The Kumon Method

The Kumon is an individualized learning where children get to learn at their own pace. It also stresses on the importance of learning by repetition (Please visit the Kumon website to learn more about the Kumon method). When Jenkins and I attended the parents’ orientation and hearing and reading about Kumon success stories, we were optimistic that the Kumon learning method will make learning math fun and much easier for our son who seemed to show hints of hating the subject. Kulay was optimistic with his first sets of kumon math worksheets but after working on worksheets and doing almost the same thing for about an hour everyday, Kulay started to hate his worksheet time. He says it’s just the same thing and he does it over and over every time. After three weeks, we decided to drop Kulay from Kumon.

Ineffective?

The kumon method may have been effective to other kids but definitely it is not for our son. We wanted our son to love math so we enrolled him to Kumon but it made him hate math more because of the repetitive work sheets. A child can never truly excel in a subject that he hates so we decided to stop giving Kulay those sheets that seem to make learning math unenjoyable.

I’m not sure if Kulay is getting any “input” whenever he goes to the Kumon learning center twice a week since we can’t see him once he’s with his teacher but if the Kumon is primarily just about kumon math worksheets (and I believe it is), I better search for better, printable math worksheets online or buy math workbooks and personally do something and assist my son in his journey to learning Mathematics. That would be a lot of savings when compared to the fees and expenses I will have to spend monthly on Kumon (1,800 pesos a month plus fare).

Enopi

I learned about Enopi three weeks ago while I was doing an online research on why my son is not responding well to Kumon. Some parents have recommended Enopi which happens to be the Korean counterpart of Kumon. Unlike Kumon, however, Enopi includes Critical Thinking Math lessons which, as I understand it, is the application of mathematical theories a child learns from basic math. So far, I have not read a single negative review about Enopi on the web yet. Since Kulay has not tried Enopi however we cannot say for sure if Enopi is really better than Kumon but again, if this is all about work sheets again, I better look for math learning materials and teach my child myself. Afterall, I know how to to do simple and elementary math operations and problem solving.

Lesson Learned

When we enrolled Kulay to Kumon, we thought the program is the magical solution that will help us raise a mathematically inclined child. It has not. The money we spent on enrolling Kulay to Kumon however at least compensated for a lesson I have learned: that I as a parent is the best teacher for my young child. I know my child best and I am the best person to identify the learning needs of my child. This isnt easy and I am not really sure if I can do it but if I can’t help Kulay with his individualized learning, then nobody else can. I might seek the help of others when I can no longer handle the mathematical lessons of my child but with shapes, counting and basic addition? Kulay deserves the best tutor in the world for these lessons: me.

Update

Kulay loves dinosaurs so we started to use this interest to teach him Math. I bought Dino Fun activity pack and another dinosuar activity/wipe out book (all printed by Priddy Books) and so far Kulay enjoys doing the math activities. He even insists that we do some of the activities before we go to sleep

Lucky Girl: Papang and me in Davao City; 1978

Writing about the one special person whom I consider as the one who loved me the most is a challenging thing. For quite some time now, I have been planning on writing a special article for my father but always find it a very difficult thing to do. I always get overwhelmed with emotions to describe and recall those times– those many times I have always felt lucky to be the daughter of such a wonderful man.

Four years after Papang passed away, there are still a number of times that I wish he’s still here. I have always been financially dependent on my father. Ano kaya ang mararamdaman nia now that I am financially independent? sana nakita niya man lang ang mga cheke at receipts ng suweldo ko.

Papang used to tell me na isosoli ako ng asawa ko kasi hindi ako marunong magluto, ano kaya ang sasabihin nia kung natikman nia ang mga luto ko ngayon? Sana man lang natikman nia ang spaghetti na luto ko.

I have always been a stubborn child. Tatawanan nia kaya ako if he realized Kulay and I have the same characters and attitude? Would he be supportive of me deciding to become a full time mother?

Marami akong atraso sa tatay ko and perhaps I will forever bear the guity conscience of not being able to show my father the love that he needed and deserved.

Still I will always feel privileged and honored to be the daughter of the man I call my father.

I contacted one of those olivia Crocs sellers and asked stuff about her overrun crocs. She told me the olivia crocs she is selling has the same material (so I assumed croslite) and the same design as the authentic ones so I paid her right away excited about my new crocs.

