We survived our first day of school! It was the first day of classes for Tim and Daniel both, and a big day as well for Esther and me, since I accompanied Daniel to school all day and Esther went to daycare all day for the first time ever. (Actually Tim picked her up and took her out for lunch, but she arrived at daycare early in the morning and didn't leave until late afternoon, so it was a long day for her.) Everyone did well. Tim was very pleased with how his classes went, and Esther apparently had a wonderful time. As for Daniel, well, I'll start from the beginning.
Daniel is definitely in seventh grade. He is definitely going to get ESL pull-out services every day, but they haven't started yet since his teacher is new and is being oriented. Daniel's current classes are reading and language arts (a 90-minute period), math (a 90-minute period), science, geography, choir and art. I don't know what class he will be pulled out of for ESL, but it sounds like art is the most likely candidate. The school is still trying to get a handle on how best to help him, which means that his classes keep getting switched around. (How I wish the administrative staff had come back to work earlier in the summer so that we could have gotten this all sorted out BEFORE he started school!) The classes he went to today were from a now-outdated schedule, so tomorrow he will have all the same subjects, but his language class will be at a different time and his science and geography classes will be at a different time AND with different teachers. I think he connected really well with his science teacher, so I'm sorry for that switch, but it will allow all of his teachers to meet as a team and work together on figuring out how best to teach him.
Today was a ZOO. It reminded me of teaching in China, when schedules weren't announced until the last minute, and then were likely to be changed. First all the students went to homeroom. The homeroom teacher (who I love!) cranked through a bunch of paperwork, then was interrupted by the bell abruptly summoning 7th grade to the auditorium. So we all herded down there, listened to a welcome-to-school-and-here-are-the-rules speech from the principle and a new vice principle, then headed back up for more homeroom. It turned out that much of what remained to be covered in homeroom had already been covered by the vice principle, so after a little more business we all ended up cooling our heels in homeroom while waiting for the announcement that students could start going to regular classes. Anyway, I had a nice talk with Daniel's homeroom teacher, who is now going to be his geography teacher as well. Daniel got a little bored, so I asked her if she had any jobs he could do, and she got him putting tennis balls on chair feet so they won't scratch up the floor when they slide around. Daniel loves few things better than a job to do, so that suited him just fine, and several other students thought that it looked like fun and joined in. Then the bell rang and we started a series of whirlwind visits to morning classes. I kid you not, I think students got about ten minutes in each class, not even enough time for teachers to finish going over the syllabus. I stayed behind after the language arts class to talk to the teacher (Daniel assuring me that he could find his way to the auditorium for his next class), and when the next bell rang just a few minutes later, I had no idea whether Daniel would wait for me in the auditorium, come back to find me in his language classroom, or go on to his next class. I also wasn't positive which his next class was supposed to be. Ack!! And of course, the school has looooong hallways, and it took me several minutes just to get to the auditorium and confirm that he wasn't there any more. Anyway, he had the sense to show someone his schedule and let them point him in the right direction, so he turned up at his next classroom only a little bit late. He did not seem to be unnerved by the experience, although he did tell me that he had to ask a lot of people for directions. (Mind you, his English is still essentially nil, so he must have been doing this by pantomime.) After four ten-fifteen minute classes, we finally were summoned to lunch. Daniel's teacher at the time asked a classmate to help him get to the cafeteria, and this classmate walked him back to his locker to get his lunch money and then made sure that he found the cafeteria alright. We were in the last five people to get lunch, so I had to eat so fast I could hardly taste the food. Daniel said the one lunch wasn't enough; he would have liked to have two. I'll have to ask the school if that's an option for him to buy two lunches.
