Affordable Quality Education

My biggest fear with single parenting is not being able to provide my kids with quality education. When A started studying, R got her into his company education plan, and received subsidy for her. Today, both A and RL study in big schools, and it is a pain to make payments, I tell you. But I am blessed with a God who provides, and I can only pray they take this privilege and use it as best they can.

Photo from the APEC Facebook page.

Because really, education is a privilege. Although a basic right, we all know that not everyone in this country gets access to education. My cousin A, who runs a program in Capiz for children of farmers, knows this all too well. When she first introduced her program, she found that parents would opt for their children to work the fields vs going to school. Because although schooling is free in public schools, they cannot afford to feed their kids and send them to school.

And what about quality education? 

A few weeks ago, while discussing enrollment plans with our temp helper, she mentioned that although her son goes to a semi-private school, she can only hope that he gets to find a good paying job after high school. Her eldest is pretty smart. He dreams of going to college, but right off, our helper says they cannot afford it. So when my friend Jen Tan shared about APEC schools on her Facebook page, I knew this was the answer! The country needs this.

APEC Schools is a partnership between Ayala and Pearson to transform Filipino lives through affordable, high quality education.

APEC or Affordable Private Education Center is a chain of private schools that offer quality private education based on international standards at an incredible, affordable price! Imagine sending your child to a school that offers World-class education - all for less than P24,000! That's for the whole year! And because they understand the needs of the working class Filipino who find it difficult to provide for their children, APEC's goal is to prepare their students for the real world right after they graduate from high school.

All APEC schools are accepting incoming 7th Grade students for this school year, and enrollment is still on-going. They currently have 12 branches. Classes start on July 14.

Checking out the APEC flyer at a Better Me session.

And with Ayala and Pearson at the helm, how can you go wrong? To know more about APEC schools, visit their Facebook page here or call them at (02) 956.7621.

Hacking Filipino.

My daughter A has been having a mighty hard time in her Filipino subjects - mostly AP (Filipino History and Social Studies), so when I went to get her card yesterday, it wasn't a surprise to see a low final second quarter grade for this subject. Sigh. I promised myself I wouldn't be teaching any of my kids past the 5th grade (I started studying by myself when I got to 6th grade), so it is with a lot of frustration that I've decided to tutor A once again. At least for these two subjects and maybe, a little bit of Science and Math.

I don't know. I don't like the idea of having her think being "ok lang" is okay. I saw her write this beside her exam grades. I mean, it doesn't sit well with me to have my kids think mediocre is fine. Not to put a lot of pressure on them when it comes to schooling, but what parent settles for anything less than the best? Don't get me wrong, I am not pushing for perfect scores and excellent marks. I just want her to aim for better results. I know she can get Os and As, she was an academic awardee and even got an O in AP in the past. It's just that... she works so hard in school (extra-curricular work plus she takes her class officer role too seriously) that by the time she gets home, she hits the sack right away.

Is there an easy way to understand AP? I mean, take math for example, there are easy hacks to problems and these shortcuts help her understand math principles.

I saw this on my timeline today, and this is exactly how I taught A fractions.

But for Filipino and AP?!

Just yesterday, while talking to her dad about RL's birthday...

A: "When are you coming home?"
R: (Mentions day)
A: "What? Hindi mo aabut birthday ni RL!" 

Everything else to her is prefixed with a "mag-" ie. magkakain, magliligo, etc. Can you just imagine how her Filipino exam looks like?

So tell me, other than teaching Philippine History, Social Studies and Current Events in English, is there any other way I can help A understand Filipino and understand its context? Tagalog comics, maybe? Batibot? Jollibee Town Videos? LOL!

Help! I need a life hack for Filipino!