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!
January marks the starting a new calendar year as well as a new school year. We are looking forward to implementing some new ways to improve our communication with parents and some creative ways our students can share and show their work. In December we had our graduation. We also had a speech competition to encourage our students to speak in public and use the English they have learned in front of people. This year will be the eighth year of having our school and we are thankful with how God has blessed it over the years! 
Warm weather, surrounded by many shades of green is our typical January. We enjoy living in Costa Rica and we are so happy. We step into 2017 with an open mind, heart and spirit. 
