The Royal Wedding of HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton

Click on the link to see your wedding invite courtesy of The Royal Channel

Today April 29, 2011, the whole world - or at least those who are loyal subjects of the
Queen -  will stop to watch a modern day fairytale: The Royal Wedding of HRH Prince
William and Catherine Middleton.

Once upon a time, Teacher Weena was in a 'lil trouble as her kids were dreaming up
their own royal weddings :) Yes, it's not everyday that a girl becomes a princess. LOL

3 Things You Can Do to celebrate The Royal Wedding of HRH Prince William and
Catherine Middleton:

1. Visit the The Royal Wedding official website
Drop by the The Royal Wedding official site and get a glimpse of the preparations
that are being done to make this day perfect for Prince William and Kate. The cake,
the flowers, the reception; they're pretty much all there except for the wedding dress.

2. Send your Best Wishes
Yes, you can congratulate the happy couple by uploading a video on YouTube here.
Seriously! The deadline to upload your video is today.

3. Watch The Royal Wedding of HRH Prince William and Catherine Middleton
Local tv, cable or YouTube, your choice. I'm sure there will be plenty of coverage
for the Royal Wedding. Do expect this to go on the entire day.

The wedding starts with The Service at Westminster Abbey. Then continues with
The Procession; a horse-drawn carriage ride through the streets of London. Then
ends with The Reception at Buckingham Palace.

Congratulations and Best Wishes Prince William and Kate!

Friendster Deadline to Export Data is May 31, 2011

In case you haven't heard, Friendster will soon be the social gaming website of choice.

Facebook is on the top spot of being the social networking website of choice. Ahhhh...

What a world of difference one word can make.

If you still have important photos, messages, blogs plus plus, now is the time to use 

the Friendster Exporter to export your data. Here's the head's up: Friendster will erase 

all your data after May 31, 2011. 

Expect things to slow down once people hit panic mode. Don't delay, do this today.

Free Kindle Reader + Free Do The Work Ebook

Whooppeee! Thanks to Jomar, I have 2 new toys!

1. Kindle
Apparently, you don't need to own a Kindle to be able to read books
in Kindle format. Amazon has FREE Kindle Reading Apps!!! Just
choose the Kindle Reading App that you need, download it and voila,
you can now read books in Kindle format.

Why is this great!?! The last time I tried purchasing a book from Amazon,
I needed to have a U.S. shipping address. Let me correct that, Amazon did
not want to ship to the Phl. I haven't tried purchasing a book from Amazon
since then. And now, I can just order a Kindle version and get the book that
I want anytime anywhere.

It gets even better - - - I can use Kindle to read books for FREE!

2. Do The Work
Just this April, I discovered that I missed out on getting a FREE book that
I wanted. Yes, some new writers pre-launch their new books before the
physical books hit the bookstores. The free books are usually available
for a limited time only. So if you hear of the news too late, that's it, sorry
for you. Talk about the power of visualization, wishful thinking, call-it-
whatever-you-want-to-call-it: I now have my first FREE ebook!

Do The Work is Seth Godin and friends' latest book project. It's available
for free for a limited time only. Get your free Kindle copy here.

Allow Kids to Explore

Image by Maricel Cruz

"As so often happens in science, two studies from different labs, using 
different techniques, have simultaneously produced strikingly similar 
results. They provide scientific support for the intuitions many teachers 
have had all along: Direct instruction really can limit young children's 
learning. Teaching is a very effective way to get children to learn 
something specific—this tube squeaks, say, or a squish then a press 
then a pull causes the music to play. But it also makes children less 
likely to discover unexpected information and to draw unexpected 
conclusions.


...with one group, she acted as if she were clueless about the toy. ("Wow, 
look at this toy. I wonder how it works? Let's try this," she said.) With 
the other group, she acted like a teacher. ("Here's how my toy works.") 
When she acted clueless, many of the children figured out the most 
intelligent way of getting the toy to play music (performing just the two 
key actions, something Daphna had not demonstrated). But when Daphna 
acted like a teacher, the children imitated her exactly, rather than 
discovering the more intelligent and more novel two-action solution."
- Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School by Alison Gopnik, Slate


Children of today start going to school at a very young age. Some play 
schools will accept kids as early as 6months old. We decided to forego this 
and to homeschool M instead. 


The article Why Preschool Shouldn't be Like School really struck a chord 
because of three things:
1st - It made me realize the importance of allowing kids to explore. Children 
are smart and can figure things out on their own. It's the adults who're 
impatient for them to get things done now. Apparently, rushing the learning 
process has detrimental effects. Patience has its rewards.
2nd - As a homeschooler, you have the opportunity to decide on what 
your children are learning. Now, you also have the opportunity to decide 
on HOW they are going to learn. Make it count.
3rd - If your child/ren are enrolled in a regular school, it would be good to 
look at the manner by which your child/ren are being taught. I have a
friend who transferred her Gr.1 son to another school because she wasn't
satisfied with the way her son was being taught at the other school. Bravo! 
Parents should be the first persons looking out for the interest of their child.


