Wonderful experience of learning

Ellen Says: Education is an essential necessity. With the growing age of computer technology and increase in scientific studies, it is even more important that our children learn as much as possible. But to throw them into the learning process before they are ready can be devastating to them. So, what is the best way? Start early with simple, fun activities that teach them the basics in math, spelling and reading comprehension.

If the learning is fun, the child catches on and will put forth more effort to hold onto the material and even use it. It is quite simple to make it enjoyable. Children love games and they love doing what mommy and/or daddy does. They follow by example.

Take it slow, and allow your child to show you what he/she is capable of learning. Since all children are different, it is important to be cautious of their abilities. If they are having difficulty then the fun will no longer be there and therefore the child will stop trying and this can cause conflicts between parent and child. The idea of this process is to teach in a stress-free atmosphere, to better aide the child, preparing him/her for school, where the pressure will be.

Learning can be a wonderful experience, and when the parent is involved, it can be a fun, precious moment for both of you. Even the parent may learn a thing or two. What is important is that criticism is never made to give the impression that the child failed. Any attempt at all is a good one and that needs to be recognized. If the child becomes stubborn (there will be plenty of those days) then just drop the learning games for a while, but always try again. Even if the child doesn’t outwardly participate, sing the ABCs, count, quote math problems. They are listening more than you know and pretty soon, they will be repeating it right back to you!

Reluctant reader?

Ellen says: Is your child a reluctant reader? Many children with learning disabilities avoid reading and do not get the practice they need to improve their skills. Why not learn some great ways to improve basic reading skills and reading comprehension. Increase their reading time with activities that they will actually enjoy!

For Rallione, even he already fond of books, I also try to have him variety of reading materials - pair books with unabridged audio books. We can easily encourage reading by pairing books with unabridged audio books. Often, we can find both at the library. Just have a little experiment and choose the best strategy that works for our child. Then follow the book as the audio book plays. This helps with word recognition and awareness of phrasing. Listen to a chapter, and then read it. This helps our child understand main ideas before they are read, which can improve fluency, or read a chapter and then listen to it to self-check for understanding.

Teach Reading Effectively

Ellen says: I've been teaching my children to read successfully. I have seen many teachers and parents struggle to teach reading effectively and taught them how to do it well and have the children have fun learning and become successful readers.

I have three children so I have watched them grow and learn with delight and pride. I believe that every mother allows time to sit ang teach their children in reading. Of course, I understand the frustrations of other parents when not knowing how to help their own children do better in their education and in life.

Even before I became a mother, and still in my teenage year, I taught the two children next door to read before they started school. Their mom and dad were amazed.

Shadow Teacher

Ellen says: The best a shadow has to offer is a gentle, consistent, yet demanding approach, relating to her charge as someone who can do better and perform tasks ahead of what is expected by the teachers or parents. Parents need to look for potential shadows: people with the ability to connect, compassion, energy, and creativity. Their degree of sensitivity is more important than any professional degree. Shadows come in handy on a rainy day, or for a special occasion.

In schools, "shadows" are assigned to be one-on-one, primarily looking after one child with supersensitivities, like in a gifted child. The shadow is there to anticipate, redirect, and serve as that extra pair of hands. Their training is important, but not nearly as important as their ability to connect.

Children of Isaac

Ellen says: Their curriculum provides students with current and relevant skills needed to become successful practitioners within the psychology and human service fields. It also focuses on the development of interpersonal effectiveness—students develop and improve positive relationship-building skills through effective communication, respect for others, cultural sensitivity, and awareness of their impact on others.

Rallione will undergo one on one treatment with them as a Gifted Boy with supersensitivities. I knew that someday may little boy will overcome all those sensitivities.

Maritime Week

Ellen says: Asian Institute of Maritime Studies {AIMS} is celebrating Maritime Week. They have so many activites planned during the week celebration. Fun Activities are awaiting to all their pupils, teachers and staff. Well I am very proud to announnce that this one of the best school when it comes to maritime studies. This is where my eldest son Rj taking up his course Bachelor of Science In Marine Transportation or knownly called Nautical Engineering Course.

