the first day

School season again :)  This year my girls will be at school four mornings a week, Isaac probably two mornings (but maybe three....)

School is definitely a trade-off for this mama.  On the one hand I am SO INCREDIBLY PROUD of them for their courage (what if your first day of school jitters included wariness of cultural mis-reads and disconnects) and their hard work (again, to do school in a second language ) and their admirable language skills.  [I'm still fully convinced that one of the primary ways we communicate love and respect towards our host culture here is by learning to speak their language!]

But I do miss them when they are gone.  I miss the help!  Especially my big girls - wow those girls lend a big hand, just their mere presence is a significant aid.  And then there are the times I specifically ask them to pitch in on a task or two....  And I miss their constant chatter.  And the excitement and energy and creativity they add to our home.  And their whining and bickering and messes (ha!)

So it's with divided heart that I sent them off this morning. 

Julianna is actually repeating a grade :)  For simplicities sake we decided to keep her at the same school as her siblings, which makes her the oldest kid in her class.  But since we're not really running the crazy rat race of the Chinese educational system (which puts children on the fast track to extra tutoring and packed-out schedules and piles of homework.... ) it doesn't bother us a lick that she is not getting any new academic material this year. 

She will still get lots and lots of language and culture exposure.  And she'll be a first grader when we start some home school stuff later this fall.

Lydia is moving up to the classroom next door to Julianna's.  In America I'm pretty sure she'd be barely qualifying for kindergarten (two weeks past her fifth birthday). 

She is still my most-reluctant school attender, the child who would live her entire life a mere inch from her mama's left knee if it were an option. 

And then my boy Isaac.  Brightens any classroom, that's for sure! 

He's got a new classroom too, but the same teachers from last spring ..... a smooth transition back to the schoolroom for my biggest little man. 

So school season is here.  We have tentative plans to move next summer (our lease is up, and our 1000 sq ft are busting at the seams with a family of seven!) so this might be our last year at this amazing little school.  Grateful grateful for another year ahead of us!