Calabazilla.com https://calabazilla.com/ random musings from the Philippines Fri, 22 Apr 2022 13:18:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.0.3 https://calabazilla.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/cropped-umbrella-beach-solid-1-32x32.png Calabazilla.com https://calabazilla.com/ 32 32 Homeschooling the early years: how our toddler learned the alphabet and numerals through play https://calabazilla.com/2020/11/16/homeschooling-the-early-years-how-our-toddler-learned-the-alphabet-and-numerals-through-play/ https://calabazilla.com/2020/11/16/homeschooling-the-early-years-how-our-toddler-learned-the-alphabet-and-numerals-through-play/#respond Sun, 15 Nov 2020 19:45:47 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=4472 This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more. Without much active instruction, our child could name all the letters and digits by age two, and at nearly three years old can recognize simple phonogram sounds and count to a hundred. This definitely wasn’t part of our early childhood homeschooling […]

Homeschooling the early years: how our toddler learned the alphabet and numerals through play is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2020/11/16/homeschooling-the-early-years-how-our-toddler-learned-the-alphabet-and-numerals-through-play/feed/ 0 New homeschooling parents in the Philippines, it’s ok not to enroll with a provider https://calabazilla.com/2020/09/07/new-homeschooling-parents-in-the-philippines-its-ok-not-to-enroll-with-a-provider/ https://calabazilla.com/2020/09/07/new-homeschooling-parents-in-the-philippines-its-ok-not-to-enroll-with-a-provider/#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2020 20:54:49 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=4423 This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more. Homeschooling in the Philippines is generally classified into two modes: Enrolling with a provider accredited with the Department of Education (DepEd) Not doing the above — usually referred to as independent homeschooling Enrolling with a homeschool provider never really appealed to […]

New homeschooling parents in the Philippines, it’s ok not to enroll with a provider is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2020/09/07/new-homeschooling-parents-in-the-philippines-its-ok-not-to-enroll-with-a-provider/feed/ 1 Homeschooling in the Philippines: our early childhood curriculum plan https://calabazilla.com/2020/06/30/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-our-early-childhood-curriculum-plan/ https://calabazilla.com/2020/06/30/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-our-early-childhood-curriculum-plan/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2020 12:39:22 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=4300 This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more. Kids grow up so fast, and before you know it, they’re school-ready. Our child is still a toddler, but I wanted to plan our independent homeschooling curriculum in advance so I don’t scramble at the eleventh hour. I’m glad I started […]

Homeschooling in the Philippines: our early childhood curriculum plan is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2020/06/30/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-our-early-childhood-curriculum-plan/feed/ 4 Homeschooling in the Philippines: where to buy local K-12 textbooks online https://calabazilla.com/2020/06/18/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-where-to-buy-local-k-12-textbooks-online/ https://calabazilla.com/2020/06/18/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-where-to-buy-local-k-12-textbooks-online/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2020 04:35:50 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=4275 This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more. For first-time independent homeschooling families, choosing learning materials may seem like a daunting task. Some use foreign textbooks from the US and other countries. Others create their own curricula using mostly free resources online, while unschoolers often don’t follow any curricula […]

Homeschooling in the Philippines: where to buy local K-12 textbooks online is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2020/06/18/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-where-to-buy-local-k-12-textbooks-online/feed/ 4 Homeschooling in the Philippines: Q&A on the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program https://calabazilla.com/2020/05/25/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-qa-on-the-alternative-learning-system-als-program/ https://calabazilla.com/2020/05/25/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-qa-on-the-alternative-learning-system-als-program/#comments Mon, 25 May 2020 00:13:11 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=4196 This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more. In my previous post, I wrote a primer on independent homeschooling in the Philippines. If your child wants to go to college at the end of your indie journey, there are several ways to do that. The most popular method among […]

