Changes for Us in Going Back to School this Year

This year as we go back to school, things will be quite different.  I will return as an ESL teacher, my 5 year old (Big Brother) will go to all day 5K at the school I will start at, and Little Sister will be alone with her YaYa all day.

Last year Big Brother went to a local church's 4K preschool program five days a week, until 11:00am.  Mi esposo picked him up at school, then took him to YaYa.  I was still nursing (and pumping for) Little Sister and sometimes our paths briefly passed so that I could see him for a minute in the middle of the day before I returned to my next school.

YaYa is quite sad to know that the time is drawing near for Big Brother to be growing up and attending school for all-day.  See, YaYa (my momma) has kept him since I went back to work when my six-week maternity leave was finished.  She has been such a blessing! He has learned so much from time spent with her.

To be honest, I am grieving the end of the summer and all the good times the kids and I have had together.  I know more can be had, but there's just something about knowing you do not have to set an alarm clock and be somewhere at a certain time on most days of the summer.

This year will bring other changes too, I am sure, and some to be posted about at a later time.

I am grateful for this summer, and grateful for another scholastic year where I hope the students learn a great deal. I am sure I will learn just as much from my time spent with and planning for them!

Do you have any back-to-school jitters or rituals?  Do tell! 

Great Expectations

This week Big Brother is going to attend a LangoKids Camp for more practice with Spanish, with kids of his same age.  He is not quite sure what to expect, nor am I, but I am hopeful.

Big Brother did not have the advantage that Little Sister has had of spending time with me from an early age and with access to Spanish programming on TV as well.  When Big Brother was little, I went back to school to get a master's degree to complete my teaching certification. My mom (YaYa) kept Big Brother while I was at work, and an aunt of mine kept him while I attended graduate courses in the evenings.  He was exposed to much more English than I realized he would be. 

Due to all this English exposure, from my **wonderful** fellow caregivers, he has become a very special little fellow with a great vocabulary.  He has at times however, when with a group of Spanish speakers, covered his ears and pleaded, "Not so loud, you're hurting my ears!"  or "You're making my head hurt!" 

Big Brother likes to know what is going on around him at all times, and being that he is curious, he cannot stand not understanding folks around him.  This has led to several frustrating times. 

He has finally become more open to Spanish, and I am running with it! We speak much more Spanish in our casa than before, watch some cartoons (especially through Discovery Kids) and even watch those novelas I mentioned in a previous post.  He is often exposed to friends and family members coming to visit and speaking only Spanish and has started to respond with greetings in Spanish.

I am hoping this week, even though it is only a half-day, day camp, that Big Brother has more excitement about Spanish than he had before he started, and that he begins to have more of a desire for it as well.  It will be so much easier for him to learn it now, than it was for me to do, after college. 

Here's hoping for a great week of language learning!