After lunch the 7th graders went on their regular schedule, so we went from classes that were far too short for the amount of material teachers were trying to cover, to classes that were far too long. Daniel actually fell asleep during his ninety-minute math class, not surprising since the teacher was talking and talking and he had no idea what she was saying. She is a former French teacher, though, and she did a good job opening the students' eyes to Daniel's classroom experience by starting out her teaching in French! Then she pointed out that this is what it would feel like to be plopped down in a classroom in a foreign country. Several of Daniel's teachers said something about him or asked me to introduce him, and it seemed like the students really "got it." Several students came up and introduced themselves to Daniel or said "Hi Daniel!" on their way past, and in one class when the kids were playing around at the end of class they deliberately included Daniel in their play. I have been very, very pleased by how people have responded to Daniel! I was also very, very pleased that he managed to behave appropriately almost all day, despite being bored and confused, that he didn't do anything too weird, and that he was comfortable finding his own way around when he needed to. He is determined that he wants to ride the school bus, so I'm going to wait with him at the bus stop tomorrow morning and then let Tim give me a ride into school and meet up with Daniel there. After today, I am pretty confident that he can get himself to where he needs to be, and if not, he can get directions.
This school year ahead is definitely going to be challenging, but...right now I'm feeling very hopeful about it!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
The best cure for a boo-boo
Esther had her four-year well-child check-up this morning. In honor of her four years (not really!) she got four shots. So since then she has been limping around or lying back on the couch watching TV, and generally milking her boo-boos for all they're worth. One leg seems to my maternal eye to be all right, but I think the other one truly is sore. So when it came time for gymnastics class, I asked her if she thought she would be able to go this week. First she thought she might have to sit it out...then she thought she would be fine if she did some of the moves slowly...but by the time she left she was practically frisking in anticipation. I don't think we'll be hearing quite as much about her boo-boos this evening!
First school visit
Two separate people had told me, on two separate occasions, that the guidance counselors for Daniel's middle school would be back to work on August 9th. So we rearranged our morning schedule to allow me to finish getting all his registration materials together so that we could be ready to drop them off in person as soon as we were given the go-ahead. Except...I kept calling and calling, and never got any answer. Turns out the first day of work was August 10th.
So, on August 10th we rearranged our morning schedule so that we could make a personal visit to drop off our registration materials. We (all four of us!) met with two guidance counselors and a vice principle. (Actually, it was mostly me involved in the conversations, while Tim rode herd on the two kids.)
The not-so-good: We will have to get Daniel's perfectly good June TB test, good enough for the famously picky United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, redone because state laws require
it to be done in-state. ARGH! We have to provide the school with the address of Daniel's previous school so that they can send them a request for a transfer of records. So I get to decide whether to have a friend write a note to his old school in Chinese, or whether to just provide his current school with the address and let them figure out what to do with it! They understand that they're extremely unlikely to get any records of use, but they have to document an attempt. And, the special ed services which were so blithely suggested by a couple of different people during conversations in the spring were pretty much shot down by the district special ed person, who I got to talk to on the phone during this meeting. She said that they can't qualify him for special ed services unless they can prove that any deficits he may have are NOT due to lack of opportunity to learn...which would be very difficult to do based both on his previous school setting (where I am pretty confident that he lacked opportunity to learn to his potential) and on the lack of U.S.-formatted information about his previous school setting. I did have some idea of all this before, which is why I was surprised when special ed services were initially recommended, but I'm bummed to be right! The special ed person is not against testing him, but will not move forward on that until we have the results of his English language assessment. Given that school will start in two weeks, that could mean changing his placement a few weeks or months into the school year.
The good: I still have the impression that the staff at the school really want to work with us to get Daniel into the placement that is most appropriate for him. At one point, somebody said to me that they have the obligation to give him an appropriate and accessible education, which is nice to hear from them instead of me having to remind them as some parents of older international adoptees have felt the need to do. The vice principle asked me what his strengths and interests are--I love that they are thinking in terms of building on those! I was also very pleased to learn that I can join regularly scheduled teacher team planning meetings in person or by phone to discuss how his learning is going.
The staff are open to trying a variety of placements. Sixth grade (rather than seventh) was brought up as a possibility, and we are thinking about the pros and cons of that.
So to sum up...Daniel is a completely new ball of wax for the school and they're not real sure what to do with him (most school districts wouldn't be!), but they really want him to succeed and they're open to learning and trying new things and to working closely with us as parents. So overall, I'm feeling pretty good about next year.
Apparently Daniel is feeling a little better about school as well after actually being there and observing me meet with the counselors. Today he was looking for some entertainment, and spontaneously decided to do math problems so he could get ready for school!
So, on August 10th we rearranged our morning schedule so that we could make a personal visit to drop off our registration materials. We (all four of us!) met with two guidance counselors and a vice principle. (Actually, it was mostly me involved in the conversations, while Tim rode herd on the two kids.)
