It's hard to believe I'm a Math teacher once again. How's your week by the way?

In the last week, I've taught my child fine motor skills almost everyday.  If you haven't had the chance to read my previous post , check it out here. You see how important fine motor skills are to get your child ready for writing.

Since I wanted to strengthen Chesska's fine motor skills, I gave her more activities and at the same time incorporated Number Concepts on it . But before anything else, let me share you what are the learning competencies preschoolers must know about Number Concepts before they enter Kindergarten. I' m unsure whether these competencies are aligned with DepEd's (I guess not) since I just followed what's in the Ebook (US curriculum) that I bought two weeks ago .

Via: Preschool Journey by Angela Thayer

a. Count to 20
b. Count Objects With Meaning to 10 (matching objects to a corresponding number)
c. Match Numerals
d. Identify numerals 0-10 by name.

Though Chesska has prior knowledge and skills on counting and identifying numerals from 1-20 (in fact she's super advanced na!) by letting her watch videos and nursery rhymes related to numbers starting age one,  I still provide her activities to reinforce concepts already learned.

This week, I focused more on counting objects with meaning . Aside from the Ebook, I also came across tons of activities online using Montessori approach and thought of utilizing some of them in our homeschooling to keep Chesska busy and at the same time make learning fun.

Take a look of these activities that may help you teach your child about counting.

I really admired this idea. I used to think that clothespin is only for clothes , but it's super useful specially if a child can't express answers yet in writing.  On this activity, I have her count the Frozen, Nemo, and Dinosaur characters since she's a big fan of them. Then she placed a clothespin on the correct number . Motor skills have been integrated as well.

Idea from: Preschool Journey by Angela Thayer

One way to make the child grasp the concepts more easily is through manipulatives. I used computation box made of wood which I bought at the mall for 145.  I have her identify the number laid on the table and ask her how many sticks should be placed to that number . As soon as she masters this concept, I may start introducing basic addition, then subtraction.




Every time I bring out a new activity, Chesska always gets excited. The concept is similar above but in another variation. Since Chesska loves stickers as much as she loves stars, and when I first found this idea online, I immediately used it. You can download stickers  here. 

Idea from: Preschool Journey by Angela Thayer

Last but not the least, Number Match activity. Chesska is averse to writing but loves matching-type test.  We'll frequently do this not only to enrich the concept learned but also to practice her fine motor skills like writing.


I hope you find this post helpful and feel free to leave your comments below.


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Hello everyone! How's your weekend?

After going over the enrichment books I bought a couple weeks ago, I realized that most activities involved require handwriting. Since Chesska has aversion to writing just like any other kids her age, it made me decide not to follow through everything from the Ebook (a Montessori-approached curriculum) that I purchased online.

Last week, I asked my child to trace standing and sleeping lines, but out of 20 she only made 3. Then she refused to continue tracing no matter how I convince her. But I didn't force her. I am child-focused, not subject-focused. But in order to keep her motivated and interested in our homeschooling, I have to change gear, means I need to vary my strategies.  Instead of following the curriculum sequentially, I just picked several activities there that I believe would help develop her fine motor skills. I also borrowed some ideas online which I modified a bit.

Now What are Fine Motor Skills? 

Are you aware that children need to develop first their fine motor skills before they can do writing? These skills are attained when children learn to use their small muscles such as muscles in the fingers to perform small tasks such as lacing, grasping, buttoning, stringing beads, etc. When these skills are fully developed, chances are,  children will have a better pencil grip and hand control when writing.  So mommies, don't get mad or label your child right away lazy when he refuses to write, he might just need to strengthen his fine motor skills.

Today, I am going to share with you what my child did for the entire week involving fine motor activities and will extend these activities until next week if needed. Of course, I couldn't have done this without my husband's help.

Solving Puzzles

Taking the pieces apart and putting them back together again are great ways to use muscles in the hands.






STRINGING BEADS

Of all the activities this week, she finds stringing beads interesting and fun. Concentration and patience have been inculcated on this activity.




MARBLES AND TONG

She picks up marbles and transfers them into a toy pan.  She uses her fine motor muscles to squeeze tong.



SCISSOR PRACTICE

I thought she could do it without a hitch. I just learned that scissor practice is also a foundation of writing. At first, I drew a triangle on cartolina and had her follow it. But I noticed she had difficulty holding the scissor, much less cutting the triangle. But we'll frequently practice scissor skill.


