School

A common question we often are asked is what we are going to be doing in Asia about the kid's schooling? Will we be homeschooling? Will we send the kids to an international school? Will we send the kids to a local school?

On our survey trip to Asia, we visited the area where we will be going to language school (for the first two years), and we also visited the location of the 2 people groups (the "B" people and the "S" people) we will possibly be working with. In these 3 locations, there is only 1 option available to our family-homeschooling. There are no international schools near these 3 areas. Due to the religion practiced throughout the country, we are unable to send the kids to a local school because the religion is actually practiced within the school and very ingrained into society.

So how will homeschooling work? We are in the process of enrolling Noah (who will be the first to go to school) into Education Queensland's School of Distance Education. Education Queensland is the public school system in Queensland, Australia (where we live). I really want the kids to be in line with the public school system here.  I want to be able to measure their progress against other kids their age. When we come home on furlough, they will be able to slot right into school here without any academic problems. I plan on doing a lot of things myself (adding additional curriculum, materials, etc.), but this will be our foundation to start from.

Last month, I spoke on the phone to the school, and they have invited us to visit in September when we are in North Queensland for deputation. This will give Noah an opportunity to see that he will be going to a real school, and it will let him meet his teachers, etc. We are so excited!

Currently, Noah attends Pre-prep at St. Luke's Anglican School and David goes to Family Day Care one day a week. This will all remain the same until the end of the year (Dec) when school finishes. What will we be doing next year? We will not start homeschooling until we have left Australia. After much prayer, we have decided to put both of the boys into St. Luke's Anglican School until we leave in March. Noah will be in Prep, and David will be in Kindy. We have really based this decision on the importance of keeping stability in the kid's lives until we are actually ready to leave. Noah loves "his school" and David is very familiar with it as well. We will have to make some sacrifices financially-or at least adjust our priorities a bit. Money does not grow on trees for those of us involved in cross-cultural work! We believe this is the best thing we can do for the kids until we actually have our support and are ready to go.

Lastly, Noah and I do a lot of "school" stuff at home at the moment. He will sit and do "school" for a few hours if I let him. He knows all of his letters and sounds-so we are starting to work on reviewing those and doing some beginning reading activities. I found some really good websites, but on Friday, I came across some great flashcards that I am going to start doing with Noah. I also ordered a phonics book from the states, and we are doing books for each sound of the alphabet. He is loving it!

Well, I hope that answers enough questions for now. I am really enjoying the idea of being so involved in the kid's schooling-it is a pretty big challenge as well. Life is never boring thats for sure!