The not-so-good: We will have to get Daniel's perfectly good June TB test, good enough for the famously picky United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, redone because state laws require
it to be done in-state. ARGH! We have to provide the school with the address of Daniel's previous school so that they can send them a request for a transfer of records. So I get to decide whether to have a friend write a note to his old school in Chinese, or whether to just provide his current school with the address and let them figure out what to do with it! They understand that they're extremely unlikely to get any records of use, but they have to document an attempt. And, the special ed services which were so blithely suggested by a couple of different people during conversations in the spring were pretty much shot down by the district special ed person, who I got to talk to on the phone during this meeting. She said that they can't qualify him for special ed services unless they can prove that any deficits he may have are NOT due to lack of opportunity to learn...which would be very difficult to do based both on his previous school setting (where I am pretty confident that he lacked opportunity to learn to his potential) and on the lack of U.S.-formatted information about his previous school setting. I did have some idea of all this before, which is why I was surprised when special ed services were initially recommended, but I'm bummed to be right! The special ed person is not against testing him, but will not move forward on that until we have the results of his English language assessment. Given that school will start in two weeks, that could mean changing his placement a few weeks or months into the school year.
The good: I still have the impression that the staff at the school really want to work with us to get Daniel into the placement that is most appropriate for him. At one point, somebody said to me that they have the obligation to give him an appropriate and accessible education, which is nice to hear from them instead of me having to remind them as some parents of older international adoptees have felt the need to do. The vice principle asked me what his strengths and interests are--I love that they are thinking in terms of building on those! I was also very pleased to learn that I can join regularly scheduled teacher team planning meetings in person or by phone to discuss how his learning is going.
The staff are open to trying a variety of placements. Sixth grade (rather than seventh) was brought up as a possibility, and we are thinking about the pros and cons of that.
So to sum up...Daniel is a completely new ball of wax for the school and they're not real sure what to do with him (most school districts wouldn't be!), but they really want him to succeed and they're open to learning and trying new things and to working closely with us as parents. So overall, I'm feeling pretty good about next year.
Apparently Daniel is feeling a little better about school as well after actually being there and observing me meet with the counselors. Today he was looking for some entertainment, and spontaneously decided to do math problems so he could get ready for school!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Back to China
No, we do not have any more travel plans! I just wanted to finish narrating the rest of our trip before I forget it all. So far I've only written about what we did through Thursday afternoon of our first week there, and we did do some interesting stuff after that.
Friday morning we went to Daming Lake. Part of it costs money, but they have recently developed another part of the lake and it is free, so we went to the free part. The picture of Daniel carrying Esther on his back is, I think, the first time he gave her a piggyback ride. It did my heart good to see her wanting to play with him and him happy to oblige! You may notice in some of the pictures that you can barely see some buildings fading off into the distance. They actually are not that far away, but the latter part of our stay in Jinan was the worst air quality I think I have ever experienced there...and given that we lived there for two years, that is saying a lot! One day I was standing at one end of Quancheng square and couldn't even see the buildings at the other end. The air looked misty...but it was far too warm, and it didn't smell anything like mist. Ugh. Anyway, we wandered through many paths of the lakeside park, enjoying attractive views and looking for a little beach area that friends had told us about. After a long time of wandering during which kids (mostly the bigger kid) were starting to complain, we finally gave our friends a call to ask how to get to the sandy play area, and found out that it was very close to where we had entered but in the opposite direction from the way we had walked! So we headed back, with Daniel complaining about the long walk and Esther begging to swim at the beach. We stopped to watch a bride and groom getting wedding photos made at the lake (we passed no fewer than three couples in wedding attire on our way out) and, at Daniel's request, took a picture of them. So now we have a random picture of a bride and groom-to-be among our family photos of the trip. As we got close to the entrance we had come in at, it started to rain. So, much to Esther's disappointment, we cut our trip short and headed back to the hotel.
