Be Still...

I did my first ultrasound when I just started my 6th week.  All they found was a gestational sac, no yolk sac and no pole/heartbeat... I had another ultrasound done yesterday, on the end of my 8th week, and all they found was the gestational sac plus a yolk sac but still no pole... it is now officially time to consider a blighted ovum but still not too late for a completely normal pregnancy as there had been cases of heartbeats being seen on the 9th to 12th week.  I also saw literature that states that if a yolk sac is present then it is not a blighted ovum.  However, we have another concern, a subchrionic hemorrhage has been seen around my gestational sac and it is big.  This is said to be another cause of miscarriages.  

Ynigo has been super excited for the baby... he has been praying to God everyday saying thank You and asking God to make the baby come out na because he wants to see her/him already.  Last night, he hugged and kissed my tummy which he does everyday too and while caressing my tummy suddenly said with a smile, "this is my blessing!" Oh, I felt such a strong tug in my heart.  I thought if this pregnancy does not continue he will surely be heartbroken... isn't he just too young?

God has been faithful and has been supplying me and Jason with hope and I have been holding on to His words, "Be still and know that I am God"-Psalm 46:10.  But seeing Ynigo so in love with the baby already makes me cry...

I can do nothing but wait on Him...  I am fortunate to have a Big God who is bigger than any problem I may face.

Nature Walk, a date with my little one.

 Learning is not confined to the 4 walls of a classroom (or in our case, our house)… learning also takes place in different areas especially since we aim to provide our children the most direct experience they can have with a particular concept.  When we discussed the sense of sight, I then decided to take my little one on a nature walk at UP Diliman.  As we walked around, I asked Ynigo to use his eyes to see the things around him.  We also brought a magnifying glass for him to use in inspecting/observing flowers, plants and insects.  We even touched tree trunks and discussed textures.  Furthermore, we got to discuss about caring for the environment when he noticed that there were no more ducks at the UP Pond.

Afterwards, we sat on a mat in the middle of the grassy area.  I then gave Ynigo sheets of paper and provided him with pens to draw what he saw during our walk together.  He drew plants, cars, insects and a dog too.  After all the work, I brought out snacks and drinks and we enjoyed Ynigo’s favorite part – PICNIC! We stayed at UP for over 2 hours, walking, snacking, observing and playing soccer. 

He then asked me, “Mom, are we (on) a date?”  A huge smile appeared on my face as I replied yes… Hitting two birds with just one stone, it seems.  Not only does a nature walk provide good, direct experiences for my son with nature, we also got to have quality bonding time together that we both got to enjoy (and it did not cost us much, just the snacks).  Bring your kids out and enjoy the simple things in life we tend to take for granted!       

Losing my cool... a no-no!

This morning I did something I am not proud of and truly regret.  I was very busy, trying to finish what I was doing for I was short on time.   Then, Ynigo kept on covering what I was reading with his feet and then later on with his hands.  This was because he wanted to play with me.  But I explained to him that I could not as I had to  finish what I was doing.  Instead of obeying however, he went back to covering what I was reading.  I said please again and asked him not to but to my frustration he did not listen.  I started to feel irritated and to make matters worse, he started tapping on what I was reading.  It was then that I lost my cool... I snapped at him and nudged him away forcefully.  


This surprised my dear little boy and he looked at me with great hurt and sadness, like he was going to cry.  I had to look away and tried to calm myself first.  My heart went out to my little boy who was still sitting o  so stunned.  I immediately prayed and asked for God's forgiveness as I was not the woman and mother that He wanted me  to be.  I then looked at Ynigo, lifted him up  and hugged him tight.  I then said I was very sorry for doing what I did and when I said that, tears immediately fell down his cheeks and he sweetly said, "okay".  As soon as he said this, his tears turned into full blown crying which made me cry too.  I then said, "will you forgive me?" and he immediately, in between sobs, said, "yes, mommy".  We then cried a bit more and prayed together.   He even said in his prayer, "Dear Jesus... thank you for (I) forgiving Mommy..."  Oh, I truly pray that the Lord will help  me the best Mom that I could be.  I should not have snapped at Ynigo, I should have not nudged him, I should have controlled my emotions and most importantly I should have made him feel that he was MORE important to me than what I was  reading...


May I learn from this experience and not do this again.  I thank God for  rebuking me and working in me, may he continue to provide me with 'teachable moments' to prune me.  I thank God for my little boy who is always very forgiving.   May he always be this way.        

