Running Commentary from the Drama Queen

"You typing on yo-wa pew-ter?" [Are you typing on your computer?] In roomtime, she likes to type on her 'pewter' --an old keyboard.

"Mama!! Pink my fav-wit color!" (Said whenever she sees anything pink... and then she lists about six colors as her 'favorites')

"Ach-ly... I do want do it. [Actually] She likes to change her mind many times a day. About anything and everything.

"Look, Mommy, something funny!"

"Hmmm, let me see..." (She says this while putting one finger to her lips, as she 'thinks' about it.)

"I way mad to Tima" ('way' means 'very')

"I not can say that." (Said whenever she is challenged to repeat anything in Russian.)

"Pa-cee-ba" (Russian, for thank you)

"Pa-ka" (Russian, for 'goodbye')

Overall, Ella is talking almost always in full sentences, and has a lot to say. Her thoughts are expressed as they come, with no censorship (except by interrupting herself!) She continues to be very dramatic. One day I watched her in front of a mirror, placing her arms on a stool. She said with great exaggeration, "My arm... so... tired." At bedtime, she loves to say with great emphasis, in a voice that sounds truly tragic, "Good-bye Daddy."

And my favorite is that she loves to pretend to be asleep, or dead. At indoor playgrounds, she lies flat on her back, arms spread wide, and closes her eyes. I don't mind, as long as the other moms don't get worried and start checking on her!

Recycling in Russia

Can you believe it!!! It's not technically our trash dumpster, but it's actually closer than ours. And next to the dumpster is a yellow bin for mixed containers, and a blue bin for paper products. Of course, half of the contents seem to be trash. I pity the people who have to sort it. But I like it all the same!

Full Disclosure

Just to be transparent- the day after I wrote how much Tima loved school, he declared that he hated it.

He gets frustrated by any writing that is not in his handwriting book. So when the language arts curriculum calls for him to practice his name, address or phone number, he falls apart. And then has a pretty negative attitude for the rest of the time. So, we've been doing those orally, which is better anyway since he needs to know them in Russian.

Tima loves school!

"Pleeeease, Mom, can we please do school?"



Two days the first week, I had meetings in the morning. I wasn't worried about skipping homeschool with Tima. But when I got home, the begging was incessant. So I finally agreed to do school with him. What a pleasure! He loves every subject, every book, and excels at the simple tasks he's doing.



Tima's 'reading' program right now involves learning a new letter sound each week, and lots of exercises with words that start with that sound. We do some creative story-telling activities and name-writing. He has surprised me with his knowledge of the letters--in the spring, he wouldn't admit he knew them all! And he seems very able to hear the sounds, identify which words start with the sounds, etc.



Handwriting is his favorite subject right now. Thank you, Handwriting Without Tears! We're doing a new capital letter each day. I bought the whole package, including the big wood pieces and slate, and though it seems too repetitive, we have the time, so we do each step. This week, he asked Eric to spell out a title for a picture, and surprised Eric with how well formed his letters and numbers are. Amazing how a little practice makes a difference.



Math is still about shapes, identifying 'first' and 'last', counting and learning to write numbers. The workbook (Horizons) is engaging and varied... and so far very simple! On lesson 22, we just started learning 1+1=2...

After about 40 mnutes of those activities, we're done! After doing two hours the last few years with Danya, I don't quite know what to do with the extra time. I feel a little empty without the read-alouds that I've done in the past. But rather than following a program, I let each Ella and Tima choose a book for me to read. Some days I also pick one of the books like the Children's Encyclopedia. And then we play!



Tima has also been doing much more drawing and painting than he used to. His usual pictures are of himself, Danya, Nick and Nate, each with a lightsaber drawn, on bikes or rollerblades, fighting General Grievous. One day, he drew a "Titanic" and wanted me to draw him standing on the iceberg, pushing the ship away.

The Affection Sponge

Ella is insatiable for affection. She can't get enough of being hugged, held, kissed. I spent a lot of Saturday resting because of a cold, and Ella crawled in bed to just snuggle...and stayed for 20 minutes, sucking on her burpie.

Right now, she loves the Corduroy books, and I read them multiple times a day. Near the end of "A Pocket for Corduroy" the little girl holds her bear tight. When she's sitting in my lap, Ella likes me to squeeze her tight in my arms ... and then nuzzle noses like Lisa does at the end.

After the first week of school...

After the first full day of school, Danya greeted me with, "Why do I have to go to school. I don't want to." Oh, no, what happened?

It turned out that he didn't enjoy the classes mostly because the kids are loud and don't listen to the teacher. So then the teacher yells at them. Not a great dynamic. I'm not too concerned, largely because we're not depending on Russian school for long-term academics. He is now sitting in the front row, which will help, I think.