Friday afternoon Daniel and I headed out to the Xinua bookstore on Quancheng Lu to look for an electronic translator, having determined that Daniel could not use either of the dictionaries we had brought to find the words he wanted to say. This time I found the correct street, and we arrived at the store without any trouble. We passed a Starbucks along the way, a new addition to Jinan since we lived there! I had envisioned us stopping in and buying a Jinan city mug while we were in the city, but alas, we never made the time to do so. Anyway, we got to the bookstore, asked for directions to the translators a couple of times, and finally found them on the third floor. The person behind the counter was very nice and wanting to be helpful, but I could not understand most of what she was telling me about the features of different translators. Naturally, I had neglected to bring my dictionary along, so I was limited to the vocabulary that I actually know. I could understand the price, and so we looked at a couple translators in my price range. The one I liked most let me type in English and let Daniel write (with a stylus) in Chinese characters. Then it would translate the input language and, at the push of a button, read the results out loud. Daniel didn't have to strain his eyes to use it, and it did a good job translating the couple of test sentences that I put in. However, I wanted to know more about what we were getting before I plunked down eighty or so dollars for it, so I told the employee we would back, and we returned to our hotel.
Friday evening Tim's colleague picked us up in his new car and drove us to a very nice restaurant to have dinner with his family. His son is now studying in a boarding high school during the week and is only home on the weekends, so this was our chance to see the whole family. It was really good to see them all again. Tim's colleague's son has gotten tall and handsome, and very well-spoken. He is interested in the sciences, maybe astronomy. (Given that both parents are scientists, that's not too surprising!) He will take the highly competitive national college entrance examination soon (I think this year), so he does not have time to do much besides study. The meal was delicious, although it took some doing to order enough food to qualify for the private room they had reserved. We ended up with way more dishes than a party of seven could possibly eat. (But the leftovers went home with them, so I don't think they went to waste.) That restaurant's peanuts in old vinegar (one of my favorite Shandong dishes) were amazing! Esther evidently thought so too, as she kept eating and eating them. I was a little disappointed as I wanted some more myself--and then a second dish of them appeared! So I got to eat as much as I could hold. :-) Daniel got rather restless during the meal, but found a socially acceptable outlet for his energy in jumping up to take emptied dishes to the little window in the wall that we were served through, and picking up new dishes as they came in and bringing them to the table. Esther was also restless and had no such outlet. I got a little more aggravated with her than I should have. Eventually I took her for a walk down to the first floor and back, and later Tim's colleague's wife took her for a walk. Tim's colleague's son took Daniel for a walk at one point. On the one hand, the meal took a long time, but on the other hand, being as it was our only chance to see these friends, it ended too soon. They left us with a gift for both kids, and then Tim's colleague drove us back to our hotel. I very nearly feel asleep in back seat, I was so tired. (We were still a little jetlagged at that point.)
Friday afternoon Daniel and I headed out to the Xinua bookstore on Quancheng Lu to look for an electronic translator, having determined that Daniel could not use either of the dictionaries we had brought to find the words he wanted to say. This time I found the correct street, and we arrived at the store without any trouble. We passed a Starbucks along the way, a new addition to Jinan since we lived there! I had envisioned us stopping in and buying a Jinan city mug while we were in the city, but alas, we never made the time to do so. Anyway, we got to the bookstore, asked for directions to the translators a couple of times, and finally found them on the third floor. The person behind the counter was very nice and wanting to be helpful, but I could not understand most of what she was telling me about the features of different translators. Naturally, I had neglected to bring my dictionary along, so I was limited to the vocabulary that I actually know. I could understand the price, and so we looked at a couple translators in my price range. The one I liked most let me type in English and let Daniel write (with a stylus) in Chinese characters. Then it would translate the input language and, at the push of a button, read the results out loud. Daniel didn't have to strain his eyes to use it, and it did a good job translating the couple of test sentences that I put in. However, I wanted to know more about what we were getting before I plunked down eighty or so dollars for it, so I told the employee we would back, and we returned to our hotel.
