http://www.kidsahoy.net/ KidsAhoy.net: Your one-stop online portal for the Filipino Global child! en-us 2012-02-01T00:00:00+01:00 Mother-Daughter Duplicate http://www.kidsahoy.net/content.asp?ContentId=1235 It's oh so cute seeing parent-and-child tandem looking so much alike! Lorelie Lorelie 2009-06-09T07:25:18+01:00 Stressed Out Kid? (A Question and A Realization) http://www.kidsahoy.net/content.asp?ContentId=1228
 
Stressed Out Kid?
 
I have read an article in Smart Parenting regarding the Stressed Out Kid, and how can you tell if you have one. Crankiness and getting no focus at all is an example. I have been observing Caine for the a month since I have read the article. Everyday she is cranky, she has no focus and can't seem to stay put. She is hyper-active, clumsy and naughty. That's my 4-year old daughter. Yes, she is cranky everyday, but not all times, 4:00pm seemed to be her snooze time so by then, you would expect her to be a primadonna. She has no focus, It could be my fault, I let her try anything that would interest her and I get so overwhelmed with things that she likes to do, I can not control her. Hyper-active, it's ok as long as he doesn't hurt herself or anybody at least. Clumsy, her tiny little fingers can not hold it all so better not let her hold any breakable objects. Naughty, she loves to play with water, she loves to walk barefoot, mash slimy toys, sometimes it's cute but I put limit to it, but the thing is when I tell her to stop, she'd say, "Mommy you're timed-out!"
Tell me, am I still in denial? Because I know and I feel she is not. Why? She is still so sweet, she is getting good grades, and I think many are still interested to become her friends. Well, to be safe, I should be stepping backwards for a while just to check if I have been expecting too much from my daughter. And this picture?? She posed for it, I asked her to look mad and match it with her hair messed up..Yes, really!
 
 
*** The blog above was written to assess how my daughter is coping up with everything. I have gathered comments from friends and these are my realizations:
 
1. She is definitely not a stressed-out kid.
2. She is definitely hyper-active and that's okay than not responding to her environment at all.
3. It will probably take a while for her to focus on something that she'd prefer developing as talent or skill, and I should be really thankful that she could be versatile after all.
4. I receive good remarks from her teachers in school.
5. She follows instructions.
6. I realize that there could be something she wants but she can't seemt to know what, and it's making her cranky. It's natural, even I have that mood, I feel hungry but can't seem to know what I wanted to eat. NO, I know what you are thinking..I am not pregnat haha!!
 
So, I thank my friends for helping me arrive with these realizations and I know there will be more results to my on-going assessment.
 
 
]]> Mommy Mhellai Mommy Mhellai 2009-03-01T01:55:17+01:00 E-book Review: The Schoolhouse Planner (for homeschoolers and more) http://www.kidsahoy.net/content.asp?ContentId=1227 Having homeschooled for about six years now, I find that it is very important to have some kind of plan for your days. If I don't have a plan that I write down, it usually does not happen for us. Since homeschooling is still in its toddlerhood here in the Philippines, we don't have that many resources. So I have been using the internet for much of my research. However, I at first, felt sad that I just could not buy the great books that I see on Amazon and Ebay. But this year, I came across something really great and which I have been devouring much of: The E-book. Ebooks are books that come in PDF format that you can immediately download from the source after paying. Wow! Imagine my happiness now that I can purchase the good homeschool books online and not have to wait for my shipment to come in the mail. One of these is The Schoolhouse Planner by The Old Schoolhouse magazine. You can check out the details of this planner here: http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2499 I find this planner very useful because it is geared specifically for the homeschool mother. But it's not only a planner that can be used for the homeschool, it's also a planner for home management. It has over 200 pages of forms and charts that you can use. Plus, you need not print the whole book, you can only choose those forms that you need and arrange according to how you want to use it. It is very flexible with accompanying recipes, suggestions, and the like. The price is $39.00, a bit expensive for us, but when you see that you can use this planner for years and years, you wouldn't mind the initial price, or at least I won't. There are some pages, though, that are applicable to the USA only, but then the pages that we can use are much more. Check it out.]]> Michelle Padrelanan Michelle Padrelanan 2009-02-19T20:04:20+01:00 Local Homeschooling Issues http://www.kidsahoy.net/content.asp?ContentId=1226 As I started on my quest for knowledge about homeschooling, I had these questions that I wanted to be answered:
 
1.) Is homeschooling legal in the Philippines? Are there schools that offer this program here?
 
2.) What about the curriculum? How do I know what to teach my child?
 
3.) I'm not a teacher. I don't have any ideas how to make lessons plans. Am I qualified to teach my child?
 
4.) What about socialization? Will keeping my child at home not stunt her growth emotionally?
 
5.) Will my child be as good or even better than other school-based students? And these are the answers that I gleaned from talking to different homeschool families:
 
1.) There are some schools that offer homeschooling to families and are accredited with the DepEd. To name a few: The Master's Academy, The Living Heritage Academy, Victory Christian School, Angelicum has a distance learning department. These are just a few that I know of, Currently, there are more schools offering this. However, there are some families who are not satisfied with the current curriculum offerings and decide to take the plunge and not enroll their kids in a school. The benefits of this is that you, the parent-teacher, gets to decide and design the best way to teach your children. The downside to this (for me) is that your child won't have school records. In this case, you will have to contact the DepEd and have your child take the test that shows what level the child has reached.
 
2.) The first school where I enrolled my child to already had a fixed curriculum that we parents purchase. The curriculum is module-based and comes with a complete Teacher's Guide. I suppose that if you're new at this, it's good to have a structure to follow. The school also administers quarterly exams to students but quizzes are administered by the Parent-Teacher at home. My child did well here during the first year but I decided to pull her out during the 2nd year because we had difficulty following the schedule of that school. They basically were also new at this and I think that DepEd required them to follow the same schedule as the Public and Private Schools.
 
3.) As for teaching qualifications, I was very encouraged to hear from most of the pioneering families that as long as the mother was committed and had the passion to educate her child/children, a degree in Education was not necessary. If you purchase a complete curriculum, all the lesson plans have already been done for you and it's just a matter of following them. However, as is my experience and the experience of other families, the longer you homeschool, the more you will learn of the best way to educate your child/children. Many families that have been homeschooling for some time mix their curriculum. They learn how their children learn best and match the curriculum to their styles. There is a wealth of information on different methods of homeschooling and the various curriculum on the internet. I'll stop at this point because I want this to be an easy read and will post more later on.
]]> Homeschool Michelle Padrelanan 2009-02-19T19:58:43+01:00