Summer Break Activities

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My son’s summer break this year is so laid-back. Yes, he just laid, on his back, on the bed for the most part of his summer break. He wanted to go to the beach but the summer heat is just so – well, HOT! And the humidity is not tolerable. Going out under the heat of the sun Ra (bear with me, I’m in the middle of finishing up The Kane Chronicles book) is just not my thing.

He didn’t want to play with the guitar anymore, such a waste of money because we just bought him his third guitar. But he did enroll in basketball camp, learned how to code in javascript and practice his drawing/ sketching skills. So it’s not that an unproductive summer after all.

Summer activity: Learn Yoyo Tricks

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To steer him away from computer and online games while on vacation in the province, I made sure my son's yoyo is inside the luggage bag. I promised him that he'll get a Chinese Yoyo or what's also known as diabolo once he already perfected the basic yoyo tricks. But he has been ignoring his yoyo because he's still busy with his guitar lessons.

Next time I hear him say, “I’m bored!”, I’ll ask him to just play the yoyo.

summer activity for kids: guitar lessons

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RJ is again taking guitar lessons this summer break. He finished a few days of piano and guitar lessons last year. But completely forgot everything he learned when we got back in Manila. He doesn’t have a piano in the house and he only learned a few basic chords in guitar so it was understandable that he lost interest and didn’t even tried to practice those few chords.

So this summer break I asked him if he wants to enroll in piano, guitar or both. He chose guitar lessons.

He can now play “I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane”. Although he’s still a bit slow in changing chords, I’m glad that he’s not wasting his summer break by just playing computer and handheld games.

Do not waste your talents

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As much as I want to encourage, and not force, my son to not waste his talents -art and sports doesn't stand a chance with psp, nintendo, iOS, android or PC games. It's a never-ending quest for me, as a mom, to find the right amount of patience and understanding to encourage and not force him to improve his talents.

Although art, music and sports classes doesn't come cheap, letting him join these classes is still the best option. It saves me from nagging him to research on how to paint or draw something new, practice his swim strokes or play basketball in the backyard when he's doing nothing productive when he's in the house (count the above mentioned gadgets as non-productive producing things).

I try not to tell him often that his art works are good. Because he feels that "you're just saying that because you're my mom". That only worked when he's still in preschool. Now that he's older it's very important to properly tell him what he needs to improve on.

Yes, it's hard to let kids realize that they have lots of talents and God gave it for them to improve and use properly. But that's the job that God gave us and we parents should accept it whole heartedly.

Photography for kids

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It's summer time once again. Time for kids to develop more skills and talents. Because in school, especially in "traditional" schools like where my son is enrolled, more time is focused in academics.

I'm planning to look for photography classes where I and RJ can be classmates. I have to buy another camera, preferably a DSLR, so we don't have to borrow from each other during class. I have to call this art school near our place also, I might enroll him there as well if it’s not as expensive as the other art classes that I’ve inquired in on the past. I have to ask him what other sports activities he wants to enroll in as well.

Summer is here

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It's just the first week of March but the summer heat is very much present already. Time to bring out the shorts and sleeveless tops. Time for me to look for fun summer activities for RJ. Swimming should be first on the list. He really ought to swim again. He always have continuous sneezing in the morning because of allergic rhinitis. He never had that problem when he was still a member of his school's swim team.

And speaking of swimming, I should also learn how to swim.

Summer vacation in the province

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The last family trip that we had was last summer break. We had a two-month vacation in the province. RJ was able to get to know and play with his cousins. I was able to have a stress-free life for two months, well almost-stress-free.

 

Life in the province is so simple. If there’s a school there that’s as good as the school’s here in the city, I would definitely prefer living there. But the education system, even the private school’s there, are not as advanced as the RJ’s school here in Manila.

 

How I miss life in the province.

 

A Day At The Beach

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We went to a beach resort, 45-minute drive from our house, last Saturday. May is a rainy month on this island already but it was surprisingly very sunny that day. Swimming on the beach and building a sand castle are included on RJ’s to-do list this summer break so he was very happy that day. The water was so clear and there were small fishes swimming near the shoreline.

I was the official photographer slash videographer of the group. I was planning to upload everything that I took while we were still in the resort so everyone who wasn’t able to come can see how the kids had a great time at the beach. But aside from the fact that I forgot to bring the laptop, the resort does not have an internet connection also.