Friday evening Tim's colleague picked us up in his new car and drove us to a very nice restaurant to have dinner with his family. His son is now studying in a boarding high school during the week and is only home on the weekends, so this was our chance to see the whole family. It was really good to see them all again. Tim's colleague's son has gotten tall and handsome, and very well-spoken. He is interested in the sciences, maybe astronomy. (Given that both parents are scientists, that's not too surprising!) He will take the highly competitive national college entrance examination soon (I think this year), so he does not have time to do much besides study. The meal was delicious, although it took some doing to order enough food to qualify for the private room they had reserved. We ended up with way more dishes than a party of seven could possibly eat. (But the leftovers went home with them, so I don't think they went to waste.) That restaurant's peanuts in old vinegar (one of my favorite Shandong dishes) were amazing! Esther evidently thought so too, as she kept eating and eating them. I was a little disappointed as I wanted some more myself--and then a second dish of them appeared! So I got to eat as much as I could hold. :-) Daniel got rather restless during the meal, but found a socially acceptable outlet for his energy in jumping up to take emptied dishes to the little window in the wall that we were served through, and picking up new dishes as they came in and bringing them to the table. Esther was also restless and had no such outlet. I got a little more aggravated with her than I should have. Eventually I took her for a walk down to the first floor and back, and later Tim's colleague's wife took her for a walk. Tim's colleague's son took Daniel for a walk at one point. On the one hand, the meal took a long time, but on the other hand, being as it was our only chance to see these friends, it ended too soon. They left us with a gift for both kids, and then Tim's colleague drove us back to our hotel. I very nearly feel asleep in back seat, I was so tired. (We were still a little jetlagged at that point.)
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
P.S. to school
Tim thought that my description of the kids' school abilities was a little confusing at one point. When I say that they can't/won't work independently, I mean that neither one is at the point where I can hand them an assignment (reading, writing, workbook, etc.) and just let them go. Either they are not yet capable of doing the assignment, or they aren't motivated to do it without me talking them through it. Also neither one of them will play alone when there are other people around to interact with. So if I want to work with one child one-on-one, the other child pretty much has to be on the computer or watching TV. Otherwise they will be coming in constantly trying to talk to me and the child I'm working with. This would pose a real problem for full-day homeschool, given that working with them together for any length of time also has some challenges. I'm sure experienced homeschool parents have ways of dealing with this, but...I'm just glad I'm not trying to do it full-day this year! Next year, we'll see. If public school doesn't work out well for Daniel, we will revisit the possibility of homeschool. In the meantime, this fall will help him to work on his English and give both kids some time to mature.
Monday, August 1, 2011
School
Let's just say that Daniel is not an easy child to "place" academically. In age, he is fourteen, and his physical appearance more-or-less matches his age. In behavior, it depends on the circumstances. In friendship, at least in China, he gravitated towards adults or kids who were several years older than he is. In math, he might be around a second-grade level. In reading, he is working on kindergarten skills. In science and other practical skills, he knows quite a lot about some things, but there are random gaps in his knowledge. In receptive English language, he's an infant.
I am still figuring out his prior school experience. From what I've learned so far, it seems to have been much more vocational than academic. I know the students spent time making handicrafts, and that they helped to cook their own lunch. They do not seem to have spent much time actually in class. Daniel is very fond of some of his teachers, but has not said anything about any of his fellow students. When I told him the other day that he would want to know some English when school starts here so that he can talk to his classmates, he told me that he never chatted with his fellow students in China because "they were all know-nothings, even stupider than Esther." (I don't think he intended that last as a comment on Esther's intelligence, but to say that they knew less than a four-year-old.)
For the last several weeks, I've spent the mornings doing homeschool with Daniel and Esther. First we go outside for an hour (if we get out the door early enough, which we often don't!). Then we study together for half an hour, mostly pre-reading activities although I have also worked with them on recognizing different coins and understanding how they compare in value. Then I have them take turns playing educational computer games while I work with the other one individually for half an hour each. Then we end together again by doing calendar and miscellaneous stuff. It has provided some much-needed structure to our days (our boy does not do well when he's at loose ends!), allowed Tim uninterrupted work time, and helped me get a handle on where Daniel is academically.
Some things I have learned from our summer homeschool:
--Neither child is willing/able to do very much work independently. Both do quite well when I can work with them one-on-one, but we have had some issues with them inciting each other to naughtiness when I am working with them together.
--It is hard for me to find time to adequately prep; I don't know how I would manage to prep for more than the two hours a day that we do!
