My daughter's first language is English. My intention was for her to learn English first, teach her to read and write in English, then once she's fluent in both written and spoken English, I'll teach her how to speak Tagalog. I have my reasons. The first one being I did not want her to pick up any Tagalog curse words (which is quite commonly heard wherever we go in the country). Secondly, most of the lessons and readings we have are in English (Math, Science, History, Literature). I figured it will be a lot easier that she learns English first, then Tagalog second.
Then came our Filipino subject, I saw how challenging it is to teach Tagalog. I half expected it to be. To be honest, I dreaded the moment I'll have to teach her the language. Thanks to Adarna, Tahanan, and Lampara books, reading and writing in Tagalog became as entertaining as it is educational. It was quite comforting to me when I found that the community I belong with in our homeschooling cluster is facing the same challenge. Truly, misery loves company. LOL. Together, we all tackle this challenge knowing that we are not alone.
Last month, we held our first cluster meet up for the school year 2024-2025 and we celebrated Linggo ng Wika in Filipino Fiesta style. Our community has monthly volunteers for the events and last month's volunteers did a splendid job in organizing and creating a fun experience for our homeschooling kids.
First, the kids were instructed how to make their own banderitas. They chose their own colors, cut their own colorful triangles, and pasted them on the strings themselves. The dads then put together all the mini banderitas to form one big one. It's a great way to show the kids the virtue of collaboration and teamwork.
Afterward, they were gathered in a circle for a quick activity. Yes, it has to be quick because the kids are really in there to just play games so the grownups had to have the program done quickly. They were gathered in a circle and each one of them took turns introducing themselves in Tagalog. They speak slang Tagalog but the things they talked about are truly Pinoy. Majority of them loves sinigang. If that's not very pinoy, then I don't know what is.
Of course, the highlight of their day, play time! But it's not just some random games they played that day. While they were given time to roam around the park and play the normal games they do like tag, and just running around, we also taught them the "old-school", very 90's, very Pinoy games we played when we were young. We taught them Luksong Tinik and Tumbang Preso. At first, they felt awkward playing games that were not familiar to them. But they're kids. Once they saw how it was done, they kind of just hit it off on their own and the next thing we know, the moms and dads are already on they sidelines and the kids are all left having fun on their own.
As a homeschooling family, we mostly spend our days inside the house. Though each day is filled with a mix of lessons, activities, and games, getting out of doors every once in a while is something we cherish. So we engage in a lot of nature walk, field trips, and playdates like this. And it is so amazing that our community is able to incorporate lessons in fun activities like this one.
This month, we're once again going to have another playdate/activity with our homeschooling community. We are looking forward to another fun activity.
