First Day of School!!!
Soon after the children arrived we brought them to a near by public grade school to enroll them for the last semester of the year. Unfortunately most of the children are a little behind the other students because here in the city they have better teachers than in the villages so they are able to teach the children more. For example, none of our first graders were taught multiplication and the other 1st graders already know up to 9×9. So we are hard at work trying to help them catch up.
(Left to Right) Our housemother, Mark, Emma, Sarah, Gabe, Graham, Philip
The school that the primary aged children attend has a kindergarten and primary school, unfortunately the kindergarten had too many students so we had to find another kindergarten for our children to go to. The good thing about finding a different kindergarten is that the one we found is the best in our city.
(left to right) Zoey, Gene, Noah and the housemother that walks them to school
Michelle home schools our three boys Jaxin, Eli and Tyler (above left to right) during the day while the other children are gone at school. We have always home schooled them, and by doing so we have never had that anxious feeling we got when dropping the other children off at school on their first day. Wondering if they were going to make friends, or do well in class. The palms of my (Ben) hands were actually sweaty and my stomach felt like it was up in my throat.
Each day one of the housemothers walks the primary school children to school (above left), while the other housemother walks the kindergarten children to school(above right). Each group takes about 10 minutes to walk to school.
Most Chinese students have extremely tough school schedules. By primary school these children must make good enough grades to get into a good middle school, which helps them get into a good high school which helps them get into a good university. If they dont get into a good middle school or high school, their chances of getting into any university are slim.
When we were trying to get the children to smile for a picture, Graham was in the middle of memorizing his multiplication table. After taking this picture we decided maybe he needed a break:)
We want to thank you very much for helping our dream come true, but more importantly helping all of the children here to have a chance of a normal Chinese life. If you would like to get more involved and get to know the children more, please visit our “Sponsor a Child” page where you will see photos of the remaining children who need sponsors.
Posted: March 12th, 2010 under Uncategorized.
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