Online Tutorial Service For K-12

The world wide web or the internet as we know it has made our lives efficient and convenient. Imagine doing everything on line -- working from home, paying bills or doing shopping within the confines of your office. It has indeed bridged people from different places here and abroad. Imagine even education has been made readily accessible and available to everyone over the internet. With the availability of this service, parents are now given an alternative to the traditional actual one on one private tutorials for their children. 

Tutornext.com offers high standard supplemental help with academic subjects in K-12 education system and College level. With very affordable tutorial rates, your children can avail of high quality tutoring services with just a click away. Math problem solvers and Free Math help and Free Homework Help are one of the features of their service. They offer a free demo session for Math Word Problems complete with worksheets and a live Math tutor online. College Algebra is one area of Math that needs to be taught intensively. Tutornext.com boasts of its well trained and certified algebra tutors to help you solve problems, understand basic Algebra concepts plus help with you Algebra homework. The team provides individual attention for each student and teaches a step by step guidance per topic, as well as working on each student's strengths and weaknesses.  Now, your children can get supplemental help with their subjects without leaving your homes. Best,  parents get to spend more time with their children and enjoy the tutorial service with them. 

THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

Every parent and school must have known Eric Carle through his wonderful children’s books! His number 1 work of art in 1969 – “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” is the most popular book he has written. Very colorful and artistically written and created, every child is drawn to it!  This book has been translated to more than 45 languages and over 25 million copies sold.

His art work is created in collage technique, using hand-painted papers which he cuts and layers to form bright and cheerful images. As an added dimension, many of his books also has die-cut pages giving them a playful quality – a toy that can be read, a book that can be touched. The themes of his stories are usually drawn from his knowledge and love of nature, which is also shared by most small children. His books also offer the child the opportunity to learn something about the world around them. Learning, stimulating, creative and fun experiences for very young children. 

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” is one of Gabby’s favorites. The story not only follows the very hungry caterpillar as it grows from egg to cocoon to beautiful butterfly, but also teaches the days of the week, counting, good nutrition and more. Very interactive fun! Some of Gabby’s collection of his works include “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” , “Pancakes, Pancakes”, “The Tiny Seed”, “Do Kangaroos Have Mothers Too?” and “From Head To Toe”. Each month, I bring her to a bookstore and let her choose a book that we will read for D.E.A.R. (it’s our Drop Everything And Read day!). It’s smart to surround them with books to read!

Arts Workshops

IMAGINATION STATION is the newest project of Lifeline Daycare Centre. It aims to provide a venue for children and teens age 3 to 15 year olds to learn, explore and develop their skills in various aspects. Art, science, music, crafts, writing, photography, sports, etc, anything that you can imagine your child can do! In collaboration with professionals, teachers, students, artists, musicians, moms and dads and people who care – the concept was born.

The courses are guaranteed very affordable. Reaching out to the community, the Foundation is now accepting enrollees and will start classes in “ART FOCUS” course on September 13^th, Saturday 8:30am through 11am. It will run for a month with specific 8-session modules designed per age group. 

Online Baby CPR

I became a parent at age 29 and my life changed from then on. I became more responsible, caring and mature. One life has been entrusted to me by God and I better live up to that trust. Being a smart parent saves me from getting stressed and pressured from being a "parent" per se. I've learned to deal with my daughter with love and care and with objectivity. I attend lifeskills seminars about Parenting, Relationship, Career, Sex & Money and more... because I get so much from it. I make it a point to apply the learnings to real life situations, like in this case, Parenting. It is our ultimate goal to keep our child/ren safe at home. But accidents do happen and it matters to be knowledgeable and equipped with a lot of things during emergencies. 

I've read that thousands of infants and young children die from choking, drowning, and suffocation each year and in most of these emergencies, the child's life could be saved if a PARENT (that's ME!...could also be YOU!) or loved one knew CPR. I agree!

Online Baby CPR offers a Full CPR course for only $7.95. Topics included in the full 6 months course are: Choking and Drowning Prevention, Child/Infant CPR (Breaths and Compression), Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and a lot more, which comes with pictures, videos and audio. Online training saves stay-at-home parent/s time and money from gas consumption, paying more and having to sit in CPR class. 

