Mommy Pehpot, Author at Mommy Pehpot

Progress Pre- School Gold: Breakthrough Advancements in Learning and Development

It maybe too late for my 8 year old son, but I still have some time left for my other kids.. so my mission in life now is to provide them the best memories I can.. what’s with the sudden rush?

I witnessed Progress Pre- School Gold as it unveils Breakthrough Advancements in Learning and Development and one thing I learned from Dr. Maricar Ocampo is Intelligence is not just IQ but also memory. There are different types of memory, sensory, short term and long term memory. It is the first 8 years of life where memories are transformed into long term memory.. so mommies, if you have kids 8 years below, start making happy long term memories with them *wink

“Memory is not just about remembering information but more importantly applying information properly. Your memory affects your ability to easily retrieve and apply stored information, such as in problem solving- and the ability to solve problems is often a factor in defining intelligence,” added Dr. Ocampo.

I also learned from Dr. Sabrina Tan the “triad of success” when it comes to child development: child’s cognitive, social and emotional skills. ” All three skills are independent, interact and factors each other’s success. A child who develops each of these aspects well, has more chances of succeeding in school, in social environments, in different endeavors,” Dr. Tan explained.

That afternoon, I feel like a student learning new things about parenting.. and I was just lucky to be hearing and learning this things from the expert. As parents, we shouldn’t stop learning about parenting and child developments. As Ruffa Gutierrez puts it: ” I have big dreams for my daughters. I want them to achieve more than what I have. I believe that how they learn today will define their future success. That is why I make sure I am always up-to-date in the latest trends in learning and child development, so I can apply to them. The last thing I want is for my kids to lag behind their peers.”

Dr. Maricar de Ocampo and Dr. Sabrina Tan with celebrity mom Ruffa Gutierrez and host Patricia Hizon. Together with guests from media, we watched the 3D unveiling of the all new Progress Pre-school Gold.

Progress Pre-School Gold’s GOLD Biofactors System was formulated based on the latest scientific research, supporting 4 development areas of child: Mental and Visual, Growth, Immunity, and Digestion.

I also had the chance to ask Ruff Gutierrez how she managed her daughters and prevents siblings rivalry, she mentioned about being fair to her daughters and giving them same items to prevent jealousy. We also had the chance to have a photo opps with her (just when I decided not to bring my DSLR argh!)

Fireplace Bonding

Sipping a glass of wine, watching the fire dancing in the night..

Isn’t that what all couples think about they’re purchasing houses with fireplaces. Over the years, the fireplace has been used as the centre of many a social occasion. This is the part of the house where the family can spend hours being together. Playing games, eating, or just plain relaxing! Many people just love the idea of sitting in front of the fire doing nothing. There’s just a certain aspects of a real fire which make it very appealing; the wonderful glowing coziness that it produces adds a special something to a cold, dark winter’s evening!

Given the many types of fireplaces available, be it built from masonry or fabricated with marble or wood, you can be sure there is a fireplace out there that will suit everyone and every home and ensure you get the look that you’re after.

Most fireplaces either need flues or chimneys, for gas or wood fires anyway, but you’d probably struggle to find these on modern houses. With many new houses now using central heating, very rarely would you find built in fireplaces and chimneys. If you aspire to a quiet night of relaxation, sipping wine in front of a crackling fire, but your house lacks one, you might want to try looking into flueless gas fires. These are actually electric fires with a realistic flame. Again there are a wide variety of styles and price ranges to choose from and very much everything is up to your personal choice and budget!

There’s still something magical about the crackling warmth of a fire giving you that feeling of security just makes you want to snuggle up and sleep!

photo source

PAREF Woodrose (School for Girls) Family Day 2012

The air is filled with so much excitement.. you can almost feel the festivity that is about to begin.

That is exactly how I felt when we entered the gate of PAREF Woodrose at Ayala Alabang Village. We were invited to join and watch Woodrose Family Day SY 2011-2012 as well as take a look around the school. The school ground where filled with students in different but color coordinated costumes. There were those wearing red, green, blue and yellow. Later we learned, it’s like the houses of Hogwarts, 4 houses/ teams competes during family day. A student as they enroll were assigned a color, yup, just like Hogwarts, but sorting is done randomly. Of course sisters goes on the same color. Here are some of the photos I took during their cheer dancing competition:

Mommy bloggers who covered the PAREF Woodrose Family Day.. Miss Janette Toral and yes my fellow ranchers*

Oh, I said SISTERS a while ago.. well because PAREF Woodrose is an exclusive school for girls. After the cheer dancing competition, we went ahead to to their flea market area and got to see some of the items that parents donated for the said activity. There were clothes, household items, books, toys and a lot more.

After that, we had the chance to learn what the school has to offer and what makes them different from other school.

PAREF Woodrose, I learned, is the first school established by PAREF, a non-stock, non-profit organizations of parents. The school is centered on Christian education based on Catholic faith. Here’s a short overview of PAREF Woodrose presented to us:

During the brief discussion, there were faculty members present and parents and students from the 4 teams (yellow, blue, red and green team). We had the chance to ask the students and the parents questions about the school, their views and some issues that most parents and students usually face.

PAREF Woodrose has a mentoring system where in each students were assigned a mentor. Mrs Sharon Fernandez (a mom of 8 kids with 2 daughters in Woodrose) said that to them, parents, to chat with the mentor is a benefit. Mentors act like a friend to the students.

Karina Jalandoni, a Gold team member and third year student shared that even though PAREF Woodrose is an all girls school they had the chance to meet and interact with opposite sex through varsity and socio-civic activities.

Ms. Delia S. Udani, PAREF Woodrose Executive Director (photo courtesy of Miss Janette Toral)

Ms. Delia S. Udani, PAREF Woodrose Executive Director shared with us that the their Family Day started in 1983. She also mentioned that in mentoring system, a staff usually mentors 13 students (based on the number of students they have and the number of mentors).

If you think PAREF Woodrose is the school for your kids, here’s PAREF Woodrose Admission Procedure:

1. Submission of all required documents

Accomplished Parents’ Information Sheet
NSO Certified Parents’ Marriage Contract *
NSO Certified Student’s Birth Certificate *
Original and photocopy of Student’s Baptismal Certificate
Report Card
2 x 2 pictures (2 copies)
Recommendation form accomplished by the Guidance and Testing Office of the previous school
Recommendation form accomplished by the Class Adviser and Registrar of the previous school

* For foreign documents, Original and Photocopy of the Marriage Contract of the Parents / Original and Photocopy of the Student’s Birth Certificate. Original Documents will be returned to the Parents.

2. Parental Attendance at the Orientation for Parents

3. Interviews and Testing

Parents are interviewed by a PAREF representative
Student takes an assessment test
Student is interviewed by the Level Coordinator

4. It is following this procedure that a Letter of Notice is prepared and mailed to the parents

To know more about Activities in PAREF Woodrose, click here and learn how they train their students. For PAREF Woodrose Curriculum overview, please visit this link.

From what we have seen, from the cheer dancing competition to the short discussion we had, I can say that PAREF Woodrose is a very tight community. You can see from the students how close they are and the parents knows each other well. Aside from that, the students that was with us from the discussion were very smart and answers all our question with confidence.

More details about PAREF Woodrose:

PAREF Woodrose School briefing

*Ranchers is a group of mommies who loves lunching out while ranting about our every day lives. We usually spend Saturday afternnoon eating and chatting while the kids play in the playhouse.