Ianna in Pre-School

Sometime in late Feb, we decided to start Ianna to go to a pre-school to enable her to socialize with other children. Ianna is a little shy at the start so we thought this will be a great opportunity to start breaking the ice with the other children. Right now, we bring her to the pre-school once a week, maybe in the future we will increase it over time.

Technically, it is a Daycare/Pre-school. There idea of pre-school here is not really structured, they encourage children's learning through play. Very different to what she was exposed to when she was attending at K.I.D.S. in Makati, where each week, they learn a new letter.

The first 2-3 sessions, she was excited to attend school. She even requested if possible to go 2-3x a week, unfortunately budget does not permit it now.

Here is an excerpt from Joanna's letter to family about Ianna's Pre-School experience -

"We decided to enrol her for her to have time to socialize with other kids and to practice conversing with them. ☺ Then on Wednesdays, she attends a playgroup in the parochial school. Other days, either brings her to the park or another recent favorite that she has is going to the bookstore and hang around reading books and drinking “coffee” while daddy reads his magazines. That’s their bonding time while I am in the office.

She is now getting better at expressing herself. Although sometimes not correct grammar, she has more words now in her vocabulary. She tries to bring the words together to come up with a sentence. During her first day in school, when she got home, we asked her how the first day went. She said, “ok lang, pero shy yung mouth ko mag-talk. Yung words up and down lang sa loob ng mouth ko. Shy lumabas.” Funny talaga ☺

But after two weeks, when she got home, she said, “dami-dami talaga talk ko! Dami na words labas sa mouth ko!!!. Then Elmer asked her, “nag laugh ba friends mo when you talked?”. She said, “No. Hindi naman funny yung talk ko sa kanila.” (with matching hand gestures pa yun)."

Come next session, she started to refuse going to school. She has different reasons that we need to "process" it. I think the adjustment is starting to kick in. The next 3 sessions was a struggle, Ianna would cry the night before, cry in the morning, would even cling to my legs so I won't leave her there. How I prayed that she will adjust soon.

Starting last week, she has improved. She still dreads 'school' and we continue to tell her about how wonderful it is. She doesn't cry that much now, but I guess she sheds a tear or two when I leave, but I know she will be ok. I guess she likes the idea of being at home more than school. This week she is doing well too. I still pray that she learns to love school how much her mom and I did. (don't get me wrong, we are not bookworms we just love the idea of learning, being with friends, and being able to play to our heart's content)