OUTDOOR FUN!

Allowing children to explore the outdoors is essential for their holistic growth.  Important concepts can be learned and skills can be developed in the outdoors.  Knowing this, I often encourage my son to interact with the outdoor environment regularly.   That is why, we as a family  truly look forward to our stay in our house in Laguna... we get to bond with nature and each other.  Here are some things you can engage in outdoors,  a  local park or your own backyard:


KITE FLYING - along with developing physical  skills, this activity may help children understand the concept of wind, flying and lightness of objects; may help children in following directions and practicing patience as they wait for their turn or while they find the "perfect" wind.  

BUG HUNTING / CATCHING - Outdoors are filled with treasures for your children to find.  Encouraging you kids to look  for / catch bugs (ants, moths, butterflies, dragonflies) for you to observe together will be very enriching.  Doing this is a great jumping point to more learning such as body parts, ecology, life cycle, etc.      However, I also make it a point to remind Ynigo not to hurt the insects and to let them go after we have observed them.  This will help your children respect all life forms.  

My boys observing their catch

Ynigo trying to catch a dragonfly

Daddy catching an elusive butterfly for Ynigo

  
PLANT OBSERVATION - I also encourage Ynigo to observe plants and flowers around him; making sure he uses as many of his senses as possible.  His favorite is the Makahiya.  He loves making them close.  

Ynigo's favorite Makahiya Plant

GAMES like  Hide and  Seek and Races - Outdoors is truly a time to  use those muscles and build endurance and strength.  Ynigo loves playing Hide and seek and Racing the most.  At times he joins his father  in basketball too.  He also plays golf and soccer at the fields.   

Racing with Daddy

Basketball with Daddy... sometimes Mommy joins too

You may also do PICNICS and ART ACTIVITIES while outdoors (I will show pictures on my next blog on these).

Have fun outdoors, everyone!     

Play builds essential skills!

I would just like to share an article from npr.org that I think parents should read.  I am an advocate of play-based education and would like others to realize that the "old-fashioned play" is the most effective in building skills essential to a child's future development.  You may view this article at http://www.npr.org

February 21, 2008

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills (by Alix Sp

On October 3, 1955, the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on television. As we all now know, the show quickly became a cultural icon, one of those phenomena that helped define an era.

What is less remembered but equally, if not more, important, is that another transformative cultural event happened that day: The Mattel toy company began advertising a gun called the "Thunder Burp."

I know — who's ever heard of the Thunder Burp?

Well, no one.

The reason the advertisement is significant is because it marked the first time that any toy company had attempted to peddle merchandise on television outside of the Christmas season. Until 1955, ad budgets at toy companies were minuscule, so the only time they could afford to hawk their wares on TV was during Christmas. But then came Mattel and the Thunder Burp, which, according to Howard Chudacoff, a cultural historian at Brown University, was a kind of historical watershed. Almost overnight, children's play became focused, as never before, on things — the toys themselves.

"It's interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys," says Chudacoff. "Whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object."

Chudacoff's recently published history of child's play argues that for most of human history what children did when they played was roam in packs large or small, more or less unsupervised, and engage in freewheeling imaginative play. They were pirates and princesses, aristocrats and action heroes. Basically, says Chudacoff, they spent most of their time doing what looked like nothing much at all.

"They improvised play, whether it was in the outdoors... or whether it was on a street corner or somebody's back yard," Chudacoff says. "They improvised their own play; they regulated their play; they made up their own rules."

But during the second half of the 20th century, Chudacoff argues, play changed radically. Instead of spending their time in autonomous shifting make-believe, children were supplied with ever more specific toys for play and predetermined scripts. Essentially, instead of playing pirate with a tree branch they played Star Wars with a toy light saber. Chudacoff calls this the commercialization and co-optation of child's play — a trend which begins to shrink the size of children's imaginative space.

But commercialization isn't the only reason imagination comes under siege. In the second half of the 20th century, Chudacoff says, parents became increasingly concerned about safety, and were driven to create play environments that were secure and could not be penetrated by threats of the outside world. Karate classes, gymnastics, summer camps — these create safe environments for children, Chudacoff says. And they also do something more: for middle-class parents increasingly worried about achievement, they offer to enrich a child's mind.

Change in Play, Change in Kids

Clearly the way that children spend their time has changed. Here's the issue: A growing number of psychologists believe that these changes in what children do has also changed kids' cognitive and emotional development.

