read because he kept on chatting and chatting. TM had to give up the reading (and maybe a short shut-eye that I missed the previous night for packing) and tried my best to take this chance to enjoy his excitement. It was quite a short flight as it turned out because of having a pre-occupied kid beside TM.

After getting off the plane, we waited for Tita E.'s flight and had our lunch altogether. Then, I had to drag them to the DFA for passport renewal before heading off to our main destination Tagaytay. It was around past six and already quite cold when we got ther

Day 2, March 30th

The next day, we tried to take a walk to the nearby streets but had to go back almost right away because P was complaining of the long walk. That is one thing that I really had to let him learn, endurance for long walks. We do walk occasionally in our town but usually from the City Library to NCCC and if pressed for some more, to our home two blocks more.

The wedding was set later that day and we managed to get through it despite the cold which P didn't seem to mind about. He just kept on running around, enjoying the unfamiliar places. He was quite behaved during the church service, as well as during the reception, but in between those, he truly explored the area. He also got a chance to hang out with other Titos and Titas but not much with other kids. That is another thing that I had noticed. He gets along with adults faster/better than kids. Partly maybe because of the language?

Day 3, March 31st

Before going back to Manila, we managed to drop by at Picnic Grove. P was able to try the horseback riding and TM only watch. (I took pity on the horses, remembering Black Beauty.)

The planned itinerary went kaput as TM was not able to manage the logistics partly because my head was all into the motion sickness scare that I have.

Day 4, April 1st

We took the taxi moving from Makati to Manila in the morning.

P also had his first LRT ride in the morning as we went to Bambang for some medical supplies for the Grannys.

We finally got our bearings together and we were able to go to Children's Museum in the afternoon. P really enjoyed the place in spite of it being a little under repairs and all. There weren't a lot of people around. We basically had the whole place to ourselves. P explored every bit of it and enjoyed it tremendously. If I hadn't reminded him that we still have another place to explore, he wouldn't have gone through the whole museum a bit faster.

Further down the road is where we found the Luneta Park. I really don't remember much to see there but it was quite interesting place to walk around and explore for P. He found the Luneta Park Vicinity Map interesting and this served as a guide for us. We chanced on some people playing chess in the area, read a few not-so-famous Filipino heroes bios, watched the 6 o'clock fountain with the background music playing "Manila," and run around the playground. And no, we didn't take any photo of the famous Rizal Monument. Kiddo wasn't so interested yet. Beats me why. (Or maybe not.)

P had a chance to play a few games of chess. It reminded me that he is indeed interested in it if only he would have someone to play with at home more often. He also enjoyed playing on the playground which has very interesting designs. It seems that the designs have been improved just recently.

It was already past seven that we felt pangs of hunger that we decided to go. We planned on having dinner somewhere inside Times Plaza at UN Ave. but we got sidetracked as we passed by a Booksale branch inside. We never made it to our target dining place. We stayed in the bookstore until they closed and forgot all about our stomachs.

Very tired and hungry, I just brought kiddo back to our rooms and grabbed some quick take outs. We had our dinner, washed up, and got ready for some of the books we bought.

Day 4, April 3

We were able to do another quick tour of Manila Zoo, MOA for P's Cluedo and shoes and a bit of shopping-by-request at Carriedo.

Later that day, we did our final shopping: food at a Korean grocery and books at Robinsons Manila. And boy, was my backpack very heavy as we turned in for the night.

Day 5, April 4

Time to go back home. P got his Cluedo Cards already so we ended up playing it while waiting for our flight. We never got the chance to buy pasalubong foodie and I was afraid to almost missing our flight. We made it nonetheless, third bus.

We've done our sight-seeing and shopping so it's time to fly back to the island. :)It seems that the few days were not enough to see places and do some shopping. There should be a next time for both of us. I bet it would be more fun as P grows older. I just hope that his interests wouldn't not be far from mine and that he wouldn't mind spending most of our time in walking around on the streets, in museums, and browsing through libraries and bookstores.

Upon getting settled on the bus, before and after flying, P had his little speeches that went like this.

(On the Cebu Pac bus before going on-board) "Goodbye airport. Thank you Cebu Pacific. I'm excited to fly back home with you."

(Before take off) "Goodbye Manila. It was nice staying here. I really had a great time. I hope to see you soon someday."

(After touch down) "Hello Puerto, I'm glad to see you again. I missed you."

(On the way back to our hometown..)