Peace Elementary

The dreamed-up plan is this: next year Julianna and Lydia will both start first grade at the public elementary school down the street from our new apartment.  Julianna (7 1/2 yrs old) will probably be one of the oldest in her class, Lydia (turns 6 in August) barely meets the age cut off. 

A week or so ago Matt and I gathered piles and piles of documentation - passports and rental contracts and residence registration and birth certificates (authenticated and notarized) and proof that we had registered our rental contract at the housing bureau and, well, just piles and piles of paper.  The paper chasing and paper piling was totally worth it though, because in the end we qualified the girls for free public education in our city.  Woohoo!

Now we wait for the provincial level education office to assign them to an elementary school.  We've requested Peace Elementary (two blocks from our new house!) but it's not for sure yet, and we'll not know for another few weeks. 

The girls are nervous.  And excited.  So am I ;)  Ideally they'll spend part of their mornings at the elementary school, then we'll finish up the day with some home school in the afternoons.  But it might not work out like that, and right now we're trying to be flexible with all our plans.

Academically, Chinese school is not-for-wimps :)  Right now I feel confident that the girls are very well prepared (though I think they'll struggle with the pace the teacher sets in learning/memorizing characters). 

But for now, we are excited that God has called us, and them, to this path.  We're anxious to see where they are assigned, and praying that they'll get sent to Peace Elementary. 

(The pic above is of a first grade classroom at Peace.  We dropped by last week for an unofficial tour and met the principal.)