THE PROPER SYMBOL OF THE SMALL LETTER A
Once upon a time, there was a Mom. A loving, but a very forgetful Mom. She has a handsome three-year old son who started going to preschool. Nursery level to be exact. Despite advices from families and friends to delay the child’s schooling, the Mom (in connivance with the Dad) still insisted to have the handsome little boy attend school. They said that anyway, the handsome three-year old boy has been showing signs of readiness, so heck they enrolled him right away.
During the first few weeks of the handsome little boy’s schooling, everything were all manageable. The Mom (and sometimes the Dad) are able to help the best they can with the handsome little boy’s assignments. Drawing of a fruit, a boy, parts of the body, every little details of the boy’s assignments, they willfully did it.
But as the school days went by, requirements from the handsome little boy’s school homework became more and more demanding and more and more difficult. At one time, the handsome little school boy asked his Mom to help him with his Writing subject assignment: to print the font in the computer that uses the proper symbol of the small letter A. An A that should have been commonly used in word processing in computers, but unfortunately, it became an A that was not. “Well, that’s easy?” the Mom said with all smiles and calmness. She tried Arial, but it’s not. Times New Roman, not again. Trebuchet, her favorite font, but not again. “Aha, must be Franklin Gothic”, but she’s wrong again. She’s been trying for hours, turning over her head in the PC researching what font in the computer uses the proper symbol of the small letter A.
The Mom gave up and slept over the assignment, leaving her most precious Laptop still on. Needless that she knew, the handsome little boy tinkered and experimented the Mom’s Laptop. Hehe. Good thing the Mom woke up after some 30 minutes and what do you know?
Well, her eyeballs almost went out as her eyes widened so big when the frantic Mom saw the handsome little boy typing small letter A’s in the Laptop. And hey, he discovered what font uses the proper symbol of the small letter A. Want to know what font it was?
Here.
***
Above was one of our many homework stories with Nico. I used to think that having a
preschooler isn’t that hard to manage. I thought that anyway, “he’s just in preschool, so…” . But hey, as school days went by, I realized the special attention Jun and I have to provide Nico with, just as to meet up with his school requirements and assignments. Well, good thing I know I am not alone. I remember reading Lady Cess had a hard time looking for fish scales only to comply with Ipan Jr.’s hardest assignment ever. Hehe.
And just as with the assignments, we also have to remember many many school dates too. Test schedules, issuance of report cards, PTA Meetings, schedule of payments of school fees, the educational field trips, semestral break, resumption of classes, Family Day, Culminating Activities, Christmas Party, Christmas vacation, painting and picture taking for preschool toga attire, Recognition Day, and lastly Graduation Day.
And today, I checked Nico’s workbook in Science and it seems I see another tough assignment ahead: draw at least five pictures of animals with wings, with beaks, with two legs, and with four legs. And mind you, this assignment is just a prelude to the Nursery Class’ Educational Trip to the Avilon Zoo next week. Nico’s Teacher says for the kids to have a better appreciation of the different types of animals, a trip to the Zoo is a practical activity. Okay. Noted. So I guess, I’ll park my Blogging pen for now and hunt for pictures to copy, so Nico and I can doodle away! 
17 responses so far
Congrats, congrats… I am so happy for you. Hang in there. I’m sure you’ll...
Galing naman ni Nico!
Way to go Nico! Galing Galing! *clap-clap*
Hirap bang maging preschool mom? I want to send my 1.5 year old to school next year pa naman!
thanks Mitch. ehem, i repeat: mana sa Mommy.
Kelly, hello. it’s hard but fulfilling, katuwa lalo na when he shows off something new he learned in school.
re: Manu, so he’s 1.5 now? by June then, 2++ years old na sya. if you see signs of readiness already, ay, i-enroll mo na sya.
Holy cow!! Genius ang batang yan!! Hmm, malay mo pagdating ng Grade 1, problogger na si Nico
heehee! hirap maging mommy ng preschooler talaga
if we can only ignore the assignments, kaso, hindi naman kaya ng konsensiya natin 
yup, comic sans it is. i was going to comment sana na use that font, na-diskubre mo na rin pala. when ipan jr was in nursery, i would use the computer to illustrate the letters using comic sans font.
avilon zoo is a great place for kids, adults even. if you havent been there, youll be amazed. we were there twice already, the most recent visit was about 2 weeks ago. the kids never get tired of it
galing naman ni Nico. I didn’t know that until now.
I have the same sentiments as yours. I think it’s hard to have a child who is schooling already. Hirap sa paggawa ng assignment.
Way to go Nico… he persevered when mummy gave up hehe
Grabe assignments for 3-year old kids? Kelvin just moved to his nursery’s 3-5 y/o room. Previous to that his room was focused more on structured play rather learning. This new room is supposed to be the other way around. Learning thru play, but they will be taught writing & basic reading skills. But kids I knew who’ve been there never had to take assignments home.
I guess it’s okay if the child actually enjoys it ‘no?
How did Nico do that? Kids really do the most surprising things - like out thinking mommies (and daddies) even without trying haha.
