What I learned in K's Nursery Year

K had some summer schooling stints, and was in a barangay day care program for a couple of months back in 2012. She also completed her English sessions in the Galileo program. But, SY 2013-2014 was her first year in formal schooling. And I have to admit, I was more nervous than K was on her first day of school. I was afraid that the traditional method may not be the right fit for her, I was afraid that she will be difficult to manage in the classroom setting, I was afraid... of a lot of things.

But since Day One, K was not afraid of anything. She made friends right away, she was focused in class, she did her homework, she aced her tests... She was amazing.

I on the other hand, well, let's just say I merely passed this 'test'. I almost didn't...But I'm glad to say I did. For a hands-on mom like me, this has to be one major milestone I'm glad I was able to achieve. And here are the lessons I picked up along the way:

My Preschooler's Baon - A Daily Labor of Love

When I was still a student, I remember how my Mom is not the type who would wake up early to prepare our baon. She is a true-blue workahalic though, and she does put together other stuff we need for the school day - except for our baon. In short, she's not really into cooking or food matters - kahit kumain konti lang din. Hehe.

We had a cousin who helped us around the house, and she is a magnificent cook. Most times, she's the one who prepared our food for school. But when we were already of age (mga Grade VI onwards) to prepare our own baon, we were expected to wake up a wee bit early to prepare our food. So more often than not, our baon was 'pri-kanin' combo. Pritong hotdog, pritong nuggets, pritong porkchop - everything prito. Which come lunchtime became cold, wrinkled hotdog, cold, hard nuggets, and cold, leathery porkchop paired with our cold rice in our nagpapawis na baunan. *cringe*

Pre-Summer School Study Time with My Darling K

The school year is just around the corner - and we also plan to send my little K to summer school (overload na ba?) to prep her for what comes ahead. We did it last year, and she had loads of fun and learning, and we're pretty sure she'd enjoy it as much this year.

To rehash her skills and knowledge, I decided to give her 20-minute study sessions twice a week. We study the alphabet, phonics, do a little writing, painting, and other exercises. We had our first pre-summer session a week ago (we didn't have one this week since I had to attend to my father who was hospitalized), and our topic for the day was the Letter N and the number 1.

To complete the 'in-classroom' experience, I lined up some of her favorite stuffed toys to serve as her 'classmates', and her enthusiasm for our activity showed when she got her uniform (from when she went to daycare) to wear during our session.

I found that this kind of set-up was more enticing for K. Compared to the kind of arrangement we had before, where I was just mom giving her school work, K quite enjoyed the idea that she was going into an 'actual class' with classmates, a teacher, and in uniform. :)

She always forgets the letter N when we study the alphabet, so this was the first letter I decided to work on with her. I had her color, trace, and write the letter. And when I describe how N looks like, I say it like this standing line, slide down, climb up! and somehow, mas tumatatak sa memory nya. Pretty cool. I guess it's because that description gives the letter the element of fun, especially since she loves slides. Hehe.

I also taught her about the number 1, what it looks like, and what it means. She's got a good grasp of the concept of numbers so that wasn't too hard to explain to her. I also had her write her name on the 'worksheets' so she'd get used to doing that.

Summer classes start on April 15, and will be held four times a week. I still have two weeks for my one-on-one study sessions with K, and I plan to focus on other letters she's having a hard time with.

But of course, we also plan to enjoy the summer before she actually attends regular school, so I'm also plotting play scheds as well as swimming trips on our calendar. :)

Just another day in a WAHMmy's life. <3

The early bird and school hunting...

My not-so-little girl signing her preschooler's 'promise form'.
She actually just wrote her name. :)  

My darling K is turning four this coming May, and believe it or not, we have been school hunting for her even before she turned three.

See, this is what happened...

Summer last year, we were thinking about sending our little girl to school already. At that time though she was still a couple of months shy of three years old, so we held off on enrolling her.

We did sign her up though for summer classes at a small school, and surprisingly, she had loads of fun and learned a lot during the 8 weeks she was there. Hubby and I thought of doing a 'trial run', and sent our darling  to a barangay day care center in a nearby subdivision. The 'trial run' didn't go so well though, perhaps because she just wasn't ready for the classroom environment yet, or that particular center wasn't the right place for her.