Just to make it clear, this is not paid advertising. I find this site very useful and practical hence, I am sharing it with you, like spreading the good news! for I know that parents will definitely benefit from it. You'll never know when you'll need one!

 

Swimming Lessons Day 6

We were absent from class for a week because Gabby had an eye infection. The swelling was gone yesterday so we decided to come to class this morning. Her favorite coach was absent which made her a little sad. I noticed she was not that comfortable in the water at first. I said maybe because the water is cold since we have been experiencing windy and rainy days for the past four to five days.  Also because she rested for a week and needed a “break in” initially to get back the feel of it and begin to employ the trainings from her previous classes. However, the weather did not cooperate as it begun to rain while we were half way through the class so we had to cut short her lesson and went back home.

Flu Shot

Gabby and I got our flu shots yesterday.  It is the single best way to protect ourselves against the flu each year. It is approved for use in people not younger than 6 months, including healthy people and those with chronic medical conditions. The vaccine contains three influenza viruses that alters each year. Two weeks after being injected with it, antibodies that gives protection against influenza virus infection build up in the body.

It is important to know when the Flu season begins and ends so you would know the best time to get vaccinated. Flue season starts in October and lasts till late May. Hence the best time to get the vaccine is within October to December. We got ours this month as per our doctor’s advise, in preparation for the coming school year.

There are also different minor side effects from the flu shot that usually last from 2 to 3 days like soreness, redness or swelling where the shot was given, fever and aches. Gabby got a slight fever while my upper arm still feels sore and numb. 

Swimming Lessons - 4th Day

Gabby and I were feeling excited and eager this morning on our way to her swimming class. Last night we watched her videos from her previous lessons and saw her promptly acquiring the basic skills taught her. She has improved from doing bubbles from 2 seconds to 5 second, her legs straighter now when she kicks, she is more comfortable now swimming with goggles on. She is getting better each session which is a good thing. Will keep you guys posted! 

Spanking Your Child

In one of the Empowerment Seminars I attended to, it was clearly explained and discussed how parenting can either make or break a child. Parents have a great responsibility upon their shoulders in raising a healthy, smart and emotionally complete child. Parenting is all about our child and has nothing to do with us, parents. It is not for our advantage, its for our child’s life. Therefore, we have to roll up our sleeves as parenting is work!

Spanking is one of the effective ways to discipline a child (from 0-Teens).  I tried to glean as much as I could during the discussion as I know that a lot of heated up discussions and debates steam up from this topic. A lot of parents do not believe that spanking is an effective tool to discipline a child. Some say that it can cause trauma in a child. Well, it could…if it is used in a wrong way.  Spanking is a TOOL, not a weapon. It does not equal to punching, pinching, hitting, slapping, kicking, pushing or pulling. Beating a child is not the same as spanking a child.  The former is an act of violence specially when parental heat is added to it.  It is this kind of spanking that ruins the effectivity of right spanking. No matter how you feel, ie bitter, lonely, upset, holding a grudge, heartbroken, you must drop it! Don't make spanking an outlet. Remember, parenting is not about you, it’s about the life of your child. 

A child must know ahead of time what warrants spanking, what warrants bad behavior. The parent must be very clear in laying down the rules and consequences on the table if and when such rules are violated. Focus on the wrong behavior at hand, never attack the person i.e. "That behavior is not acceptable." or I don't like that behavior." This way, a child will know that it is not personal.  Administer spanking right away. Your child needs to feel the “sting” of spanking. Only hit your child on those two fleshy mounds (buttocks) and not just anywhere else. After administering, talk to your child to explain how such wrong behavior affects him i.e. how lying affects his heart. Then readily forgive and tell your child how much you love him.  Finally, spanking should never be followed by isolation. Your child should be brought back to whatever he was doing prior to spanking i.e. reading a book, playing with blocks, etc.

As I've said, spanking is just one of the many ways to discipline a child. Other effective tools are through education, timeout, expressing disapproval, ignoring, etc. Let's be smart, discerning parents. Use what is best for our child! 

