First School Report

So both girls came through their first two days of school relatively unscathed. In fact, Maggie came walking out on Day 1 surrounded by a group of chatty new friends - hooray! And bless her teacher who had the foresight to ask for volunteers for students to show Maggie around during the first few weeks of school. Three little girls raised their hands - Mags was thrilled. Just what we needed to get her into the new routine. Sophie by nature makes friends easily too, and came home reporting on three new ones. I still break out in a sweat when I drop them off at the crowded playground in the mornings, feeling their anxiety probably more than they do as they undertake this big new adventure. Breathe, Mindy, breathe - they'll be fine!

They do have much more homework here though than in the States, and to Maggie's dismay, all writing is done in cursive. Since she learned cursive but hasn't used it since the third grade, this made homework the first night very slow-going, with much wailing and moaning. They laugh though at the way their teachers replace the "th" sound with the "t" sound, and how they pronounce the word forty as "farty". Potty humor, I know, but whatever gets a laugh.

Maggie was also slightly dismayed that all schools here are Catholic, so everyone but her knows these set prayers with which they start and end the day. We've talked about it and agree that it's such a great way to learn about other religions, and about our own in the process as we compare and contrast the two faiths... only she doesn't like the idea of everyone knowing something that she doesn't. :-) I told her she'll pick it up quick, if she wanted to. It's been a great springboard for discussion though on things like prayer traditions, faith, living the gospel and how best to talk about what we believe.

Sophie just smiles and follows along with whatever, but she's learning too. Her schoolwork is very challenging as I think they put her in a higher grade than she would have been in at home, which worries me... but we can keep up, with a little hard work and some tutoring at home. She'll be fine.