Early part of the month


November started as a holiday-filled month but ended in a hectic rush as the month rolled in. 
It was the English month and since P was a member of the Lit Guild, he had the chance to
join the activities for the club members.


He was part of the choral reading and some other little activities that they had during the month.
He took part in the club's various quiz bees as watcher, emcee, and goodness knows what else. It was the choral reading that really took a lot of time for practice as this involves a number of students. He missed some of the first practice sessions but manage to really get into it after a while. TM tried to let the kid practice reading by himself before but he wasn't interested. It seems more fun to practice reading together with other mates. I found him enjoying the rehearsals, specially the dress rehearsal where they got to wear costumes.


Tricky part for Teacher Mom is preparing the costume as I had not really been such a big fan of costume design. Sewing is not my thing and putting a costume together would necessarily involve that somehow or another. Unlike most kids who had theirs specially done in a dress shop, ours was simply put together of what is available (a long-sleeved white shirt bought on a sale, and a pair of pants which he already has) with the addition of a few cardboards, foil papers, glues and velcros. 


After weeks of figuring out how to go about it with less sewing or almost none at all, we finally completed it. Dress rehearsal came and the level of "casualty" has been passed. Since we tried on doing less sewing, our final output would have a good deal of foil paper which is more prone to tearing. And that was just what happened! Well, for the most part, it held well except for the all paper thing part, the sash. 


Watching my son watch his fellow clubmates with great interest and he, himself, proudly parading around in our "product" makes up for the stress in creating the costume since I am not really much into costume-making. Ours may have suffered a few glitches during the run but the kid did feel proud of his costume. It's in the epaulette. HAha!!


We'll just see how it can stand the real test on the D Day! (We may have to make some improvements though.) 


Performance Day


The place was a bit far but we all managed to bring the kids. It was all filled with flurry of activity as almost everyone from the club and their parents are busy for the performance. Almost every class has something prepared. 


P was able to perform, albeit a little off from the rehearsals. I just have to thank the club's adviser for giving him a good part. He sure needs a lot more exposure to get used to performing for a crowd. Minor changes didn't really freak him out but it did threw him off a bit. Oh! The part of being a stage Mom that I will have to avoid, literally. ^^,

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.