posted by Jennie on Feb 25
I have not joined WW for a while now. Our son’s graduation pictorial day got me back to wanting to share pictures again to the meme group. Here’s one of the pictures the hubby took as the official photographer was taking shots of him. 
posted by Jennie on Feb 24
Today I was finally able to finish my son’s progress report. This is how School of Tomorrow’s Progress Report of Preschool with Ace and Christi (front) looks like. We have finished 35 letter sounds. In this program, the child is not expected to learn how to read just yet but half way through, our son was already able to read with ease. You can read more about his progress in our homeschool blog – ChristianHomeschooler.info.
posted by Jeff on Jan 7
The Academy for International Culinary Arts (AICA) is giving away one (1) FREE Culinary Diploma Course Scholarship. No strings attached! Just fill out the form and you will be considered eligible for the scholarship selection!
posted by Jennie on Dec 5
We attended yesterday, December 4, 2009, our very first Annual Homeschoolers Christmas Fellowship over at Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow in Paranaque City. It was a huge school. I heard from the hubby that it was formerly a Japanese International School. If only we live close by, then we won’t think twice in enrolling our little guy in this school if and when we’ll graduate him from homeschooling. What’s important is they’re using the same curriculum that we want for our child.
posted by Jennie on Nov 26
The country celebrates the National Week for the Gifted and Talented on November 22 to 28. The annual event, held every fourth week of November, was declared through Presidential Proclamation No. 199 by then President Joseph Estrada in 1999, to promote opportunities for talented children and to help parents and teachers foster an environment for children to nurture their potentials and utilize their skills at home, school and the community. This is also the time to recognize the exemplary performance of gifted and talented Filipino children all over in the country.
In celebration of the National Week for the Gifted and Talented, the Philippine Association for the Gifted (PAG) is holding its 12th Annual Convention-Workshop. Entitled “Nurturing Giftedness: New Directions” and slated on November 25 to 26 at the Mandarin Oriental Suites, Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City, the event will serve as a venue to learn new methods in nurturing children’s talents and potentials. Hundreds of parents, teachers, school administrators, guidance counselors and professors are expected to attend the workshop.
posted by Jennie on Nov 21
My homeschool blog, ChristianHomeschooler.info is now live! I have been asking Jeff for a good one month, to find me good combining words for a homeschool blog. I went to check with AdWords and believe me, I still can’t seem to figure out how they work. It wasn’t until I sat the hubby down and worked on his laptop last Tuesday night, did he get to focus to finally get me a the perfect name for a homeschool blog.
posted by Jennie on Nov 19
After so many weeks of putting it off, my homeschool blog is finally live! It’s barely a couple of days old and I’m not about to share the link just yet. Allow me to work on its content first.
Ever since late June, I have toyed with the idea of putting up a Homeschool Blog. I figured, homeschooling is taking up a bulk of my weekday mornings, then might as well blog about the random activities we do as me and my son do our homeschool routine. But because I was yet to get the hang of it, a brand new blog will add to the stress. Less than five months down the homeschooling road, I am now so thrilled to have my brand new baby blog. We so love homeschooling that getting some few snippets of our everyday classes documented, seeing how my four year old is doing better and better each day, academically and otherwise affirms our stand to homeschool him. Despite the odds.
posted by Jennie on Nov 4
For parents who wish for the optimal development of their children, the preschool teacher is one of their best allies. Early childhood educators are tasked with the preparation of young minds for studying basic academic subjects. In practice, this may look like a lot of games and playing, but in truth, there is a world of research and study that go into the creation of every educational activity and into the development of every learning system. There are also many kinds of approaches to early education as there are different types of parents. The challenge for parents here lies in finding educators or an educational system that would best complement their own child-rearing efforts.
To help parents along, early learning expert Dr. George Morrison and literacy specialist Laura Benson will speak on Nov. 5 & 6, 2009, at the 1st Philippine Summit on Early Childhood Education sponsored by Wyeth Progress Pre-School Gold. Held in Fort Bonifacio Global City, the two-day seminar aimed to promote the importance of early childhood education in the Philippines. Some 750 educators, program administrators, school supervisors, university students, researchers, social workers, psychologists, counselors, developmental pediatricians, and parents will attend to learn about the latest information on early childhood learning.
Dr. Morrison, professor and director of the Success for Life Programs at the University of North Texas, will be sharing his knowledge on the current Trends and Best Practices in Early Childhood Education on Thursday, November 5. The author of several books on early childhood development, he is constantly sought to speak and present on the future of early childhood education, changing roles of early childhood teachers, the influence of contemporary educational reforms, as well as research and legislation on teaching and learning.
