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Families enjoy Goducate Academy’s Virtual Family Fun Day

Is it possible to do a family challenge without competitors seeing each other physically? Certainly, going by APIIS (Asia Pacific Institute of International Studies) Goducate Academy’s Family Fun Day held virtually on March 27.

Families were grouped into the following teams—Yellow Bees (Nursery Class), Blue Dolphins (Kindergarten Class), and the Red Tigers (Elementary Class).  Ten exciting challenges were given to each team, and distributed to the families within the team. Challenges included Egg Eating, Cookie Eating, Ball Catch, Tissue Relay, Tomato Relay, Coin Relay, Bottle Flipping, Longest I Love You, Paper Folding, and Cup Pyramid. If a team had fewer than 10 families, some of the families would take on more than one challenge.

Every family did the challenge according to the rules given. Families had been given sample videos of the challenge, so that they clearly understood what to do. Then each family recorded the video and submitted it, without cuts or any editing, to Goducate Academy. The team at Goducate Academy compiled the family challenge videos and edited them to see which family finished first.

A virtual cheering was also recorded by every family, and the videos of their cheers were compiled and made into one exciting cheering video.

On Family Fun Day everybody sat down, relaxed, and enjoyed watching the compilation of the creative videos they had submitted, and in which they were celebrities.

A virtual Family Fun Day is thus no different from a face-to-face one in that families can enjoy themselves and bond together whether they are taking part in an actual or a virtual Family Fun Day.

Our guest writer is Rebecca Depalubos, one of our Goducate staff.

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How APIIS Goducate Academy videos teach mothers and children

Filipino mothers in the 21st century are not the same as those in the 1800’s, who only stayed at home and took care of their children. Present-day mothers pursue a career as well as manage their household. Thus APIIS (Asia Pacific Institute of International Studies) Goducate Academy designed an education system for children that busy mothers can apply. For the Goducate Academy team, the system involves the production of quality and interesting videos that the mother can play any time of the day and let her child watch it while she is busy working.

Moreover, the videos stimulate of love of learning in the child. Student M, for example, who is in the Rev Up class (a nursery-level class) likes playing games on iPad and did not want to go to school. His mother has reported that since being enrolled in APIIS Goducate Academy, her son is showing some changes. The once unmotivated child now loves watching educational videos, enjoys tracing lines, and is always excited to join the online class.

Student S, whose family lives in Thailand, has also improved with the Rev Up class. Her mother reported that at the age of two, S could only utter two words: “mama” and “papa”. The doctor told them that if their daughter could not talk at the age of three, they must bring her to a speech pathologist. After S joined the Rev Up class at age 4, her mother noticed that she became excited and interested in her lessons. She even reminds her mother “I have class mom”. Rev Up lesson videos, such as mountain-climbing adventures, give S the opportunity to learn new songs and words. She can sing almost all the songs that she has been taught. When her mother wanted to enroll her in a school in Thailand, S refused to go because she likes her current Goducate Academy online class.

Another kind of video that the Goducate Academy produces is the Parent Guide Video, which directs parents on how to teach their children. It includes instructions on some specific tasks that the child has to accomplish for the week – for example, household chores such as sweeping the floor, washing plates, tidying the bed, and folding clothes. The video also teaches a mother how to train her child to be independent and responsible by doing things all by himself or herself, such as brushing teeth, combing hair, and changing clothes. The children enjoy learning these tasks from their mothers, so the learning sessions become a good bonding time for mother and child.

P’s mother tells us that the videos are easy to access and the Parent Guide Video reminds her what to do next for her son’s lesson whenever she becomes busy at work and forgets what tasks her son has to finish for the week. The Parent Guide Video shows the tasks that the parent has to accomplish in a week. The video explains in English every task that the parent needs do to from Day 1-Day 5 or Monday to Friday.

Another parent has testified that the learning materials are great, they are not stressful, and her child is happily watching the videos.

The APIIS Goducate Academy team is thus creating more interactive and engaging videos that would help millions of Filipino children whose mothers can help to give them the best education and life that they deserve.

*Our Guest writer is Rebecca Depalubos, a Goducate staff.

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Children gain weight with Goducate’s feeding program

Goducate’s feeding program began in a very poor area in Laguna, Philippines, where some children had meals only about three times a week. The Covid-19 situation added to the financial burden for these poor families.

393 children from 10 poor areas of Laguna were included in the feeding program. They were first weighed in June 2021, when 133 kids were found to be underweight for their age. Goducate fed these 133 children thrice a week, while the others were fed once a week.

These 133 underweight children had their body mass index (BMI) monitored every other until December. By July 33 of them had an increase in their BMI but it was still below normal for their age.

Initially we delivered food to their homes, but when the Covid-19 alert level was lowered, the children went to a central place in the community for their feeds. The head of the feeding program organized the purchase of the ingredients. The food was cooked by our volunteer staff, by some of the mothers and some of the young people in the community.

In areas where there is no central place for food preparation, meals are wrapped individually and sent to the children.

When weighed again in December, 103 of the 133 underweight children had reached their target BMI. The other 30 had gained some weight but not enough to reach the BMI for their age.

We did not specifically collect data on illnesses, but our general observations indicate that the children seemed to have become more active. The mothers have also told us that their children do not fall ill so often and have become more active.

We involved parents through talks and small-group discussions, and there are plans to train them in hygiene and first aid along the lines of the Health Information Drive (see blog of April 17, 2020). Partnering with us were members of the Philippine National Police who helped to teach children proper methods of wearing facemask and hand washing. They also helped our workers to serve food, and sometimes provided the children with biscuits.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are hoping to provide the children with hygiene kits that include facemasks and alcohol.

Goducate is now planning to start a feeding program in 7 new areas, for 516 children, 214 of whom are underweight for their age.

We are also praying that the areas in which we are conducting our feeding programs will have proper toilets and washing stations to help stop the spread of hygiene-related diseases.

*Our guest writer is Gemma Abrenilla, a staff member at Camp Goducate, Laguna