Prov 14:24: "He who spares his rod [of discipline] hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines diligently and punishes him early." (Amp)

Too Much TV = A Dull Child

Gabby loves playing with her dough. It comes in different colors, texture and consistency, shapes, sizes, scents. I allow her to play with them for a longer period of time rather than play with her dolls and toy kitchen set. Brain stimulating activities allow children to explore their creative skills. With clay or dough, they use their imagination to create and form something out of it, like a flower, an animal, a structure, etc. Instead of watching too much TV, I encourage her to play more with educational toys and activities such as this. 

Character formation and development a.k.a. discipline should start at a young age. A solid foundation for sound and complete spiritual, mental, physical and emotional aspects make up the character in a child. Just like sowing and reaping, right? If you are a screamer, you raise a screamer. If you are violent, you raise a violent child. If you feed them too much TV, you raise a dull child. There have been studies showing the adverse effect of too much TV viewing time on children. It makes a child dull and lazy therefore are less expressive yet too emotional! Uh-oh. This is not good. Imagine your child 20 years from now,  totally pissed off or was hurt by someone, he wanted to shout and confront that person. However, since he is not used to expressing himself well,  kept it to himself. Then ended up throwing things around, or letting the heat off drinking at a bar, or loosing control by spending all his money on a shopping spree, or worst is to hit or punch that person right on the face. Worst, he resorts to drugs. 

TV distorts their sense of reality.  Therefore I have opted to schedule and shorten her TV/DVD viewing time to at least an hour a day even if it also means no TV for me. I choose the right program and/or movie for her and watch it together. Remember, kids are like a sponge. They absorb everything and anything they see and hear. They imitate us, their parents, for we are the most influential people in our child's life. Indeed, we have a vital responsibility and duty on our shoulders in raising intelligent and emotionally complete children who will be contributing members of our society in the future. Let's be Smart Parents, start now!

Gabby Is Advancing To AK5

Last night was the last Parent-Teacher Meeting in Gabby's school. The Principal presided the meeting and announced the activities for the rest of the school year 2007-2008. The school has outlined as well the activities for the Summer Program.  The objective of which is to continue training and educating the children.

One of the matters discussed was the performance of the students. The parents were so happy to receive the good news that all Kinder 4 students ( all six of them, including Gabby ) did very well this school year therefore, all six are promoted to Advance Kinder 5 level (AK5). Basically, it means that they are skipping Kinder 5 this year. Call it promoted, accelerated, stepped up  or whatever you may want to call it...I am so glad she did it (it also means less tuition fee, uniform, school supplies expenses for a year for me. Thank you Father!) I told her she should be proud of herself for studying hard and for being obedient to mommy. She gave herself a pretty good pat on the shoulder! This is because I learned that a child needs to develop internal praise for a job well done as it helps build self confidence. So instead of me telling her "I am so proud of you, honey," I intentionally let it come from her. Hmmm. Interesting, isn't it? I will talk more about this in my next posts. So watch out for it!

Lifeline Foundation Parental Assistance Programme 24-Hour Daycare Centre

With the advent of the call center industry today, there has been a relatively high demand for call center agents to work on graveyard shift at least six times a week. It has opened job opportunities for couples (trying to raise a family) to earn extra income. In a normal family scenario, both parents are probably working from 8am to 5pm five times a week. There are cases on the other hand, where (usually) the wife is left with no choice but to stay home to take care of their child/children. However, given the vital needs of a growing family, the wife had to make her contribution to making ends meet. That's why a lot has considered working at a call center. 

While parents should not feel guilty for having to be away most of the time to work and provide for their family, there is undeniably a vital need for a parent or parents to provide their child/dren their attention, time, actual guidance and care. Leaving the children with a yaya or a househelp whom they do not really know or trust is indeed a valid concern to be considered.

Lifeline Foundation Support Team, Inc a non profit non governmental organization in Manila, has just launched its LIFELINE PARENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMME 24-HOUR DAYCARE CENTRE. It is the First ever 24-hour Daycare Centre in the Philippines which aims to help YOU, hardworking parents and single parents to have peace of mind while ensuring your child's safety and continuing education in the care of professionally trained nannies and professionals. It specifically designed to answer the need of those working graveyard shift (within a 12 hour work block). The facility is equipped with cameras for parental monitoring! 

Click here to find out more!