Kimmy Schemy

Archive for July, 2011

Last March, we held a review for the Civil Service Examination for the May schedule. One (the oldest) of my students was Mr. Magdilao*, a 45-year old government employee who, obviously, haven’t passed the CSE yet. And since I’m long passed the time of being intimidated by older students, I treated him the way I treat every other student in class. I lecture, I ask and I give tests.

The first test that I gave seems to be taken very seriously by Mr. Magdilao, it was GRAMMAR AND CORRECT USAGE. It was simple is or are , has or have, who or whom questions that are common to almost all types of tests. Unfortunately, he didn’t do well. After that, he seems to lose interest. He always came late. And during test time, he would go out (without asking permission from the teacher) and would come back when he was sure the test was done.

He would, then, resume his seat and join the checking. Honestly, I don’t mind that. Maybe, he was just embarrassed to get low grades that’s why he didn’t want to join the test-taking. However, when I asked the Math teacher how he is in his class, he said he rarely attends Math. It seems like, Math is too stressful for Mr. Magdilao and the English subject that he thought would redeem him proved to be more difficult than he expected.

To sum it up, Mr. Magdilao paid about P7000 for the review, spent money on gas every time he comes to the center, spent idle time to smoke outside during tests that he didn’t want to join, and FLUNKED the Civil Service Exam for the __th time.

It’s not enough that an examinee attended a review to be assured of passing. It must also depend on the reason why he enrolled in formal review. If his reason for attending is to pass the test, then his chance is slimmer than those whose reason is to recall (review) the concepts behind the lessons to increase his chance of passing.

*not real name

For the past 6-8 months, I’ve been bothered about a book missing in my collection. It’s my copy of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. My eldest daughter kept on saying that it’s just somewhere in the house as she is convinced she saw it sometime last year. But I’m not relieved. I wish I could take some time to find it, though I’m not obsessed enough to file a leave of absence just to look for it. Well, collectors tend to do that.

My uncle, a seaman, started collecting foreign coins from around the world. According to him, he was just sort of fascinated with it at first. But eventually, he started to take it seriously. So, the first time he came home from a 10-month contract, he had with him a large jar of various coins. Though I’m not sure if he has morgan silver dollars among those, I’m sure that they are quite valuable.

The jar is now sitting on their coffee table beside their bed in the master’s bedroom..

The ‘short e’ sound is the beginning sound of the word ‘elevator.’ Now, connect all the objects that begin with the short e sound to the letter Ee.

Click the image to be redirected to the printable page.

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I, for one, had personal and financial reasons why I breastfed all of my children when they were babies. Personal because I was too lazy to prepare an infant formula especially in the middle of the night when I am too sleepy to put the correct number of scoops per ounce of water. Financial because I’m too frugal to spend so much on the best milk in the market when I actually have better inside by body, !

But of course, I know the advantages of breastfeeding my babies. Maybe the primary and most important reason is the bonding I have with my babies when I nurse them with my milk. I love it when they stop crying the moment I hold them close to me and when they finally fall sleep feeling full, comforted and loved.

This is my eldest daughter, Candid, when she was but a day old.

Some mothers nowadays prefer infant formula over breast milk because they don’t like their breasts to sag and look unsexy. Some find breast feeding sort of messy and even some couldn’t tolerate the pain caused by breast feeding. Some less fortunate mothers claim they don’t have breast milk at all. Why less fortunate?

Well, here are some advantages of giving your babies breast milk: lowered risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, decreased risk of contracting not only common diseases like middle ear infections, cold and flu bugs but also childhood leukemia, diabetes, asthma and eczema, dental problems, obesity and psychological disorders.

Furthermore, breast-feeding-mommy gets the benefits of having her uterus return to its pre-pregnancy size sooner, reduced post-partum bleeding and reduced risk of breast cancer later in life.

For me, breast feeding lets me sleep longer at night, lessens my household chores as I don’t have to clean and sterilize baby bottles and makes me feel closer to my babies..

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Our 5-month PLAYSCHOOL program officially started and as expected, we have nice students and ‘not-so-nice’ students. One such student in the latter group is Izzy* a 3-year old bratinella whose habit is to make other people’s lives miserable.

Obviously, Izzy is spoiled, both by her parents. Her father is a businessman and her mother is a physician who is on-leave because of her second pregnancy. No wonder they enrolled Izzy in our program, brat as she is, she needs behavior modification before the birth of the new baby.

First and foremost, Izzy doesn’t want to be left by mommy, she wants mommy inside the play school, a practice which we greatly discourage as it contradicts the purpose of the program. So, we try to be firm about it. Unfortunately, Izzy’s mom is not as cooperative as we wish her to be. Instead of leaving Izzy to our care, she has the habit of showing herself to the little girl just when the girl is having fun. And sure enough, at the sight of her mother, Izzy would insist on having her inside disrupting the momentum of the entire class. And what more? Mommy would get inside the playschool and insist that Izzy doesn’t want her to go. The disappointed teacher, not wanting to embarrass the mother, would just keep quiet and focus on the other students.

Last week, the lesson was ‘proper use of escalator.’ The teacher got the students ready for a short visit to the nearest escalator to demonstrate how to ride it safely. As usual, Izzy wanted mommy to tag along. But teacher was firm. She gave Izzy 2 choices, either to leave mommy and go with them, or to stay with mommy and miss the demonstration. Izzy wanted to go, but she wanted mommy to go with her. Teacher said no and made the decision, they will leave Izzy behind. But every time they tried to leave, Izzy would start wailing and stomping her feet on the floor. So, Teacher would start convincing her again. This went on for a few minutes until Izzy’s classmates became restless. Now, Teacher really had no choice. One goodbye wave at Izzy and off she went with the class.

