Nicquee's Nook

Parents Orientation

Last Saturday, we attended the pre-school parents’ orientation at Divine Grace Child Development Center where we enrolled Ayex as Kinder 1. We chose this over the other school because they are offering Chinese lessons in all levels and we think of that as an advantage.

It was my first ever parents’ orientation and I am glad to know that the I share the same sentiments as the school. What exactly do I mean?

Initially, I thought of homeschooling Ayex because I want to control her lessons to the basics. When I hear parents rave about their children being thought very advanced subjects in pre-school, it does not amaze me. Instead, I kind of pity the kids because I know they are stressed out from the heavy school work they do. My homeschooling project did not push through so we had to look for a school that offers a balanced curriculum.

And we are glad that we found Divine Grace. They believe that children should be left as children. They believe that preparatory school is not about academics because they will take that in the formal schooling which starts at grade 1. They believe that preparatory school is about preparing a child to take on the challenges of formal schooling by developing their values.

I am truly glad that I heard what I want to hear during the orientation. In a week’s time, Ayex will be going to school already. I hope everything will turn out fine, specially her bad sleeping habits.

Bedtime Woes

Do you have a hard time putting your children to bed? I do.

You see, I have two girls and more often than not, I put both of them to sleep all by myself. Both of them have bedtime routines and no matter how tired I am, I do my best to follow through so they can get used to it.

I have no problem with Max as she has her schedule. Would you believe that even if she just woke up, if it is already her nap time, put her to bed and she will sleep again? That happens even when she just woke up two hours ago. At night, by 9 PM, she is already fussy, which means she is ready for bed time. After cleaning up, she will fall asleep in as fast as ten minutes while breastfeeding.

Ayex is the complete opposite. I clean her up after Maxyn. Since I cannot put them to sleep at the same time because I am breastfeeding Max, I listen to her stories first. When Max is asleep, I will start tapping her bottom. In between taps, she would still tell stories or ask questions until an hour of tapping has passed. In between those interruptions, I would ask her to go to sleep. There would be times when she would ask for so many things like say good night to people first, drink water, pee, and so on. She has many alibis and I cannot think where she gets them. When I get really tired, which happens a lot, I would end up raising my voice and plead her to go to sleep. Normally, it takes her two hours before finally dosing off.

School will start in a week’s time and I am very worried that Ayex’s bad sleeping habits will give me tons of headaches, wrinkles and fine lines. I want her to have complete sleep when she goes to school to make her energetic and generally happy. The thing is, I do not how can she be so good in holding back her sleepiness.

Big School or Small School

Less than a month from now, classes will officially start here in the Philippines. I should be cramming now because Ayex is not yet enrolled.

As you may know, she started schooling at the age of 2.8yo in our hopes to improve her social skills. We actually got more than that as she came home with new knowledge everyday. But after she graduated from pre-nursery, she did not want to enroll for the next school year. She said schooling makes her tired. So she was an out of school kid last year.

This year, she will be 4.5yo come school time. Our pediatrician recommended that we already send her to school so she will not be bored and left behind by her peers. Also, her boredom is already driving us nuts. I have narrowed down the schools near our area and she has picked her choice.

It is our first time to really send Ayex to school and we are clueless what to follow. The school Ayex wants to go is a big one. Mon wants to check the other nearby smaller schools. I am ok wherever she goes because from what I heard, these are reputable schools. But when Mon asked why Ayex should go to a big school, I was not able to answer him. I really do not know where should we base our decision.

How about you, are your children attending a big or small school? What made you decide to enroll your children in their current school?