Trying Home Montessori

My son is on his 2nd year in school. He is now in junior kinder at 4 years old.

During his first year, as nursery,we just let him get accustomed to studying. We didn't really stressed on his lessons or school activities. Aside from the fact that he has somewhat a thing with school discussions should only be at school and home will be for other stuffs. I find it a bit like compartmentalizing but since he was only 3 years old. I shrugged it off.

So during the moving up rites, he was given the "most assertive" award. I thought it was just so he would be given something like the other kids. But that's A for effort to the school.

So his junior kinder started. And then came his 1st quarter evaluation. His test results were fine but his hand writing was dismal. He refuses still to make assignments on weekends!

Then this weekend happened. He refuses to do his assignment, not a single one of them. He refused to write his name. We took all half a day of crying and threatening. My husband came to help but my son's attitude got the better of him that he was able to hit my sons hand with a pencil. We were shocked at what happens.

We tried to make amends by bringing him to kidzoona. However, I guess the incident in the morning really made him insecure, it was a stretch to turn his mood around.

That night I cried. I thought I am failing terribly as a mother to my son. He is in his formative years and I couldn't find the time and patience to guide him. I was super guilty.

Then I came across this 2 1/2 hour Saturday training on how to be a hands on working mom at the learningbasket and I thought I just need to attend.

I am happy I did. It was a realization for me. Thank you to the speaker who also has a blog "DIY corporate mom". I would still want to be a corporate mom to be able to provide for my family and give a good education to my son while at the same time wanting to be the "cool" mom my son would like to hang out with. She talked about montessori and how it makes learning fun for the kids.

I haven't gotten around to doing a Montessori like environment primarily because we are living in my bro in law's house. But have started doing a 30-min study time Montessori like with Gio.

It was a risk starting it at test time. I was nervous of Gio's reactions but I guess I should try to know his reaction.

We did part of the tree and parts of the flower the night before his tests and he somehow welcomed it. Phew!

The following day, after school, I asked how his test went and he said it was easy.

That night, we studied fruits and vegetable matching. And he enjoyed it enough to want to repeat the game again when he woke up. Another Phew!

That night he proclaimed that his test was also easy.

We have yet to see the results of the tests but I plan to continue checking other Montessori moms and homeschooling moms activities to be able to have a bonding and learning time with my baby.

Here's to hoping I will have the strength to do it and that my son will love learning with me!

Anilao Private Beach House: A quick family getaway

It was a few days before our little sisters birthday and it happens to be a long weekend,so we decided to book a little getaway for some respite and simple celebration. Our dad was luckily arriving to Manila from a seminar in Davao on his way back to the province so we decided to make it a grand Family thing. Brothers family will travel from the province just so we can all be together for the celebration. Its actually our first out of town ALL together. And hopefully the first of many.


So, since our budget is quite tight, we checked for affordable place to stay. Google is such a help at times and read 2 blogs about this wonderful private beach house in Anilao. Luckily, we were able to book it even on a short notice.


The place has no name so its actually tough to look it up. Its a 2 storey house with an attic on an 88 sqm lot. It is very homey. Its beachfront so the sea breeze is abundant :) And there's a pool where the kids swam to their hearts content since the beach had too much stones. Understandably though since Anilao is known for the stony beach.


We got it for 10k for 15pax. There's no specific time for check in and check out but of course will depend on your arrangement with the owner. The house is complete with utensils, stove, ref and water dispenser already. That makes it affordable.


The inconveniences I might note, though, although probably its just me are:
1. parking - its a bit far from the beach house so we cannot check on the vehicles. Its safe though since its not on the side of the road anyway. Parking fee is php75/vehicle
2. alleys - we have to pass through a few houses and narrow alley to get to the beach house. we usually carry a suitcase because of the toddler so its a little difficult.
3. no aircon in the house - since my small one is asthmatic, we like to go to the beach but stay in the aircon room at night to avoid the "hamog"


Overall, the place was very nice, affordable and we would like to go back again. When the asthma gets a little bit better.

DIY Disney Cars Birthday: My Little McQueen's 3rd Birthday

So since it was his 3rd birthday anyway, we decided to have it simple. And since its his first year as a student, we decided to celebrate in his school. At least on his exact birthday.

