Friends advised time and again for me to get a tutor for my kids. "Maawa ka sa sarili mo," they say. They're concerned about how little rest I'm getting, considering I'm now 5 months heavy, work full time, take care of the house then sit down with my kids for homeworks and reviews after dinner.

But to be honest, apart from the problem of having little time and sometimes, too little energy, tutoring my kids is never tiresome. I wouldn't pass it up, it's one of the rare chances I get to sit down and see their academic progress firsthand, and address any learning problems they have.

Being teacher-mom is very educational. Just last week, I got a refresher on Philippine revolutions. To demonstrate the value of Kumon, I learned to do away with calculators, practicing to do my maths mentally. And for Gambel, I had to read through the life stories of five saints.

Being teacher-mom can be trying at times too, but without its share of laughs.

Gambel has difficulty with Filipino. While we speak Filipino at home, our conversations are limited to everyday, common words. At school they are required to converse in English. Then as he is surrounded with the Internet and cable TV, his limited Filipino vocabulary isn't helped.

One time, we were studying Pandiwa (Filipino verbs), and I was drilling him on the past, present and future tenses. It has been a long day for both of us, and had it not been for a quiz in the morning, we would have gone to bed already. After 5 or so verbs, Gambel was yawning. I kept on.

Me: Gambel, o gamitin mo yung pandiwa na Inom, ha.
Gambel : Opo.
M: Kanina, ang juice ay --?
G: ININOM. (Eyeblink, eyeblink, eyeblink.)
M: Very good. O, ngayon, ang juice ay---?
G: INIINOM. (Yawn.)
M: Mamaya, ang juice ay---?
G: Ubos na!

Oo nga naman! :) That was my cue -- time to let the kid rest!