Learning Enrichment at home

Ellen says: We cannot deny the fact that our home is the best place to start learning although there's a lot of knowledge gained from the school, still, we need to have a learning enrichment at home. Make your home a rich environment for learning. Parents can find creative ways at home to give the child learning enrichment.

We can build spoken language by talking and listening - dramatic play, mutual storytelling, family conversation, learning songs and poems, playing games that require talking, listening, following and giving spoken directions. at home,they can develop the ability to read quickly and naturally (Fluency) - just read books and other printed material at the right level of reading development, frequent opportunities for reading, reading the same book several times. And then discuss what they read, tell the story in their own words, comprehension activities.

Conferences with teachers

Ellen says:Parent-teacher conferences are a great way to get to know my child's teacher and to let her know something about me and my concerns.

A list of concerns is a good way to start preparing for a meeting with the teacher. If you are concerned about homework, write that down. If you are concerned with behavior, write that down. It is neither necessary nor desirable to write down every single concern you might have.

Instead, focus on one or two of the most important issues. Trying to cover every single issue at one meeting can be counterproductive. Last Friday I had a conference meeting to Rallione's teacher, to know my little boy whereabout in school.

Alcohol boating deaths..

Gbex says: Beer on board, is very dangerous. Yeah, you heard it right...

You might think that, "It’s just harmless fun", but operating a boat while impaired is just as dangerous — and just as illegal — as drinking while driving a car.

The legal limit OUI Bill for blood alcohol is .08 in both cases. The penalties are similar, too; like driving under the influence, operating a boat under the influence is a Class One misdemeanor.

For a responsible and safe boating experience on waterways this summer, consider taking an 8-hour boating education class near you or take Boating Education Online.

For boating education information, you may call (623) 236-7325.

Fine motor skill in pre- school

Ellen says: Fine motor skills generally refer to the small movements of the hands, wrists, fingers, feet, toes, lips, and tongue.

It is the most delicate tasks of preschool children, such as handling silverware, tying shoelaces and even a simple writing. It represent more challenge than most of the gross motor activities learned during this period of development. The central nervous system is still in the process of maturing for complex messages from the brain to get to the child's fingers. In addition, small muscles tire more easily than large ones, and the short, stubby fingers of preschoolers make delicate or complicated tasks more difficult. Finally, gross motor skills call for energy, which is boundless in preschoolers, while fine motor skills require patience, which is in shorter supply. There is considerable variation in fine motor development among this age group.

Rallione my little boy, thought yet is a gifted but still he needs more time to develop his fine motor skills... So I bought him a dot to dot book in order for him to have more practice in handling pencil. Helping a child succeed in fine motor tasks requires planning, time, and a variety of play materials.

when a mom gets pushy

Ellen says:One of the greatest fears I have encountered as parent of gifted child is being branded as "pushy." Perhaps, a "pushy parent" should look at this not as a negative remark but rather as a compliment.

Yes, I am a parent who cares so deeply about my child. I do believe that parents are children’s first teachers. I don't see anything wrong in doing such role..

I care more about my child than about the reputation I get from my ways of taking care of Rallione. Infact, I am willing to give a push the school 's system to be able to respond to the unique needs of my child.

That's what I am specifically doing right now.

Being "pushy" becomes a problem , only if the child feels pressured to perform to please the parent or if the parents look on their child’s education as a means of giving their child an edge in the competition of life.

I am a proud mom of Rallione... "I didn’t teach him to read. Honest. He did it on his own when I wasn’t looking. You might call me a "pushy mom" but I don't care".

Want to learn a new skill?

Ellen says: Who wants to avail of continuing education courses? Well, this is a call for graduates of engineering courses who would want to further their skills through an Online Continuing Education Provider for Professional Engineers.

At CEDengineering, you can choose several options like purchasing a course at your utmost convenience. It will also give you a privilege to open a corporate account and with your account fully activated, you can avail of a 25 percent on all of your course purchases.

And on top of that, you can refer a course provider to a friend and this referral will entitle you to a 20 percent discount on 3 course purchases that you may decide to acquire.

