Category: Children’s Home

There is a girls’ workshop at the Goducate Children’s Home where the girls are taught skills such as baking and sewing. However, it is one of the boys who first showed an interest in making bread. The girls find making dough by hand to be heavy going.

Lois has been encouraged to pursue his interest. He has been learning to make cinnamon rolls. He is also able to make pizza dough and banana muffins. His interest in baking has piqued that of another boy, Andrew. So Lois, with Andrew’s assistance, will be making cinnamon rolls for friends of the Home.

Lois’ interests are not confined to baking. He is preparing for the National Students Convention next year in the Sports category (100 m race) and the Music Category (playing the violin as part of the instrumental ensemble).

The children at the Goducate Children’s Home in Cambodia are preparing for the first National Students Convention to be held in Cambodia by the School of Tomorrow towards the end of next year, probably November. The School of Tomorrow curriculum is what the students at the Home follow, and the School of Tomorrow holds national, regional and international conventions, during which competitions are held in many events in various subject categories, both academic and non-academic.

There are two age categories—-juniors (9-12 years) and high school (13-18 years). 24 of our students are qualified to take part, 7 as juniors and 17 as high-schoolers. Music is one category they will be taking part in. All are practising for the singing category, and 15 for the musical-instrument events. They will also be taking part in sporting events such as the 100 m race and volleyball, and maybe soccer.

It’s not been confirmed what other events the children will be taking part in but they are practising every day for the different academic subjects every school day during their break. Quizzes are held during these times, one subject each week, with prizes for the winning team after the final competition on Fridays. The quizzes and teams are structured so that the children learn to strategize who to send up to answer which questions, and so that the younger ones learn to be confident about answering questions.

The children at the Goducate Children’s Home learn much more than the usual school academic subjects. All help out with looking after the plants (fruit, vegetable and flowering) and animals (chickens, pigs, fish) at the Home, while the boys learn livelihood skills such as carpentry, motor-vehicle repairs and welding, and the girls have lessons in baking and sewing. For some skills, such as playing the violin, the children get lessons from visitors.

There is no art teacher at the Home, but the children were fortunate to have had a few art lessons recently from a visitor. Josephine Mendez spent a couple of days holding art classes at the Home teaching them some basics on shading and color coordination. The children each produced two drawings, one in pencil and one in color, which were judged by a panel consisting of an architect and a graphic designer. The best in each category are now on display in the Home’s learning center.