LACING

I made a butterfly out of cartolina and punched holes around it. She laced the yarn through each hole.



OF COURSE, BUILDING BLOCKS


SCOOPING BEANS

She scoops the beans and places them in another plastic container. I let her feel the beans and introduce sensory attributes such as smooth and hard.



That is all for today and thank you for reading!

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These books contain plenty of activities that involve matching, coloring, identifying, learning vocabulary, and counting.





From now on, I am going to share our homeschooling journey. I will try to update my blog as often as possible for more homeschooling ideas and tips. Thank you for reading moms.

P.S. Here are our sample activities this week and previous week. 

Counting: Fill the numbered eggs with marbles. 



Writing Patterns




Lacing: It develops fine motor skills (small muscles in the fingers to coordinate).



Of course her favorite, solving a jigsaw puzzle. 




Sorting out shapes and colors. 

We can't ignore the fact that wedding costs are due to family pressure either from the groom or bride, pressure from peers, or even influence from social media such as Facebook or Pinterest, posting nice and magical wedding photos. But as practical as we are, we strive not to keep up with the latest wedding trends. After all,  wedding is not a competition.

A month ago prior to our church wedding ceremony, I shared our estimated wedding budget, detailing all the important things we had to pay and purchase, making certain we wouldn't exceed to our allocated budget. (Note: Some figures reflected there were exact amount we paid especially fees for the church, makeup, Eden resort's accommodation, and the wedding dresses, while the rest mentioned was just a rough estimate.)

Originally, we didn't want to spend more than 60,000 just for a single day. So Ronan and I had a long debate of who to invite, where is the venue, how much is the budget for photography, so on and so forth. Eventually,  we decided to have a smaller and simpler wedding. The simpler, the better.

Before I elaborate everything, let me share you our actual wedding cost, which was slightly higher than our estimated wedding budget. Note. Our wedding budget is neither loaned nor borrowed (We are proud of it!).

Details	Pesos	(1 dollar=44)
Eden Accommodation (2 days) + Buffet (32 people)	25,378	$577
Virgin delos Remedios Fee	4,200	$95
St. Michael Chapel Rent	2,000	$45
St. Michael Choir	2,000	$45
Stipend	1,500	$34
Wedding Requirements	500	$11
Wedding Clothes Rent (second use)	8,800	$200
Makeup	7,000	$159
Photography  (shoot only)	6,000	$136
Bouquets and Flowers	3,000	$68
Eden Transportation (back and forth)	2,500	$57
Church Decor	2,581	$59
Shoes (6 people)	4,120	$94
Crucifix and Bible	750	$17
Postnup Suits	2,300	$52
Hair Color (Ronan and Me)	1,510	$34
Others	9,680	$224
Total Cost	84, 569	$1922

First, let's talk about our wedding venue. I genuinely love nature as much as my husband does. I told him if we could just find the right venue - quiet, intimate, and spectacular - then all else would fall into place. So we first agreed to have Eden Garden Resort as our wedding reception.



However, after calling them up, they said that the required minimum guests shouldn't be less than 100 persons. If we had chosen that option, our cost would have reached 100,000. Though that amount already includes foods for 690/pax, St. Michael Chapel fee for 12, 900, and the hall rent for 10,000. Hello, we were only 32 and didn't want to pay the excess amount. After making up our minds, we finally chose, still Eden, but this time, we only availed the accommodation (before and after the wedding) plus buffet during the wedding for 32 pax including the photographers and makeup artists. We had no choice but forget the reception, program, etc.

Second is hire a well-versed photographer. We were so completely happy with the outcome of our pictures. These didn't tell that we only had a low-budget wedding. We owed this from  King Perez, who happened to be Ronan's college friend. In fairness, his talent fee is the cheapest fee I know, considering how creative and professional he was during our wedding. I was unsure if he just gave a discounted price because first of all, he's a friend. But tell you what, photography and video would have cost you as much as 16,000 - 40, 000, depending on how long the shoot will be. We're just so lucky we have King! hehe

Third, take into consideration the wedding dresses. Initially, our budget for wedding dresses is  7,000. We first scouted at Wedding Bells, along Ecoland, to see the dresses and most importantly ask the cost. For the first user, the cost ranges from 25, 000 and beyond  (My eyes bulged a bit because it was outrageously high). While, second user's lowest rate ranges from 13,000, depending on the style. I told my husband, "let's go to some other boutiques to take chances and I believe we can dig a nicer gown there for a reasonable price". So our second route was Teresing boutique along Magallanes Street. Luckily,  we found for only 8,800 worth for the whole package already (bridal gown, groom's suit, entourage dresses, veil, cord, 3 flower girls ' baskets ), all are second used.