One more thing, CEDengineering will give you the prerogative to provide a course online and each time your course is purchased, you get a 50 percent revenue from the sold course which you provided. How is that? This is such a very tempting offer from CEDenigneering so, I strongly advise you to go online now and visit CEDengineering before any other engineer gets an edge over you.

cop's academy

Gbex says: Do you want to join the military? Get enrolled in a military academy- In the Philippines, there is one very best school for military service... Wanna conquer PMA?...

The Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is the training school for future officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. The school is established as an Officer's School of the Philippine Constabulary on February 17, 1905 at Intramuros, Manila, but was relocated on September 1, 1908 in Baguio City.... That's all what I can tell you right now my buddies! For more info, go to the nearest cop station commander!

Well, I do not want to just leave this post without letting a single stone unturned, so let me just expound a little bit of what a cop's academy is all about:
A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps of the Army, the Navy or the Air Force or provides education in a service environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned.

Three types of academy exists: High school-level institutions awarding academic qualifications, university-level institutions awarding Bachelor's degree level qualification, and those preparing officer cadets for commissioning into the armed services of the country. Need I say more?

books of truth and knowledge...

Dom says: There are two books I have in my hand that I consider very important in my life as important as a security blanket because both books hold and contain very important truths and knowledge in relation to my present condition and the present condition of my monastic journey and seminary plight.

The first book in my hand is my journal which I fancily called as 'my redbook'. I began jotting down trivial and significant events of my life in my redbook since the day I stepped my feet in the monastery in year 2002. The other book which carries very significant truth about God and God's Words is my Bible which I fondly called as 'my blackbook'...


Both books are my companions especially now that I am faced with moments in my life when I have to sustain myself with a strange condition that I need to struggle and fight over with.

The Blackbook feeds me with everyday sustenance and strength to carry on with my spiritual journey and with my relationship with God.

The redbook contains past records of people (inside and outside the monastery who includes my family, relatives and friends) who were involved and connected with my life since I entered the monastery in year 2002.

The redbook is also my record of past significant events that re-orient and re-educate me of what went on in the past six years of my life as monk in the monastery where I belong now.

Both books contain salient factual informations that sustain and nourish my mind, my heart and my soul as I go over and manage my life here in the Cloister amidst my present condition.

Trauma and Grief Processing...

@ 5:10Pm USA time, of Wednesday 9th of April, '08 Dom says, in preparation for my fast approaching entry to the Seminary for my Priesthood Formation, I have been undergoing some professional help for 7 weeks now.

The therapy I chose is to allow my lady-counselor to explore in me a process which she calls something like Body-Centered Trauma and Grief Processing... This is an important and significant processwork that integrates body wisdom, structure, breathing, and touch to grasp the body’s messages and integrate and release past traumas.

This BCTG centers on an Observation of gait and posture to determine where a person might be holding trauma or protecting the self.

This type of work can also reveal a lot about core wounds.

If appropriate, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can be used to process recent traumas more rapidly although long-held traumas often require more time and space to process.

desensitization (or graduated exposure therapy) is a process for mitigating the harmful effects of phobias or other disorders.

It also occurs when an emotional response is repeatedly evoked in situations in which the action tendency that is associated with the emotion proves irrelevant or unnecessary.
Desensitization can be an alternative or a supplement to anxiety-reducing medication.

The process assists one to a journey of self-discovery results in better understanding of primary relationships with family members and loved ones.

Often through the courageous work of identifying ourselves and learning more about our response to loved ones, we express deep feelings, such as grief, anger, depression, loneliness, and isolation.

Well, the process is quite an entirely unique approach to release and overcome my emotional attachments, as what my lady counselor qualified it, and take the road to recovery from brokenness that emanates from past hurts, wounds, fears, and traumas (some of which are my fear of tightly enlosed dark space-'claustrophobia', dark water, and tiny dolls.) which will eventually lead me to becoming successfully integrated wholly with the priesthood ministry.

Claustrophobia is an anxiety disorder that involves the fear of enclosed or confined spaces. Claustrophobes may suffer from panic attacks, or fear of having a panic attack, in situations such as being in elevators, trains, or aircraft.

Conversely, people who are prone to having panic attacks will often develop claustrophobia. If a panic attack occurs while they are in a confined space, then the claustrophobe fears not being able to escape the situation.