As far as the social dynamics, it's not great, but not bad. When he tried to talk to a few kids the first day at snack time, two didn't answer, one told him to go away, and one answered a question. The boy he often lines up with is Sasha, who he sat next to the first day (see above). Sasha seems to be friendly and sweet.

Every day they have snack time, actually it's breakfast ... the selections have included porridge, cabbage, noodles... and at that time he talks with other kids. They haven't had recess, instead they have breaks in their wide hallway. One day they went outside to draw with sidewalk chalk, and worked in teams to draw houses. That is one the few times they have worked together.

The academic work is quite different than in the States. It is very teacher-directed and not play-oriented. He has a workbook for each subject. For writing, the focus is on tracing lines, shapes and pictures in his workbook, according to the teacher's instructions. In reading, they are learning the alphabet and a lot of vocabulary like the seasons and holidays. There are no letters in the reading book until the 34th page. And in math, there is a focus on shapes, grouping objects according to different criteria, and also on patterns. Patterns-that's the one similarity to what he experienced in American kindergarten.

First Day of (Russian) School!

The music summons all the kids to school. As we exited our building, we saw many parents and their children, all dressed in dark green blazers, and weighed down with new backpacks, and huge bouquets of flowers. Even on the ride down our elevator, we stopped on the 9th floor for another family with a first year student. We didn't have to ask, because they all have sashes pinned to their blazers; “First Year Pupil” they proclaim in blue or pink. They are surrounded by parents, grandparents and a few little siblings. Danya had his parents and ‘Auntie Lena’ who asked Danya for the privilege of attending.

For us, the first day of school in Russia was a very cross-cultural experience! It’s a true holiday. Danya received gifts from Lena, our babysitter (Alla), and his teacher, and even a card from the director of the school. The children line up outside of the school with their teachers, and then stand there... for a long time. Our photos show mostly the large bouquets of flowers that each student brings for his or her teacher. There are speeches by the school director, and the leader of our region of the city. The memory of the 65th anniversary of Victory in Europe was invoked. And across the country, the first day of school the year was dedicated to Alexander Nevsky, who is a military hero from the 13th centurey. The celebration is especially about the first and eleventh year students. A group of each recites poetry. A bunch of balloons are cut by the first grade teachers, to soar to the heights of knowledge—though a few got caught in the tree.

Then the 11th years take the 1st years by hand and lead them into the school. Parents are allowed to follow and we lined the classroom walls. The students entered one by one, to take their places at their desks. With the backpacks and flowers, it was no easy task.

Then the teacher, Irina Valentinovna, welcomes them. She read the rules in verse. One of the first rules was to sit up straight and cross your arms on the desk. All the kids sat up straight and put their arms on their desks—except Danya. Lena leaned over to whisper to him what to do. Then the teacher started telling riddles, for the kids to practice raising their hands, and standing up to give their answers. I understood about half of them; and started to wonder what we were thinking to send our child here?

But the teacher then started giving specific instructions—take out your pencil bag, get your blue pen, write your name in the yellow stripe on the picture of the train wagon on your desk. Danya did great, only stumbling when she asked them to write two other words that they knew. He only knows how to write his name in Russian! We whispered, “Write Tima and Ella”. And he wrote Tima with only one letter backward. It was encouraging to watch the other kids write letters and numbers. It’s obvious that Danya has practiced a lot more than many of them. And though he’s way behind on comprehension, his academic skills are more like a 2nd than 1st grader (no surprise, as we just started 2nd grade in ‘American homeschool’).

(I'm so glad we have a few years before our daughter starts school, to learn to do these braids and traditional bows.)

Danya's favorite part of the day? Receiving gifts, and writing his name.

His least favorite? I don’t think he ever answered that question.

Tomorrow is school for real--Reading, Writing, Math and ‘Trud’… which means labor or work… I guess I’ll learn what it means in this context!

The part I’m most nervous about is interaction with other kids. Danya is worried they’ll make fun of him; I’m worried he’ll get beat up! So we’ll also learn tomorrow what kind of recess schedule, etc, he has. With four lessons in three hours, I’m not sure what kinds of breaks they get. Though we are paying 30 cents a day for some kind of snack… so we’ll have to see!

The teachers and administrators are so far very pleasant. When we passed in the stairwell, Lena watched the assistant principal greeting Eric and pouring out her congratulations and wishes for the year. I think she (Lena) was pleasantly surprised by the warmth of the interaction. Eric’s been working to get to know this woman and Danya’s teacher and it seems it’s really paying off. We also met the gym and music teachers and they were very friendly. Although the music teacher said her class was about ‘Listening to serious music and learning the composers.’ Hmmm.

There’s the report from the First of September. Happy Knowledge Day!