“Early childhood professionals have acknowledged that they must educate the whole child—his or her physical, social, emotional and cognitive aspects. However, the spiritual aspect has not received much attention. A recent trend is a greater emphasis on supporting children’s spiritual development through moral and character education,” he said.
posted by Jennie on Oct 23
As our dear readers know, my son and I are now back homeschooling. Our class was on hold for a good couple of weeks because of the storm. It was during the time that our class was on hold, did I appreciate seeing my son draw and spell words (according to letter sounds-phonics) on his MegaSketcher. The curriculum does not encourage pushing a student his age to write yet. If at all, we trace the letters on air and focus more on getting the child learn about the letter sounds. Jed has memorized the Pledge of Allegiance to the Philippine Flag in less than a month from the time we started homeschooling last week of June and as second quarter came in more than a month ago, the Pledge to the Christian Flag and the Bible were introduced to our daily routine and he has now memorized both.
Pledge to the Christian Flag
I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag and to the Savior for Whose Kingdom it stands;
one Savior, crucified, risen and coming again
with life and liberty for all who believe.
Pledge to the Bible
I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word.
I will make it a lamp unto my feet
and a light unti my ath.
I will hide its words in my heart
that I might not sin against God.
posted by Jennie on Sep 5
Yesterday, my son and I wrapped up our first quarter of homeschooling. I cannot be more proud of him! Right from the time that we started, how he memorized the visualized instructions by heart, which is foundational to every pace that we use for every single subject of every single school day. I never had a hard time getting him through the homeschooling routine, to start with. I cannot be more convinced that this is exactly what I should be doing. My heart is full and I am overjoyed as I see right before my very eyes how his eyes light up as he learns new things and all the developments! How he associates everyday things with the new learnings. How he can locate countries and places around the globe and to think that it has only been less than 3 months!!! I can go on and on about these things, but here’s one thing for sure– in my heart I know that this is exactly the place that I should be and not the sidelines. Read the rest of this entry »
posted by Jennie on Sep 1
The schedule of a homeschooling mom who happens to also work from home is not exactly stress free, to say the least. Ever since we started with our homeschool classes more than two months ago, I find myself getting taxed, especially during the first few weeks when I was still trying to grab a hold of the of the curriculum. It can be crazy, I tell you. So cut homeschooling moms some slack when it comes to homemaking. Obviously, this has taken a backseat since we started with our curriculum. Except that, effective last week, my weekend girl, Mariet, called in and told me that she is available to come report every week. Yay! Such blessing! I trust her and could even leave the house with her on weekends. When she became unavailable for months, I had to hire some random help, who never got me satisfied. Mariet isn’t just reliable but an expert also in cleaning my bath tub the way I wanted it done and even the ceramic tiles. She’s an angel. So, as she takes care of the general cleaning, I get the easier task of just maintaining the house on weekdays. To keep my sanity intact, a weekend girl became a necessity, when we started homeschooling.
posted by Jennie on Aug 26
“Welcome to the Magical World of Story Telling where legends and myths of pirates and princesses, tales and chronicles of fairies and fantasy will come alive in Manila!”
posted by Jennie on Aug 7
PANATANG MAKABAYAN
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas, aking lupang sinilangan
Tahanan ng aking lahi, kinukupkop ako at tinutulungang
Maging malakas, masipag at marangal
Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
Diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang,
Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng paaralan,
Tutuparin ko ang tungkulin ng isang mamamayang makabayan,
Naglilingkod, nag-aaral at nagdarasal nang buong katapatan.
Iaalay ko ang aking buhay, pangarap, pagsisikap
Sa bansang Pilipinas.
(English version – translated)
I love the Philippines, the land of my birth,
The home of my people, it protects me and helps me
Become strong, hardworking and honorable.
Because I love the Philippines,
I will heed the counsel of my parents,
I will obey the rules of my school,
I will perform the duties of a patriotic citizen,
Serving, studying, and praying faithfully.
I offer my life, dreams, successes
To the Philippine nation.
posted by Jennie on May 22
posted by Jennie on May 21
One month. This is what I have left to figure my schedule out when I start homeschooling my sweet little guy. Early this coming June, we are going to have him assessed. What we are going to use for our homeschool curriculum is the international standard of School of Tomorrow (S.O.T.) a.k.a. Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) .
We will then know from the result of the reading assessment if my son will be enrolled in Preschool with Ace and Christi or ABCs of ACE. The former is the program for children who have been tested NOT ready to read, while the latter is for those children tested READY to read. My son has been reading simple three and four letter words from age 2, so I am fairly confident that he is going to do the ABCs of ACE instead. But we will know for sure when we get him tested. He has to score at least 80% during the assessment.
I am both thrilled and nervous. Treading a brand new milestone with the little guy, with its success probability practically burdened on me is a huge challenge. My motivation is definite and I am choosing this as a part of the vocation I picked when I left the corporate world to totally support my husband seven years ago. Read the rest of this entry »
