Trick or Treat

My Hometown

Hello! Kumusta!

My name is Matt Ezekiel C. Santos. I am 11 years old and a Grade 6 student of Catholic Filipino Academy.

My hometown is Malolos City.

Malolos City is located 45 kilometers north of the capital City of Manila. It can be found in the big island of Luzon.

The most famous landmark here is the historical Barasoain Church where the Malolos Congress happened on Sept 15, 1898. The inauguration of the First Philippine Republic on Jan 23, 1899 also took place here as well as the oath-taking of General Emilo Aguinaldo as the President of the First Philippine Republic.

A few years back in 1998, then Pres. Joseph Estrada also took his oath of office at Barasoain Church.

So do you know how significant Barasoain Church is in regards to Philippine history? Well, back in 1969, it was imprinted on the reverse side of the demonetized ten peso bill.

Eventually, Barasoain church was declared a National Shrine on August 1, 1973.

Malolos City is also known for its Bulacan Sweets like Pastillas de Leche, Pastillias de Yema, Pastillas de Ube, Macapuno, Inipit, Ensaymada, Cassava, Puto, Kalamay and Suman. These are popular “pasalubongs” of people to their loved one every time they visit our town.

I like my hometown because my grandparents and relatives live there and I have lots of fun memories with them. It is also an exciting mixture of traditional, religious and modern living.

Thanks for watching.

Hope you learn something from me.

Paalam and God bless!

VW Child Safety Initiative

On September 13, we went to Shangri-La for Aim’s Volkswagen car safety lesson after I went biking on Health day, participated on the Sunday mass church and practicing for Kids Inn Choir.

We ate lunch before he played. First, the small kids listened and try to understand all the things they need to learn such as stop and warning signs, pedestrian lanes, stop light colors and more. Then our old teacher, Director Albert Suansing showed us the rules using a small map. There were two toy cars and he used them to take sample situation like a car going to stop before the stop light.

Then finally, the small kids drove around a small city map with traffic signs and a real stop light. They needed to go to three places like mall, houses, school and park to earn their license. In the end, we each got a play license ID and it’s a lot like the real license.

Then we ate dinner and went home.    

Kids at Work at Kidzania

On Wednesday, before I went to Kidzania, I went to Yamaha practice for my piano lesson.

Then, we went to Kidzania. It’s a city play to learn all things and any jobs. First, I went to the bank to get 50 kidzos (it’s the name of the play money).

I started looking for a job. I went to A1 driving school. I spent 15 kidzos and I got a driving license. Then I tried being a car salesman in Honda. I earned 8 kidzos after that. The next job was to be a pharmacist at Mercury Drug. The things I did there were stacking up medicines and listing them and I got 8 kidzos again. I also rode an airplane for the flight training but I spent 15 kidzos. I met 3 new friends name Nathan, Emmanuel and Elizabeth during these activities.

Next ,I went to the construction site to build bricks and earned 8 kidzos again. At the farm house, I put seeds under the sand, bury them, water them, dig them out to earn 8 kidzos. Next was the ABS-CBN Mobile where I looked and asked a customer if he/she wanted to rent a smart phone to get a free Kidzania apps. I earned 10 kidzos.

And finally at Goldilocks, we spent 15 kidzos for training how to decorate a cup cake. We decorated it by putting icings, football, basketball, volleyball decorations and more. We put it into its box.

Then we all left. There was even a souvenir store to buy when you exit.      

Below is my money report at Kidzania.

I learned that earning is better than spending or in order to spend, you first need to work and earn

Smart Kids Asia 2015

On Sunday, we went to Mall of Asia SMX Center to see the Smart Kids Asia Exhibit where there were lots of activities, books, games and foods. I went to National bookstore and read a few books there. I read about Ninjago.

Then we went to the Space Science area. We played airplane and helicopter flying. Then, we went to the food zone where Jollibee, Potato Corner, Chip Delight and more food stores were located.

Aim joined the Taekwando karate kick to see how high the kids can kick and how to kick the ballon and pop it. There was even an educational zone like Vibal, CMA, Kidzoona and more.

We have lots of fun during our family time. 

Lego Building Competition

On Saturday, we went to Shangri-la for the Lego Building competition.

During their promo called “Toy Mania”, it was full of many toys like Lego, Hexbug, Tomica, Tobot and Uno. It was a 4-day promo.

I joined Lego because that’s my favorite toy. And I’m not the only one who likes Lego. My younger brother, my friends and all the participants like Lego, too. My new friends name were Pablo and Jack. There were around 20 participants for toddlers (4 to 6 years old) and around 30 participants for kids (7 to 12 years old) . We built lots of Lego things before the competition for our practice.

