Parenting Archive

My thoughts on parenthood, and what it's like to be a mom in the Philippines.

Practical Tips For A Hassle Free School Year (Specially Made For SAHM)

If the school year started with last week, ours will only start tomorrow.. uh oh.

Are you prepared mommies?

We need to wake earlier, cook breakfast, prepare the kids, take them to school.. prepare their lunch, fetch them, teach them.. then dinner..and don’t forget to wash the dishes!

just thinking about it, makes you want to go back to sleep and wish vacation isn’t over yet? right?

Oh well, that was me a few years back.. but this year, weeks before the start of school year, I already trained myself to accept the fact that I can no longer sleep until 10 AM teehee

Imagine my situation:

4 kids.. 2 are grade school students, 2 will be home schooled.. and a demanding husband (joke lang pow!) and a few blogs to manage..it’s not easy, it’s NOT! and the school year hasn’t started yet! waahh

but well, I already made a plan for this year and hopefully I can keep up to it. So here are some Practical Parenting Tips For A Hassle Free School Year:

Prepare yourself psychologically. It helps a lot that you, as the main man, err woman of the house knows and understand the position you are in. Oh yes, you’ll be the one to wake up earlier, you’ll be the one to cook breakfast, wash the dishes, etc.. no one else will do it (of course not unless if you have a helper).. My point is, ACCEPT IT! Accept the fact that since this is your home, you will be the home manager.. and will be the one responsible for almost everything. Believe me, it really helps if you will accept that you have no time for yourself.

Make Time For Yourself. Now if you have accepted the fact that you HAVE NO TIME FOR YOURSELF.. make time! The thing is, if you think you deserve a me time but you never had the chance to actually claim it, you will end up feeling sorry for yourself.. trabaho na lang ng trabaho, walis dito walis doon, hugas dito, hugas doon..ni hindi man lang ako makapagsuklay ahuhuh.. got the message? Go make your time even if you think you have no me time. Make time for yourself not because you deserve it but because YOU WANT IT and they can’t do anything about it.

Create a schedule that you can follow, even for weekdays. As a mom, I can imagine how we, mommies love to multitask which most of the time ends with not being able to finish, even just one task. Create your schedule, time for cooking, time for this, time for ME TIME, time for kids. From there, create your routine.

Want to peak on my schedule? Basically, my morning is about exercise, cook, prepare myself, MAKE UP, prepare the kids etc..

Prepare Yourself Physically. And I mean, physically, like as if you’re working, get ready, take a bath, wear make up.. the works. It helps in conditioning yourself that you’re ready.. ready to face the day, ready fro anything that you will encounter during the day. In fact, I read somewhere (oh please forgive my memory.. blame that to childbirth!) it helps if you will not wear you usual house clothes, wear something that’s nice, something that you will wear when going to the mall or to the grocery. It also helps if you will wear a shoes. Remember, you’re a manager! And yes, make up, everyday.

Orient Your Kid/s with the schedule. Let them know what are expected from them. Let them understand their role in keeping the house less chaotic and of course in keeping your sanity intact. Give them responsibility too.

Procrastination is now you ENEMY. What you can do at night, do it.. like preparing what you need for breakfast, ironing uniform, preparing your clothes, cleaning the house. I works for me very well.. that I never go to sleep unless the house is clean, that’s one less household chore for me in the morning.

Establish a Study Habit. I sound like I am all about routine no? but that is really the key! a routine is very helpful to make sure that all things are done and that you don’t miss a thing. It helps to keep you more organized and less chaotic. It’s not as if, one day, you will teach your kid in the morning before going to school then a few days after, you will teach them after school. Establishing a study habit will give you an advantage in managing your time and not only that, it will also be helpful to your kid/s in the long run.

And lastly, keep your laundry clean (full post for this one coming soon). Basically, separate the clothes accordingly, specially the socks, the uniforms and the undies and hankies. It would be a lot easier to find these garments if you wash it separately from the other.. making it easier to prepare it for the coming school week.

