Tuesday, December 18, 2007

we had our first snow flurries last night; for some reason this strangely excites me (is that just because I have always lived in snowless Mexico, Texas and California? or does that happen to even regular snow dwellers?) And this morning, all snow vanished, we took a family trip to the Malachai's school to make up the parent teacher meeting that I completely forgot about last week (ummm . . . the one in which I was planning to apologize to Clara for slacking in so many of my parent responsibilities this school year). Clara expressed some concern that Malachai was having a hard time sitting and finishing his class work, and she wondered if maybe this was the result of him not attending class in the afternoon. have I mentioned this before? Although most Spanish children attend class from 9-4:30 (with an hour and a half break for lunch), Joshua and I have decided to send our boy to class only in the mornings - - a decision that, although scandalous among teacher and parent alike, the school has permitted us since legally, a child is not required to be escolarizado ("schooled") until he is six years old. Clara has been nudging and prodding towards us bringing Malachai in the afternoon for a while now, and although we still think it best to have him home with us in the afternoons, we did assure her that we will be working with him at home with some more structured activities. This seemed to satisfy Clara . . . and she was gracious about the missed appointment.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Ah, the challenges of well-meaning other adults. I had another lady gently suggesting that Mothers Day Out would be especially great for one of my exhuberant boys, but as it was impossible given the distance from home and the cost, all I could do was smile and nod and say I'm sure he would love it...
Stay strong!:) There is always so much to learn at home too, that I'm sure you guys can work out a suitable balance.

Heather Pelczar said...

(shrug) They'll get over it. I'm sure you know what you're doin'.

alamedero said...

I'm from Colorado and I can say that I'm pretty sure that the sensation you experience is peculiar to people who haven't grown up knee deep in snow.

The first snow means winter is officially here and you've got feet of snow to look forward too before May-June gets here. And even then, you might still get snowed on. There was a blizzard in Denver in June 2 years ago!!!

alamedero said...

Ah, no hagas caso a la profe. Sus intenciones son buenas, pero lo hace porque estáis haciendo algo que está totalmente fuera de su experiencia hasta el momento y por lo tanto le preocupa.

No creo que Malachi tenga suficiente edad para estar fuera de la casa todo el día. Es una cosa que no me gusta de España - la educación pública. Que se espere que un niño este fuera del hogar con 3 años (que es lo que se hace aquí con la pre-escuela pública) casi todo el día me parece ridiculo.

¡Dales caña y no te rindas!

Naomi Smith said...

pues si tio, creo que tienes toda la razon - - en todo lo que comentastes! teneis idea de lo que vais a hacer con la peque S.? Se os acerca la fecha, no?

Kasey said...

I completely disagree with alamedero on the snow thing. I grew up in a terribly snowy place and besides my time in Cali (in which I missed the snow immensely) I have always lived in a place that snows. And I must say that the first snow is one of my favorite days of the year. And I'm always very excited about it. Did I mention that I love winter? And snow?