Colt’s First Day Back to Local School!
Yesterday was Colt’s first day of Chinese 1st grade. Here, they have kindergarten, then pre-kindergarten, and most kids are 7 when they start 1st grade. This worked in his favor and gave him extra time to become pretty-much fluent in Chinese over the past almost 2 years! He’s a rock star. . . and I’m his biased mother 🙂
He also started English 2nd grade on Monday. The first morning went smoothly, and I’m so thankful he is easy to teach!
His new school is a Waldorf school. It started 2 years ago here in GL and the education style is 100% different from Chinese traditional education. The days are shorter and there is no homework (as opposed to traditional style 8:30-5:30 with a couple hours of homework)! He has 2 teachers and 7 total in his class (as opposed to 1 teacher and up to 60 students). They have Chinese and math class, then the rest of the day and classes focus on the arts and personal skills (i.e. painting, drawing, music, hand crafts like sewing and woodworking, agriculture, cooking, and hiking).
The first day they welcomed the 1st grade class by a little ceremony representing this “big step up into big school.” It was sweet. The teachers and so kind and have talked to us in depth about Colt’s strengths and weaknesses, personality, etc. to figure out how to best help him learn. They even came to our home for over for 2 hours during the summer to spend time with him and get to know our family. It’s a different learning style indeed!
So far we are thrilled. Colt’s first day was awesome. He came home all smiles and says he loved school so much he wanted to live there 🙂 ha! Not happening son 🙂 We are so thankful to have this type of opportunity for him. Traditional local school wasn’t a bad experience at all. He liked it just fine and had lots of friends that he looked forward to seeing every day. . . I just felt like the pressure and homework load would only increase and make adding homeschool too difficult. Didn’t want to crush him, you know?
Oh, did I mention some of the teachers and families are ‘like-minded?’ Pretty awesome. So thankful!!
Excited about school!
This is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade all together welcoming the 1st grade students.
Update on the Duckies
Well. . . We brought 2 littles duckies home Sunday 1 week ago. On Monday, Colt and his buddies took them for a walk and Kylie’s duck’s leg got stepped on and broken. Very sad I know. Colt was so upset he cried and cried. Kylie wasn’t mad though, she enjoyed trying to nurse it back to health. It just hobbled around the yard and was apparently an easy target of prey (though we didn’t know they were in any danger to start with). On Tuesday night, Kylie’s duck went missing. It was a mystery.
Then there was 1. But not for long. On Friday night, as I was falling asleep I heard the duck quacking in distress and then it suddenly stopped mid-quack. So I rushed to the window and caught the predator in action. It was a big fat rat. GROOOOOOOSSSS! I was so sad for the little duck and scared of the rat at the same time. We know they are around, but I honestly didn’t think they would eat our duckies.
Update on LDH!
Click here for the latest update on LDH and the family! They are thankful for you PR, and that they are all home together again!
Our new pets :)
Colt has been asking for a baby duck all summer. Sunday, David took him and Kylie to the market and bought 2 for $1 🙂 The kids are loving them! Kylie enjoys being a “mama duck” I think, since she holds her little ducky 24/7. When they get bigger Mommy’s plan is to let them go in the river with all of the other ducks. I’m sure a local would buy it from us to eat it though! 🙂
Fun day in the countryside!
David and a friend took a trip to the countryside on Thursday and discovered a like-minded body meets in this small town! It’s been set up since 1978! The leader wasn’t there that day, and when David called him he was actually in GL (our city)! Funny huh?
He invited us to bring the whole family back on Saturday and talk. We were so excited to learn how this group was started, their vision, how the Father is working, etc. It was about a 2.5 hour bus ride to get there around curvy mountain roads, but it was worth it! We all had a really good time and look forward to building relationships and possibly working with these people to reach the AM!
Swimming in the river! The water was so clean!
Lunch consisted of rice, tofu, duck, tofu noodles, and some green vegetable I had never eaten before.
Colt LOVED all the animals at our friend’s home. He wouldn’t mind living there 🙂
The kids are looking at a pond full of baby turtles (they gave us 3 to take home). The chickens and ducks are roaming free. So much fun! One of those ducks became our lunch!
We have a common bond – they are our brothers and sisters! This was where they meet each week. Pretty neat to see!
Grapes from their vineyard!
Grapes, watermelon, and hot peppers grown here!
Walking to the garden to pick some grapes!
They didn’t have much, but they were so kind and the kids had a blast!
Crossing the swinging bridge to their home. . . made me a tad nervous someone was going to fall into the river 🙂
This watermelon was dropped and it cracked open so we HAD to eat it 🙂
Colt loves some watermelon!
Picking grapes!
Going to meet them at their “Sunday meeting place.”
Waiting to a flag a bus to ride home. We drew quite the crowd! 🙂
Trying to Beat the Heat!
We went out with friends in search of a new water park we have seen advertised. We didn’t find it, but we found this place! It was free, and the clouds threatened rain (but never did) so there was no one there but us! Crazy 🙂 The kids had a lot of fun on the slides, obstacle course, and big blow-up toys! We will have to go back for sure!
Colt’s summer fun
School is out from July 1 – Sept. 1 here, and we have really enjoyed watching Colt enjoy the summer! We have had lots of fun travel and quality time as a family. Every day we are home though, Colt is playing with other boys in our apartment complex – pretty much from sun up to sun down. I love it, and I love they come over to our house often. . . Thankful for this little guy’s outgoing personality and ability to make friends wherever he goes!
He’s a natural climber. He told David, “I LIVE to climb!” Ha!
Climbed right to the top of this rock wall!
Another peak conquered!
Mountain #8!
Found an injured bird and kept it overnight. He loves animals!
Catching fish in the pond with a buddy!
Another mountain with Mommy and Daddy!
Panoramic view from one of the peaks he climbed.
Playing all day with friends – inside and outside. They have enjoyed the Wii 🙂
Building legos from Nana!
Pizza making and friend making
This is our new friend LJ. She doesn’t have an English name yet. . . maybe I’ll give her one someday 🙂 We met at our family’s favorite noodle shop. She was eating there too, and we finished up about the same time. Walking out she commented on the kids and then randomly asked if we had ever heard of the Son. Yes, it was sudden. . . out of the blue. . . and the look of suspicion I probably couldn’t conceal shocked us both. Turns out she is a sister, and I went to a parenting class at her group with her last Thursday. She came over Friday because she wanted to learn how make pizza. She is super sweet and the kids loved her! Always thankful for a new friend, and it’s obvious to me that this friend was a specific answer to PR. Did I mention we are neighbors? 🙂
Serious Update on LDH and LY’s baby boy
Please click here to read what Liu Yan told me through tears this morning. Please PR with us! If you can give, please consider giving.