What You Should Know About K-12 Program

During the launch of the K to 12 Basic Education Program, President Aquino said:

at this era we have named “information age,” the average person must be in possession of a wider range of knowledge just to live a satisfactory life.
From this day on, we can provide the youth with better opportunities to acquire information, to learn. We have gathered to launch a program that will change the education system of our country: the K to 12 Basic Education Program.

So how much change K-12 program will bring to our education system? What is K-12 program in the first place?

K-12 program is educational program where in basic education includes primary education and secondary education in total of 12 years. Here in the Philippines, we used to have K10 program (6 years of primary education and 4 years of secondary education). The changes in the education system brings six years of primary education, four years of junior high school, and two years of senior high school.

The K-12 program also integrated Kindergarten as part of the basic education, ensuring that all Grade 1 students are ready for academic learning (Republic Act No. 10157 entitled “An Act Institutionalizing the Kindergarten Education into the Basic Education System and Appropriating Funds Therefor)

As mentioned in The K to 12 Basic Education Program (Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines):

The adoption of the program is in response to the need to improve the competitiveness of our country’s graduates as the ten-year basic education cycle is seen as inadequate for work and higher education. In fact, overseas Filipino workers are not automatically recognized as professionals in other countries that view the ten-year education program as insufficient. The Philippines is the only country in Asia and is one of only three countries in the world with a ten-year basic education cycle.

So how can the K-12 program improve the competitiveness of our country’s graduates?

The K-12 program is enhanced education where in the basic education is strengthened through the following features of the program: (source)

Institutionalizing the kindergarten making it part of the basic education. Upcoming Grade 1 students are required to take kindergarten to better prepare them for the academic challenges they have to face.

Use of mother tongue as medium of instruction from kindergarten to grade 3. Medium of instruction for Grade 4 onwards will be English and Filipino.

Changes on the Core Academic Areas. For the K-12 program, core academic areas include: Math; Filipino; English; Araling Panlipunan; Edukasyon sa Pagpapakatao; and Music, Arts, Physical Education, and Health (MAPEH). This will be the basic subject of the students and Science will only be taught in Grade 3, though integration of Science concepts will be done on other subjects such as Math, Health and Languages. Edukasyong Pangtahanan at Pangkabuhayan on Grade 4 and Technology and Livelihood Education and technical–vocational specializations will be taught starting Grade 7.

The additional 2 years will be about specializations giving the students 3 choices: academic (for those who will be pursuing College), technical-vocational (for those who’s planning to work as soon as they graduate senior high school) and sports and arts (for those who wants to be in Sports or arts). The choice will be based on the student’s interest and result of their assessment as well as the need of the community.

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In other words, or in layman’s term, K-12 program will extend the student’s life 2 more years but promises to give more than that with programs targeting the needs of the students. Curriculum will be adjusted, making it easier to digest for the students and with the additional of two more years and specialized courses, students will get a better chance in getting a job.

In a more practical view, a student from a k10 program will have to finish elementary, high school and college in order to get a job., which is equal to 14 years (or more), where as with the K-12 program, they will only have to finish 12 years in order to get a job. For parents, that would be more practical as they will only have to spend 12 years in education and their child/ children can start helping them with the finances.

The program is very ideal in a very IDEAL situation but with the current situation of the education system here in the country, I think we are not yet ready for K-12 program.

Adding two more years to school year will require more classroom, more teachers and more teaching materials and all the said three are a rarity to our current education system. Lack of classrooms has always been the problem in our education system. Move such as class shifting or shortening of class is a clear proof of what education system lacks. There is just to many students but less classrooms and less teachers which prompted them to adopt the shorten class solution. In other areas of the countries, situation are worse, where different grade levels shares the same classroom and the same teacher!