I'm thankful that at this point homeschooling is not yet rocket science. 
In a nutshell, the emphasis has been to provide varied fun learning 
activities for M. These activities are aimed at developing his skills and 
discovering his talents. 

3 Ways of Getting Affordable Toys

Before Angry Birds and Before Farmville, Kids had these :)

At 1 year and 3 months, I can proudly say that our little toddler still does NOT
watch TV. You might be wondering, what does M do all day? Playing with toys
tops the list! Toys are great because they "require" kids to use and develop their
skills and imagination.

The challenge with toys is, kids easily tire of their toys. Dr. Glenn Doman tells us
that kids enjoy their toys while there's still something about the toy to be discovered.
But once the toy has been fully explored, expect that toy to be tossed aside.

So what's a mom to do? I know fully well that kids' toys can be quite expensive.
Here are some tips for you.

3 Ways to Getting Affordable Toys:

1. Research
- Isn't the net great!?! I use it a lot for researching! Of course, it has helped me
gain tons of ideas for toys. I check out websites and blogs. I join FB groups of
educators; homeschooling is a recognized form of education. I'm excited for an
upcoming online webinar (it's free!). There really is so much info out there. It's
so easy to pick an idea and make it your own.
2. Observe
- M is allowed to tinker around with everyday objects and use them for toys.
Of course we first ensure that these objects are nonbreakable and do not pose
any safety risks. So far M has played with paper, cloth, cartons, cleaning tools,
and furniture.
3. Borrow
- Some of M's fave toys are actually not his. M has borrowed toys from cousins
and uncles. You'd be surprised at how many relatives and friends have a stash
of toys just dusting away in a box. Just make sure to thoroughly clean the toys
if their previous owners have not already done so.

I hope I've inspired you to reconsider the tv habits of your children. Studies have
shown that there's way too much tv watching going on. It's time to turn off the telly
and make the kids play.

The Longevity Project

Today's comfort-seeking, me-myself-and-I, have-it-all-now proponents
should take heed to the findings of The Longevity Project: Surprising
Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade
Study by Howard S. Friedman PhD and Leslie R. Martin PhD.

Conscientiousness is the key to living a long happy life. Very old school,
but I couldn't agree with it more.

Conscientiousness
- n. the quality of being in accord with the dictates of conscience; also known
as principled and religiousness
- n. the trait of being painstaking and careful;
also known as carefulness, meticulousness, thoroughness, diligence, and
stringency

According to The Longevity Project, conscientious people know how to
weather out problems. Conscientious people also have good habits which
keep them out of harms way. They also know how to "self-heal" --- it's in
their nature to find their way to happier relationships, happier careers and
happier situations.

Okay this is oversimplifying things a bit. What Dr. Martin and Dr. Friedman
are hoping for is that we read The Longevity Project and discover for ourselves
what the studies reveal about living a long and happy life.

I've always believed that there's value in putting in a good day's work.
Ideally, you have work that you love; work that keeps you productive
and adds meaning to your life. Not there yet? Then keep on trying!

Establishing good relationships in one's family, work place and community
are equally important. We are social beings that need the love and the support
of others. Just to emphasize, they need it and so do we. Something to consider -
relationships need time and attention for them to grow.

Then there are goals. H and I are big on projects. We always have one in the
works. It's exciting to know that there's something to look forward to down
the road.

Last but not the least, there is faith in God. We pray, go to mass, avail of the
sacraments, and do acts of charity. Of course, we've made mistakes. That's
why I'm glad that God has His arms wide open when we've come to our
senses.

Yes, this all sounds like a lot of work. If you're conscientious, you'll learn
how to figure it all out. Hehe. Of course there are days when we get tired
and wonder if we've gone cuckoo for doing the gazillion things that we do.
That just means it's time for a breather. Then it's back to fighting form. If
you're asking, "Is it worth it?" My answer, "Definitely, astoundingly yes!"

Holy Wednesday 2011

Image by Vinoth Chandar

Since Monday, I've been throwing out suggestions for Holy Week sacrifices.
You might be wondering, which one/s am I doing?

Let me start off by saying that Virtual Assistants have realities that are different
than most people. By this I mean, most people use the internet some of the time.
VAs have to be online ALL OF THE TIME. Only because that's WHERE we
work.Yes, if the web suddenly crashed (and I hope it does not), my work life
will go crashing down with it.

Then there's the fun stuff that one can do online: blogs, videos, forums, games,
FB, Skype, etc etc etc Staying online for too long can quickly turn into a vice
if you let it.

So, I'm definitely cutting down on my computer time this Holy Week. Good
Friday will in fact be a black out day. This will allow me to allocate more time
for praying and for reading religious books.

On Easter Sunday, I hope to emerge a better Catholic--- inspired and renewed
to face the new challenges that are headed my way, and confident that My Lord
and I can accomplish great things together.