Fourth, don't be too thrifty when it comes to makeup. The groom and the bride are the main cast of the event so it's just right that you both look gorgeous. I think, 7,000 was just a fair professional fee asked by our makeup artists because it already included the whole entourage. By the way, don't you ever forget to get into pre-makeup from your preferred artists so they could study further what's the best makeup for you.

Fifth, the "Others" category was our prepared contingency fund, which was gradually spent for fare back and forth (brother and mother-in-law), snacks during errands,  foods the day before the wedding since we cooked our own foods at Eden, and a small "handa" in our house two days after the wedding prepared for friends and neighbors who had not been invited.

WHERE DID WE SAVE?

We did not pay for the wedding organizer. We did the planning ourselves, though it would entail effort, time and energy.  It took us 3 three months,  ironing out everything - from complying church wedding requirements, from scouting for venues and churches, from looking into the biggest details up to the tiniest. We save 20,000. 

We did not pay for cake. Since we didn't have a formal reception, (buffet is informal..hehe) we opted not to have it. We save 3,000. 

We did not buy wedding rings. We just reused the wedding rings worn during our first wedding (civil ceremony). We save 5,000 (Just an estimate).

We did not hire a florist. Our first preference was to hire someone to decorate the church but she asked 22, 000 for the floral arrangement and bouquets. NO WAY! Too expensive. So we made the ribbons and other decors ourselves for the church by watching the process from YouTube. (You see how useful Youtube is..) For our bouquets, hair dresses, and corsages, my aunt knew a florist from Bankerohan,  so we got a discount and just paid 3,000. We save 19,000. 

bride's maid bouquets

bridal's bouquet

DIY Church Decors

We did not pay for the wedding car. St. Michael chapel is just a few minutes away from the room where we stayed so we just rode in the resort's shuttle. It was incredibly a unique experience. We save 2,000. 



We did not include video shoot.  I'll tell you, the video would easily consume almost 1/4 to 1/2 of your budget so we already settled into a photo shoot. We save 10,000. 

We did not avail the reception for 100 guests.  The ultimate reason was our budget was too limited so it turned out to be a small wedding. We save 56, 920.  






We did not bother for giveaways.  Most of our guests haven't gone to Eden yet, so I guess that was the best giveaway we had given them - plus memories and experience. We save 3,200. (100 pesos/pax)

We did not buy wedding invitation cards.  Personal invitation by mouth just worked really fine. We save 1000. 

By now, you might have known that we are the most frugal couple in the history (haha). But you know what, we have saved P118, 120 (just re-compute na lng if I got it wrong..hehe). If we had chosen a fancier wedding, our wedding cost would have been more or less 200,000, which is usually the cost of modern wedding nowadays.

Let's keep in mind that happiness is not measured by the extravagance of the wedding, but it's how the couple wholeheartedly works out the marriage vow until the end of time. Additionally,  Pope Francis said,  a Christian marriage is not just a big ceremony held in a church with nice flowers, and everyone wearing fancy clothes and taking lots of pictures.  Marriage is an act of faith between a man and woman who are both fragile and limited, but courageous enough to follow Christ and seek to love each other as he loves them. (source)

How about you? How much did you spend on your wedding? Feel free to share your thoughts.

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It's been super busy these days running around and meeting numerous deadlines. What a crazy week! Besides, the weather is getting hotter too, which is not helping at all.

On busy and (hot) days like this, I love to try something quick and refreshing. That's how I came across my friend's recipe: Vietnamese Pho Noodle Salad, which consists of chewy rice noodles, aromatic Vietnamese cilantro, crunchy roasted peanuts and yummy roasted chicken. It's so quick to make, just 15 minutes and dinner is ready. Any leftovers can go neatly inside a container and bring for lunch next day. (I am lucky if there are any leftovers at all)

My friend, Nancy is a leader when it comes to helping busy modern women like us to save time in the kitchen. She definitely saved my time! Check out this irresistible new dinner idea, you will love it:
 http://imadethisdish.com/vietnamese-pho-noodle-salad/

via: http://imadethisdish.com/