I use that font too when I encode worksheets for my children but Julian refuses to use the Comic Sans a and instead uses the other a. I don’t know why
Tough assignment for a 3 year old. Ganun na nga yata talaga. Our secretary does her son’s assignments at work which leads me to think are teachers doing the right thing if parents are the one doing the assignments?” But of course, they can always argue that it’s a chance for parents to bond with their children. But where’s the nurturing of self-discovery there?
Di ka na naman gumagalaw!
indeed, it is tough assignment for a 3 year old. super advance naman diyan sainyo.
Nico is so talented! his desire to learn is insatiable.
Hi Feng! I got something for you in my blog.
http://www.nicemorning.net/2007/09/19/i-got-an-award/
wow feng! and more wows for Nico! i remember you sharing about his interest in letters and with the way you are nurturing his interest, i’d have to second kongkong622’s foresight of your talented little boy!
hello everyone, sorry for replying this late. been busy lately.
and thanks. hala, sana wag naman muna sa problogging.
hi there Mommy Kongkong622
hello lady cess! ay sinabi mo pa, kaloka ang may preschooler. as in, dapat pagdating pa lang nya from school, we need to look at the workbooks and check for the assignments. minsan nga, nakikidayo pa ako sa neighbors para maka hingi ng kung ano anong pinapadala sa school.
re: comic sans, ay hanap ako ng hanap, yun lang pala.
hindi nakakapagtaka if your kids loves Avilon Zoo coz it’s really amazing to see rare animals there. biggest pala sya in RP ano?
hello N!cE, thanks. and yes, comics sans pala yun! naka tsamba si Nico, hehe. for the assignments, i have bookmarked websites for getting photos and images na para anytime Nico’s assignments require of it, madali na lang.
here in Pinas, the state of education is leaning towards the non-trad, unfortunately though, trad schools still abound such as where Nico is attending. and yes, though it’s a trad school, it works well for Nico, and yes, he enjoys it there. 
i don’t know how to call it pero Nico knows how to turn on the laptop (as in may partition pa yung laptop) and he knows how to open an MS Office document, how to view photo slideshows, how to play a video etc.
auee, hello, hello. and thanks. re: Grabe assignments for 3-year old kids, ay naku, talaga, sinabi mo pa! good for Kelvin, he’s benefiting from a non-traditional approach to learning. I think that’s the advantage of being in a progressive country such as UK.
hello geri. me have no idea too. kaloka itong batang ito!
TeacherJulie, horray for Julian, maybe the other fonts are much pleasing to his eyes! i can totally relate, ako naman, all time fave ko ang Trebuchet.
hi Em. tough assignment indeed! re: are teachers doing the right thing if parents are the one doing the assignments? –that was my concern too at the earlier part of my son’s schooling. but I think the assignments are meant to reinforce/review what was taught in school for the day because I often notice, the homework activities are almost the same with the seatwork activities. doesn’t mean too that parents are the ones answering the homeworks. in our case, we make sure to guide our son with his assignment, and not answer for his homeworks.
mitchteryosa, re: Di ka na naman gumagalaw —ay sis, pasensya ka na, talagang sobrang busy these days. kaya I’m trying to catch up now.
ay Belle, pansin mo rin yun? mukhang advance nga dito sa Pinas. kasi I have 8-year old niece who studied here till middle of Grade 2. when her parents decided to migrate in the US, we were surprised because she’s so bored daw in her school there coz napag-aralan nya na daw yung tinuturo ng teacher nung Kindergarten sya.
hello Nice. hala, at ako’y sobrang natuwa sa fondness mo of my journal here. salamat!
roxiegirl, hello to you and thanks. remember Nico’s love for letters? it’s amplified even with his super love for books now. reading nook namin ang Power Books, Fully Booked at syempre all time fave ang National Bookstore.
Hi Feng. Nico is a smart young boy. I learned a good tip on my visit here. I will certainly keep that in mind next time I need to print something for Yohan’s class.
Yohan has learned to use the computer mouse early and sometimes it amazes me when he easily learns to play different educational online games. However, there is a disadvantage to it ~ lesser blogging time for me whenever Yohan wants to go online to play Disney and Nickolodeon games.
I can relate to what you wrote about assignments and projects in school. Just yesterday, my hubby had to climb to get some Champaca flowers from our tree. The teacher asked the students to bring any flower with scent. Jules thought of the Champaca flowers because they really smell wonderful. Most of Yohan’s classmates brought similar flowers particularly roses. Yohan was the only one with the unique flower.
Thanks for sharing this post and those lovely photos.
hi Rach. gee, thanks.
and am learning so much from your Blog too everytime I visit. it’s nice knowing our kids are much of the same age, so am benchmarking from your end too. 
at hala, Yohan’s getting the way of your Blogging? pareho tayo. but I guess it’s just alright to let them explore the PC ano, not too much lang though. it’s best to do Blogging when the kids are asleep, para walang istorbo.
re: assignment to bring flowers with scent–let me guess, sa Science yan ano? good idea about the Champaca, that’s so unique nga naman.