School for Josiah

Josiah had his first day of school last week. (Today was his fifth day, since we were out of town earlier this week.) This was something we have been looking into since we moved here and Josiah seems to be at a good place in his development to go ahead with this new adventure. We have been wanting to find a way for him to play with other local kids (most all kids his age are in school from 8 to 5 every day), and to be exposed to the language. It definitely has been a tough decision, considering he is not yet 3 and we have so little language ability ourselves. A couple weeks ago I went out with my househelper and language teacher and we looked at three different schools that we had already scoped out. They both knew what Jared and I were looking for, a place for him to go part time, that focuses more on play than academics, that is clean, and is in our price range. The one Jared and I chose has all this and is extremely close to us. In fact, we go down our elevator from our apartment, walk out the front door, and it is right there! I can see it from our windows (if I crane my head and look down 23 floors.) He is going Monday through Friday from 8 until about 11, with breaks here and there if we have something going on as a family. So far it has definitely been an adjustment for Josiah and us. It is going to take us all some time to get used to this. Now not only are Jared and I being challenged by the language and culture, Josiah is experiencing some of the stress of it as well. We are aking the Father for wisdom as we deal with different situations that arise because of all these changes. Josiah is definitely excited about his new school. He is a talker, and this has been a benefit for us. We hear all about school each day when he comes home, what he did, what the teacher did, where he went, etc. He also points out "my school" every time we go out or come home. Today we also took his teacher cookies, and he was so proud! I will be sure to take some pictures and continue to post on this topic, as Josiah gets a little more settled.