Teaching Gradeschoolers Programming

Hello beautiful Moms!

It's been two months since Lady M took Grade 1 lessons. So I decided to incorporate Computer Class in her Subject List. Since I don't have a book dedicated for this, I gathered all my computer books in college and selected topics that I think will be helpful in encouraging her to study programming.

These are the lessons we tackled before starting with Programming:

1. What is Computer
2. Basic History of Computers (e.g. the oldest form of computer, the Father of Computers, etc.)
3. Present Day Computers
4. Uses of Computer Programming
5. Ergonomics: Health and Safety
   

Scratch Programming Language

I used Scratch for Lady M since she is fond of animals and I think it is appropriate for her age. For older gradeschoolers I suggest using Alice or Processing.

Scratch is a visual programming language, it is free and is user-friendly, so parents who have little or no experience with programming will have no difficulty in using it with their kids. One thing to note is kids must already know how to read and count so they can follow the instructions in the tutorial and then when they are done, both of you may check the project. Try changing the values of your variables so your kids will see the changes and how it affects the whole project.

At first, Lady M was hesitant she thought programming was way too complicated for her but when we started coding and she saw the results of her work, she got very enthusiastic with it since then!

 So that's it Moms! I hope this post helped you in some ways. God bless!

Celebrating Baptismal Anniversaries

Hello beautiful moms!

It's been 3 years since my last post here. Life is busy with two preschoolers and all the daily task in the house, not to mention the long distance relationship with Hubby.

Baptismal days are said to be our birthday in the Christian Church. The day when we are cleansed physically and spiritually. The day when we received the sign of Jesus Christ.

It was three years ago when we started celebrating baptismal anniversaries. We make the day special by gathering together, lighting up blessed candles, and saying a family prayer service like this one from Loyola Press. After the prayer service is my favorite part where everyone will dip their fingers in the Holy Water and make the sign of the cross on each others forehead followed by a tight hug.

So here's  a short clip when we celebrated Lady M's recent baptismal anniversary.

"Today, at home, go look, ask about the date of your Baptism and that way you will keep in mind that most beautiful day of Baptism. To know the date of our Baptism is to know a blessed day. The danger of not knowing is that we can lose awareness of what the Lord has done in us, the memory of the gift we have received. Thus, we end up considering it only as an event that took place in the past – and not by our own will but by that of our parents – and that it has no impact on the present. We must reawaken the memory of our Baptism. We are called to live out our Baptism every day as the present reality of our lives." - Pope Francis

How do you celebrate your baptismal anniversaries? Let us know!