On Toothache and a Lesson in Life

Last weekend, I experienced an excruciating pain that emanated from my tooth.  No, the tooth was not impacted. I even recalled going to the dentist way back to have the dental carries removed and filled.  So, it was a surprise for me that I am all fours once the pain starts.  I couldn't sleep.  I couldn't eat. I couldn't work.  I was "useless."

Tagging the two kids along, we took a trip to the nearest dentist.  It was our first time at the AV Dental Alley at the Pasay City Mall but I was already at ease with the doctor which is a great sign.  My daughter had an oral prophylaxis and the doctor allowed my son to
watch the procedure (another great sign!).  I took the opportunity to introduce my son to the dentist and what she does.

Kudos to Ate for setting a great example.

Now it was my turn.  An x-ray was performed and revealed that my tooth could no longer be saved (booo!!!).  The dental carries are eating my tooth from the inside so it has to be extracted.

Remembering Mariel and Tina from the Homeschooling seminar, I took my tooth home.  I pulled my daughter aside and asked about what she observed when Mama had a toothache.  Showing her the tooth, we covered a lot of topic that revolve around dental carries, dental hygiene, our teeth and her experiences with the dentist. I hope I was able to drive my point home.

So yesterday I accomplished a LOT:

• I had my tooth extracted.
• My daughter had her teeth cleaned.
• My son knows who the dentist is and what she does.
• I used my extracted tooth as a visual aid in teaching my daughter on dental hygiene.
• I learned that an anesthesia can be requested when the pain during
• dental filling becomes unbearable.
• I found a great dentist. (YAY!)

It's All About Their Childhood

Last Saturday I attended an event on Preschool Homeschool at the Medela House in Quezon City.  Not many of you know, but Homeschooling is one of the options that I considered when my daughter was ready to go to school.  My husband and I didn't agree on it so we ended up enrolling her in a traditional school.

Now that my son is growing up fast, I want to be able to homeschool him in preparation for the big school.  I'm just saying this only because the discussion on whether we want to homeschool him or not when he's old enought to be in grade school hasn't come up yet.

So glad to have met moms who talk about their experiences homeschooling their kids.

Homeschooling (or home based learning) is when parents chose to educate or teach their children at home instead of sending them to private or public schools.  The discussion was focused more on homeschooling the pre-schoolers so that they are ready to move to a
higher level -- be it in a traditional school or if the parents chose to continue homeschooling their children.  Below are a few things that I learned when I was there:

• The world is your classroom.  You can teach your kids at home, at the grocery, at the malls - ANYWHERE! Very convenient, huh?
• You can treat regular tasks at home as a way of teaching them about life -- like cooking, baking or setting the table.
• It is when they ask about things they observe that they are actually learning.
• You can create your own curriculum or look for a homeschool provider to help you out with that.
• Treat Google as your best friend. There are a LOT of homeschool activities/worksheets for your kids.
• It's all about their childhood. It's all about play.  Because they are kids, try to incorporate learning while you are playing with them.

List of Activities I do with my son/daughter

When we registered at the start of the event, we were given a paper with a list of Activities.  We were instructed to check the ones that we have been doing with our kids.  I checked 19 out of the 28. It just feels great to know that I have been trying to homeschool my kids after all and that there are so much more things that I can do with them.  Yes, I picked up a lot of great ideas.

Books being sold at the venue.  (Lower right hand corner) That's Cookie's week. 

At the end of the event I went out to check some books from the Learning Library and picked up a book called - Cookie's Week. Why this book? It's because my son has a love-hate relationship with cats. Ha! Ha!