School days

We arrived here Wednesday night - to a clean and chilled house full of flowers thanks to Tim! We also discovered the phones were out and, in attempting to fix the phones, the internet has since gone too, I'm piggy backing on someone else's connection to send this, hence the lack of news.

Thursday was Osh's first trip to school, in anticipation of a full day on Friday.

Come Friday, there was some reluctance to go through the school gate, and then to go into the class room, I eventually got him seated and doing his letters and handwriting before I left. Not a tear was shed by him, but I ended up sobbing all over the headmistresses office when I'd left him! He's in First Grade: which is equivalent to year 2 (ie Junior Kinder, Senior Kinder 1st grade....) which they felt was the perfect place for him given his developments in reading and writing. he is in 'Nazareth' class with about 14 other pupils - one of whom is called Max and likes star wars (the only information I could gather from him when I collected him) and another boy who moved from England about 2 years ago. His teacher is Ms Ocampo from Miami, Ms Perez is the headmistress (from Puerto Rico originally, but 30 years in Miami). I was understandably nervous about how he'd get on, but he didn't come charging out the class room after I'd left so I spoke to the headmistress (seems they are concerned that he has an 'indiviual educational plan' (I brought his files from England) which they only do for 'special needs' kids, and because his file mentions 'special needs' all over it they were assuming he was autistic/dyslecsic/sociopathic etc - as far as I know all kids in the UK get this sort of a plan and he was no different.

I reassured Ms Perez that he is a perfectly normal 6 year old!So, by lunchtime I'm all anxious about how he's getting on, so I drive up there about 1.30 and peak through the fence....and there he is, Oisin Aneirin, yomping around the stunning play equipment (big climbing frame) with 2 other kids, laughing yelling, rough and tumbling with them all over the place. So I relaxed and went to collect him at 3pm......and guess which kid got 100% in his maths on his first day at Holy Family Academy.....yup, that boy! Ms Ocampo was very pleased, said he's a little behind in reading and writing but nothing she doesn't think can't be brought up to speed with some homework (and I'm glad I'm finally at home when he's in from school so I can help him) and 1 to 1 tuition. They did art in the afternoon and Ms Ocampo commented taht he is particularly talented for his age in that subject. He wouldn't eat his lunch because they eat it outside and he's not used to eating school packed lunch outside and was sent to sit indoors during PE because he wasn't paying attention and was chucking stones around (nothing new there then!). So all in all, a good day. He was clearly very pleased with himself and his achievements and, if that weren't enough, he polished off a HUGE plate of rice and stew (replete with veggies!) for tea. I went up at 8pm to put him to bed....to find he'd crawled into my bed and fallen asleep all by himself (clearly all the excitement of school and a trip to the beach after was too much for him).

Since that momentus Friday, he has gone to school happily, I've been able to take him through the gate, say goodbye and leave without any fuss at all (this was rare in England). The children are very friendly and welcoming and polite. How the little girls in particular remain so clean and tidy at the end of a hot day is beyond me. I was concerned about how he'd cope with the religious side of it all (Holy Family is a Catholic Mission School) but he's completely unphased by it all. After his first day he told me all about the stations of the cross (they are around the school courtyard) and said it was funny that they had to say a prayer before eating lunch (!). He's not commented on having to say the lords prayer and the Hail Mary before school starts and before they leave for home, mind you! All that said, with just 54 pupils in teh school, and just 14 in his class he is getting lots of attention and his reading is coming on leaps and bounds (I was horrified at how far advanced his class mates were in their reading - reading a book far more advanced than anything he'd been exposed to in England), but I guess with so few pupils the teachers can pay more attention to each child.

He loves being able to go to the beach after school: he has to do his homework first which is a great incentive for him to get on and do it before swimming. It is very hot here at the moment and we all welcome and dip in the ocean at about 4pm to cool off. As for me, I'm discovering how much hard work it is to be a stay at home Mom! All that cleaning, and tidying up (after a 6year old and a 17 year old!), laundry, thinking what to eat that evening, cooking it, shopping etc....not much time to sit around and paint my nails and drink rum!

The class room block (these are all the class rooms).

The playground

Osh' class room (middle of block above), just the other side of the trellis are the tables where they eat lunch.

Osh outside the school gate with Pikachu (the mini replacement for the one that overslept in the hotel at Heathrow!) The School crest is on the end wall of the class room block - the playground is at the other end of the block.