Visiting Manila

My family lives in Manila. We don’t get to go home to them very often, due to the busy schedule of my hubby and my family is also quite busy with their respective lives. But we try to meet with my parents and siblings at least once a month. Now, whenever we visit them in Manila, we opt to stay overnight so that our trip would be well worth the travel. We sleep on the floor there. I have been thinking of buying an inflatable bed so that whenever we go home there, we can just inflate the bed. Well, I do hope we can go home this August. I want my kids to know the Chinese culture and language first hand from my family. Of course, for them to bond with their grandparents and aunt and uncle too!

Thanks for Dropping By!

My heartfelt thanks to everyone who drops by regularly! :)
You truly inspire me to continue my online journey!

Here are my top 10 EC droppers for the month of July!

Bits and Pieces
I Like It Frantic
AUGUSTINIANS
Chuchie's Hideaway
The Baby in Between
Joro Livelihood
Tale of a Bukidnon Lad
pensive thoughts
Absolutely Joro
Joro, The New Beginning

Mommy Moments - Look At That Mess!

The pictures of Toby says it all! Look at that cute messy face! Whenever he eats, he is not so conscious how dirty he gets! Truly a male! :D

Here is a rare moment. Kyla usually doesn't like to get her hands or face messy at all. This was taken last year. I captured Kyla dipping her hands on catsup then dipping it on water and tasting it! She enjoyed it too...

You can also post about the room of your kids, your house or anything which looks like a mess as a result of your kids!

Join us this week at Mommy Moments!
If you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment.

Mommy Moments Buttons!

***UPDATED!***

I would like to thank my fellow moms who created new Mommy Moments buttons. You can choose which one you want to use for your post. Feel free to grab any of the badges below for your weekly post.

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Laban laban daw tayo?

If you are in the Philippines, you know that the presidential campaign has already started. Each of the presidentiables have their own commercials which we see every now and then during commercial breaks of the local stations. Now, one of the presidentiable's slogan is "lalaban tayo" right? I am sure you are familiar with that. Well, whenever my 2 year old son would see it on TV, he would ask me "Mommy, laban laban daw tayo?" :)

Homeschooling In The Philippines #1

Today's guest blogger is Mandy. She has been one of my very first blogger friends. I am so glad to have met her online. She has inspired me in quite a number of ways. I have asked her to write about her new adventure, homeschooling.

Hi everyone! I'm Mandy from c'est La vie. I’m married to Allan and we have two kids, Kalila who is 10, and Khaled who is 16 months old. Chris asked me write about my homeschooling experience.

Truth be told, I have been urged to homeschool for so many years already by my mom’s friend whose grandchildren are also homeschooled. I had a lot of excuses (no time, I was in school, etc.) not to homeschool. It wasn’t until my husband and I attended a parenting seminar in church and the speaker talked about his children being homeschooled and quashed my misconceptions. We prayed about it for one year and even attended another homeschooling conference. Come enrollment time early this year, we decided (and somewhat consulted our “student” about this decision) to enroll her with a school that supervises/handles homeschooling (also affiliated with our church).

So really, I’ve only been homeschooling my daughter for only two months. But allow me to share my thoughts and experiences in homeschooling. First off, why should we homeschool? These are some of the reasons why we homeschool.

• We want to incorporate parenting with education. What do I mean by this? We want to teach our kids not just academics but to integrate what they have learned in schooling with their everyday lives; as well as instill biblical/Christ-centered values into our lessons.
  
  
• We want to the our child’s primary and only educators. Oftentimes, teachers in school teach our children values and ideas that are not the same as the values taught at home.
  
  
• We want to be in control of our time. We can go on a vacation without having to worry about being absent. We can plan our own field trips. Go anywhere we like.
  
  
• Avoid school-related stress, peer-pressure: sometimes, I’d hear my daughter say to me, “Mom, my friend says she has Spanish blood, what about me?” with her sounding as though her friend is more beautiful and she is not. I told her we have Filipino blood and that even if she doesn’t have any foreign blood running in her veins, she is still very beautiful. I found this heart breaking. I know that eventually she will have to deal with things like these in the future, but as she is still young. I’d like to protect her from preconceived ideas about beauty, race, weight, height issues.

