I am waiting for the kids as they watch The Hobbit with the whole school. After the movie we will buy gifts for the Christmas party next week. Hitting two birds in one stone for us because I still have to get some thing from the hardware that looks like the gondola shelving at Mfried.com I saw last week.

We need some for the library because the slotted hardware/kickplates I got last time were still unused. I wanted to put some kickplates and sliding trays to easily get the school supplies we need without having to haul off the big plastic boxes.

Do you want to see your grades improve?

Do you want to establish a routine for your study skills that will help you do better as a student?

One of the most important things to do before achieving more success with the scholastic aspect of your life would be to learn how to organize your homework.

Homework is given not just as a discipline to hone up your intellectual skills but also as a guide to establish a study routine. This discipline in having daily study habits gives you, the student, an advantage in getting more concepts understood compared to being in a classroom with other students.

Having homework teaches you to be responsible in doing projects and reports, as well as studying in advance what will be discussed in class the next day.

So how should you organize your homework?

Below are some tips to help you organize your homework to be able to reach the maximum potential needed to attain a certain level of mastery in accomplishing the tasks lined up:

• Establish a routine and spend adequate time doing homework. Set aside a specific time to do homework daily. This will also help you do time management. Doing homework well into the night will make you very tired the next day.
• There should be a study space where you will spend your time doing your homework. This may not be a room entirely for that purpose. This study space may be a corner in one of the rooms in your house. Just remember that this study space should be the best place for you to organize and finish your homework.
• Make sure that the school supplies you need in doing your homework are readily accessible in your storage cabinets. These should include papers, dictionary and other reference books, pencils and other materials like folders, fasteners, paper clips, glue, crayons, and scissors among others.
• Use folders or a system of filing to help you organize paperwork. If possible, use color coded folders for each file like red form math files, green for science and yellow or social studies. Have all the necessary paper works filed in its respective folders upon arriving home.
• Keep a record of the homework assigned. Mark these as done or still to be completed, whether these were given in advance or has been done already. Have a planner or a calendar readily visible, for the purpose of knowing when homework is due to be given.
• If you have a computer, consider having an online calendar. This will help you organize files about your homework store in your computer. These files can even be printed if in case you need a hard copy.
• Ask, if you need help. If you have a hard time understanding a concept, then ask for help whether from your parents, or through a phone call to a classmate or someone who is knowledgeable about the topic you need.
• Remember to feel good about what you are doing. Even if the homework tends to be difficult at times, think of it as a challenge that you need to conquer.

Homework is given for you to be able to accomplish something. Homework is given to help you become a better student who can complete requirements. Having an organized homework will make you better in time management, organization and prioritizing important matters.

Summer in this part of the world is in full swing and I’m sure a lot of children are busy. Whether they are having summer enrichment or summer fun activities, I still see a lot of children “busy” with their gadgets like tablets, hand-held game consoles and smartphones. I’ve heard that ipad accessories are bestsellers these days.

What summer fun activities can parents do to make their children busy with other things than will make their summer vacation worthwhile and fun without exactly paying for these programs?

• arts and crafts. There are a lot of ideas available in the web and these do not just mean buying all those new materials because there is such a thing like recycling crafts
• cooking-related stuff. If your child is interested in cooking and baking, then it would be a good idea to have a young apprentice in the kitchen, right? No need to enrol in “cooking” schools because they can learn this and more within the comforts of their home
• swimming lessons. If you know how to swim well and there’s a pool nearby where you can go, then by no means give this a go.
• entrepreneurship training. Do you have a small business? Does your child show interest in starting his own business? You too can help him and you can both engage in the arts and crafts and cooking-related stuff for business purposes.

Of course, there are centers that offer much more than these activities and it is important to choose well to get your money’s worth.

Remember though, the above suggested activities will foster more family bonding time

Summer vacation is in full swing and once again, our house is like an empty nest with the children spending Holy Week at the grandparents’ homes.

This is that time of the year when we parents think about the tuition fee payment schedule for our children. With three children in school, this is a very big financial responsibility for me and my husband. If only schools have structured settlement payments maybe, a lot of parents will go for that.

I have teased the children that if we can’t afford private school fees anymore, I’d bring them to the nearby public school where students excel and their teachers’ salary grade is high. This means the quality of the school is better than other public schools, I guess. I’d then be free from paying their TF and they can have the school supplies they want. “No can do” is their reply because they love their school so much they didn’t even complain that they just started their summer vacation this week whereas other schools had theirs as early as the second week of March.

It is no joke that some parents would tell their children that their education is perhaps the only legacy they can pass on to them. With sky-high tuition fees, there really is no way the working class/middle class parents can save for something they can give to their children once they pass away. Unlike some super rich families.

My youngest daughter got so sick last week she had to stay home for a week. I’ve had several sleepless nights monitoring her and helping her blow her nose, wipe her with wet cloth among others. Apparently, she suffered tonsilitis and she was given antibiotics. She also had her ears cleared because of it.

I probably was so tired I was a bit sick during the weekend. We were still able to go to to church though I preferred to stay outside than sit on church chairs just in case I feel sick again.

This week, our son was down with fever for two days but he was able to take the third trimester exams. He need not take two major subjects, Math and Social Studies because he got exempted.

It was now my turn to be officially sick: fever, chills, headache that seemed like it was splitting my head in two, dizzy spells, dry and parch throat and general lethargic. continue reading this entry »

Are you done with your Christmas shopping list? I’m not done yet. I have some gifts that need wrapping but I am still uninspired to start maybe because the second trimester exams are coming up next week and I know I will be swamped with reviewers to make.

The Christmas tree still needs to be taken out of its hiding place and decorated.

What do add to the list? leather backpacks? new shoes? wait we got those for the kids two weeks ago when we braved traffic to go to a sale. Do these count as gifts?

I think not.

My thought on gifting? As I have written in this post, “…expect me to wish you happiness and joy, without a gift tag”

Now, please excuse me while I help one of my children finish a book report and polish a poem with lots of rhyming words at the end of the lines for another one.