RJ wants to spend another day at the beach, a different beach. But he’s the only one in the family who’s still on vacation. The school year, in most school’s in the country, has officially opened yesterday. RJ’s school opening is on June 15. He has to wait for a school break, and for the rainy season to end -maybe in November, he can have another fun day at the beach.

jack sparrow, pirates of the caribbean

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Here’s what RJ drew yesterday.

 

 

He followed the step-by-step video from the YouTube channel of Shoo Rayner drawing school. That’s Jack Sparrow, Johnny Depp’s character in Pirates of the Caribbean.

summer activity: piano lessons

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Today is my son’s first day of piano lesson, together with his cousin Ms. F. The piano teacher is my friend’s dad who’s also the organ player in church every Sunday. My friend is a priest but he does not play the organ on the church he’s in.

 practice makes perfect right ms. F?

Learning how to play the piano is a great way for them to exercise their fingers. But my son said that it’s more fun and more effective to just play DS all day long. He also said playing computer is good too. But in my opinion, computers and handheld games only destroy a person’s eyes. I only like it when he uses the computer for blogging, researching, creating home videos or creating and editing pictures on photoscape.

I hope he’ll become a great piano player. Maybe some day he will even become famous!

*My son wrote this by the way.

the 9 year old architect

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My 9 year old son RJ found this construction playset at Toy Kingdom, during SM Megamall's 3-day sale, last week. It's called "Pirate Fortress", a brick making and fortress building kit. This pirate building kit is not just for kids because older boys will surely enjoy this construction playset as well.

The kit includes : 2 bags of plaster powder, 2 bags of glue, mixing bowl, measuring cup, level chart, brick mould, carving tool, trowel, brush, paint, 8 pirates, 1 set of fortress scene accessories, popsicle sticks, building plan and instructions with fun facts. 

RJ was busy the whole day being an architect. He and his cousin, Ms. F, watched their construction worker, Lolo N, mold batch after batch of plaster powder, mixed with water, into rectangular, square and curved bricks.

The molding of bricks are not yet finished. I, or maybe I can ask my cousin, will help them finish molding all the bricks tomorrow because Lolo needs to go to work. From then on, RJ can do the next steps by himself. Of course with the help of the Assistant Architect Ms. F. They have to glue everything together by following the construction plan. Once they're done with the tower, they then have to build the pier flooring using the popsicle sticks.

This toy will truly test their patience.

By the way, it's priced at around eight hundred Philippine pesos during the sale period. I searched online and found an online store that sell it for $30.

my son's summer activities

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My son's school was one of the earliest to end school year 2010-2011. I made a list of summer activities for him but just as the saying goes -the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. These are his daily activities:

I bought a table easel, poster paint and lots of bond papers for him. He has a boxful of watercolors, colored pencils and crayons. I have been buying second hand art books for kids, so he has lots of those also in his bookshelf. I enrolled him in an art class, at Museo Pambata, last summer vacation but I wasn't satisfied. Although RJ did enjoy making arts and crafts, the lessons were appropriate for preschoolers and he 's already 8 years old at that time.

I've noticed that he sneezes nonstop  in the morning and easily gets cough and colds since he stopped swimming June 2010. He started swimming when he was just 2, trains with a swim team daily and has been joining swimming competitions. I didn't want him to hate swimming so I allowed him to have a swim-break for a year. Since the start of summer break he's been swimming daily again.

Basketball during weekends.

Running at night.

And we watched Kaos. If you haven't yet, do watch it. My son had so much fun watching the acrobats and magical illusions. I'm 101% sure your kids will love it too.

We will have a one month vacation in the province next month. Hopefully I can find a good tennis coach and will also enrol him in guitar and piano lessons.

 

perfect cartoon show for summer vacation

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This Disney show is one of RJ's favorite. Mine too! I'm talking about Phineas and Ferb.

We usually watch this during weekends because it's scheduled at around 9am during school days. Since RJ's off from school, his summer vacation officially started last week, we now regularly watch it everyday while eating breakfast.

Not familiar with the show?

 

Phineas and Ferb is an American animated television comedy series. Originally broadcast as a preview on August 17, 2007 on Disney Channel, the series follows two kindhearted suburban stepbrothers on summer vacation. Each day the boys embark on some grand new project, which annoys their controlling sister, Candace, who tries to bust them. The series follows a standard plot system; running gags occur every episode, and the B-Plot almost always features Perry the Platypus ("Agent P"), acting as a secret agent to fight an evil scientist named Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. The two plots intersect at the end to erase all traces of the boys' project just before Candace can show it to their mother. This usually leaves Candace very frustrated. ~Wikipedia

summer break activities

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My son's summer break has officially started this week. Here's a list of what we're planning to do during the three-month vacation. He's always bored so I have to make sure he has something to do everyday.

