Ok, so maybe it's been about 4 months since I last updated the blog, and maybe we've been just a little busy. With me teaching a new grade and at a new school, Tim traveling more than ever for his Coast Guard Reserve job, Evan beginning his new school, and us just learning how to be parents to a 10-year old, it's been quite the challenge.
School for Evan started out quite rocky as his teachers and parents tried to figure out the right balance for learning academics, homework, and language acquisition. He's in the 4th grade which, for his age, is a year behind, but because a child doesn't start school until age 8 in Ukraine, he was already behind before he arrived in the U.S.. We think 4th grade is a good place for him, but it's been especially hard in Social Studies-- they study Indiana history in that grade, and when you don't have any kind of background knowledge, it makes the learning that much more fun-- especially when you're still trying to learn English! Evan's made incredible strides in his reading, climbing several reading levels since August. He loves to read environmental print whenever we're out shopping, reading all the signs and labels he can find. His favorite subject is math, and although the story problems are still tricky because of reading them, he does seem to excel in this area. The first 9-weeks report card was a little disheartening, despite knowing grades weren't going to be the best, but his 1/2 way progress report for this 2nd nine weeks showed ALL A's!!!!!! Can you believe that?!?!?!
One of the neatest things about introducing him to new people, is that not everyone realizes he doesn't speak English fluently. We were told that most children learn English in 6 months but it is still hard to believe until you witness it yourself. He's come such a long way from when he used to talk in the 3rd person. Helping verbs are still one of the hardest things (ex: saying, "He is nice" instead of "He nice."), but overall it's so cool to hear him talk. He rarely has to say, "Wait a minute while I think about it." anymore. Unfortunately, he's losing his native language, Russian. We still ask him what things are in Russian, but more and more frequently, he can't remember. We struggle with that, but since it's imperative that he learn English, and we don't speak Russian fluently, he's going to lose a majority of it. Perhaps when he's older, he will want to work on regaining some of that language.
Ask me about homework! Big sigh! I can honestly say that homework is definitely not our favorite time of the day. Tim and I made a family decision that Evan would receive 2-1/2 hours of extra tutoring 3 days a week. This a free program at school and about 40 other children take part in this. This means that on Tues/Wed/Thurs. he does not get home until 6:15 or so. After eating dinner, that doesn't leave a lot of time for homework. At the beginning of the year, we were told that 4th graders could expect about 45 min-1 hour of homework every night. For the first 8 weeks of school, we were doing more like 2-3 hours of homework! It was a struggle just explaining the homework, let alone trying to get it all done. Everyone was very frustrated, and after a discussion with Evan's classroom teacher and English teacher, we were able to make some modifications. While we still occasionally have 90 min. of homework, it is working out so much better. And, on the days when he does have that much homework, we usually discover it's because Evan was goofing around at school and didn't get finished with something that he then had to bring home. So, many discussions about expectations have taken place these last 4 months, and we think he's finally getting the picture!
He's made a lot of friends at school and even has a "girlfriend!" He talks about her quite a bit, and even asks to wear his brown shoes or a certain sweater because SHE likes them!! So far, no talking on the phone, so I guess he's not too serious about this relationship!!! :-) However, it is quite interesting to hear the things she tells him each day. True love?!?!?! We'll see. . . He seems to have made some good choices of friends who are boys. A bummer for Evan is that we don't live in the same neighborhood as his classmates, so he doesn't get to see them right now outside of school. We may have to arrange some play dates later in the summer.
Aside from school, Evan keeps busy with plenty of other things. We enrolled him in swim lessons at the beginning of the school year, and he just LOVED that! 
Unfortunately, we missed the sign-up date for the last round of lessons but hope to try again for January. He had his first taste of team sports when we signed him up for the YMCA's youth flag football team. Not sure if he understood what was going on most of the time, but by the sign of how wide his smile was each time he came home, I'm guessing he'd like to do that again next year. We were really happy that he was on a team with some of our friends' children. In fact, five out of the 11 kids had initials of A, B, C, D, E. -- the alphabet kids!! All the kids, both in school and in sports, have been wonderful with Evan. I've asked him several times if anyone has teased him for his English or anything else, and I think he's been truthful in saying that no one has. For that I breathe a small sigh of relief!
Other fun fall activities we found some time for included my elementary school's carnival, the Bluffton Street Fair, the Johnny Appleseed Festival, the Haunted Black Forest, and of course, Evan's first Halloween. Boy, did he think this was an odd thing, but he went at it full force! He knew right away that he wanted to be his favorite super hero, Batman. We found his costume in September and bought it then because I was afraid his size would be nowhere to be found closer to Halloween. He tried it on for anyone who'd visit, and when his 4th grade had a potato decorating project, Batman saved the day! It's a few months later, and Evan still enjoys wearing his Batman mask whenever possible. Halloween was a little longer than a day for Evan because he was able to wear his costume to our zoo's Halloween as well as to our church's Halloween activities. On the actual Halloween evening, he was chomping at the bit to go trick or treating. We had him hand out some candy at our house first, and it took him a few tries to get the handle on what went on. You just had to laugh when the kids first came up, thrust a bag in his face, and said, "trick or treat!" Evan just kind of looked at me in confusion. We showed him how to put some candy in the bags for each kid, and then laughed again when he said, "Mom! They didn't say thank you!" While Teagan and I stayed home to hand out more candy, he happily went off with Dad to see what the excitement was all about. Tim only took him out for about 30 minutes, and they came home with a pretty full bag of candy. It's now Dec. 25th, and he STILL has some Halloween candy!!! That's how much he received!
Thanksgiving was another fun holiday. Lots of relatives and lots to eat. Most of the food was a big hit, with the exception of the stuffing. Turkey was deemed "yummy," but he never did try the pumpkin pie. Sweets (except for chocolate!) are still something he's lukewarm about. (what?!?!?!?) The dentist appreciates this. Both Evan's English teacher and I tried to instill some American history in him with the explanation of Thanksgiving, but I'm not sure how much he retained. However, what helped the most, was watching "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving"-- the Mayflower episode. I swear I don't remember this one from my childhood. . . I only remember the one with popcorn!
I'll end this post with a video clip of Evan saying The Pledge of Allegiance. This video was from a night back in the middle of September. He was still working on remembering all the parts. In case you're wondering where we are, we're at Oley's Pizza Place down the street from our house. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment