Staff Blog
Children are explorers. Curiosity often leads them to peek 
inside the doorknob's key hole; enthralls them to touch a squealing kettle; and ferry their feet into places where they are not allowed to be. Often, boundaries are broken.
Children are expressive. Emotions often steer their ship as they navigate their social world. They jump, giggle, grin, and laugh when happy. A frown, a downturned face, and a shoulder-drop paint their sadness. Talking back, kicking the wall, shutting down, spitting, throwing things, and crying are the easiest cards to pull out when they are angry. Often, adults' patience is challenged.
Children, most of the time, do not listen, nor take heed of instructions and reminders; they have a loose grip of morality that even memory verses fall short of reminding them to be good. But this does not mean we stop teaching them to be kind. This is to remind us that children are fallible and that they do not have the skill sets to fully self-manage; even adults have difficulty regulating themselves, too. And children who misbehave a lot are often painted with a different color palette, viewed as a problematic child.
At CSC, children do not only go through these developmental obstacles. They are also bringing with them their adverse experiences. For some children, this baggage magnifies their difficulty to self-regulate. Without a proper lens, dealing with these children might be quite challenging. As adults, the common response is to control these behaviors but with the aid of Trauma Informed Care, houseparents, caregivers, and other staff have a better understanding of the underlying factors of such behaviors. Rather than seeking control, comfort is offered. Rather than spending time preaching the rules and whatnots, cultivating a relationship is the focus. Rather than seeing the child as problematic, the child is seen as a work in progress, still growing to reach his/her full potential, and to give the child a chance to lead a more meaningful life. Through Trauma Informed Care, we are always reminded with how Khalil Gibran viewed how children should be guided. In his poem, he said:
"...You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable."
Khalil Gibran, excerpt from On Children
Morning Meeting: Risk and Consequence and Astronomy
The Level C1 students have been reading about risk and consequence while C2 class has been reading about astronomy. They came together to lead morning meeting. Each class helped the other to show the other students what they have been learning.
The highlights of the morning included reciting Bible verses which dealt with promises and consequences from God, reenacting the moon landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and preforming the song “Outer Space” live—complete with guitars and puppets.
Check out the “Outer Space” song here.
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Future Leaders
“Train up a child in the way he should go
and when he is old he will not depart from them.”
Proverbs 22:6
Meet the future leaders and community helpers. Every day they come to school with fully charged energy, unstoppable curiosity, richly given ability, and a hungry desire to be trained.
Because they were blessed to have a chance to come to school and be given attention, with a big smile and with confidence, they say that in due time and with the Lord’s help they will be prepared to face life independently and be equipped to serve the community.
“When I grow up I want to be a teacher.” – Jennifer
“When I grow up I want to be a firefighter.” – Danilo
“When I grow up I want to be a police officer.” – Andrew
“When I grow up I want to be an army.” – Carlo
-Charis Adlawan, Level A Teacher
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Reading Challenge
Words and words, pages and pages, books and books! The Reading Challenge brought out the inner readers in all the students. They stepped up and buried their noses in books.
Classmates competed against each other. They worked hard, reading pages and pages. At the end of August the class winners were announced.
Each class was rewarded for their hard work with a new book. Teacher Cris’ class was so excited for the new book that they read it as soon as they got into their room.
The students learned a lot. Most of all, many students found joy in books. The number of pages will be forgotten, but the love of reading and learning will lead these students through life.
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Baking with Jules!
The other day, I had the great pleasure of learning how to make pan de munay, a Filipino baked delicacy. Jules, one of our Teen Home residents, recently completed a Bread and Pastry course. He is a certified baker now! Jules has long been interested in the Culinary Arts, but high school was long and difficult for him. Even so, he never gave up on himself or his dream! He graduated from high school this past April and he has been eager to pursue his desired field. Since becoming certified, he is baking up a storm. Each day trying something new! Those at the Teen Home are blessed to eat his daily creations and I know, I am excited whenever I visit for the chance to taste one of his products. For those of you interested in learning how pan de munay is made, check out Jules' step by step instructions in the pictures below. He was a great teacher for me and he even let me roll a few of them! :)
1. Cut the dough
2. Roll it
3. Stretch it
4. Oil the pan
5. Cut the dough
6. Fill with sugar. Yum!
7. Let rise
8. Bake, then let cool!
9. Enjoy! (Truthfully, I had intended to take pictures after each bite, but I was overtaken by the warm, buttery, sugary goodness and instead just focused on eating it!)
Thanks for tuning in to baking with Jules! Please keep him in your prayers as he continues to practice his skills and eventually looks for work as a baker. He is a great guy and we are proud of him!
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Toddler Day Program Kick-Off
September brings new excitement for the youngest in the CSC family. Since arriving in Cebu a month ago I (Grace) have been hard at work creating a new toddler curriculum. The toddler program occurs each weekday and lasts for about an hour. This past week we officially had our kick-off and boy, did the kids have fun!
The new toddler program is structured in a way that will be developmentally appropriate for the toddlers at CSC and will also help prepare them for preschool. Each week of the program is structured around a theme that will not only provide learning experiences, but fun as well! This week the toddlers had a blast learning about circles through activities and songs about bubbles and balls.
Right now we have a group of about 11 toddlers who are full of energy, laughter and curiosity. Each morning we gather together in one of the three homes and start with a morning meeting. The toddlers are learning recognition and routine through their personalized seat mats (mats with pictures of their faces on them). The first day the kids were so excited about the pictures that they could hardly sit on them. By the end of the first week the children were starting to understand the routine and would either sit on their mats or hold them in their laps. During the meeting we do things like working on name recognition, reading books and singing songs. So far, the favorite part of morning meeting is the singing. Thanks to our wonderful aunties the children of CSC start to appreciate and love music at an early age.
Other activities we have been doing this week are bubble blowing, bubble snakes, a ball pit and soccer. It has been such a joy to see the toddlers already making discoveries and having fun exploring the materials provided for them. To get a better idea of what the toddler program is like, take a look at these photos I took as well as a video created by Joel Reasoner!
Video: Toddler Time with Auntie Grace
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