There are also the wrong reasons to homeschool. With “wrong”, I mean that these are not reasons why we homeschool:

• To save on tuition fee costs. Homeschooling can be cheap, yes, but on the other hand, it can become expensive, too. We homeschool because we want to, not to save on school expenses.
  Although to date, we have spent less compared to Kalila’s old school. Tuition is 50% less, but her books/teaching materials cost 300-500% more, no school bus fees. Stuff that can add up though are trips (family vacations are educational, right?), other school equipment/materials that some moms over-eagerly order online, enrollment of outside MAPE classes etc.
  
  
• To finish a school year in half the time and accelerate your child to a higher level. It is not encouraged to do things so fast so that the child can fully grasp concepts well and learn to do things at a steady pace (not everything should be rushed).

So far, I can say that we are starting off slowly but surely. We both have a lot to learn in homeschooling. Kalila misses having lunch with her friends from school; while I struggle how to discuss the topics and make it longer and not repetitive and how to be more organized. My temper does flare up at times, but not in the way I expected it nor as often as I expected it would be. Everyday is a new learning experience for the both of us.

Homeschooling is not easy, it demands for my time. Not only do I have to teach, I also have to grade papers, requirements, and read up on lessons. I can’t get up in the morning and say, “oh, I don’t feel like teaching today” or in the middle of the school year, “I quit”; I have my student/daughter to think about, her educational needs, and her future. I am both parent and teacher--both roles you do 24/7. Teaching and parenting is a ceaseless function we do.

So how do we go about homeschooling? First off, a lot of information about homeschooling can be obtained from the internet. One can also sign up with egroups and get information directly from the homeschooling parents themselves. There are books on homeschooling (although, personally, I’ve not read one yet)--different kinds, teaching methods and such. Nowadays, it is quite easy to homeschool and get information about homeschooling.

I am still far from other homeschooling parents. My daughter and I, we have a lot to learn and I pray for the Lord’s guidance everyday, knowing that it is not me who will teach my daughter, but God using me as an instrument.

WFW: John 19:30

(image from http://www.christianmyspace.com/)

It is finished.
John 19:30


Our salvation is God's gift to us.
We can not do anything to gain it.
We can not do anything to lose it.
Jesus' death and resurrection is all that matters.
God gives it to us.

Thank You Lord for your most precious gift.
Thank You for choosing us.
May we never lose sight of what You have done for us.

Me and Traveling

I have a collection of postcards. I started it while I was in college. I just love seeing different places, learning about other people and experiencing their cultures. I guess, I was influenced by my mom who loves to travel. She brought me to Taiwan many times when I was a child and I know that made an impact in me. My world became bigger and I gained a different perspective on a lot of things. While I was working, I was given many opportunities by my employer to travel to different countries. I really enjoyed it.

I really miss travelling. Now that I have a family, and we are now four, it will definitely take some time before we can go on a holiday. We have to consider the budget, location and logistics. Holiday deals offered by ulookubook.com seem pretty interesting. They have cheap holidays to several destinations around the world especially European countries. They also offer City Breaks package wherein you visit the best places in a certain location. If you can’t choose which country you would like to visit, they also have an extensive Travel Guide per country. You can also choose hotel accommodations separately.

Now, I got to save up so we can go on a family trip someday!

My Other Interests

Aside from being a Stay At Home mom, I am very much interested in travelling, photography and new technologies. Since we got Windows 95 at home, while I was still in college, and internet using dial up, I was hooked with the Internet. I started with chatting at Bulletin Boards. My first job after college was IT Support Personnel in an Internet company. My relationship with the Internet has been really beneficial, well, most of the time. I have learned so much.

I have learned to make Corporate Video using Windows Movie Maker and learned to customize it a bit. Though, it is nothing like the multimedia presentations I have seen from Richter Studios. They make all sorts of cool video. They shoot in any location and in any format. They also do post production editing! I am interested to learn how 2D graphics are created and how 3D animation works and all the web stuff like Flash and Web Design. Of course, learning stylized effects would be a bonus.

Whew! If I were given a chance, I would love to train with these professionals and learn from them. And if I needed to create a multimedia presentation, I would probably check them out first.

Current Favorite Art Work

Here is a recent art project that Toby and I did. It is Little Foot from the movie Land Before Time. It is quite easy to do and he really loves playing with it! We got the idea from DLTK's site.

You can head to All About Kids to see other crafts by kids!