--Daniel is faster than Esther at learning alphabet letter names, but still slower than I would have hoped. (After about fifteen days of several-times daily reviewing the 26 letters of the alphabet, he still only knows some of their names. This would be remarkable for a kindergartner, but I was hoping it would go faster for a teen!) Daniel has no trouble associating meaning with words (he will look at "Dad" and read "Father"), but it takes a lot of repetition for him to remember what they sound like in English. He memorizes his sight words very quickly.
--I don't think Daniel has ever been taught to be methodical about learning.
There would certainly be some benefits to homeschooling Daniel, but there are some drawbacks as well, to wit:
--I don't have a car most days (we are a one-car family), so would have no way of getting him and Esther to homeschool events. I'm a little less worried about giving them chances to socialize than I would be with just Esther, since they do interact well with each other, but I'm still not keen on the idea of being completely homebound for their education.
--Daniel's English acquisition is going sooooooooo slowly, and I think the fact that he can speak Chinese with me is a large part of the reason. I don't want to stop speaking with him in Chinese because it's great for his emotional adjustment to be able to communicate with his family, but I think being in an all English-speaking environment will give him a needed kick in the pants to start actually using English to communicate. He is interested in English and tries to pick up words and phrases, but...needing to use it is a much more effective motivator than wanting to use it.
--If we homeschooled, I'm just not sure how I would manage to give Daniel the amount of one-on-one time he needs academically without parking Esther in front of a screen for more hours than I'm comfortable with. But sending her to preschool every day would be daunting logistically due to the car issue above. I'm also not sure when I would find the time to prepare for teaching Daniel, especially given that Tim will be more busy once his classes start back up!
So, we are sticking with our original plan of sending Daniel to our local middle school in seventh grade. Some of our reasons have changed, but I still think it's our best option for the moment. That will give him six years rather than four to "finish" high school; I don't see any way that he could be at a high school level academically by the time he hits twelfth grade, but hopefully the two extra years will be of benefit. Meanwhile, he won't be enough older than his classmates for them to think much of it. I don't know whether or not he'll make friends, given his experiences in China, but at least he's not likely to feel let down if he doesn't. I can't enroll him until next week, when the guidance office re-opens, but based on previous conversations I believe that they are going to test him not only for English but for special education services. I'm not quite sure how they plan to do that with a non-English-speaking student, but any extra help they can qualify him for will be great. At the very least he will get pull-out ESL instruction twice a week, have an IEP to address his vision needs, and be steered towards classrooms that have more than one teacher. I'm hoping for pull-out instruction in reading and math as well, since seventh-grade lessons are going to go right over his head. And I will continue to work with him at home on basic skills. He will probably think that's torture, but...he'll live!
Anyway, back to summer homeschool: Daniel had his first really good day today! We had fun when we were first getting started, but he and Esther were a little wild together. And there have been some days when I was about ready to tear my hair out by the time the morning was over. After a particularly bad day on Friday I put some thought (and prayer!) into how to make this work, and decided to have a written lesson plan each day of all the activities I wanted to accomplish, and give each child a star for each activity they complete successfully (success being things like following directions, focusing, not complaining, and not rolling around on the floor). They have to get a certain number of stars in order to eat ice cream in the afternoon, and even more in order to eat two ice creams. (Our ice creams are small.) This method seems to be working for them. (Now watch tomorrow be a disaster! Ha.) But I was SO PLEASED today that Daniel was engaged in studying, followed directions, and didn't (so far as I remember) even complain once! Esther didn't have such a good day, but I know she is capable of it, so...hopefully tomorrow!
I am still figuring out his prior school experience. From what I've learned so far, it seems to have been much more vocational than academic. I know the students spent time making handicrafts, and that they helped to cook their own lunch. They do not seem to have spent much time actually in class. Daniel is very fond of some of his teachers, but has not said anything about any of his fellow students. When I told him the other day that he would want to know some English when school starts here so that he can talk to his classmates, he told me that he never chatted with his fellow students in China because "they were all know-nothings, even stupider than Esther." (I don't think he intended that last as a comment on Esther's intelligence, but to say that they knew less than a four-year-old.)