It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.

We know that children's capacity for self-regulation has diminished. A recent study replicated a study of self-regulation first done in the late 1940s, in which psychological researchers asked kids ages 3, 5 and 7 to do a number of exercises. One of those exercises included standing perfectly still without moving. The 3-year-olds couldn't stand still at all, the 5-year-olds could do it for about three minutes, and the 7-year-olds could stand pretty much as long as the researchers asked. In 2001, researchers repeated this experiment. But, psychologist Elena Bodrova at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning says, the results were very different.

"Today's 5-year-olds were acting at the level of 3-year-olds 60 years ago, and today's 7-year-olds were barely approaching the level of a 5-year-old 60 years ago," Bodrova explains. "So the results were very sad."

Sad because self-regulation is incredibly important. Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates, drug use and crime. In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn. As executive function researcher Laura Berk explains, "Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain."

The Importance of Self-Regulation

According to Berk, one reason make-believe is such a powerful tool for building self-discipline is because during make-believe, children engage in what's called private speech: They talk to themselves about what they are going to do and how they are going to do it.

"In fact, if we compare preschoolers' activities and the amount of private speech that occurs across them, we find that this self-regulating language is highest during make-believe play," Berk says. "And this type of self-regulating language... has been shown in many studies to be predictive of executive functions."

And it's not just children who use private speech to control themselves. If we look at adult use of private speech, Berk says, "we're often using it to surmount obstacles, to master cognitive and social skills, and to manage our emotions."

Unfortunately, the more structured the play, the more children's private speech declines. Essentially, because children's play is so focused on lessons and leagues, and because kids' toys increasingly inhibit imaginative play, kids aren't getting a chance to practice policing themselves. When they have that opportunity, says Berk, the results are clear: Self-regulation improves.

"One index that researchers, including myself, have used... is the extent to which a child, for example, cleans up independently after a free-choice period in preschool," Berk says. "We find that children who are most effective at complex make-believe play take on that responsibility with... greater willingness, and even will assist others in doing so without teacher prompting."

Despite the evidence of the benefits of imaginative play, however, even in the context of preschool young children's play is in decline. According to Yale psychological researcher Dorothy Singer, teachers and school administrators just don't see the value.

"Because of the testing, and the emphasis now that you have to really pass these tests, teachers are starting earlier and earlier to drill the kids in their basic fundamentals. Play is viewed as unnecessary, a waste of time," Singer says. "I have so many articles that have documented the shortening of free play for children, where the teachers in these schools are using the time for cognitive skills."

It seems that in the rush to give children every advantage — to protect them, to stimulate them, to enrich them — our culture has unwittingly compromised one of the activities that helped children most. All that wasted time was not such a waste after all.

Boys can play with dolls too!

I walked in on my son playing with his doll, (who he calls baby Angelo).  He was kissing the baby, talking softly to him and was rocking and lifting him.  He then removed baby Angelo's clothes saying that his dirty and pretended to dress him up again.  As I saw my little boy playing with Angelo, I remembered something that I often heard, "BOYS SHOULD NOT PLAY WITH DOLLS."

Why shouldn't boys play with dolls?

I have encountered a number of parents who do not allow their sons to play with dolls and other similar toys.  Dolls are not gender specific.  In fact, I have read a couple of articles that explains that allowing young boys to play with dolls is actually beneficial to their development.

What we fail to realize is that playing with dolls require a number of things like, imagination, care, nurture, and empathy.  Boys can and should be encouraged to play with dolls and play house.  Try it, it might help your child prepare for the arrival of a younger sibling, care for a younger classmate or school mate or even prepare him to be a nurturing father someday.  

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Fearfully and wonderfully made, this is what we all are.  God created each and everyone of us with great care and love.  He knows each of us by name and knows even the exact number of hairs on our heads.  To help Ynigo know who he is, Jason led a family devotions which centred on the verse, 

                 I am fearfully and wonderfully made. - Psalm 139:14           

We then decided on actions to use to make memorizing the verse easier.  Jason then explained this verse to Ynigo.  Afterwards, I made Ynigo look at himself on the mirror, identify the parts that God made and then asked him to draw a portrait of him.  

To supplement, we taught Ynigo the song, "God Made Me" which he truly enjoyed and would sing even without accompaniment.  

