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!

Congratulations, Babe!

My not-so-little girl transferred to her big, all-girls school last year. And although it was a huge change for her (having studied in a small school from the age of 4), she managed very well. I really have no problems with A when it comes to going to school. She LOVES school. She hates holidays and summer vacay, and gets pretty bored at home. She loves everything about her new school - the fact that she now has new friends, over a dozen new teachers, busmates, a school library, clubs, activities, a huge cafeteria, etc.

Remember when I blogged about final exams and how I felt I was pushing A too hard? Well our hard work has paid off! When I went to her school Friday morning, her homeroom teacher told me how A has blossomed in class, so much so that they don't even remember she's a new student. And yay, because A made it to her school's Honor Assembly! With a cool O average, too! That's O for 'Outstanding' and not O for 'Ows?!!', Dugong! LOL!

Can't tell you just how proud I am of my daughter. She's mighty proud of her achievement, too! So maybe I did push her just right.

Congratulations, Babe! Congratulations to us! Yay!