My 4th grader

Ben started the new school year today, and is now in Middle School. I told him that now he's in 4th grade, there will have to be changes. I'm not sure how soon we will be able to implement these changes, but hopefully my patience won't wear thin too early. :)

Here are the pictures I took this morning to start the year:







Was looking through some of my earlier posts and it's weird to see how much he's grown up. There are times when I miss the little Ben. Still I'm thankful he is still affectionate. I know the time will come when he won't be anymore, so I'm holding on to that while I can.

This year, I hope I'll be creative enough to think of a good way to document how things are going for us. Blogging regularly, maybe? Am keeping my fingers crossed.

18 days to go...

In 18 days, Ben will start 4th grade. My boy will soon be in Middle School. As I told him, new beginning, clean slate. Among my goals this year is to get him to develop a love for learning and to develop good study habits. This is difficult, since the amount of schoolwork kids are subjected to these days is appalling. Not surprisingly, many kids tend to not like school. I really don't remember my schooldays back in the 70s and 80s being this stuffed with schoolwork, but I guess those days are long gone. There seems to be so much pressure on the kids these days, what with all the new things going on. I've got to get him to read more and play less, because this summer he spent so much time playing. My fault actually.

Anyway, as the new school year rolls in, my goal is to be a better guide to Ben in his learning process. That's a tall order, since sadly, my patience usually wears thin when I help Ben with his lessons and homework. Daily arguments are common. This year, I will strive to be a more patient, more understanding, and more encouraging Nanay. I hope that by the end of the year and when he starts 5th grade, he would've have developed good study habits.

I'm not sure if I am on the right path, but my goal is not so much for him to get very high grades and honors in class, although of course those would be a bonus. I just want him to really be able to do his best in everything he does. It's hard though, because when he doesn't do too well, I get upset, so he starts thinking that I'm pressuring him for higher grades. I just know that he's capable of so much more, but perhaps I'm not being able to properly explain to him. I hope this year I'll be able to make him understand that.

It's going to be a challenging year, but with us working together, I'm hoping he and I will be able to rise up to the challenge.

It's been a long long time

Wow, has it been more than two years since I last posted. So much have happened, it would be difficult to go through them all. I'm thinking I'd like to give this a shot again though. Update - Ben is now almost 10 years old, about to enter 4th grade, which begins Middle School at the Ateneo. He's grown, I'll give it another two years (or maybe less) and he'll probably be taller than me. Here's a recent pic:

This summer I took him with me to Cebu, his second visit to the city. I"ll make a collage of some picture and post here later. I hope to be able to bring him to more places. We're going to start a travel jar, where we'll put in coins and small bills to save some money for potential trips. I'm hoping to get him out of the country before his passport expires next year. Setting sight on visiting Terrie in Singapore.

I don't even know if anyone reads this blog. Maybe I'll put a link on my FB page. Still, when I first created this blog, it was meant as a place for me to share my adventures with Ben...hence The Plastic Banoms. Oh well, here's hoping we'll have more adventures together before he ventures off on his own.