Izzy was crestfallen. She cried as if she wanted to die THEN AND THERE. So, mommy got up and led Izzy out of the school to where Teacher and classmates were having the demonstration. Once  again, Teacher’s purpose went down the drain..

How children would turn out depends on how the parents trained them in their formative years. If there is a chance to make them sensitive, considerate and responsible individuals, that chance is NOW while they are young. And one of the best ways to teach them is by being firm about rules and conditions.

Most people do not know the difference between the ‘long’ a and the ‘short’ a sound. The ‘long’ a is in words like cake, mail, day, etc.. while the ‘short’ a sound is in apple and banana.

Therefore, the word airplane begins with the ‘long’ a sound. So, to teach your kids the sound of the ‘short’ a, try this worksheet.

Click the image to be redirected to the printable page.

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About 2 months ago, in the middle of the night, I received a text message from my cousin asking for help. It seems like his baby daughter was running with fever and they have nothing to give her. He was asking me if I have anything in the medicine cabinet.

Well, my medicine cabinet is really stocked with medicine, but there was nothing there for infants. Since my youngest child is already turning 9 this year, I no longer keep something for babies. So, I told them to keep the baby’s temperature down by giving her tepid sponge bath or simply wiping her with cloth soaked in tap water then drying her up with a dry towel right away, but be sure not to rub the towel against the skin as it might produce friction that can add to the already high temperature. But my cousin was hysterical, so I said, the best thing is to take the baby to the emergency room at the nearest hospital.

If there is something a mother should NEVER overlook, that is the importance of the medicine cabinet. We must always make sure that it is stocked. Always keep a bottle of fever medicine and cough medicine. If there are infants in the house, having a nasal drop would be wise. If the children are as listless as mine, keeping  a bottle of antiseptic for cleaning gash and wounds would also be a good idea. When my kids were babies, I always keep mentholated oil to rub the tummy with in case of colic, but of course it is still better to have colic medicine in the house.

The thing I like least about motherhood is the anxiety I feel when my kids are not feeling well. So, to minimize that, I make my medicine cabinet useful.

It might be a good idea for any mom to invest time taking some online basic nursing classes. See GuidetoOnlineSchools.com to get started.

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I was sending an email to my department head yesterday when I heard my office mate’s frantic voice as she talked on the phone. I waited for her to calm down which took about 10 minutes after putting the phone down until I was finally able to ask her what was wrong. She asked me if I remember our former colleague, Rhoda, and I said of course I do. She said Rhoda had a motorcycle accident last night and that was her son on the phone telling her about it. I was shocked but was able to ask how Rhoda was and she said she’s in the hospital and might be staying there longer. As soon as I was assured that Rhoda was alive I asked her if she knew what injuries Rhoda has. She said something about the knee or somewhere in the leg part. When I realized I really couldn’t go to specifics about the injury, I asked her whether that case is included in the social security disability insurance, she said she thinks it is, as Rhoda surely couldn’t work for a long time, if not, what will happen to her son.

Well, I guess any body should exercise caution anywhere she is..

Since all of our review classes for the College Entrance Test have ended and we are no longer opening another class, all inquiries about the review are offered the tutorial program which is about 50% more expensive than the class. Some parents who believe that their children need the review before taking the actual test avail of the program regardless of the cost.

One such parent is Riza’s*. Her mother, convinced that Riza needs the review more than the girl wants to admit enrolled her under the tutorial class. So, she took the assessment test, which runs for 2 hours, then she attended the first session. We didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary during that time. So, we were kind of curious when she didn’t show up for the next session, and the next, and the next…

2 days ago, I was informed that Riza was no longer continuing her program. I was astounded. We, teachers, believe that she really needs the program and she’s doing quite well. So, we asked the receptionist why. Well, it seems like Riza was overwhelmed by the difficulty of the review. But of course it is difficult, what does she expect, a picnic on the hill?

According to the receptionist, Riza was ‘scared.’ That left us more curious than we already were. Scared of what? Of the review materials? Of us teachers? Of the actual test? Whatever she is afraid of, dropping the program wouldn’t help. Obviously, the mother did not expound on the reason for her daughter’s dropping out. It was either she believes Riza’s fear is justifiable, she’s used to Riza’s weakness or she simply has a lot of money to spend.

I honestly would like to know why the girl dropped out. Are we really that scary? If we are, maybe the mom would talk with us first to brief us on how to handle Riza without scaring her. But she is already 15, and we don’t grow fangs and tails when we teach. Well, if Riza is one of those kids who quit when things get tough, then dropping the program may make it worse. Anyway, that’s just an opinion. If the girl doesn’t want to continue with the program, of course we would respect her decision as we do to anyone else.

“As an individual gets older, things get tougher and the world gets harsher. I do believe we couldn’t shield our children from every single harm that might befall them. What we can only do is to help them develop courage and faith in themselves, in their family who loves them and in the LORD who helps them every step of the way..”

*not real name

This post is for all those who follow this blog regularly. I want to thank you guys for taking time to read my post and leave comments. One thing I like about being a blogger is the freedom to express what I feel . In view of that, in addition to my regular post every Sunday, Teacher’s Journal, which chronicles my experiences as a teacher..

another topic of interest to me will also be posted, Joys of Motherhood, which would be a narrative of some experiences, mine or someone else’s, of being a mother..

and finally, soon to be read here would be some basic lessons in reading and writing that mothers with small children would find helpful. Let’s Read and Write includes posts featuring letters of the alphabet with pictures and tracing directions. The purpose of which is to introduce the concept of reading  and the skills of writing.

Needless to say, I want to make this post as informative, as entertaining and as helpful as possible. Realization of such would make me feel an accomplished blogger.

I really hope I would be able to do all those, so, I’m crossing my fingers on this. Wish me luck!