First week back at school

Austin completed his first week back at school after the L-O-N-G winter break. We started afternoons this week. Austin and Bree go together- we drop them off by one pm and they start with a nap. This was the part I was most nervous about, since Austin rarely sleeps during his rest time at home. But he did great! They said he was quiet the whole time (almost an hour and a half) though they were not sure if he ever slept (i am pretty sure he didn't). But he had no books or anything and stayed quiet. He did not want to rest there before he started, but after the first day he said he "got used to it" and it was fine.

After nap they drink water (Austin includes this detail every day when I ask him what they did at school). Then Tuesday and Fridays they have Chinese class- actually learning to recognize and write characters. I am excited about this for Austin but he also really likes it. He came home and could draw almost all the ones he learned, though he only knew some of the names. He learned 中 (zhong-meaning middle but also in the name China)， 大 (da-big)， 小 (xiao-small)， 人 (ren- person) ，and 口(kou- mouth)。He also learned one that he described as having two eyes and tears, but he could not remember how to write it and I could not figure out what he was describing. Anyway, he liked it. The other days they do some music and art (so far learning a Chinese praise song and drawing pictures), a numbers game (Austin said they counted 1-10 and wrote them on the board but I am guessing it must have been somewhat more sophisticated than that) and learned shapes and colors (all in Chinese).

I actually sent him 4 days this week because they had not decided fully which content would be which day and I wanted him to try it. He was really happy and liked everyday. I have not been planning to send him 4 days, but we will see. If he continues to really like it, maybe we would. It is actually kind of nice to have the morning with him again and Bennett enjoys having Gege around during more of his awake time.

So, even though it was not what I thought we wanted, it seems to be going pretty well. And I am hoping his Chinese will improve a lot more now that there is more concentrated teaching time in Chinese.

We are making it pretty well without Chris, though we do miss him. Bennett continues to stick his jaw out in endless energy after dinner and I cannot quite keep up with that, but we are making it.