Nakakahappy when you receive letters like this from your daughter’s school.
Anika has come a long way.
I remember the first day of the virtual class 2 years ago. Halos magleave ako ng sunod sunod na araw because she does not know how to navigate the laptop and how to do the lessons. No matter how tired I was at work, I would teach her and do her tasks together at night. It was not easy. Ramdam ko talaga yung “bakit parang ako yung naka-enroll?“. For that year, tinutukan ko talaga. I tried to summon all my patience because I had to teach her the lessons, teach her how to upload everything and made sure to remind her all the time to submit her tasks and PETA. I trained her how to keep track of her school submittals by making lists. She excelled that year. That was Grade 5.
Come Grade 6, online classes pa din. I noticed that hindi ko na siya tinuturuan. If nung Grade 5 I was regularly checking her school emails, this year parang once ko lang yata tiningnan and that was only because I was bored. Hindi ko na binantayan. Siya talaga lahat. I was able to instill in her yung principle na better to do it na and submit early rather than enjoy enjoy tapos magcramming and submit on time lang. She feels relieved and relaxed pagnasusubmit niya ng maaga. Sabi ko, yan ang benefit when you do it early. I also noticed that Anika became super familiar na in using her laptop. She can navigate school online programs well. Ang galing na magtake ng photo, transfer the photo from her phone to her laptop, then submit online. Ang galing na din niya in making presentations. She makes better online presentations than some of my staff, to be honest. Ganyan ata talaga pag bata pa kasi. They can absorb more information and are more techie plus more artistic pa. Galing talaga.
Though there are days that she felt overwhelmed with all the things that she needed to finish and submit. Take note, may volleyball club and volleyball training pa siya niyan during the week ha? But she was able to balance her sports and academics well. That’s what I am most proud of. When she felt overwhelmed, I taught her to breathe. I told her to write down the things that she should do and put the deadline date beside it. Ayun, it calmed her naman. I told her that’s the technique when you have a lot of things to do, write it down.
There are also times that she would text me in the middle of the day sometimes if I can help her with some of her school work. However, nagugulat na lang ako kasi paguwi ko, tapos na daw niya. Lelz.
Ang naging participation ko na lang is checking if she has submitted her PETAs already. They don’t have exams. They have PETAs which are projects na either a video presentation, slides presentation, reporting or essays. Every time naman I ask, nasubmit na niya.
I am happy also because she’s active in class. Whenever her teachers daw ask a question, she will raise her hand. Then the teachers daw will say, “wala na bang iba na pwede maganswer?”. Hahahaha! Lagi na lang daw siya.
When I received this letter in my email, she was in our room while I was in the living room. I sent it to her via messenger. I heard na tumili inside the room. Then she opened the door and nagtatatakbo towards me with a big smile on her face sabay yakap sa akin. Naluha ako. Hindi ko na lang pinahalata. I’m so proud of her. Ito pala din yung sinasabi nila na yung achievements of our kids are our achievements too. Ramdam ko.
You know, it helped din siguro that I told her na any grade will be okay for me as long as nakikita ko na she’s working hard. Mahirap na ipressure ang mga bata ngayon. Ibang species na sila. I let her play minecraft and roblox. Para makapagrelax in between school work. Kahit school day, I let her. Buti maganda yung naging outcome.
Ang bongga ni Anika. She will graduate Grade School with Academic Distinction. Sarap pakinggan. Nakakatanggal ng pagod. Despite everything, we must be doing something right in raising her. I pray to God for that everyday din kasi.
Osha. Ang saya ko lang kaya I felt like sharing it to everybody.