November 2016

We are praying for our nation as the elections come to a final   decision.


 " Don't become preoccupied with your child's academic ability but instead teach them to sit with those sitting alone. Teach them to be kind, teach them to offer their help teach them to be a friend to the lonely  teach them to encourage others Teach them to think about other people Teach them to share Teach them to look for the good  This is how they'll change the world."

One of the new things we are trying at the school is a parent student class. We are teaching the parents how to work with their kids. As a culture, playing with kids is not a common practice.  Kids play on their own but little interaction with parents.  The parents who are involved are over achievers and push their children very hard.  We want to show parents how to make learning fun and interactive. One parent said whenever her son sees numbers he just cries and says he can't do it.  I reassured her that just because he has his mind set that he doesn't like numbers that it can be changed. I suggested they go to the park and count the birds, walk and count the steps from one tree to the next, see how many jumps it is from the slide to the swing. Both the mom and son were thrilled with this idea.

This is Caleb. Ten years ago he was in a very bad car accident. His brother was killed. Caleb's leg was crushed and doctors said he would probably loose his leg and probably he'd never walk again. Bonnie went to his house most every day for the three months she was three to help with physical therapy and took him to the pool for a final therapy lesson after many surgeries and all his stitches were  removed.   When he came home from his last surgery Bonnie had hung balloons up all over his room, which he left up for months.  To celebrate the marking of 10 years since the accident Bonnie brought Caleb balloons and banana bread. They spent time reflecting on his progress over the last 10 years and thanking God for HIS healing hand.

While waiting for my soccer game to start Bonnie was preparing lessons for school and coloring some  booklets. Soon she had several kids around her and they were coloring all together.  She is a kid magnet where ever she goes.

On October 25th our son Mekhi turned two. It is exciting to hear his first words said both in English and in Spanish. 

 Food is always a creative motivator to stimulate fun language activities.   This is a marshmallow monster.  The students created their marshmallow monster with uncooked spaghetti, gummy rings and marshmallows.  They introduced their monsters to each other and told them their newly invented name, what their favorite foods are, where they live, how old they are.  They had to ask each other questions depending on what area they were studying in English class. There was lots of giggling and fun interactive learning going on during this activity.

There was a balloon making class for the community Bonnie and I enjoyed learning how to make several different things. In Costa Rica all baby showers, birthdays and school events have balloons for decorations. It is the cool thing to do so we now have some fun new ideas for decorating for Christmas and graduation.

We now have shirts with the school name on them. In Costa Rica all public and private schools the students wear uniforms.  Now as teachers we have uniforms. This makes us look professional and we now do not have to wonder about what we are going to wear. We are now starting to prepare for graduation at the school which is in a month!