Back to School

Carter has been back in school for about one month now.  This is his second year in a public Romanian school and the difference is amazing - for both of us!  This year we felt much more comfortable knowing what to expect.  We are especially thankful that in Romanian schools, the kids stay in the same group with the same teacher until 4th grade.  So we had some communication with the teacher beforehand, and Carter was so excited to see all his friends again from last year.  Here are some pics from the first day...

The big Second-Grader

Carter's biggest fans

Daddy & Carter

Mommy & Carter

I love this picture!  It captures just a little of the
excitement he had when we saw his classmates again!

Carter, waiting with his classmates

"Take my picture, too, Mommy!" - Kamryn

Carter's class called to enter the school.

Carter still has a long way to go with his language, but his improvement is tremendous!  At the beginning of last year (probably the entire first half of the year), I would ask him questions about a note in his book, or what his teacher said about something, or when he needed to bring a certain book....and he had no idea.  He really struggled to stay focused during the day because he couldn't understand what was going on around him.  But the start of this year has been completely different!  He came home telling me exactly how many notebooks he needed for each subject and why, exactly what his teacher said about certain things, the conversations he had with his friends, and much more.  It has been such a blessing to see God rewarding his perseverance through the struggles of last year.

As for me, I still have a lot of questions and struggle with being "out of the loop" at times, but am thankful for the improvements.  Last year, I asked our language teacher to come with me to the first parent meeting to make sure I understood everything and didn't miss anything critical.  This year, I was able to go by myself.  Now, keep in mind, I didn't understand 100% and probably missed more details that I realize, but I was comfortable in getting the main ideas.  And the relationship with other moms is continuing to improve.  There are a handful that have been extremely helpful and I am now comfortable calling or emailing with questions, even if they seem silly.

The biggest struggle this year will be the homework in Limba Romana.  Thankfully, we can figure out the math without any trouble, but the Romanian work requires a bit more effort.  Last year, the focus was on handwriting, so most of the homework was simple - writing letters and copying sentences.  This year, however, will be much more grammatically involved.  But, we will persevere...it's a great language learning opportunity for both of us. I just have to remind myself that after 3 hours of struggling through sentences, conjugations, plurals, etc. :)  Thankfully, we have the assistance of Google Translate and our old language lesson notebooks!

We are also trying to supplement more at home with English reading lessons and American history.  We don't have a set schedule because we never know how much homework he will have from school.  Sometimes it takes just 30 minutes and other days we spend over 3 hours working on it.  So we are trying to be flexible and on days that are light on the homework, we also throw in some reading and history.  Personally, I swing back and forth on the pendulum of "don't-stress-about-it, he'll-pick-it-up-along-the-way" to "he's-getting-so-behind, we-have-to-crack-down-and-do-more-lessons".  This is an area that God is teaching me to trust Him and take it one day at a time!

Thank you again for your continued prayers for Carter and his schooling!  We can see so many answers to prayers on a daily basis.  Please keep them coming! :)