Wais Wednesday #8: Color Coding

This is not about the UVVRP (The Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program), but our self imposed color coding scheme for the two boys to distinguish their things in school. We bought their items using their respective favorite colors. This way, we can tell who left what just by simply looking at the color without the need to inspect the items inside. 


This has worked for us and one of the factors that help us get by even in the absence of helper at home. 

Wais Wednesday #5: School Reminders

I have two boys in grade school now so imagine how difficult it is to keep track of the homeworks, quizzes, schedules and things to bring.

I see to it that I check their assignmet notebooks as soon as I get home, and at the same time look at their respective notebooks, workbooks and books to ensure that they have done what is due for the following day.

However, there are just homeworks and notices that are given way ahead of time. This brings the challenge of tracking and monitoring. To avoid surprises, I have converted our big calendar, the give away calendars from rice mill, to a big bulletin board. Using post its, the kids will write down what is due on a particular day, be it homework, quiz or what have you, and stick it on the day it is due. Everyday, we can look at the calendar and have a snapshot of the two boys' class schedule.

Wais Wednesday #4: Class Schedule

I am now on the fourth week of Wais Wednesday. This is the first time I became consistent in posting a series here in my blog.

This week let me share you what I did on my kids subject plastic envelopes. In their school, they are required to have 6 plastic envelope. Each envelope will contain all the materials (notebook, book, workbook, folder and what have you) for a single subject. This way, the kids will just take out the envelope for a particular subject and all things are supposed to be inside this envelope.

Last year, everyday, for my older son, we have to look at his schedule to check if all his subject envelopes for the day are inside his bag. There are days that he forgets his subject envelope since the schedules are different everyday.

This year, since we have two kids in school, with no help to prepare breakfast and lunch in the morning, we cannot squeeze in the time to do the checking everymorning for the two boys. So what I did is I put a masking tape on the envelope and wrote down the schedule days for the particular subject. This way, a day before, they will be responsible in removing today's subject from their bags and put tomorrow's subject inside their bags. This also makes it easier for them to identify easily which subjects they need to focus on the following day.

Wais Wednesday #2: Hook and Eye

Most students are now back to school. Whereas some schools started only this week, my kids are now on their third week in school this week.

This year, I will try ready to wear uniforms for the boys. Pricewise, they are cheaper and I have the boys try on them to compare the quality. Of course nothing beats custom made in terms of fitting the boys' frame and figure.

Few things I considered in choosing the kids' uniform which I want to share:

Compare prices and quality. Consider the cloth and the quality of the stitches and take note of the price. Days before I made the trip to Divisoria, I scouted the malls for uniforms taking note of the price and the quality.

I found some really good deals in Divi however, the cloth won't last wear and tear since the boys usually would kneel and crawl at school, so I have to settle for a more expensive but with better quality. But then, mall prices still cannot beat Divi prices. I got the brand St. Marks both for polo and pants. I came across a really expensive brand, but there's a customer mom at the store who swears by the brand - Nelson. And truly, best quality I have seen in terms of cloth and stitching, which would probably last at least three years. I only got two pants and one polo to try out since budget will not allow me to buy all I need for this school year.

One thing I failed to consider is the pants closure which I only realized when my elder son complained on the first day of school when he cannot easily close his button. It was like a DING moment because for little boys like him who dress on his on, it is a very big deal aside from the fact the challenge of opening up when he urgently needs to pee.

So next time, when I have to buy something for my kids, I should put myself in their shoes so that I can consider all areas that matter to them.

Monday Lessons

Since I have been making reviewers for my kids since they started schooling (Junior Casa 1 or Nursery), I thought I would share it to other moms out there. Every Monday, I will be posting a lesson for the week and our lesson for today is about words with multiple meaning. When he was in grade 1, my elder son had a challenge on this topic and was told by his teacher to review and so we collected as much resource material from the internet and at the same time prepared worksheets for him to practice on.

Multiple meaning words are words that have several meanings depending upon how they are used in a sentence. Normally context clues are used to help figure out which meaning is correct. Context clues are the surrounding words that were used in the sentence.

Here are some words for practice.

1. Cinderella went to a ball through the help of her fairy Godmother.
    a. a party.
    b. something that is used in sports.

2. I will show you how to make a paper plane.
    a. I want to show you my pet turtle.
    b. We will watch the show on Saturday.

If you wish to receive a full text of the worksheet, please leave me a message with your email address on the comment section.

Time Flies

We bid goodbye to summer and welcome the rainy month of June. I still cannot believe that summer break is over. The kids are back from their vacation and I really have not accomplished much of my to do list. Today is the first day of classes for Bujoi. He is now in Grade School which means I have to put aside most of my to do list as my hands would be full planning meals, snacks, looking at assignment notebooks, buying stuff for school projects. I could not believe Grade School will be this stressful. Good thing that we have chosen a school that will be our partner in bringing up our children. The school is very open to communication because they strongly believe that communication is a key to a better partnership as we mold our children according to God's will and purpose for their lives. The school believes that having receive a gift from God, it is our primary responsibility to bring out the best in them for God's greater glory.