Those suffering from claustrophobia might find it difficult to breathe in enclosed spaces. Like many other disorders, claustrophobia can sometimes develop due to a traumatic incident in childhood.

Claustrophobia can be treated in similar ways to other anxiety disorders, with a range of treatments including cognitive behavior therapy and the use of anti-anxiety medication. Hypnosis is an alternative treatment for claustrophobia.

Well, as for my treatments, my counselor has charged me a minimal amount every session. Actually, the price per session ranges from 75 dollars for a 50-minute session to 112 dollars for an 80-minute session.

teaching the ABAKADA...

@ 12:55Pm of Holy Monday, Dom LAWRENCE says: "I've so much fun teaching my monkbrother John D Baptist the English ABAKADA..."

This morning, I had to report to the gifsthop for its regular routinework of which I am the one in charge. Litttle did I know that it was also the scheduled day to tutor my brothermonk Vitnamese John D Baptist in English- So I did have to attend to the giftshop's offc. works while teaching him the alphabet and its vowel/consonant sounds.

John Baptist is Novice monk of our community and has left his monastery in Vetnam as postulant. He continued his monastic formation in Christ in the Desert and is hoping to get accepted and take his Simple Profession with us. But that will be 10 months from now.

Back in Vietnam, Bro John Baptist never spoke English as his school does not offer English classes, that's why he graduated in Nursing with Vietnamese language as their medium of instruction. So, he needed to start learning the Alphabet and Phonics as his main difficulty now lies on vowel and consonant sounds and as well as English pronunciation as he had never ever spoken any English before.

So, still with my eyebags (from my late-hour sleep last night trying to finish the blog draft of my reflections which I posted in my original blog) I had to hurdle the non-stop and without break three-and-a-half hour tutoring with my 32 year old monkbro. John Baptist.

BTW, you may wonder and you may ask me why and how come we are still into our monastic works even during this day of the Holy week. Actually, we only start with our Holy week observance (like some sort of a holiday to you out there) starting Holy Thursday. By Thursday, we will have a strange schedule to give way for the community's liturgical activities. We will resume our normal schedule back on Monday next week.

a new threshold...

hey friends in God and in love!...

I busied myself with my enrolment application to St Meinrad Seminary for the last three days now that my free hours which were supposed to be spent for my updates here in Gbex's site were all spent at filling-up application form, zerox-copying birth certificates, baptismal certificates, confirmation certificates and school certificates, diplomas, and transcripts of records...whoaaahhhhhh and writing down a five-page autobiography and i tell you- doing them had eaten up my freetime for my blog updates. So please bear with me and especially to my friend and soulmate Gbex who's just too patient and overbearing of my shortcomings.

So, what is it that i am trying to say here, huh?.. I guess I must tell you that this coming Fall semester (USA has a different timetable for its school semesters, it has Fall semester- four months from August 26 to December 20th; then schools have their what they call as January interim-from the 8th to 25th of Jan. and then comes the Spring semester that starts in January 29th to may 15th.) I will be leaving the portals of my monastery where I spent six years of my life to live in the Cloister of St Meinrad's community for another six years until I am able to finish the Priesthood Formation Program that I shall be hurdling to get myself ordained a priest. Such a long wait huh! But that is what my Abbot superior wants me to be: a good priest of my community who is to serve its members selflessly by officiating Mass everyday and delivering my homilies day in and day out!.

Well, by the time i become fullfledged ordained minister who has the faculty to witness a wedding ceremony, baptize infants and toodlers, hear confessions, and celebrate the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, and perform the rest of the sacraments, I will be 58 yrs old then!

I hope that this long wait will give me endurance and perseverance until the expected time!...

Wala lang, gusto ko lang sabihin sa inyung mga prends ko dyan sa labas na ipagdasal nyo naman ako....Mahirap ang mag aral na muli kung ang isang mag aaral ay hindi na bata na kasing bata ng isang nag sisimula sa college!....

delightful choices to choose from...

In today's modern world with the new age of technology and the like, as woman of the 2000's, would you rather choose to become like....
This?

This?

This?

This?

Or This?
Take your pick...