 

Dealing with Frustrations

Ynigo was playing with one of his toys earlier.  He wanted the toy to stay on its skateboard but it kept falling off.  Ynigo then started to get frustrated.  After trying over and over again, he began to cry.  Children do get frustrated and usually they resort to crying when all else fails.  I understood how he felt but I had to help him deal with his frustration the healthiest way.  I encouraged him by telling him I know he feels frustrated and that I understand how he feels but I had to remind him that he cannot cry and shout everything he gets disappointed or things do not go his way.  Children need to be able to practice controlling their emotions, thus Ynigo had to practice today.  If I just went ahead and fixed his problem for him then he would not have been able to practice this skill and would have lost a valuable a-ha moment (problem solving task).  


I first had to remind him of our rule that he can cry but he cannot shout or wail.  He settled down immediately.  With tears still falling down his cheeks I then tried to encourage him to try to think of a solution...  After just about 1 minute and a half, he then said, "Mommy, it does not stick.  I tried again and again but it does not stick.  Let's put tape."  I trhen hugged him and said, "that's a great idea! I told you, you will be able to figure it out, you just had to think."  A smile then broke from his small face.  


Ynigo was not only able to practice and succeeded controlling his emotions, but he was able to problem solve too!

Yes, Master Ynigo!

After helping Ynigo bathe and get ready this morning, I was surprised when he looked at me and said, "Mommy, drink your vitamins now".  I had to thank him for reminding me as I did really forget.  How observant and thoughtful can a child be?  I seems like I am not the only one doing the caring and nurturing, my little one is doing the same for me now too.  


He has grown up real fast... I can hardly remember the times when he communicated through crying, cooing and babbling.  Currently, he is boy with great communications skills, able to sustain discussions with adults around.  He also uses this advanced language skills to show care and remind people like me about little things like my vitamins.  


Moreover, Ynigo also reminds others about good manners.  For example while dining together, Ynigo heard his granny say something with food still in her mouth, Ynigo immediately raised his hand to gesture stop and said, "Granny, don't talk yet.  Swallow first."  He also does not forget to  remind people around him to say "opo", "thank you" and "you're welcome".  It has been a joy seeing how he has been internalizing character traits we have been trying to model and teach him.  I am then reminded that we, as parents, need to be careful with how we act, we have to be consistent, we have to walk the talk.       

Nurture the Nature

I have been reading the book, "Nurture the Nature" by Gurian.  This is about understanding your child's core personality and parenting him/her in the appropriate way.  It's funny how we, as parents, tend to forget at times that our children have their own unique personalities which they bring into this world.  In fact, some believe that they somewhat can guess the personalities of their children while even in the womb.  We try very hard to make our kids become who and act how we want them to be... missing the chance to truly see who they are in the flesh.  We are supposed to know each of our children individually and deal with them according to their uniqueness.  This book helps us see not only our children's personalities but even ours.  


According to Gurian we are to parent intentionally, provide discipline, materials and activities that each of our children would like and are interested in.  I found the book a bit challenging as there are quizzes and logs that I am supposed to do but I do see why it is important.  Even teachers of young children know how important observation is in knowing a child and for providing appropriate curriculum for him/her.  Why shouldn't we do the same?  Are we not supposed to be the experts on our children? As a teacher I feel so sad when I encounter parents who seem to not really know their own children; some when asked questions about their child would have to ask their nanny for the answer.  Try to know your children.  Set individual date times with each of them, for both your benefit.    

Playing Footsie!

For the Concept "I have feet", Ynigo and I did a couple of activities.  I will just highlight a few that he seemed to have enjoyed extremely.


           1. Foot painting: We painted using his feet.  To incorporate foot movement, Ynigo was asked to tiptoe, jump, run, walk and skip on butcher paper with paint on his feet.  He then compared the prints that each movement made.  We also did fast and slow.  This is a very easy activity that can last for a long while as your child enjoys the squishy feeling of paint on his feet and the movements too.  

              2. Feeling Footsies - For the next activity, Ynigo was asked to use his feet to feel... He was given a tray with different objects that he had to describe and guess using his feet (with his eyes covered of course).  Ynigo kept on giggling and asking to guess more objects.  This activity also targeted his coordination as he even tried to lift the objects with his feet.  

My Body!

Concept: I have a body
Activities:
     1. Body Chart - on a large sheet of paper, I drew the different body parts and Ynigo wrote down how many of each part he had.
     2. Body tracing - I asked Ynigo to lay down on butcher paper.  I then traced his whole body and while I traced he identified which part.  He enjoyed this activity and would giggle at times saying he was ticklish.