Are Crocs Overruns really Authentic?

Wednesday after I arrived from accompanying my son Kulay to his first day in Kumon, I noticed the JRS package waiting for me. I opened it right away but lo and behold the overrun crocs I bought is not an overrun at all. It is a poor replica, not a production surplus (which is how I understood overrun means). I do not have to scrutinize the details, the difference is very evident even at a glance. The pair of black crocs I bought is just far different from the authentic one.

Lesson Learned

I just want to quote our helper when she saw my reaction when I brought out the crocs from the package: ” Sa SM na lang unta ka nag palit ti at least sigurado pa ka didto” — very good advice especially for people who hates to wear knock offs. If you can’t afford it do not buy it and don’t settle for replicas and yes, “authentic overruns”.  Go buy cheaper women’s shoes with its own designs and its own brand.

How to Identify Fake Crocs

So, how do you identify a fake crocs? Just google for “how to identify fake crocs” and I bet, you’ll get good post recommendations full of texts. What I will be showing here are some photos of the actual authentic olivia crocs that my mother in law owns (and which I borrowed to make the comparison) and the overrun crocs I bought from ebay:

I also have to add that the crocs I bought is not made of the authentic croslite materials.

If I have to use one word to describe my 31st birthday yesterday, May 18, I’ll have to use the word “perfect”. The first thing that I was able to appreciate when I woke up was the perfect weather: it was neither too hot nor raining– just ideal for us to have fun in the beach. Friends and relatives have also sent me text messages or left comments and offline messages in my yahoo messenger to greet me happy birthday, I even received greetings as early as 2am and my cellphone is still beeping with belated greetings up to now.

We left home before 7AM so we were able to arrive at the Davao Marina wharf (formerly Davao Beach Club)just in time for the first ferry trip to the Davao Pearl Farm. Sa sobrang lapit namin sa dagat, I almost forgot how it is to play like a child in beaches pero sinabayan ko talaga ang anak ko kaliligo that day swimming from one pool and beach to another the whole day. Tinanghali na nga kami ng lunch (2:30) at ang itim itim namin lalo na kami ni Kulay. As for the food, our merienda was great lalo na yung burger. Kulay also liked the spaghetti but I wasn’t able to appreciate our buffet lunch much dahil siguro bahaw na nang kumain kami or maybe I should cut back on going to buffet places dahil baka nagsasawa na ako hahahaha.

Some of our pics at the resort here:

Maranao Beach

Building a sand castle turned sand pyramind

Jenkins making the Kulay Merman

Kulay playing with Starfishes

Parola Wharf

At the Infinity Pool

Malipano Island

On our way to Malipano

What’s a Celebration without Food?

Our snacks: Burger, Fries and SpaghettiLate birthday lunch: Buffet at the Maranao Restaurant

Mandaya Pool and JacuzziBirthday Girl

The fun  wasn’t through yet after our Davao Pearl Farm Day Tour. We left the resort a quarter before four and headed to SM to watch Star Trek. By 10, everyone in the house (except Kulay who was already sleeping) feasted on my humble celebration cake

** Davao Pearl Farm Philippines is located in Kaputian, Samal Island. For Davao pearl farm day tour rates, packages and other information, you may contact +63 (82) 2219970. All photos in this article are taken with Sony T20 cybershot camera.

I have quite a busy pre birthday line up this year but there were a lot of changes in my original prebirthday schedule.  I wanted my prebirthday dinner Last May 16 to be a sort of reunion for my SMP batchmates so I invited all who are based in Davao that I have a contact number but only a few arrived (sigh!). People have jobs, emergency situation, etc. but at least some of them were able to come to the dinner.

Pre birthday dinner with friends at the Le Grandeur Cafe, Grand Men Seng Hotel; May 16

With my family

I ‘ll also treat my one and only brother Ian and his wife for a lunch at Marco Polo’s Cafe Marco on Sunday (patay na naman ang bulsa ko nito!) and I am still looking for a nice restaurant in Davao City where I can bring my parents in law for dinner on my birthday this Monday. My father in law told me they won’t be available until after 8 PM and so I have to look for a nice place that is open for diners until 10 in the evening (travel from Toril to downtown may take us around 40 minutes).

