Conference update

by Amy

Brad and I just attended this 3 1/2 day home schooling conference. It's geared towards people living in Asia, home schooling their kids. There were probably over 100 families attending. We are really thankful for the opportunity we've had to be here! Some of the sessions were more helpful than others, but overall, it was a really great thing for our family to be apart of. Savannah thrived in her "VBS" class. She loved playing with kids her age, and a little older, that speak English! Alex and Peter caught her excitement and were also thrilled to head to class each day.

I most enjoyed the conversations this conference encouraged Brad and me to have. Since we're not really home schooling right now, we've postponed a lot of those conversations, waiting for this conference. The other day we sat down for two in a half hours and talked through our goals for our kids, and what educational decisions we need to make in order to make that happen. As a result of that conversation, we've decided we're going to try to see if Savannah can attend her kindergarten again next year, while homeschooling US kindergarten at home. (She's so eager to read, we may actually start that homeschooling before next fall.) Savannah's language is coming along, but not well enough that we feel like she'd understand if she attended a local school with other kids 6 and 7 years old. We feel giving her another year of part time kindergarten would be really helpful. Then, in 2009-2010, in order to help her feel comfortable and at home in our culture, we plan on sending her to a local elementary school, part time. (That is providing we can find a school that we feel good about.) That was a hard decision for me. I never pictured my kids attending a local elementary school, even for a few hours a day. But, as we talked though our goals, we really want our kids to feel at home in Asia. Part of that will be giving them the tools they need to read the sign on the building next door, and talk to the kids on the play ground without sounding like an uneducated 2 year-old (like their mama!) And, I came to realize that playing at the kindergarten won't give her that. In America, we teach our kids English for 12 years. What they learn at home and in pre-school doesn't provide enough grammar to communicate clearly. So, even though we don't plan on our kids attending an Asian university, (and don't need to be able to read college level literature) they would probably be most comfortable here if they could speak fluently and read on a basic level. Not to mention, we want our kids to have friends here and attending a school should promote that.

So, I'm thankful that Brad and I had some great conversations and were able to talk through a lot of these ideas. We also enjoyed bouncing our ideas off an education consultant. She provided some positive feedback and encouraged us as we raise our kids here.