Then after a few minutes, the competition started. First was the toddlers' turn. Their category was to build ”a house”. My brother Aim built a house with a tree. He forgot the other parts that he needed to build such as door and roof but he added a mailbox. Then they announced the winners. A 4 year-old girl won first place and Aim was the second place! He won a Lego Bionicle poster and a certificate.

Next was for me and the other participants. Our category challenge was “What will you give to your parents as a gift?”. I built a graduation hat and a pencil. The others built a cup, a clock, a gift box, a golden watch and a heart. The kid who built a clock was in second place. I was very happy and excited when they announced that I won first place. I won a Php 3,000 worth of Lego sets and also a certificate.

I am very thankful.

Metro-Wide Shake Drill 2015

On Thursday, we went downstairs to watch the earthquake drill. An earthquake drill is an emergency activity to learn to be safe. The working adults, young students and teachers were involved in the shake drill (another name for earthquake drill).

We also joined the drill and practiced what we need to survive like preparing “go bag” with first aid, food, water, whistle, flashlight and wearing helmet which are the important things to survive during earthquake. Our family also pretended our house got hit by an earthquake.

There are three things to do during earthquake – duck, cover and hold. Shake drill is important so you can survive in an earthquake.

A Visit to the Fire and Police Station

On Wednesday, we went to the Eastwood fire and police stations to join some CFA preschool student (well, actually I’m in grade 6) in learning about fire safety and police protection.

First, we watched fire safety rules like “stop, drop and roll” when you’re on fire, two ways of getting out of the house, “fall and crawl” so you won’t smell the smoke, and not playing with matches or lighter. Next they show the complete fire suit, like fire boots, fire pants, fire coat or jacket, face-mask with oxygen tank, helmet and axe.

Then they taught us how to slide down the pole and how to put out the fire with a fire hose. To slide down, you need to hold the pole and cross your legs and slide slowly. Next in order to put out the fire with a water hose, you need to hold the nozzle and target the fire before pulling the lever.

My brother Aim enjoyed the toys inside the fire station and the suit and helmet.

Finally, at the police station, we went to the women and children’s office, to the camera room for the police to watch if any prisoner escapes and to the prison cells. There were two prison cells. The first is for men and the other is for women.

We had so much fun and learned much.

Residence Inn Zoo

On Saturday, we went to the Residence Inn Zoo (http://www.zoomanity.com.ph/residence-inn) in Tagaytay our vacation for our short holiday break.

Inside the zoo, there were so many animals like furry white horses, feathery blue parrots, a two-humped brown camel, orange and black striped tigers, hairy brown lions, sticky green iguanas, furry brown monkeys, big fat python snakes, sneaky black spiders, colorful fishes and fat black pigs. There were even fun activities like horse-back ride, zip line, animal and magic shows, playground, biking, animal picture taking, bird feeding and 5-D cinema ride.

There were a couple of rooms to stay overnight with nice view. We spend one night in the zoo. Then, we explored the zoo and did things that are available. Kuya Jc also enjoyed the zoo. Me and my cousin has lots of fun there and so did our parents.  

Just The Way You Are

As the new school year starts with the spiritually uplifting and grace-filled Holy Mass for the CFA Anointing Day yesterday, our family looks forward to another challenging weeks ahead of us. And so we offer our family prayer to our Life Teacher above as our kuya Zeke embarks on his Grade 6 journey and as we welcome our Aim into the introductory play-learning of a four year old toddler.

Surely, a lot of our home-schooling parents can relate to us when we say that being a full-time parent-teacher can really stretch one's patient to the thinnest limit. As my Star-Wars fanatic son would often feels that we are pulled into the vortex of the dark force whenever the quarterly tests are coming, I, inadvertently, becomes Darth Vader and my son, well, he would retreat to all the corners of our house as he transforms to E. Vader (yes, evading me all the time and with all the chance he can get). 

So why do we keep on home-schooling our son? Well, the officiating priest beautifully put it this way - home schooling is about relationship, it is about life-lessons and it is about loving our children. It is about fulfilling our parental mission to bring up God-loving children, responsible future citizens and purpose-driven individual. 

With the Father's endless grace, Jesus' unconditional love and the Holy Spirit's guidance and direction, we remain optimistic and positive that we will be, once again, fine this school year. 

OK, let the fun begins.

- daddy rowin

For this year's family theme, we are borrowing the Chorus from one of the famous songs of our good friend (wink) Bruno Mars and twitched its lyrics a little to fit our goal.

When we see your grades

There always something we can do

Coz you're amazing,

Just the way you are

And when you smile

The whole world stops and stares for a while

Coz you're amazing

Grade Six at CFA.