Home School

When we planned to come to Spain, we had hoped that the kids could attend local schools. Once we arrived here, we went to four local semi-private schools and none of them had openings. We checked at the public schools and it would take about two months to get them enrolled, so we opted for the home school plan. Connor and Alex were thrilled. They were totally nervous about going to school. I think it would have really helped with their Spanish, but I can see that my kids react so differently to different situations. Cassy jumps right in and tries to converse and speak Spanish and works to interact with others. Addy does the same. Connor is a little more hesitant and won't really even try to speak Spanish, but does attempt to connect. Alex kind of does his own thing and keeps to himself so that no one will try to speak to him in Spanish. Of course, Cassy had half a year of Spanish before coming so I think she is a little more comfortable.

Luckily, we found a great teacher to give us Spanish lessons. Her name is Carolina and she is studying at the local university to become an elementary teacher. She is fluent in English, so it is easy to communicate with her. Her mother is from here, her father is from Singapore, and they both lived in Utah and studied at BYU. Her father spoke to her in English and her mother spoke to her in Spanish when she was growing up, so she speaks both very well. She always has fun, interactive lessons and the price is right. We had another teacher who would have been good, but we simply could not afford him. We were so lucky to find Carolina!

Carolina comes 4-5 days a week for two hours. We try to get math finished up before she comes, then we study Spanish with Carolina, and afterwards Carolina teaches just Cassy and me for about 30 minutes. The kids are supposed to read and do homework during this time. Afterward, the kids get 30 minutes of computer time if they have cooperated with Carolina. Then, ideally (which doesn't always happen), we try to eat lunch and then go to the park or to play soccer somewhere. Alex says he has "jumpies" inside him and it is so hard to hold still, so we even try to play a little soccer before Spanish starts. After lunch, we try to study our history, science and do memorization, creative writing and write reports on great people of a certain time period or a primary report on a document actually written in that time period. I applaud all teachers on keeping the kids busy, entertained, teaching them anything, and actually making it fun. I do hear a bit of whining throughout the day!

The other day we were learning about Justinian, a Byzantine ruler, and his rules for his empire. We made a list of the Howard family rules. Here are Alex and Addy's versions of the rules....which they came up with. Of course Alex's have to do with the rules about computer time.

I love that Addy's first rule was, "We git it dun." I think that will be our new family motto....

p.s. A translation of the rest of the rules...Love one another and be nice to your family.