1.   Hongkong Disneyland trip

2.   Holy Week vacation in Bicol

3.   karaoke every night (I recently bought a Magic Sing to distract him from playing video games)

4.   swim training everyday (morning)

5.   basketball in the afternoon

6.   enrol in soccer class

7.   taekwondo or karate class

8.   tennis class

9.   guitar lessons

10. painting and drawing lessons (I will also enrol so we're going to be classmates!)

11. weekend in Palawan

12. another weekend in Bohol

13. another weekend in Boracay

Hopefully we'll be able to check everything on the list before the start of classes in June.

should now plan for summer activities

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RJ's summer break will officially start three weeks from now. I have to start looking for summer activities that he can enroll in. Summer last year was extremely hot so I decided to not enroll him in any sports activities. Hopefully, the summer weather this year is not as hot as last year.

He did enroll in drawing/painting class at Museo Pambata but I think it was a waste of money. He was with the 6-9 age group and the lesson for that group was very basic. Imagine what preschool art is -that's what they did. It was easy peasy for RJ, altough he was just 8 years old at that time, he's always first to finish.

I'm planning to enroll him in art class again. Hopefully I'll find a class that will teach him more advanced painting and more complex lessons. I don't want another very expensive art class where he won't learn anything at all.

Swimming, soccer and basketball are on the list as well.

summer activities

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I can't believe that summer is just around the corner. Last summer, RJ enrolled in drawing class at Museo Pambata. Although the teacher was a very good childrens book illustrator, the class was not appropriate for RJ because it was designed for preschoolers. I want to enroll RJ in various sports, arts and other activities this summer vacation.

                                                                              nhlc

That was actually my plan last summer and I already started calling even before RJ's summer break began. The problem was that the schedule of classes, for the activities that RJ was interested to enroll in, were not prepared yet. When I was able to get the schedule, they all coincide with each other. So RJ ended up enrolling in drawing class only.

This early, I will try to find out all available sports and art schools near our house. I will try to fix RJ's summer activities well. I will have to practice driving because riding a taxi can be very frustrating at times.

its never too late

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I try to look for different art and recreation classes that RJ can join. Everyday is an opportunity, that needs to be filled with more knowledge and explore different possibilities, that will lead to where and what he'll best be in the future. I am getting worried that it's already too late for him to try different things now that he's 9.

Last night I was watching a talk show about Mom's and their kids. An athlete who won 1st place in an international competition was featured. He's 17 years old and he started playing the sport he's into at the age of 15. I shouldn't worry about RJ then. He has ample time to try out different activities.

I should add more vacation time in our activities also. Aside from the fun that he'll get from traveling, it will also broaden his knowledge. I would start searching for cheap vacation deals for his Halloween break.

blogger at 7?

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Last year's summer break was more productive than this year's summer vacation. Productive in terms of fun as well as learning for my son RJ. I was already aware about blogging at that time. I wasn't too keen though on sharing my life with the online world. My son had a blog before I had one.

I encouraged my son to start blogging summer of last year. My goal was for him to practice his grammar and writing without hearing his usual, "Why do you always force me to study?" The idea of designing his own site and publishing his vacation pictures online was exciting for him. He used a free hosting service and it's still online up to now. From time to time, he still updates the site with new pictures and new stories.

Now he wants to create a new blog with a different theme.

does your child heart drawing?

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My son does. So much.

Lately though, he's into playing with his Nintendo DSi and watching television all day long. Bought a waveboard for him, he played for two weeks. Now, it's just gathering dust in I-have-no-idea-where.

I have been toying with the idea of enrolling him at Museo Pambata's art workshop. Heard about the said workshop from Mommy Chris of Mommy Journey. When I told him about the workshop, he was so excited. Especially since the teacher is a children's book illustrator.

He was so proud of himself when his artwork got displayed at CCP. I was and still am very proud of him so I decided to let him join the workshop for Basic Art.

I was supposed to pay Php3,500 for 8 sessions. I ended up paying Php3,150 only. How? I availed of Museo Pambata's Privilege Card which is worth Php300. 10% discount for the Basic Art workshop! I only had to pay Php3,450 and I get to have a card that I can use for a whole year!

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