            Throughout the days that followed, Ynigo and I added more to his body tracing as we discussed the different body parts...
           3. Paper Face - I printed out a picture of Ynigo's face.  Then I cut out the parts (eyes, nose, mouth, hair and ears).  Ynigo then pasted the parts on a circular sheet of paper.  Just seeing 1 eye, Ynigo was immediately able to guess that it was his.  You will be able to see your child's spatial relation skills as he does this activity. We then attached the paper face on his body tracing.
           4. Hand traces - during the time we discussed about the hands, we also traced ynigo's hands and even printed numbers in each of his fingers.  He kept on counting each of his fingers.  We also did left and right activities with his hand cut-outs.  These were then added again to his body tracing.
           5. Foot prints - We had 2 foot prints made, which I cut out and placed on the body tracing as well.
           6. Shirt design - While discussing the chest and torso, I gave Ynigo a shirt that he could decorate.  I asked him how he wanted to decorate it and said he wanted to use stamps.  Armed with stamps, Ynigo made a shirt that he later on attached to his body tracing.
           7.  Shorts (stringing) - for the shorts, I made a cut-out pair of shorts and punched holes all around.  Since Ynigo is just 3 I made sure to roll masking tape around the end of the yarn to make it easier for him to insert the yarn into the holes.  Stringing activities helps strengthen finger muscles and will help prepare children in using tripod grasps.

A Child's Own Story: the makings of an author

Children are authors too! Aside from being scientists, explorers and philosophers, young children are very great in making up their own stories. The adults around them are to listen, encourage and even note down these made-up stories.  Ynigo has started creating his own stories.  The other day he made up a story about a baby monkey who cried because he could not find his mommy and while looking for her passed by a playground where he used the swing, the see-saw and the slide.  It was in the playground that his mommy finally saw him.  How I wish I was able to video this story. Nonetheless, I was able to document it as I wrote his story down and afterwards, we made his story into a book.  I wrote down what he said on sheets of paper and we drew.  This helped Ynigo see books from the perspective of authors and now asks who wrote the stories we read to him.  

        For older children you may ask him to draw and write down on his own.  This is a very good way of developing language skills.  Eventhough you might not understand what your child is saying at times, continue to support and encourage him/her.  S/he might surprise you and turn to become the next JK Rowling or Tom Clancy.  

        The other day, Ynigo created another story.  I was able to record it this time but I think he became conscious because of the video.  Please see video below.  

  

Mommy, I want to make a horse!

Ynigo surprised and challenged my art skills a few days ago when he went up to me and asked me to make him a horse.  I thought, "uh oh... this will truly be a feat!" Together we gathered materials we would need;
            - a old mop handle,
            - textile scraps,
            - ribbon scraps,
            - yarn,
            - googly eyes,
            - an old sock
            - glue gun and sticks

Ynigo then stuffed the sock with textile scraps.  Afterwhich, we added the hair and the eyes.  Ynigo was then very particular about wanting reins to hold on, so I had to glue ribbon scraps (from Christmas boxes we received before).  Ynigo was very proud of our masterpiece and immediately went to the other house (granny's) to show off his horse.  He rode on it the whole day!

Height Chart

We discussed height and weight a couple of weeks ago and to make it more fun, Ynigo and I created our own height chart by making handprints.  To add more challenge, we used 3 colors to create a pattern.  This activity helped Ynigo learn patterns aside from measuring his height (and mommy and daddy's too).  Young children need to start measuring using objects that they can relate to (objects that are concrete) since units of measurement are still too abstract for them.  

Ynigo is 8 handprints tall

  

Father's Day Card

Ynigo enjoyed making his father's day cards for his Dad and Lolo.  For his Dad's card, Ynigo painted using rollers and sponges.  He then helped me fold the shirt and neck tie.  He wanted to draw stripes on the neck tie as he frequently sees his father using ties with stripes.  Inside we wrote his dad a note and inserted a Father's Day booklet of vouchers which we made.  His vouchers, which he could redeem from Ynigo and Mommy anytime contained the following: 
a) free massage, b) whole day control over the TV remote, c) a hug and kiss from Ynigo and Mommy, d) 1 service coupon and e) favorite food.  

