We didn’t have enough time to plan our Tagaytay trip. We were supposed to stay home over the holidays but nearing Christmas, we were dying to get out of Manila to breathe. That’s how toxic our year felt, haha! So we went looking for a place and after browsing for hours, found one with a wonderful view at SMDC Winds through AirBnB. Travel time was a killer! Jay frequents the roads through Tagaytay and anticipated about an hour or two of travel time. But because the holidays bring so much commuting woes (and because we took the bus), we had […]
5 Reasons why you should enroll your child at ALOHA Mental Arithmetic
Lukas has been progressing slowly but beautifully in ALOHA Mental Math. It’s been quite challenging to juggle our schedules lately, so we weren’t able to consistently bring him to his classes for the past three weeks. But when he does go, I can’t help but appreciate the process by which his Math skills are being developed. At his last session two weeks ago, he was introduced to the ”small friends, big friends” technique in calculating larger numbers, which was pretty cool. It’s like sight words in Math. For example, the friend of 4 is 1, and the friend of 2 […]
History Homeschooling at Intramuros
I’ve never explored Intramuros in all my life, considering that I have been at this historical structure several times.My husband and I even held a gig at one of the restaurants for a couple of months and I sang at a wedding at The Manila Cathedral! I think it was my lack of interest in Philippine history in my youth that made me pass up on the opportunity to see the place and learn more about it. Thank God for homeschooling! It’s what sparked something in me to find out the story behind these walls. It turned out to be […]
A Minimalist Christmas
I was talking to a friend the other day about Christmas and all the festivities and activities that come along with it. She mentioned a couple of things that made me see how commercialized Christmas has become. Not that my realization is unheard of. For years, I’ve been seeing write-ups on how people focus more on the material side of the holidays, instead of the spirit of it. And it’s so much more true now. There’s a lot more of the Martha Stewart vibe going on than ever before. My husband comments, it’s social media. People see so many beautiful […]
ALOHA Mental Arithmetic: Joining a class
Last September 29 was Lukas’ first time join an ALOHA class. He’s been doing lessons on a one-on-one basis with Teacher Kim every Thursday, but at the recommendation of Teacher Kim, I thought it would be interesting to see how Lukas would fare being in a class with other kids. For one thing, Lukas is an introvert. Oh, he loves company! But like me, he has moments when he withdraws from people and just wants to be left to himself. This is how introverts recharge. We need those moments. Anyway, Lukas has been progressing well, but Teacher Kim says we […]