Homeschooling in the Philippines: Q&A on the Alternative Learning System (ALS) Program is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2020/05/25/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-qa-on-the-alternative-learning-system-als-program/feed/ 6 Homeschooling in the Philippines: Q&A on independent homeschooling https://calabazilla.com/2020/05/24/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-qa-on-independent-homeschooling/ https://calabazilla.com/2020/05/24/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-qa-on-independent-homeschooling/#comments Sat, 23 May 2020 23:22:45 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=4163 This post is part of my series on homeschooling. Click here to read more. Long before our child was born, my husband and I were already on the same page on homeschooling. Our “decision” to homeschool basically just went like this: Me: If we have a kid, I want to homeschool him/her. Him: Me too. […]

Homeschooling in the Philippines: Q&A on independent homeschooling is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2020/05/24/homeschooling-in-the-philippines-qa-on-independent-homeschooling/feed/ 17 How to build a cheap DIY playpen https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/29/how-to-build-a-cheap-diy-playpen/ https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/29/how-to-build-a-cheap-diy-playpen/#respond Wed, 29 Aug 2018 05:23:03 +0000 https://calabazilla.com/?p=3877 When family and friends learned that my husband and I were expecting our firstborn, many gave us their old baby gear, for which we are truly grateful. One of these hand-me-downs is a standard-size playard (aka play yard, playpen, or “baby jail”) from my cousin. The playard (which sometimes doubled as a crib) truly served us […]

How to build a cheap DIY playpen is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/29/how-to-build-a-cheap-diy-playpen/feed/ 0 Trying out adlai, a local alternative to rice for Filipinos https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/12/trying-out-adlai-a-local-alternative-to-rice-for-filipinos/ https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/12/trying-out-adlai-a-local-alternative-to-rice-for-filipinos/#comments Sun, 12 Aug 2018 03:48:47 +0000 http://calabazilla.com/?p=3856 In the Philippines, no meal is complete without rice, our main source of carbohydrates. Filipinos are so addicted to rice — white rice in particular — that most of us treat dishes of other carb sources, such as pasta or ramen, as just “snacks”. Some even pair other carbs like pancit as the ulam to their […]

Trying out adlai, a local alternative to rice for Filipinos is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/12/trying-out-adlai-a-local-alternative-to-rice-for-filipinos/feed/ 1 Review: The Hineleban Store (hinelebanstore.com) https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/04/review-the-hineleban-store-hinelebanstore-com/ https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/04/review-the-hineleban-store-hinelebanstore-com/#comments Fri, 03 Aug 2018 22:52:19 +0000 http://calabazilla.com/?p=3853 I’ve been hearing a lot lately about a healthier rice alternative that is grown locally here in the Philippines called adlai (also known as adlay, Chinese pearl barley, coix seed, hatomugi, or Job’s Tears). Eager to try it out, I searched for adlai online and found only a few specialty stores that carry it. One […]

Review: The Hineleban Store (hinelebanstore.com) is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2018/08/04/review-the-hineleban-store-hinelebanstore-com/feed/ 1 How to apply for a Social Security number (SSN) for an infant at the US Embassy in the Philippines https://calabazilla.com/2018/07/15/how-to-apply-for-a-social-security-number-ssn-for-an-infant-at-the-us-embassy-in-the-philippines/ https://calabazilla.com/2018/07/15/how-to-apply-for-a-social-security-number-ssn-for-an-infant-at-the-us-embassy-in-the-philippines/#comments Sun, 15 Jul 2018 15:08:32 +0000 http://calabazilla.com/?p=3747 In my previous post, I wrote about our successful application for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) and US passport at the US Embassy in Manila for our infant child. With CRBA and passport in hand, my husband and I then applied for our child’s Social Security number (SSN). The process was quick and easy, because […]

How to apply for a Social Security number (SSN) for an infant at the US Embassy in the Philippines is a post from Calabazilla.com

]]> https://calabazilla.com/2018/07/15/how-to-apply-for-a-social-security-number-ssn-for-an-infant-at-the-us-embassy-in-the-philippines/feed/ 5