A lot of professionals in this country are working overseas. Yes, these professionals teach, build structures, take care of the sick and the elderly as well as take care of other people’s children in foreign countries.

These kababayans are all over the world from New Zealand and Australia, other Asian countries,  to the Middle East to Europe to the Americas while others do New York  job search.

As a parent and a teacher, I ask myself: Who are left to teach the children?

Truth is, this is one of the reasons why we homeschool, apart from the fact that we only pay half of how much we would when the children are enrolled in regular school.

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*kababayan = fellow country men

I read this article entitled How Social Gaming is Improving Education.

I agree with most of the points raised in the article. Learning about difficult concepts through interactive means is one of my “tools of the trade” when it comes to homeschooling my two younger children.

We have watched videos of blooming flowers, a spacecraft lifting off, looked at the photos of the different planets and learned about different historical places to visit in the country, among others.

Not only that, my youngest daughter learned to draw difficult figures otherwise not (normally) possible for children her age. Oh, she can now play difficult songs using her recorder whereas a few weeks ago, she was learning three-note songs

Thanks YouTube for having drawing and music teachers who are oh-so-patient.

The son, on the other hand is becoming more savvy with money matters, budgeting and calculating how much he will earn through his Cafe World. We have incorporated budgeting and mentally calculating how much we will pay when we check out items at the supermarket. He loves statistics which is a key factor with some of the game he loves playing with.

Despite these electronically-attached and internet-based learning, they still managed to play with things that are unplugged. Once a week ( i know, this should be more frequent) we de-stress by running.

And yes, we read books too, especially since they are required to do oral book report for the English subject.

Yes, we are running out of books to read as of the moment.

Children (and adults too) love to do jigsaw puzzles. My children are one of those who grew up doing these things. We had a lot of different jigsaw puzzles to keep them occupied, amused, puzzled, challenged and able to do problem solving by exploring, matching making mistakes and even prolong concentration and minding the minute details.

As a matter of fact, my son just asked me this question the other day: “How come jigsaw puzzle pieces are bigger for children and very small for adults? Is  it because the picture is more difficult for puzzles with 500 pieces that if big pieces are used it would be a huge, huge jigsaw puzzle?”

We laughed about it. I even joked, yes, a 500 or 1000 piece with big jigsaw pieces would be very big and would over the entire garage floor!

I have observed that there is a renewed interest in doing  jigsaw puzzles with a thousand pieces (or more) where the details are rather intricate and complicated. Families are doing these, as well as friends. The puzzle sits on a special table or a corner of the house, undisturbed except for time used to work on it.

I think, online activities took away the fun from doing these things. I may have a impose a weekday in this household where no one will turn on the computer and that includes me. Difficult to do but I may have to be firm about this.

Play is what counts most when we want children to be creative, imaginative and be able to learn.

Play does not just entail giving them high-end toys and gadgets. Play entails a lot of self-expression, using things that are there in  new and innovate ways, doing explorations and experimentation, allowing them to think openly on things that are “normal”

If you are the kind of parent who fear for your child’s safety, be there to guide them as they explore their surroundings.

• Let them play with dirt, you can wash it off later.
• Let them create with play-doh, you can wash their hands afterward.
• Let them help in the kitchen, they will learn about a lot of things there. The mess can be dealt with afterward with them helping out.
• Let them lie down on floor tiles and do floor time play with manipulatives like Lego bricks, blocks and toy cars. Let them build their own cities using materials that they made themselves.
• Let them do arts and crafts.
• Let them pick flowers, run after butterflies, catch bugs, dig soil and feel the leaves of the plants.
• Let them jump on rain puddles (not flood).

In other words, let them experience the joys of how it is to be a child. It will be a joy for you too to discover how it is to be a child again

Children learn best by observing and doing things.

Our only son says he likes to be a chef so he constantly bugs asks me to let him help in the kitchen.

I know I should encourage him to do so but you know how it is with children and kitchen. Anyway, when we decided to finally open that box of Jell-o No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake, he offered to do the crust.

It seemed an easy task for him to mix the butter, sugar and crust mix. Whatever stray food particle that got on his fingers, these were licked. He is 8yo, what do we expect? I had no worries for the mess because he took care of it

Hmmm…maybe he can do the Oreo Cheesecake with his elder sister while I finish reading an unfinished article about rv insurance.

Oh by the way, this is the finished product

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For those who are looking for places where one can learn a lot about our culture through visual presentation, Zero In Periphery presents Ateneo Art Gallery, Ayala Museum, the Lopez Memorial Museum, Bahay Tsinoy and Museo Pambata.

This is a celebration of different art niches in different locations aiming to instill not just the love for our culture but the appreciation of the past and its impact on how we are today as a people.

1. Ayala Museum: The Ring of Fire, the First Southeast Asian Ceramics Festival

This exhibit ran from September 21 to October 4, 2009. This featured ASEAN potters, 16 Filipino potters and 10 ASEAN potters. Ceramic artist Hadrian Mendoza convened and organized this event whose primary goal is “to foster a community among Southeast Asian peoples that celebrates both the diversity and unity of the region through the art and craft of pottery.”

Ayala Museum is located at De la Rosa Street, corner Makati Avenue,Greenbelt Park, Makati City.

2. Ateneo Art Gallery: Beyond Frame, Philippine Photo Media

On October 1 till December 15, 2009, this exhibit has 14 different artists spanning three decades of captured scenes through photographs.

Ateneo Art Gallery is located at Ateneo de Manila University, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

3. Lopez Memorial Museum : Deleted Scenes, exhibit is running from November 12, 2009 to January 9, 2010.

Deleted scenes include behind the scenes work: editorial sketches, paintings based on films from LVN Productions way back in the 1950s, old books, documentary films and Harper’s Weekly clippings about the Philippines done in the late 1800s.

Lopez Memorial Museum is located at the Ground Floor of Benpres Building, Exchange Road corner Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

4. Bahay Tsinoy: Remembering exhibit running from November 12, 2009 till January 9, 2010.

This exhibit aims to project images of two cultures: Filipino and Chinese people who suffered during World War II in the Battle of Manila and Nanjing Massacre.

Bahay Tsinoy is located at Kaisa-Angelo King Heritage Center, 32 Anda corner Cabildo Streets, Intramuros.

5. Museo Pambata: Invisible Children, exhibit running from November 26, 2009 to January 5, 2010.

Museo Pambata’s exhibit zeroed in in Invisible Children, discussing their rights and privileges as stated in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC). These rights are made known and taught to the children through various modes: letters, poetry, videos and other visual presentations.

Museo Pambata is located at Roxas Boulevard corner South Drive, City of Manila.

These are interesting places to visit with your children during the Christmas break. During difficult times likewe are experiencing, it is good to go back to our roots and learn about how we have evolved as a people.

All photos except Zero In and Deleted Scenes by: Arvin Ello