First Weeks of School

Well, we've officially survived five weeks of school. Now mind you, the first three weeks the boys only attended 2-3 days; however, these last two weeks they have gone all five days. For a family that has only homeschooled and never made it to an entire week of vacation Bible school without dropping out, this has been quite a marathon!

Week 1

We were all so nervous for Seth and Sam's first day of school. At dinner the night before, Seth spilled his plate twice, Sam spilled his once, and Ben even spilled. I was cranky, critical and on edge. Before bed, we got backpacks ready, clothes laid out, lunch boxes figured out, talked, prayed and tried to act like it was no big deal. Surprisingly, the boys fell asleep quickly, but both of them woke up periodically throughout the night and I slept horrible.

The morning of the first day of school, the boys were so brave. I can only imagine how nervous they were walking into the school for the first time, in a foreign country, where they knew no one. Thankfully, their teacher (whom they had met earlier in the week when they dropped off their classroom supplies) met them in the office and showed them to the room and recess. I gave them a final hug, and walked away, the tears flowing down my face. I cried the whole way home. I cried because I was nervous for them and because I knew I would miss them and our homeschooling days. It was an emotional morning.

Sam, Seth

Seth, Sam

Front door pictures are different in an apartment (Sam, Seth)

Every day that week when I picked them up, the boys had smiles on their faces and told me that each day was better than the last. Sam and Seth were pleased by the variety of things to do at school. They love that they get to play violin for music class, play new games in PE twice a week, and have an actual art teacher. They were so sweet to be sensitive about not comparing what their days at school were like to homeschool, not wanting to hurt my feelings, but I could tell they loved it. It also helped that the school allowed Sam and Seth to be in the same classroom, as it really gave them an extra cushion of security while adjusting to the new situation. It helps to have your twin and best friend next to you during big adjustments!

Something that I wasn't expecting was to feel pleasantly surprised by the amount of time we still have at home together in the afternoons. The boys' school day ends at 2:30 and we get home by 3. We still have time to go swimming, go to the park, and play together. I am also pleasantly surprised by my increased level of patience with the twins. Also, it's very different to only be helping the boys with a little homework in the afternoon, instead of having the burden of being their only teacher. I am enjoying this change of pace.

The boys come home and usually immediately strip into their undies. Too much clothes wearin' at school!

Week 2

Ben left on Sunday for work in Portland, so I was a single parent for this week. The most difficult aspect of this was having to wake Josh up each morning to take him with us for school drop-off. We leave each morning at 7:15, so that meant waking Josh up about an hour before usual...which then compounded to very LONG days with just Josh and I at home.

The boys continued to grow in confidence at school during this week. They were assigned their permanent desks and were no longer sitting next to one another. One of my favorite memories of this week was when I asked the boys who was sitting at their table group. Neither boy could tell me any of the girls' names that were sitting next to them and gave me a look like, "Why would I know their names?" It still makes me laugh; I'll embrace this time of cluelessness about the existence of girls for as long I can have it!

Another challenge during this particular week was that parent night at the school was on Tuesday evening. Kids were not invited, my husband was out of town, and I can count on one hand the list of people we know here to watch the kids (in fact, we haven't been on a date yet in Mexico!). Thankfully my Spanish tutor, Thelma, offered to come over and stay with the boys for me. Parent night summarized in one word for me: brutal. Number one: it was ALL in Spanish. Number two: I knew NO ONE. The first half of the event was a general presentation in the gym. Although it was all in Spanish and I sat alone, it was manageable. During the second half, all the parents headed to their child's homeroom to hear from the teacher about specific classroom expectations. When I arrived in the room, I was obviously the new mom (I think I was the only blonde parent in the whole school that night), and I spent the first five minutes as the center of attention with each parent introducing themselves to me. To an American, this awkwardness was compounded by each parent--man or woman--greeting me with a cheek kiss. I have to say, this is not my favorite part of the Mexican culture. Everyone was very kind, but I was embarrassed by my lame language skills and just overwhelmed.

The boys with my Spanish tutor, Thelma. I'm so thankful that she was kind enough to babysit for me!

Sam and Seth only went to Monday-Wednesday of this week and then we left for Portland. Although we were excited to go home, it was actually kind of frustrating to leave Monterrey at this particular time. It felt like we were just getting traction at school, the boys were getting more comfortable each day, and we were settling into a routine.

Week 3

The boys missed 10 days of school while we were in Oregon. We arrived back into Monterrey on Wednesday night and the boys were in bed by around 10:00 pm. The next morning their normal wake-up time of 6:50, was actually 4:50 Oregon time. Sam and Seth were tired from all the travel during the time in Oregon, not to mention the long day of flights the day before school. It was a tough recipe for success.

I know Seth and Sam were trying to be positive when I picked them up this Thursday and Friday, but the stress and anxiousness was apparent in their voices. Each boy had a break-down or two at school each day. They both felt very behind. It was hard to watch them struggling through these feelings.

Week 4

This is was first full week of school for the twins and also their hardest week. The stress from being behind continued and then carried over into their not being able to fall asleep at night. Monday Seth had a major breakdown at school because of feeling behind. That night Sam had a breakdown because he couldn't fall asleep. I was definitely feeling mom-guilt from us taking them out of school for those days. We had a lot of discussions about how we make decisions in life, and all those decisions have consequences. We wouldn't take away our memories of our trip to Oregon and unfortunately the natural consequence is a few days of feeling behind. We spent a lot of time reassuring the boys that they would catch up and that it wasn't for lack of intelligence that they were behind. After a couple more rough days and bedtimes, things finally evened out a bit and the boys ended the week strong. It helped that when they took their standardized reading test on Wednesday they scored the two highest scores in the class; that was just the confidence booster they needed to understand that the reason they were behind truly was just because of our trip.

Week 5

Last week the school routine finally started feeling normal for Seth and Sam. Each day I picked up the boys to smiles and stories of good days. They are getting up easier in the morning and falling asleep better at night. They were even invited to a birthday party of a friend from class. We're so thankful that they are making friends at school! Ben and I tagged along at the party and it was so funny to see our two little blonde boys in a sea of black hair. Sam and Seth have mentioned that their classmates are fascinated by their blue eyes and what their life was like in America. It also sounds like they have lots of kids at recess who run up and try to guess "who is who." The combination of being some of the few Americans kids as well as twins has helped our boys to make friends and get out of their comfort zone!

The boys with their buddies at the birthday party. 

Sammy and Juan Andres (to the right...he was the birthday boy)

It turns out that the best week for the twins was also the hardest week for Josh and I here at the house. We really kind of feel at a loss with what to do with Josh. The society here in Mexico has their kids in "preschool" from 18 months on, so by the time a kid is 4 they are in school everyday from 8-12:30 at a minimum. I'm just not sure we're comfortable with that. Even if I was, we visited a preschool together last week and Josh had meltdown after meltdown crying that he just wanted to go home (and that was when I stayed with him...how would it be if I left him somewhere for hours?) However, on the other hand, he's SO lonely here without Seth and Sam. Not to mention, if he doesn't have somewhere else to go, Josh is with me during every Spanish lesson (interrupting every 5 minutes), every Bible Study or mom's breakfast that I go to (one can imagine how fun that is for both of us). We are unsure of what the solution and balance for this situation is and are currently really praying for something to come up. We know that the Lord has placed every one in our family here for this time and age, and we trust He will take care our 4 year old too! In the meantime, Josh and I are spending A LOT of quality time just the two of us. At least he's showing interest in learning to read!!