Given that the trend these days are DIY and out of the box, I decided to make it a bento box kind of birthday. Initially I thought of ordering from either the online kiddie bento box caterers or just from the fastfoods jollibee or mcdonalds. But I have a few dilemmas. The known bento box caterers have beautiful designs although theres a bit of a distance from the nearest pick up point to my kid's school. I worried that the food design will lose the impact after it being transported for quite a while.

AS for the fast foods, there have been negative news about frozen foods lately that I thought better to do away for a while since the party is for toddlers.

That said, I decided to do a DIY bento box. I had to search for a good bento box. I went online but the minimum number of order is 500! I went to Pasig Market but there were no plastic bento box that kind of fits my requirement. I went to DAISO and SAIZEN Robinsons Galeria but still nothing fits. I went to the Department store and then moving to SM Megamall Dept store but nada!

Luckily, i dropped by the supermarket before i went hope and found the suitable bento box for small kids. The morning of the birthday, i prepared my bento box: Spaghetti rice and chicken nuggets milo cereals and 2 trolli cars

The Disney cars cake we got from Goldilocks. Since 9 of his classmates were boys, they got pretty excited with the cake when we put it on the table. The souvenir and the water bottle were all done the night before. Printed the water label in stickers and pasted it to the water we bought from the grocery store.

The loot bags were loot eggs!! My baby loves surprise eggs in youtube. So I decided to make loot eggs just for him. The loot eggs contained: candies, mcqueen notepad, mcqueen paste, macqueen sharpener and of course, hot wheels!!!

It was a delight seeing the boys get all excited opening their loot eggs! the one and only girl in the class, got herself a pink hot wheels! (although from her look, i think she would have been happier with a frozen pencil sharpener and notepad :( )

Anyway, the excited shrieks and screems of my baby said it all. My DIY birthday project was a success!

Summer Getaway 1: Lola's Beach Resort (Aling Tekla) in Laiya, Batangas

So as early as January, we decided to make the most of Summer since: 1. Gio loves to swim 2. Its good for Gio's asthma We had a Tabing Itlog (definition: group of friends from way back 1997 or so) getaway plan already planned during Erich's First Birthday. This was to revisit the resort/beach we frequented when we were just starting. It is in Laiya (San Juan) Batangas. It was formerly known as Aling Tekla. Although it still isn't a big resort unlike many sprouting in the area, it provides the convenience to families who want to enjoy the beach in a budget. From 1 cogon/nipa hut with electric fan way back, there are now about 4 cottages made of cement and with aircon. The cottages go with a nipa hut for eating or drinking :) The Pros: 1. There is no check in and check out time so the stay can actually be enjoyed to the fullest. 2. Beach goers can actually bring their own food or cook their own so there's no drama. The stove in the cottages can be used and the gas is actually free. 3. There is no TV so one can actually just relax, red a book and literally listen to the waves. This may not be a con though for older kids since TV is always a cure for boredom. Gio, my beach baby, was content just playing with the sand and playing with the "poso" (yep the old time poso) til late. 4. Fortunately, the signal is quite good so the gadgets can work just fine for the kids 5. There's a secured parking for the guests. Although limited. 6. Place is near a sari-sari store where you can buy basic stuffs and theres also the talipapa where you can buy fresh catch to cook or bring home. 7. Place is small so there are not much hassle with other guests. Our group reserved 3 of the 4 cottages, so technically, we were the occupied the entire resort. So when the adults chatted the night away in one of the nipa huts just like the old days, there were no complaints. 8. And the place is shady as well, so one can stay in the nipa hut, doze off and its still cool. Hope the management will not decide to cut down the trees in the area. The cons: 1. There is no pool. Some kids want a pool as alternative for when the sun gets too hot. 2. If you are iffy with T&B, this place is not for you. The toilet has no flush. Its de-buhos as we call it. Theres no shower, just the "tabo" (dipper). 3. The rooms are not those that you see in hotels or 3-star resorts. You get what you pay for anyway. 4. There are fees going to Laiya and entering the access road to this resort. I have to say, it doesnt help much in the tourism All in all, if you are looking for a budget friendly place in Laiya (San Juan) Batangas, this is a place you should consider.

