lesson on different feelings

xia handed me another surprise (after her ID of me) last night.  it was her drawing from school about the different feelings or emotions.

when i first saw it, i had to take a look at it many times because there was something on it that i can't explain.

while i had long realized that xia does not really have talent at drawing, this one just surprisingly got me.  it conveys the feelings of each faces in the drawing that it represents even if the drawing itself is not that outstanding...

posted it in instagram and friends had the same comment!  hehehe ang galing... siguro nga that's the real essence of art - it goes beyond what you see or superficial... 

but yes, she has to practice more and more on her writing... :)  we are working on it...  dapat magmana sya sa akin na maganda amg penmanship hehehe... 

"ID of me"

the little girl was too excited to show me her ID.  while parking the car, she was shouting about it and waving it at me.  she said:

"mama! mama! look, i have the ID of me already!!!"

hahaha ang cute lang ng ID of me! :P

and she's even cuter in her "ID of me".  hehehehhee...

#ootd

we hardly have ootd posts in instagram when school started because xia has uniform now in school.  i am quite relieved because it means menos gastos on clothes.  but there are times when i miss dressing her up the way i did during her first 2 school years...

so whenever i get opportunity, usually on weekends especially on sundays when attending church service, i try to really dress her up like a doll :)

she loves getting dolled up also.  and she puts together her accessories for the day too! 

she's my kikay kid! :) 

tagalog time

xia is trying really hard to speak in filipino especially when talking to her yaya and our househelp.  while she sounds funny, i don't laugh at it and i had to remind everyone not to laugh at her too.  

today these are her statements while waiting for her car pick up in going to school: 

"ang init ako!" (should be:  naiinitan ako)
"ang bagal si nathan" (should be: ang bagal ni nathan)
"sakit kamay ko" (ang sakit ng kamay ko) 

i am giving her an A for effort! :)  

of hopes and dreams...

came across a section in xia's textbook about what kids want to become someday.  there were illustrations of a doctor, a builder, a policeman, and a teacher.  i discussed it with xia and tried to check what she wants to become after going through the book.

mama:  so xia, how about you, what do you want to become when you grow up?

xia (in a high-pitched voice):  i want to become a ballerina!!!  or a singer!!! or a popstar!!!

mama:  hmmmm don't you want to become like what most kids want?  like the ones in the book?

xia:  ok... i can become a teacher!!!

mama's bubble thought:  good that she gets the clue...

until she said again...

xia:  a ballet teacher!!!

toinks!!!  sige na nga maging ballerina or ballet teacher na nga...

within that same day, i rang the ballet school and asked if they are offering weekend sessions again.  we stopped last time because the schedule was moved to a weekday and i can't afford a driver who can take her to a weekday ballet class.  good thing, there's a weekend session again!

suportahan ang hilig :)  xia is officially back and is on her way to becoming what she wants to become when she grows up!!!

a ballerina :)

yay for math, english and science!!!

i was feeling miserable yesterday due to flu.  skipped work so i can rest.  xia went home with a wonderful surprise that instantly lift my spirit!!!

perfect scores in english, math and science from her last week's quiz!!!  hoooray!!!

but since filipino is always a challenge, sumablay nga hehehehe... napagpalit ba naman ang ilong at paa hahahhaha!!! comedy talaga sa filipino si xia :)

seems like we need divine intervention na in filipino!  i don't think i am also effective in teaching the subject.  hope i can find one and hope she will agree to have a tutor.

she doesn't want her mommy-la to teach her even if i have to explain that mommy was once a teacher.  her point is:  "mommy, you are a teacher only in cadiz not here.  mama is my teacher at home"...  kaya ayun na, ako lang talaga ang pwede magturo...

hay filipino, please be good to us!

tutor mama chronicles: the filipino subject

almost 3wks into schooling and i am pretty much happy with how xia is doing in class...  except for filipino where she really struggles (and it's even an understatement!).  she is not interested on it and she feels it's the hardest subject of all.  the first week in school was just about introducing herself in filipino and she can't still do it on her own even now on the third week :(  i am partly to be blamed because i have not really trained her on filipino while she was going to an english-only preschool for 2yrs.  too late for me to realize it...

she's quite advanced on her math, english and science because it seemed they have to go back to basics on those subjects to the point that she's now getting bored on shapes, colors, letters, phonics, etc.  they have just started learning cvc's in reading while xia can already read sentences!  good thing for me that she's doing quite well already on those area so we can focus more on filipino.

last weekend, we were supposed to do advance study on the lesson for the entire week on filipino which is about bahagi ng katawan.  i had to do real slow - starting from paa, tuhod, balikat, ulo and had to sing the song for it so she can easily recognize.  then i had to move to the parts of the head.  boy, it was quite difficult!!!  and honestly nahiya ako sa sarili ko that i haven't exerted effort on teaching xia basic filipino words!  all she really knew was buhok!  we spent quite a lot of time going through the parts of the head.  and with her little span of attention, i had to resort to various tactics to get her focused on the subject.  as much as i want her to finish the entire body, i had to stop when i felt that she was starting to get overwhelmed.

before we slept last night, i knew at least that she can already identify the parts of the head in filipino including ang tamang pagbigkas. when i tried to review her again in the morning, OMG all she could remember were buhok, mata and ilong!!!  di na nakilala ang tainga, bibig, dila, ngipin, pisngi!!!  so i had to go through it again with her in our morning study time.  dinaan ko na rin sa matinding dasal na sana di na nya ulit makalimutan...

fast forward to tonight, the first thing i checked after the diary was her filipino book.  i was hoping against hope that tumama naman sana sya in case meron silang ginawang activity related to it...

and she did not fail me!!!  dannnndaaaraaannn!!!

yayyyy 3 stars!!!  i couldn't be happier!!!  hahahhaa ang babaw ko i know!  sakto lang din na yung nakaya lang namin aralin nung weekend ang lumabas sa lesson today.  

and we have to study more!  ang dami pang bahagi ng katawan na dapat aralin... ohmygosh, help me God!!! 

we really need to double our effort on filipino!  it's even humiliating to find out that her 2 half-japanese classmates speak filipino more fluently than her!!!  kaloka.  kaya ngayon me tagalog time na sya sa bahay...