For the last several weeks, I've spent the mornings doing homeschool with Daniel and Esther. First we go outside for an hour (if we get out the door early enough, which we often don't!). Then we study together for half an hour, mostly pre-reading activities although I have also worked with them on recognizing different coins and understanding how they compare in value. Then I have them take turns playing educational computer games while I work with the other one individually for half an hour each. Then we end together again by doing calendar and miscellaneous stuff. It has provided some much-needed structure to our days (our boy does not do well when he's at loose ends!), allowed Tim uninterrupted work time, and helped me get a handle on where Daniel is academically.
Some things I have learned from our summer homeschool:
--Neither child is willing/able to do very much work independently. Both do quite well when I can work with them one-on-one, but we have had some issues with them inciting each other to naughtiness when I am working with them together.
--It is hard for me to find time to adequately prep; I don't know how I would manage to prep for more than the two hours a day that we do!
--Daniel is faster than Esther at learning alphabet letter names, but still slower than I would have hoped. (After about fifteen days of several-times daily reviewing the 26 letters of the alphabet, he still only knows some of their names. This would be remarkable for a kindergartner, but I was hoping it would go faster for a teen!) Daniel has no trouble associating meaning with words (he will look at "Dad" and read "Father"), but it takes a lot of repetition for him to remember what they sound like in English. He memorizes his sight words very quickly.
--I don't think Daniel has ever been taught to be methodical about learning.
There would certainly be some benefits to homeschooling Daniel, but there are some drawbacks as well, to wit:
--I don't have a car most days (we are a one-car family), so would have no way of getting him and Esther to homeschool events. I'm a little less worried about giving them chances to socialize than I would be with just Esther, since they do interact well with each other, but I'm still not keen on the idea of being completely homebound for their education.
--Daniel's English acquisition is going sooooooooo slowly, and I think the fact that he can speak Chinese with me is a large part of the reason. I don't want to stop speaking with him in Chinese because it's great for his emotional adjustment to be able to communicate with his family, but I think being in an all English-speaking environment will give him a needed kick in the pants to start actually using English to communicate. He is interested in English and tries to pick up words and phrases, but...needing to use it is a much more effective motivator than wanting to use it.
--If we homeschooled, I'm just not sure how I would manage to give Daniel the amount of one-on-one time he needs academically without parking Esther in front of a screen for more hours than I'm comfortable with. But sending her to preschool every day would be daunting logistically due to the car issue above. I'm also not sure when I would find the time to prepare for teaching Daniel, especially given that Tim will be more busy once his classes start back up!
So, we are sticking with our original plan of sending Daniel to our local middle school in seventh grade. Some of our reasons have changed, but I still think it's our best option for the moment. That will give him six years rather than four to "finish" high school; I don't see any way that he could be at a high school level academically by the time he hits twelfth grade, but hopefully the two extra years will be of benefit. Meanwhile, he won't be enough older than his classmates for them to think much of it. I don't know whether or not he'll make friends, given his experiences in China, but at least he's not likely to feel let down if he doesn't. I can't enroll him until next week, when the guidance office re-opens, but based on previous conversations I believe that they are going to test him not only for English but for special education services. I'm not quite sure how they plan to do that with a non-English-speaking student, but any extra help they can qualify him for will be great. At the very least he will get pull-out ESL instruction twice a week, have an IEP to address his vision needs, and be steered towards classrooms that have more than one teacher. I'm hoping for pull-out instruction in reading and math as well, since seventh-grade lessons are going to go right over his head. And I will continue to work with him at home on basic skills. He will probably think that's torture, but...he'll live!
Anyway, back to summer homeschool: Daniel had his first really good day today! We had fun when we were first getting started, but he and Esther were a little wild together. And there have been some days when I was about ready to tear my hair out by the time the morning was over. After a particularly bad day on Friday I put some thought (and prayer!) into how to make this work, and decided to have a written lesson plan each day of all the activities I wanted to accomplish, and give each child a star for each activity they complete successfully (success being things like following directions, focusing, not complaining, and not rolling around on the floor). They have to get a certain number of stars in order to eat ice cream in the afternoon, and even more in order to eat two ice creams. (Our ice creams are small.) This method seems to be working for them. (Now watch tomorrow be a disaster! Ha.) But I was SO PLEASED today that Daniel was engaged in studying, followed directions, and didn't (so far as I remember) even complain once! Esther didn't have such a good day, but I know she is capable of it, so...hopefully tomorrow!