after-school activities

I have my 2 sons currently enrolled in after-school actitivites. Both are enrolled in swimming (indoor, thank Heavens!) classes at Ace Water Spa every Tuesday and Thursday. Ram is enrolled with the Bert Lozada team, and Em and I are in the Mommy and Me class, also taught by the Bert Lozada team. At first I was apprehensive because to me, when you say Bert Lozada class, visions of babies are thrown in the pool and they're supposed to "instinctively learn" how to swim on their own. So far from the truth! Ram, within 10 sessions, already know how to do butterfly (although he already knew how to do a little freestyle). I couldn't be happier! I used to swim a lot but never learned how to do butterfly. It was a frustration for me, and seeing Ram doing it makes me happy. As for Em, he is totally loving spending time with me and learning not to be afraid of the water, how to do bubbles and how to submerge. In the last class, he was able to swim underwater for a very short bit, from the instructor towards me. But what I really want to point out is the quality time that he and I are both spending with each other. Bonding takes on a new level with swimming with your toddler.

So, Tuesdays and Thursdays are swimming days for my boys. What about the rest of the week, you might ask? Well, they are currently enrolled in after-school Math/Reading programs. On Mondays and Fridays, the boys go to different centers : for my 5yr old Ram, he goes to Enopi for both Math and Reading (for an hour each session). For my 3 yr old Em, he goes to Galileo (Reading only for 30 minutes each session), and luckily, it is only less than 5 minutes away from Ram's Enopi, so in that way, the time spent on travel and distance is fully maximized. Ram enjoys Enopi. I think it's because of how Enopi is set up. The teacher is seated in the inner side of a half-circular table and the kids (maximum of up to 5 students) are seated on the outer side, facing the teacher. The energy and dynamic of working in a group-like atmosphere is appealing to Ram since he is a very social boy. As for Em, I chose Galileo for him not only because it is 5 minutes away from Ram's Enopi, but most importantly, because it is the only program in the area that accepts 3 yr old kids. I naturally would've enrolled him in Enopi if it was allowed, but the minimum age is 4 yrs old, I think. Well, anyway, I'm happy with Galileo for Emilio. It's really designed to start the kids out early on learning. I also discovered upon enrolling him, that they include a segment of Computer Lab as a tool. So that's an added bonus.

And that, my friends, is how my regular week looks like. In the morning, Mon to Fri, I take the boys to their school. We come home, have lunch, they take their naps while I rest and watch TV, then they wake up and I bring them to their after-school activities. Except on Wednesdays, I keep it free because that's usually when the new movies come out and I take my boys to watch a good movie. And oh yes, I am looking for other activities for them. Ram has been bugging me that he wants to take up tennis and taekwondo again. He took both for the summer and now he wants to go back to it. Hmmm..Saturday sounds good for tennis. We'll see. Got to talk to the hubby first if it fits in the budget!

Unprepared for the Second Trimester Exam

I just sent off my two sons, Ram (5 yrs old) and Em (3 yrs old) to school. Today is their second set of their Second Trimester Exams. Although I didn't review my 3 yr old son for it (I thought it was too much for his age, but I was am eager to find out how he did based purely on his own learning), yesterday found me reviewing my 5-yr old, Ram, for Math, Christian Living, Pilipino and Makabayan subjects. I did, in fact, start reviewing Math to him the night before and halfway through, I started panicking. Oh my! And he's supposed to be ready by Wednesday?? I realized that Ram needed a lot of help with Math. I began to wonder...is the school being too advanced or is this the right curriculum for a Prep student? The Math topics covered place values of tens and ones, expanded forms, addition of 1 and 2-digit numbers, as well as addition of 3 digit numbers with carry overs. It also included the addition table. Hmmm...is it too much? But, since everyone else is doing it and seems to be getting it in his class, I was bent on making sure he would pass the tests, regardless of what I thought. So the next day, Tuesday, was spent on reviewing Math twice and going over the 3 other subjects, which were fairly easy enough. Hmmmm...we'll see how he did...