A New School Year

The kids started school today. Rymma and Julia weren't all too happy about it but they got up, dressed, ate a small breakfast and actually smiled when they got on the bus. :o) They did a great job clothes shopping (and I must say that John did a great job with them too - he took them by himself! What a great dad!) The girls will be split up a little this year to prepare them for high school next year. This will also force them to speak English and hopefully get them to come out of their shell a little bit and make some friends individually. They will have Language Arts, Math, ESL, gym and lunch together. They have separate homerooms, science and social studies. We think this will be good for them - they will be able to start finding their own identity. (UPDATE 8/26/08: They girls are doing very well in school. They doing homework with minimal questions and one assignment opened doors for great conversation betwen all of us. :o)

I was really impressed with the district in how they prepared for their English this year. They will have an ESL teaching time once a day. Then they will have that same teacher in Language Arts and Math with them 3x a week to assist them. This is like 1000% better than last year!!! I am eager to see how much more progress they make. They are doing VERY WELL with their English - they understand more and more and try to communicate back more and more. Even Rymma tried very hard to tell us what she wants without consulting Julia so much - and we haven't had to use the pocket translator or call our friend but maybe once a month.

Rymma has decided that she wants to take hip-hop. We found a studio about 10 minutes from home and north of Dover (just before you enter New Philly). She seems to want to break away from Julia a little - which is a good thing! I want to get Julia involved in extracurricular stuff too - perhaps piano. She loves our keyboard and I would like to see her pursue a personal interest of her own as well.

We went to the open house at the new school for Timmy on Monday - they took three elementary schools and combined them into one. WOW! It's really nice! They have pods for each grade. What color is Timmy's pod you ask? Yellow, of course! His favorite color! LOL He is all excited about school starting again. He really missed his friends this summer.

The new JH/HS will not be ready until after Christmas. We are hoping to have Krystina home by then! We are still waiting to turn in our dossier but hope to do so within the month. If we do, there is a good possibility that she will be home with us before the holidays! :o)