How To Be Robbed In Broad Daylight On A U-Turn Slot And Keep On Movin'

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that one day I will be driving through the congested streets of Metro Manila and to actually DO LIFE here on a semi-permanent basis. I mean, I love travelling to Manila, but it is the traffic situation here that I dreaded ever since. I'd tell my kids, "pinch me, pinch me, this is just a dream..." as we sat in traffic most of the time when we had to run errands, pick up our groceries, or go to church, or go to their piano lessons at school. A fruitful day would come by so fast and it was interesting to note that my 14 year-old girl and my nine year-old boy have adjusted well to our new environment in no time. We. are. home.

I wish I could say that our homeschooling journey has always been predictable and turned out the way we planned it to be. But I would be lying. Take this incident that happened to us last week on our way back to Manila from a short visit to our beloved Batangas City.

Driving from Manila to Batangas via C5 road - SLEX - STAR Tollway and vice versa? Ha, that was something else...especially when I was stopped by a traffic enforcer for "swerving" or "reckless driving" along E. Rodriguez Avenue, Pasig City. "Me??? A reckless driver?" "Yes, Ma'am, U-turn slot po 'yan, swerving kayo at reckless driving." I wanted to disappear at that moment as I imagined my kids and myself dissolved into thin air. Focus. I needed to focus. My kids watched me talk politely to the traffic enforcers almost begging "patawad po," I overlooked the sign that says "U-turn Slot No-swerving." "Ma'am sa Makati po tutubusin ang lisensya n'yo, 2,000 pesos ang fine, maghapon pong seminar..." In my mind , I said, Makati? What Makati? I don't even know the directions going there and my kids are late for their piano lessons at school! And we're on car-coding and we're just here because of your limited window hours!

"Ma'am, may porsyento ho kame d'yan, kalahati, para di na kayo maabala." Got the picture?

I got my driver's license back and headed towards our destination to CCF Center in Frontera Verde. I felt robbed in broad daylight for an amount of 1, 000 pesos that I unscrupolously handed them for a very minor offense that I've committed. There was no traffic at that time of 11:30am. My chest felt heavy for what just took place. I asked the traffic enforcers if they stopped every single motorists that made a little mistake of swerving along that area. But no matter how sarcastic I sounded, I still felt I was on the losing end. I wouldn't forget that sly grin on their faces.

Alrightee... crunch time! On our short visit to our beloved Batangas City last week, Bethany practiced her "Moths Scherzino."

 We braved the traffic just to see our very first granddaughter, and my children's very first niece by their cousin, my nephew. I hope I got that right. So, I'm a Lola.

We saw this face. The cutest girl on earth, her name is Abira Cymphony. Don't call me "Lola" just call me "Tita Mema," that's what I'm going to tell her when she's bigger.

Too bad Uncle Noah can't kiss her because he had a cold.

"Ate Mana," as my kids call her is Joanna, my niece, don't you think she's too pretty to become a policewoman someday? She also wears a black patent stileto to school.

Condo living with thirty-two square meter living space, my children are learning to scale down everything including this teeny-tiny origami boat.

But there's a bonus of spacious play area for kids.

"Mom, are you posting this on Facebook again? Please don't post this on Facebook."
"I won't post this on Facebook. I promise." Of course this isn't Facebook!

Before I left to get some groceries, I took a snapshot, a stolen shot of my kids doing school at a tea shop in Hypermarket. "Mom, please stop posting our pictures on Facebook."

This is The Mom's birthday treat happening on the month of October. Can't wait!

Batch-cooking is ideal when you are homeschooling and when you have a limited condo space. That way, you will have plenty of time to attend to other school-related activities. All you have to do is re-heat your food before each meal.

But these pancakes are an exception. You can't "batch-cook" pancakes to save for later because they sell like newspapers! In fact, this was what we had for lunch, one rainy day. What we had for breakfast earlier on was tinola. We like it in that order.

"If Grace is an Ocean, We're All Sinking..."

Are you ready for a walk along the park? Get ready because I've asked my daughter to walk you through her quarterly portfolio, to show you a sample of what is going on in our homeschooling, our learnings, our adventures, our family values. Below is a sample of what my daughter would include in her quarterly portfolio. She has chosen the reflective form of presenting her ideas where she  applied subject integrations and their applications in real life. I hope that you will enjoy the walk, take time to look at each slide and perhaps pick up something good along the way.