Am I Getting Through?

Our kids have different personalities and as moms, it is our job to connect to them whatever their personality is. Sometimes, because of these personality differences, it comes out to outsiders that we have personal favorites. When in fact, we are just relating to each one according to each personality type.

With my eldest daughter, I didn't really had a hard time since she listens to me and she is a logical thinker. I just need to be able to explain things to her and once she understands, it is easy for her to follow.

As for my little boy who is now 2 years old, I need to understand how to effectively communicate to him. He is very playful and can come across as naughty. I still am learning his behavior and his personality. So I was really glad when I came across this Talking to Toddlers series. It is an audio course about terrible twos and using effective communication with toddlers. I am only halfway through the course, but I have been practicing what I have learned, so far, most of it is working!

I am excited to be able to finish the course and apply what I've learned to effectively communicate with my 2 year old. Eventually, I can also share some pointers with you.

Note: This is not a paid posting.

48 Days To Go and Counting!

I can't believe it! Its only 48 days to go and The Mommy Journey will turn 1 year old already. I feel like I have been blogging for more than that yet I know I am still a newbie in some ways. I am still thinking what to do to celebrate my blogversary. I am still deciding whether to hold a giveaway or not and how to do it. I don't know if anyone would like to sponsor for any giveaways too.

Do you have any suggestions? :)

Monday Movie Meme - On The Road

This week's theme is On The Road or movies which are about getting from point A to point B. Here is my rather short list:
- Cars
- Thelma and Louise
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy


Visit The Bumbles Blog for more movies!

Making Your Home Sing : Intentional Teaching

I am joining Nan's weekly meme today. This meme is about how to make your home sing. I believe that being a stay at home mom is more than just being able to watch your kids personally grow up and personally caring for their needs. I chose to be a stay at home mom because I felt that this is what God is calling me to do.

I have been a SAHM for the past 5 years and it has really been fulfilling. Though there are days that I wish, I was also earning but God has been really faithful. Anyway, the past week, God has been challenging me to take my being a SAHM to the next level. I have decided to intentionally teach my kids. Like values, memory verses, a set of daily activities for Toby, instead of just letting him play or watch videos all day while I blog. It is a challenge to me and I would want to do these for the kids and above all, as my service to God. Truly, family is the first ministry that God has given us.

I pray that I will be successful in this new endeavor.

Learning the Language

Being a full blooded Chinese, I was able to attend Chinese school while growing up. Now that I have my own kids, I want them to learn the Mandarin language as well. I want to teach them here at home but was having a hard time since I don't know where to start. I have been researching for Mandarin lessons and curriculum that I can use to teach my kids. I was so happy to find this post.

I am already starting to teach Kyla to write the numbers and hopefully, I can start to teach Toby too. I am going to be busy this coming week as I want to gather all the materials and prepare a lesson plan. I don't really intend it to become a formal class but I want to intentionally teach them while we play and read books. This is one of my goals this week. Another goal is to create my homeschool plan for Toby starting this August, well, more on that on another post.

I ♥ Faces - At the Beach

This photo was taken by me 9 years ago...
Hubby (was still my BF then) worshiping God at the beach!

Friday Photo Flashback #13 is Up!

My Friday Photo Flashback post for this week is already posted at my other site, Inspirational Insights! See you there!

Mommy Moments - First Steps

Hello to all mommy moments participants! I can't believe it but its Friday once again. Time really passes by so fast, don't you think so? Today's theme is FIRST STEPS. For parents (since we have a daddy blogger joining us) with small kids, we can post about our kid's literal first steps... while for those parents with bigger kids, you can post about other "firsts" or milestones.

I am pretty excited to see everyone's post... so let's get started!

Kyla started walking by herself before she turned one. This picture was her first walk without any assistance! She used the bed to cruise around the room! We didn't use any walkers with her. She just learned to walk with assistance from mommy.

My little boy was another story. Someone lent us their walker so Toby was able to use walker at around 9 months.

The next picture was taken a few days after he turned one. He can already walk by himself and yes, he walks fast! (thus the blurry picture)


Amazing memories! It seems only yesterday when they can barely walk without assistance, now I am the one running after them!

How about you? Share your stories with us here at mommy moments! If you are a dad, yes, you can join in too!

Note: Please be advised that only links to Mommy Moments entries are allowed on the linky.