Philippine Air Force Park Museum

 

It was my second time going to the Philippine Air Force Park Museum. The first time I went there was when I was around 2 years old and I was with my big brother, parents and grandparents. Kuya Zek clearly remembers me running around the park and not minding the planes.

The first plane I looked at was this, to be honest, really old. The fact that it’s rusty and might fall apart anytime.

Next, I went to see this plane which kind of looks like it came from the US Air Force and they just gave it to our Philippine Air Force

It’s called the Blue Diamond plane. It’s really just a code name for the plane. I didn’t really find out the true name of the plane but the name Blue Diamond is a good name for it already (from wikipedia: Blue Diamond is an aerobatic plane team of the PAF and their last active planes are the F-5 jets).  As for the plane itself it kind of looks like it’s something the Philippine Air Force could use today but who knows maybe this plane already retired from the Air Force. I would like to see it in action someday. 

Next plane to see was the only plane that is on a stand which is a Thunderbird, which is probable an attack plane but it didn’t say anything like that in the description on the stand, but I would say it’s a retired Air Force

plane too but again who knows maybe the Air Force is secretly using it or maybe it’s just sitting there in the Air Force hanger.

I find this plane very interesting because there is so much to look at the engine, some inside parts of the landing gears, and some other things. This plane looks advanced and the Air Force might still be using it today. 

This is the part I like the most me piloting the old anti-aircraft gun. It’s really cool because almost every part of it is still there (except the the ammo-belt) and controls like targeting-system. The gun is not that so rusty either so it just might be here a little while longer. 

The artillery cannon was really cool but and you can feel the battle times.

 And so last in the park was the old but still in use Huey helicopter. I can remember that it was use in the Vietnam War to carry troops from point to point. It is still being used by the Philippine Air Force for maybe search and rescue. I would say its going to do well in that kind of job.

After seeing those strong weapons, I would say it’s not good to go to war with these things. It’s better to have peace than war.

In the end I had more fun swimming. I hope for all who are reading this enjoyed my story.

Enjoy your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My 2022 Holy Week Offering

At the school Seven Pillars, we were trained for the Easter Vigil Sunday in our parish because we were going to sing three songs “Regina Coeli”, “Magalak Tayong Lahat” and “Ang Pagkasalubong ni Hesus na Muling Nabuhay”. All songs are somewhat hard to memorize but we practice again and again and started to memorize the three songs. 

When Palm Sunday came, we needed to parade for the church while holding the two palms and the parade has the church members, as I call them, parading with us. I did good and I had fun doing it. My family were able to attend the 6:30 am mass. After the mass, I was asked by my friends at the church to play tag with both of them and so I did. They were like, “why is he so fast?” because they would try to get me but I was too fast for them.

We repeated this parade but inside the church only and without palms on Maundy Thursday after the night mass.

As a member of Kid’s Feast, I was also asked to play and record the piano and sing the song

“Here I Am to Worship”. It took me five tries to record the song. Somebody else did the editing and it took long but the video finally got released on Maundy Thursday too. The link was sent to us so that we can see the finished video. 

                               

On Good Friday my brother needed to attend the Seven Last Words presentation because he has a role as the father of a daughter in trouble. He actually did really good and the acts they were doing were about the words, for me, of Jesus which happened at the cross.

Then, there was the procession that my father is going to lead. It ended and we talked to some people while we’re there. We saw the youth ministry members and they gave me a snack to eat, I did and it tasted nice. I needed to practice for Easter Sunday because I was going to sing a solo which is hard to do but I needed to go anyway. I will try to memorize the one song and I don’t have the best memory. I’m starting to feel nervous but when the time comes, I have to be ready and prepared.

The procession took really so long that we got hungry at the time we got home. I ate so much pasta and after I ate so much wanted to rest but since I was full I needed to wait for a while, and then I was finally able to sleep.

On Easter vigil mass started at 8:30pm which was weird for me but it started anyway. I was holding again a basket with flowers and I was like, “why am I holding basket with flowers?” But then I was told that it was for the stage that we were going to sing on but first is the mass. We were holding another flower as we walked to the front of the altar and we gave the flowers to the church members and then walked back to our seats. The mass continued until 11:00pm. After that we practiced again, this time on the angel choir stage. It was good to be prepared.

                  

So, we practiced the three songs and I practiced my part of the solo. It took a while but I got the hang of it but got a little hungry. Me and my mom went back to our car so that I can eat my snack but, a little later, I was called by my brother because the Salubong was coming and I was needed at the stage. But actually it was still far so I just stayed on the stage anyway and until the moment really came.

At the time we were on stage friend Roxelle, another angel soloist, was wearing an LED lighted halo and wings. It was very nice to look at and some of us made jokes that Roxelle was going to fly into the sky after singing. That was funny.

