“A mom and A teacher”

October 16, 2020

Friday

This day has been a busy day for us, my son started his first lessons. As I've shared yesterday, our new life's journey has begun, as he was officially enrolled in Day Care yesterday. He will do his lessons here at home, as they have modular lessons and activities and there's no face to face lessons. It means I'll be his teacher throughout this school year, or as long as it was instructed to.

Today, I'm not only a mom, I became a teacher, my son's teacher.

It wasn't new for me, I love teaching him since he was one year old. However, I know it could be hard, not because he doesn't know anything, but because my son was quite spoiled, not by me, but by his grandparents. Making him a little bit stubborn and hard-headed sometimes.

As soon as we finished breakfast, and after he took a bath, I set up our mini classroom outside our house. I let him carry his bag as if he's going to school. I told him not to touch anything until I told him to do so. Gladly, he was so polite and obedient. I never expected this, he was a hyper little boy. I saw the excitement in his eyes, it was his first time to do some school tasks. First, we made his first activity. I made a name tag and let him color it. This was his name tag, by the way, my son's name is Near. Yes, you've read it right he is Near. 😁

I made his name tag and do as what is instructed in the sheet. And I told him to design and color it the way he wanted to. And he showed me this. This is his colored name tag.

I never expected this, what I expected was a messy colored name tag, knowing that my son is a boy. But he designed it with minimal colors.

Then we do some of his tracing activities, scribbling, and connecting lines. After we finished, we moved to the next activity, it's writing his name. I'm confident that Near can write, he practiced writing letters on his own as he became three years old before. He has no trouble writing uppercase letters, but he has small mistakes with some letters in lower-case, and that letter was a letter “a”. As he wrote his name, he struggled in writing the small letter “a”. And little by little he's losing his temper.

He stood up and attempted to walk out, but I calmly stopped him. I can see that he was very disappointed and mad that he can't write the letter correctly. I told him it's okay to make mistakes, he was still a kid and mistakes are normal. That time he was a bit angry for constantly making mistakes with the letter “a”. Then, I came up with the idea of giving him rewards.

I made a star out of cardboard. I told him if he makes his letter “a” correctly, I'll reward him, his first star. He instantly got interested in making his letter “a” correctly, and he made it.

Here's his written name.

I know more practice can make his penmanship better soon. But it's not bad for three years old, right?

As I put the star on his hands he was very proud of it. He showed it to his dad and his lolo (grandfather), he was so happy that he first received a small token of reward for his little achievement.

After the writing part, we moved to the next activity.

It's coloring time!

This was his favorite part, he loves to draw and color. He needs to color the printed pictures with the color red. He enjoyed so much in coloring.

He colored the hearts first, then the strawberry, and as he colored the watermelon he became easily distracted by the surroundings. We held our activities outside as I've mentioned above. Every time someone talks, Near losses his attention, making his last three colors a little bit scattered.

Still, it's not bad for his first time, and to think he's only three years old, I think he colored it so well. 😊

This is his finished color activity. I can see that his first day came out so well. He enjoyed his activities and I enjoyed being his instructor too. Though we struggled a little bit in writing his name, still he made his works so well.

He also made this cut-out paper dolls from his activity, but I'm the one who cut it for his safety.

He drew our family, he first drew his dad, me, himself, and his younger brother. As you can see he drew a happy face in every stick figure, that's because we are a happy family. I'm very touched to see him turned into a good little boy.

As our class ended, he leaves his seat with a wide smiley face, so am I. Being his teacher today was so fulfilling and aside from it, my motherly side was fulfilled too. Though he can't experience the real feeling of being in school, I will do my best to make him feel that our home is his school too. That he can enjoy the school-like feeling even at home.

I know a lot of parents and students who have their ongoing classes are struggling with this “new normal” in the education system. However, all we can do is obey and deal with it. For all the parents just like me, I know it's difficult in these times to be their educator, however, it could be easier we support our children, let them feel your support, and encourage them to do well.

Though, I'm not a perfect mom, please have time to read this simple advice.

Never pressure your child. Let them explore but correct them if they make an error. Your patience is a must there'll be times that they can be irritable and unruly. Never yell at them or point fingers against them, instead, correct them nicely and help them correct their mistakes.

Never compare your child to anyone. Though sometimes you're making this comparison as an encouragement for him to do better, children mostly misinterpret this. Making him feel uncomfortable and develop unnecessary feelings against someone whom you compared him to, and worst against you.

Be Appreciative. In any achievements, big or small, a simple reward can make him feel not only happy but was encouraged to do his best and be satisfied with his works.

Give him a little space. Sometimes, children like to be alone too. To stay focus and to think well. I'm not saying that you should leave them alone, but let them stand on their own but be ready to assist him if he needs any help.

Give him a little break. If you saw your child's struggling enough thinking about his lessons maybe that's because he needs an extra energizer, a snack. Offer him healthy snacks that can fulfill his hunger. You can't think well if you're hungry right? Give them a little break and let them enjoy some snacks.

Ask them if they need any help. Some children didn't bother to ask from other adults even their parents, but it doesn't mean that they don't need any help. Try to ask them if there's something you can do to help him. Or are there any parts where he can't understand fully? Approach him nicely and let him speak their thoughts about you helping him.

These are just simple advice from a simple parent too. I know we can deal with this situation in the education system, and we can overcome the hindrances in it. All we need to do is open our minds and take it. Just remember that it is better to be safe than take the risks of getting the virus. I hope and I pray that this pandemic will end soon. And everything will be back to normal.

Thanks for reading this.
All photos are mine. 
I hope you have a great time 
reading this. Until next time!
Keep in touch. 🥀

@eommaZel ✍🏻

#AMomandaTeacher 🤍