   

Cooking with Daddy

It was so fun watching my boys bond over pancakes.  Ynigo and Jason trekked to the kitchen to create "birthday pancakes" (as we have been discussing birthdays this week).  They spilled some, and dropped some but they sure looked like they were having the time of their lives.  Aside from quality time with his dad, cooking activities like this can teach important skills like observing, describing, measuring, counting, mixing and pouring. This also helps children learn different concepts like heat/temperature, change in matter, procedures, and so on... You may also incorporate songs like, "this is the way we mix the batter" by changing the lyrics of the song "this is the way" (we call this PALIT-AWIT / changing lyrics of familiar tunes).  Follow-up activities may also be done after like sequencing pictures, recipe chart/book and experience chart.   You may also decorate pancakes to make people faces with chocolate syrup, cookies, m&ms, chocolate pretzel sticks and whipped cream.  


Note: It is important that rules be discussed first before starting a cooking activity with your child especially since cooking can be dangerous.  Processing rules WITH your child before an activity will help him/her remember the rules more and will ensure safe cooking.  This will also help your child know what is expected of him/her.

identifying the ingredients and materials needed

this is the way we mix the batter, mix the batter, mix the batter

cooking time!

try this, Mom!

Music and Movement programs as my partners in Homeschooling

Homeschooling should be supplemented with activities that will encourage the child to interact with other children.  Ynigo not only gets to socialize and practice his social skills; Programs such as Music Together and Kindermusik are fun and worthwhile program for young children as it targets holistic development of children through music and movement.

Family Devotions: Growing in the Lord

Ynigo placing monggo seeds

Monggo seed/sprout at day 3

For this night we talked about growing in the Lord for family devotions.  Jason and I decided that to help Ynigo internalize this more we should plant and make monggo seeds grow. Everyday for 2 weeks we would draw the seed/plant and describe what changes occurred.  We also measured the plant as it grew.  Ynigo liked helping me measure the plant each day and was very sad when the monggo plants started dying after the 2nd week.   

Our Curriculum

As we begin to home school our son we use the curriculum framework that I learned in college at the Department of Family Life and Child Development at the University of the Philippines called the Integrated Core Curriculum (ICC) which is an interest-based, on-going curriculum. In ICC we plan on a weekly basis but is still flexible to address interest cues exhibited by the children in the class, in my case, our son.

Since my son just turned 3, and since he is very interested on himself, his name, body, etc, we started on the Organizing Question, “Who am I?” For the first week of June, we began with the concept, “I have a name” and focused/integrated all activities towards his name.

Some of the activities we did where:

• name chart: where in he had to cut out squares, then write each letter of his name on each square and post it on the chart. I then wrote the letters of my name and my husbands name on squares for the chart too. Afterward, he had to fix the letters of his name in sequence to properly spell it on the chart. He then counted the letters of each name and wrote the total number on the side of the name. Then, we discussed who had the longest/shortest name.
• YNIGO song – to the tune of BINGO, I changed some of the lyrics ti help my son remember the spelling of his own name. This song he truly enjoyed and we even had to make actions.
• Y collage – Ynigo also made a Y collage and also sang “Y is for Ynigo” to the tune of “C is for Cookie” we continued to discuss the Y sounds too.
• The Me Book – it was also this week that we started to fill in Ynigo's the Me Book, which will be a compilation of some of his activities about himself. For the cover we attached the Ynigo doll that we made with his aunt with velcro so that he may remove it if ever he wants to play with it. Inside we placed a page with his written name, the number of letters of his first name, another page with the Y collage that he made. Each week, we try to add something from the concept/s that we tackle.

My Little Bestfriend

At a Music and Movement program class today, the teacher asked each child to identify their best friends. When she asked Ynigo, he answered,  "MOMMY".

It surely feels good to be considered  a bestfriend by your own child... I just pray that he will still see me as his bestfriend even when he gets older. I look forward to sharing his joys, pains, struggles and triumphs.   

Teacher Scared To Teach Own Child

I have been a preschool teacher and early childhood professor for about 10 years now.  Knowing this, one would think that homeschooling my own son would come naturally to me... wrong! 

Homeschooling our son and future children was something my husband and I decided on in obedience to what God has been impressing in our hearts this past year.  Yearning to leave a Godly legacy to our child/ren, we now embark on this wonderful and enlightening journey together.  

I am still a bit apprehensive, constantly asking myself if I will be a good teacher to my son... if I will be able to give my child the best... I just hold on to God's promise that everything will turn out good and well for those who love Him.  As we have dedicated our son to Him, we know full well that his future is in His hands.