That’s when things got a little harder. When the time came I was so nervous so I kept telling myself to stay calm and I did. But I still made a mistake when I sang my part of the solo but my mom said ,“It’s ok because they don’t know the lyrics anyway” and I felt good. After the singing, I talked to my friends and took pictures before they left. It was already past midnight. We all felt energetic like as if we were not tired at all.

And so this is me with my good friend Roxelle and our parish priest Father Edwin who was leading the mass celebration of Easter Sunday.

But a little later I was starting to feel really tired so we went home.

Happy Easter to all.

Metal Battle

 

It's no secret that our kids love Lego's.

Both Matt and Aim have been at it since their hands started gripping those squares and pegs and since their sights and mindss conjuring up those figures in the boxes and building manuals.

Matt, now turning 17, has started to move on from Lego though he still has his collection display. So now it is mostly Aim's turn.  

For this blog, I am proud to feature Aim's mix-up Lego creation of one of his favorite weekend gadget games - The War Robot.

I know 😉.

Our kid rocks 👍💪😍

Homeschool Journey Re-visited

It has been a long while since we updated our kids homeschooling page.

But last Saturday, June 13, my wife and I had such a great time in an interview by Ms. Christine Plata of South Pinanays group with Ms. Laksmi Maluya of Go-Pala Homeschooling that we are taking a few Q&A excerpts from the interview.

Disclaimer: This is not a verbatim transcription of the interview because we added some more ideas and clarity to hopefully guide those parents who are contemplating about homeschooling their kids due to the uncertainty of the education system in the on-going pandemic.

So here goes.

How many children do you have and what are their names and ages?

We have 2 sons. Our eldest is Matt Ezekiel who is now 16 y/o and the little guy is Mark Ephraim  who just turned 9 y/o.

Have your children always been homeschooled or have they at some point attended a private or public school? How was the adjustment like?

Both our sons are homeschooled since pre-school. Matt upon reaching 7th grade transferred to the traditional school in Laguna and Aim, now on third grade, is still is ongoing home-schooling.

For Matt's case, his main adjustment was unfortunately quite difficult in terms of peer group pressure. At the time of his transfer, his Filipino language is not yet proficient and, being the new kid on the block experienced bullying. His moral compass was also challenged by other kids who opposed him in words or by actions. (For example, we have taught him that lying is not OK and yet his classmates says it is OK. Playing gadgets inside the classroom is not allowed and yet he sees most of his classmates doing it). In time, though, he slowly adapted to the campus norm and is fine now.

Why did you choose to home-school your kids?

Since year 2000, my husband's work was China-based so our whole family was also with him there.

When Matt reached 4 y/o (yr 2008), we started looking for a Chinese school to enrol to but we never felt comfortable all along. Being both Catholics, we know for a fact that a communist country like China will never teach children about God and morality. The other option which is for me and Matt to go back to Philippines and be separated from my husband is also off the table. So then we started to look at the concept of home-schooling. 

           

Meanwhile, Bro. Bo Sanchez of the Light of Jesus and founder of "The Feast" community, has started his own home-schooling provider called Catholic Filipino Academy in year 2005. And being readers of his write-ups and oversea followers of his Kerygma Family, we came into conclusion that this is it for our Matt. So we enrolled him there and, as they say, everything is part of our family history.

Now comes pre-school Aim in the year 2016. We were thinking of directly enrolling him in a traditional

school since we are residing already in Laguna. However, knowing the fact that Aim is G6PD deficient, his health can be easily compromised by his environment and surroundings. So after some discernment and consultations with other home-schoolers like Ms. Laksmi, we finally decided to choose to home-school him "independently".

You see, Matt was enrolled with a provider, which was in a nutshell, like transferring the whole classroom set-up into our homes - there are lessons plan to meet, scheduled quizzes and exams to take and projects to complete. We have good support system from parent-coaches but it was still stressful and ultimately not fun in the long run. We accepted the fact that that kind of track learning was not suitable for our family.    

So for Aim, we chose to let him work according to his own pace and focusing on his strengths and

interests like creative arts and science projects in order to squeeze other subject matters. It's less

stressful for us and more fun learning for Aim.

What are your top 3 benefits of homeschooling your children?

Above all things, we are grateful that our children are growing up learning and nurturing our spiritual and family values inside our home. Hopefully, they will be able to absorb these into their hearts and be "strong" once they are finally on their own.

Next, the time we spent with each other is just super. In the traditional set-up, many parents leave

for work even before their child wakes up and get back home late when everybody starts to retire for the night. That's about an hour left a day for good bonding, if parents are not dead-tired from the long clocks at work and horrendous traffic. For us homeschoolers, we get to bond 24/7 with our kids. We mix family trips with educational trips. We serve in our spiritual communities that nourishes our kids social skills with the right crowd. We get to see our children smile a lot, get to affirm them of our love when they are sad, encourage them when they feel down, and remind them if misbehaving. Mushy as it may sound, our kids grow up fast and any lost time is irreversible. The next thing we know, they are grown ups and are off to their own lives.