Jenkins, our son Kulay and I will be celebrating my birthday at the Davao Pearl Farm. I planned to celebrate my birthday with my friends in advance because I want to be with my family only on my birthday. I just want to have a quiet day with the most important people in the world– my son and my husband in a quiet relaxing place on my big day. We already have the Pearl farm day tour confirmation. I really wanted to have a sleep over in this place pero Jenkins told me mag day tour nalang kami dahil magastos na masiado kung mag overnight pa kami. I guess 7 hours in the place will give us enough time to have fun though. I just hope it won’t rain on my birthday. We will have a special dinner with my parents in law in the evening of May 18.

I may be using computers for more than a decade now but I know nothing about computer hardware so as always, I asked hubby to choose which monitor to buy. Thinking tools at SM has good prices so we decided to purchase the monitor from there. We settled to a 17 inch Samsung computer LCD monitor and so far so good. The colors are great, I even enjoy watching videos online now. I still have to ask hubby to make some adjustments though because it’s so bright, it hurts my eyes when I stare at a blank white page.
Goodbye pink screen monitor, hello lcd monitor

My hubby Jenkins is also taking charge of his parents’ store most of the time now because my mother in law has health issues. This means Jenkins working Saturdays, Sundays and even holidays . A vacation will be incomplete without him around so this is not the best time for a family lakwatsa. I decided that Kulay and I re explore Davao instead. We started our bakasyon together with my cousin Ivy and her son Jetjet who arrived here in Davao from Tacurong last Friday.

We stared our re-explore Davao trip last Saturday morning. Our first stop was in Campo Agua. Campo Agua has an interactive pool that is designed specifically for kids:

After Campo Agua, we made sure that the kids (and I hehehhe) had an afternoon nap before we proceeded to the Davao Crocodile Park at around 4 PM. We arrived just in time for the animal petting , the educational show, the pangil encounter, crocodile eating frenzy and the tightrope walking. My son Kulay had been to Crocodile park many times already, he even celebrated his third birthday here in 2006 but he always enjoys going here.

Who’s afraid of snakes? Kulay at the Crocodile Park

My digicam is already vibrating when I took these next two pictures so I got blurred ones. Here, Kulay and his cousin were holding a big snake:

By 630, we proceeded to the Tribu K’ Mindanawan to watch the cultural show and the fire dance. Note: the five year old kids enjoyed the show especially the fire dance. I didnt take pictures during the show because I just want to sit back and enjoy hehehhe. My cousin Ivy has the videos and pics at the Tribu K Mindanawan, will be posting them later here when she sends the files  to me.

My cousin and her son went home yesterday but Kulay and I aren’t finished with our vacation at home yet. Our next stop this week will be Eden or  Malagos…

Buying a new cellphone on labor day

The first request I asked from the staff at SM City Davao’s Nokia store was to show me their most basic cellphone without a camera. I guess people who buy cellphones these days always look for the feature packed cellphone with high MP camera because the staff attending to me seemed to look surprised I was looking for a text and call only cellphone. I was asked if I intend to use the cellphone as my second phone and I told her I will be using the phone as my major unit (I always believe that my smart-sim holder buddies won’t be bothered texting or calling my globe number if they have an important thing to tell me). I was shown a 1400 peso something black and white cellphone (kasi nga naman pinakamura ang hinanap ko hahahah) but since I want to use a cellphone that looks professional din naman and I have always loved polyphonic and colored cellphones, I asked her to show me some of their units colored units with polyphonic tone. The staff didn’t actually show me the Nokia 1661 but I saw her companion using it and I asked her to show it to me. The cellphone doesn’t have those fancy features (I won’t be using anyway) and it doesn’t have a camera but  it does not look like a kid’s cellphone, has colored screen and uses polyphonic tones so I purchased the unit right away for 2,500 only (yes, only. You don’t have to spend a bulk of your monthly income to buy basic but good and brand new cellphones these days).

Why Nokia?

There is one nokia feature I need that I can’t find in other cellphones— timed profile. I often forget (and errrr— neglect) to change the profile/ringtone of my phone after waking up or after watching a movie so I really need the timed profile or else, people won’t be able to call me for days hahahahha. I also memorize the nokia keypads I can even text without looking at my cellphone

New Features

There are also new features in my new nokia 1661 that I really like such as the multiphonebook (to sort out my contacts) and the number screening for messaging and calls. I hope the latter feature works so I can do something about mobile spammers and annoying texters/callers.