It really did for me. Well, it was probably due to my dad's (who is a mechanical engineer) influence and he really did talk day in and day out about science at home. He trained us to approach problems the scientific way and that really helped me a lot in solving my daily dilemmas, not only as a kid but even now as an adult.
I wanted my kid to develop interest in Science too. But I guess I was never like my dad. And since both my husband and me have day jobs that wasn't directly connected to science, it wasn't a topic that is often discussed at home. I didn't push anymore, I figured since she's now in grade school, she will eventually figure out for herself if Science is something that she likes or not.
Thankfully though, I didn't have to wait long to get my answer. A couple of weeks ago, a generous soul from Mommy Bloggers Philippines, a blogger group I belong to posted an invitation for interested mommies who would like to try out a session at the recently launched Engineering For Kids after school program at the BGC. I immediately grabbed the chance to introduce Science in a fun way to my little miss and signed up.
Finally last Saturday, the little miss and me trotted off to Bonifacio Global City with our mom-daughter partner in crime - Erl and Kelsea - to try out the Aerospace Engineering session. We made it just in time (despite the delay that Maia and I caused) for class after travelling for an hour. Thanks to Erl for the free ride. If we were commuting, I would probably have to allot at least an hour and a half since I was coming from Cavite. Good thing we picked the 9am schedule so the traffic on the roads was still free flowing.
When we got to the venue, the kids immediately got themselves seated while Erl and I were briefed about basic info of the program. We were handed a kit that contained the list of what the offerings were for the month and a flyer that discussed the history of the program. We learned that Engineering for Kids Ph is a franchise from the US. It was started by a mom-teacher who saw the rising need for an after school program that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.
There are two classes offered: Juniors (4-6 yo kids) and Apprentice (7-14 yo kids). Every month, they offer new sets of topics/projects for each of the programs offered. Weekend rate is P4500 while the weekday rate is P6600 (if I remember correctly). There are 4 sessions per month for the weekend class and 6 sessions for weekday class.
The class that Maia and Kelsea tried was under the Aerospace Engineering program and for the day, the project that they were designated to work on is Stomp Rocket. The class was a group of 6 kids - 4 boys and 2 girls (Maia and Kelsea). They started off the class with a brief introduction of the parts of the rocket. Teacher Em started it with a song which immediately got the kids' attention. After about 15 minutes, the kids started working on the rocket. Before we knew it, the allotted one hour was up and the kids had started taking turns stomping on the makeshift rocket launcher.
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| She went back to stomp a couple more times. Gone was that timid little girl. |
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| Class picture minus Kelsea (Do you know how to add her via Photoshop, Erl?) |
Would I recommend it? If you live near BGC, I would. But if you live farther (down South like us or up North in QC), I don't know if the travel would be all worth it since the class runs for only an hour. Or best to just call and ask where the other branches are located.
Engineering for Kids is offering early bird discount till August 8 so if this is something that you are interested to try, contact them at:
Tel Nos: (02) 224.4170 / 0917.551.8705
Email: info@smilegroup.org
They are currently doing classes at the Function room, 5/F of Forbeswood Parklane, Rizal Drive, BGC, Taguig. More info at their website: www.engineeringforkids.net
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