Third, our children are enjoying their childhood. If they want to ride a bike, they can. If they want to go for swimming, why not? If they want to meet other home-schooling friends, it is just a schedule away. The kids today at a very young age is already exposed to such burdensome school requirements that they forgot what it means to be a kid, to enjoy life, to have fun in learning.

How does a parent become qualified to homeschool his/her child/children? Can anyone do it?

Honestly speaking, not anyone can do it but anybody can make it work given the right attitude and right conditions.

Right attitudes of any would-be parent-teachers includes:

1. patient – calm perseverance to teach their children even if their un-teachable mood. 

2. creative - a natural knack for different learning methods that matches his/her child's interest

3. resourceful - with endless stream of information, fun ideas and networks of support

Right conditions includes:

1. a designated learning area away from distractions like gadgets and TV

2. a flexible schedule and line-up of activities to avoid lull moments

3. at least 1 parent is full-time teacher

But above everything else, the parents unconditional and affirmative love for their child is the most important ingredient to have a successful home-schooling adventure.

What advice would you give first time parents who will be homeschooling this coming school year?

1.    Be convicted to succeed and be committed to the upcoming joyous learning experience with your kids.

2.    Turn your home into a fun learning school where both you and your kids are going to discover their potentials and learn their life-skills while bonding with you.

3.    Every child is unique so there is no one-solution-fits-all to begin homeschooling. Discover your child’s learning habits and work your way from there.

We wish all new first-time homeschoolers the best of luck and the best times you can have with your children.

Why are we homeschooling?

Homeschooling, presently, has gained quite a solid base following after many years of being frowned upon and misconstrued as a sort of deficient learning method. We clearly remember before how well-meaning friends and family members around us either giving us their blank stare of disbelief or an upfront unsolicited advice to bring our son to a traditional school whenever we told them that he is being home-schooled. 

Looking back, our home-school journey started with painful a family tragedy. Back in 2008, while we were living overseas, we lost our 22 month-old daughter. We were devastated. But with God’s healing and loving support of people around us, we slowly picked-up our broken hearts and discerned how to move forward with our eldest son Zek who was barely 4 years old at that time. Wanting to spend more time with him, intent in sharing our own and shared family values and for lack of any Catholic educational institution in our host country, we searched for options, found a few choices and ultimately decided to home-school our son.

We him enrolled into one of the pioneer-provider of home schooling in the Philippines, the Catholic Filipino Academy (www.catholicfilipinoacademy.com) from Pre-school up until Grade 6.

We had a great time learning lessons together, making it fun and creative. Despite living in a foreign land, Zek learned a lot about our Filipino culture specially our religious belief while taking advantage in learning other things around him. We use lots of Legos, game boards and materials that can be interactive to help us to have more fun in learning. Admittedly, making every lesson interesting to Zek was really a great challenge for us every time. He’s unending questions wore off our energy and our patience so we needed a lot of time out just to gain back our strength to finish our daily tasks. Praying together everyday is what makes us at peace together and helped us persevere.

Zek is more of a visual learner with an entertainment type of personality. We needed to prepare a lot of drawings, posters or visual aids for each topic and we did a lot of art works together that all our walls around the house are filled with hanging papers. We looked for his activities related to his lessons for the mastery of his skills. We visited museums, watched theater plays and frequented theme parks. We also enrolled him to a music class for he loves to sing. We also encouraged him to write about every event that he attended to or any outdoor activities he did into his blog site from www.zeksantos.ph to www.readyzekaim.blogspot.com for this is one of our way to keep track of his amazing journey in learning besides making his portfolio with his progress reports to be submitted quarterly.

After more than 7 years of homeschooling, we still ask the same question to ourselves every now and then especially during tough times teaching our eldest son. For now, he has started his Grade 7 in a traditional school because we feel he needed to learn and experience a real-world educational environment and to learn to deal with different kinds of people and situations too. We also decided to build our own house away from the city to improve our lingering health concerns like endless asthma attacks, sinusitis, rhinitis and the host of other pollution-related allergies.

Now that our youngest son Aim has turned 5 years old and is a preschooler, we are leaning towards independent home-schooling based on his learning pattern and do his lessons according to his interest. Aim is showing skills as an auditory learner with organizer type of personality and he loves to read books. With God’s guidance, we will hopefully journey with him as well throughout his young learning life.

We are always thankful and grateful to God for all the amazing years of home schooling journey of our family.  After all, enjoying while working together with our kids is always a mutually learning experience we look forward to.

May God bless us all.