Morris Family in Mexico: Life Update: Beginning of the School Year

Here we are at the end of October, and I'm just now writing a post about the start of the school year. It's been difficult to find time to blog now that I'm teaching and commuting three times a week.

Seth and Sam are at American Institute of Monterrey (AIM) again this year. They are in fourth grade and are in separate classrooms for the first time. Sam has an American teacher and Seth a Mexican teacher. They are both really happy and satisfied at school and have done surprisingly well being separated. It's nice for them to each have their own stories at the end of the day and for them to begin to form their individual niche. However, they certainly have a lot to say to one another by the end of the day! The majority of their school work is on an iPad, which we all find to be quite annoying, but we persevere. They have a considerable amount of homework this school year compared with last year. Currently they are weekly reading two Spanish articles (at fourth grade reading level) and answer questions about them; while this homework is super challenging and time consuming, we are seeing a major improvement in their Spanish skills. This year they get to have violin class three times a week; they love playing and we're grateful that they have the opportunity to learn an instrument during school. As parents, we continue to be super impressed in their work ethic and willingness to have a positive attitude despite being so different from those around them.

We are also seeing a vast improvement in Seth and Sam's Spanish skills due to their 4x a week soccer practice, as their coach doesn't speak any English. I was initially very nervous to sign them up for soccer, assuming that 4x a week would be just too much to handle; however, I actually needed them to have practice after school in order to give me sufficient time to pick them up on my commuting days. Thankfully, they absolutely love it and it helps them burn a ton of energy off after being in the classroom all day. They take a bus from the school to the soccer field (which happens to be really close to our apartment). Their games are once or twice a week and are at various soccer fields throughout our area. In fact, their soccer game pushed me into driving across the dry river bed for the first time since moving to Monterrey (I avoid all the bridges and exits like the plague). Sam is playing goalie part time and is doing great. Seth plays midfield and still holds back a bit during games, but we are seeing an improvement on his aggressiveness. They are playing with their 2009 generation (they are in class a grade above their age, 2008). It's been nice to have them physically match up better than they do during recess soccer, where they have had a hard time fitting in because they are so much smaller and less skilled than the older boys.

Sam and Seth

Seth and Sam

First soccer game

Sam playing goalie

Josh and I started our school year the first week of September at Sierra Madre Christian Academy, the school on the campus of Back2Back, a mission organization that we learned about from our friends the Leonards. I am teaching three days a week: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Josh attends school on those three days and often I also bring him out for school on Fridays. Unfortunately, it takes us between 50-60 minutes in the morning to drive to the school due to traffic, and then another 40 minutes to get to Sam and Seth's soccer field at the end of the school day; therefore, Josh and I are spending a considerable amount of time in the car. We use our time to listen to audio books. Josh loves audio books and I often hear him use ridiculous vocabulary for his age and I chalk that up to the all of the books he has listened to.

Josh is loving being in kindergarten. There are only four kids in his class and actually only 11 kids in the whole school, so it's a nice sized group for Josh. He is learning to read, learning to count and tell time, loves doing art and is quite creative, and is loved by his schoolmates. I cannot even express how thankful we are that Josh is getting to get accustomed to the school scene in a small classroom setting where he can feel comfortable and not overwhelmed. He frequently tells us how much he loves school and it's been so healthy for him to have more of a social life this year with children of his own age.

I also am loving being involved at SMCA and thank the Lord often for the opportunity. It has provided a community, friendships, and purpose for me. I really enjoy lesson planning, especially the art and craft projects (I am my mother's daughter). We have had some super fun theme weeks like "Moe Williams" week and "Eric Carle" week. We did a super cool "S" is for spider study and all of October has been plant month, so we planted our own garden. The work energizes me and though I'm really tired by the end of the week, I happy to be involved in something bigger than just my little realm at home. (And returning to work in Mexico has an extra bonus for me: my maid now works three days a week for me, so I come home from work to a clean house...life changing.)