been awhile

Its been a year since my last post. And a lot have happened. Just an update, we didn't continue the Developmental program for Gio's speech and nutrition. As a mother, I have conferred with other mothers and i have also read through different articles and I came to a conclusion: 1. I should just let my son go through the natural process of development 2. My paranoia may not necessarily be helpful 3. Exposure to other kids and activities is helpful in a child's development 4. Not pressuring a child keeps away the stress from both parent and child and rather promote bonding. 5. Sometimes TV helps He still not say a complete sentence but good enough for us to understand. Its easier now to converse with him. And he is beginning to eat better but we are still in the level of cutting his meat or veggies is tiny pieces before he tries to chew it. if the cut gets bigger, it'll surely be thrown out. Being the only child and the only child at home, he can be a handful. And he has a heavy hand, he hits people if he dislikes what is being asked of him. So, this we have to work on or else, we might be called to school all the time when he starts school this coming school year. Anyways, we are back and more blogs soon

new words

so it goes, we have to go out so that Gio will see and learn new words.While on the road we say the type of transportation we see since he has inclination to modes of transportation it seems. So his new word yesterday is "truck". Now he knows airplane (his favorite word), car (his favorite toy) and now truck. Likewise, he begins to pinpoint at things he knows (sometimes still cant say the word). He was pointing at buses which we repeatedly mention as well. Also, its his second time to eat the Milo cereal which is looking good for me. We introduced gummy bears today and so far, he liked it, not the sour ones but more the orange flavored ones. He didnt eat much rice and viand yesterday but at least he had spaghetti which should make up for his lack of rice. Ah, small victories...baby steps...

Developmental Screening... and the start of our journey to 100 words

Aside from our concern with Gio's feeding habits, we noticed that when we say no to him, he hits his head. Researched about it in google and one particular answer rose above all answers. That is, to not give particular attention when he does it. Meaning, when he hits himself, we will pretend that it is nothing so as to give him a sense that it does not do him anything to hit himself. We also minimized the use of no. We either say "dont do that" or just divert his attention to something else. It was working. However, since we were already in the Center of Developmental Pediatrics, we still listed this as a concern so that we will further be educated on this. Another concern we mentioned is Gio have never said "mommy". If he wants me, he comes to me and pulls me. Of course, other than it hurts not to be called so when he can call his nanny by name, it also post concern on his speech development. So, according to the doctor, she used 3 developmental screening tools. Of course, during the session, we didnt feel like she was doing all that. Maybe, this is part of the testing. So she did: 1. Parents Evaluation on Developmental Status (PEDS) - think this is a few page questionnaire we have to answer 2. Modified Checklist for Autism in toddlers (M-CHAT) 3. BRIGANCE Early Childhood Screen II So Gio was doing well in a lot of things but he posted concerns on his talking speech. Apparently at his age, he should already be able to talk 10-100 words. Although, he exceeds 10 words, he still has a lot to say. The advice was to: 1. Talk, talk, talk 2. Listen, listen, listen 3. Read, Read, read 4. Explore, explore, explore 5. do,do,do Being working parents, we are not able to spend much time to be with him. Although, we try our best to spend the weekends with him and have breakfast with him. Its tough knowing we have so much to do for Gio and perhaps we have much to do with his delay in speech. At any rate, we are determined to go through this together. We have created a few adjustments around the house: 1. No TV when eating - my mother-in-law adheres to it although my father-in-law is still adjusting. Grateful though that they understand the importance of helping each other for the development of my baby 2. Talk to him more - His nanny is silent type and a little shy. We made her understand that we need her to talk to Gio more especially when they are playing and that no one is listening to her talk besides Gio, so it should be ok. 3. Reading to him (and show him we are reading as well) - His nanny also feels the need to help, so grateful to have her and to be assured that she has grown to love Gio as well. She tries her best to read to Gio at night when we go home late. 4. Singing to him - My Gio is fond of music. He dances when he hears music. He also sings albeit not understandable. So, to help a bit, we sing nursery rhymes and a few tasks. "brush, brush, brush, 3x a day" makes him do the action. 5. Tell him what we are doing - This is so he will be able to identify the action or the things related to the action. Its 2 days now that i say, "i kiss you on your nose, on your eyes, on your ears, on your lips, on your neck and on your armpit. yesterday he learned how to say "shoot" and "ball" since we might have said those words while doing it, 50 times. 6. Phone calls - we started taking turns to call him any time of the day just for a few conversational minutes. This is not just to say a few words but also a welcome respite to an otherwise stressful day. It is a lot of tasks and we have a long way to go. But we are determined to go through this as a family. And today, he munched on Milo cereals. Rough texture...might be small but a victory nonetheless.