From the situations mentioned above, how will the K-12 program be effective if students will only have 4 hours of learning, when in fact the very core of K-12 is to enhance the curriculum? Does it mean that it can address the shortened time, making the curriculum more adoptive of this scheme? I guess not. Or is it that K-12 program is answer to the shortened period? shortened period in terms of hours but longer period in terms of years?

Well, for me, K-12 program should only be implemented when the 3 major problems of the education system is solved. Allocation of budget for the implementation of K-12 program should be allotted instead to building of classrooms, improvement/ increase of the teacher’s benefits and salary as well as improvement of school facilities such as laboratories and utilities.

I am not against K-12 program per se but I only ask that before they implement the new program, fix first the basic needs of our education, the basic tools needed for teaching. To me, implementation of K-12 program this early is like shifting from pencil to ball pen when you don’t even have a paper to write on.

Practical Parenting Tip On Helping Your Child/Children Improve Their School Grades

It was never my intention to pressure my kids into getting honors, but I guess being on the top is in their blood (err, as much as I want to take the credits, they got it from their dad.. creativity’s my department, not logic teehee). Of course, I want them to have as much high grades as they can get and to let them know their limit and how much they can do. Actually, for the last school years, I have been experimenting with them, there were times that I don’t even help them with their assignments, not that I don’t care but I want to see how much they can do without my help and there are times that I help them and see how much they can improve with my help. Because of my experiments with them, I have learned their limits and how to push them a little more. I also learned how to teach them and help them effectively. As a parent, I think it is always an advantage to observe your child so that you will learn how to address their needs.

This coming school year, let me give you tips on how to help your child with their academics and what you can do to help your child/children improve their grades.

Know your kid’s learning style. There are many different learning styles coming from different models. Fleming’s VAK model suggests that there are 3 styles in learning, namely:

visual learners
auditory learners
kinesthetic learners

Visual Learners are those who learns through seeing. Think abut photos, visual aides, diagrams, reading etc. They have a high use for sense of sight.

Auditory Learners are those who prefers hearing or listening a subject matter. They learn through lectures, discussions and those that involves the use of sense of hearing.

Kinesthetic Learners are those who learn via experience. Information are easily remembered if they got to explore it. Kinesthetic learners uses sense of touch, taste and smell.

Observe you child and try to know how they remember things easily. Based on my experiences and observations, boys are mostly visual learners or kinesthetic learners and girls are more of auditory learners. So when I teach my boys, I always use visual aides (and my friends knows that!), I take time writing their lessons on cartolinas and taping it on our walls and I also make reviewers with lots of photos.

By knowing how your kid/s learn, you will know how to teach them. Do they need visual aides? or they prefer that you discuss their assignments/ lessons with you?

Establish/develop a study habit. After class, with or without assignments, practice your child to sit and study for at least 30 minutes to an hour until they develop a habit. This will be helpful not only in improving your kid/s school grade but as well as in their future. Developing a study habit for your kid will teach them discipline.

To effectively establish or develop study habit, take into consideration the study place. It has to be without much distraction such as TV or toys. If at first your kid is against the idea or does not show enthusiasm with it, use the reward method.

Challenge your child. Kids are well know for pleasing their parents. Challenge your child /children to do more in school. Talk to them about their academics. Let them know how much you expect from them. Of course, you have to be careful with this so as not to put too much pressure on your child. And yes, reward systems works!

Boost your child’s confidence. Nothing beats the hug and kiss of a mother to boost your child/children confidence. It also helps if you will be careful on criticizing them. Use of words that are degrading should be avoided too, use encouraging words instead. Of course, letting them know that you support them in whatever they do or whatever score they got, is another way to boost their confidence.

This coming school year will be more challenging for me as I will not be only tutoring my 2 school boys, I will also be homeschooling my 2 toddlers. I have tried homeschooling with my first born but patience gets in the way.. this school year, I am ready to face this challenge and you will expect to hear more school related and home schooling related articles.