As of yesterday, Abby has been with us for a month. It was July 11 that we picked her up from the Center in Pavlikeni. In some ways I can hardly believe that is has been a month already. In other ways, it seems like much longer than that. I am encouraged by the progress that has been made in that time period.
Yesterday I was so touched by a couple things. Abby and Scheri were working together on an art project using the new art set that Abby received for her birthday. It was a heart with her nickname "Abby-Girl" printed on it and outlined with glitter glue. Abby was trying to tell me which part she did and which part Scheri did. The really cool part was that Abby gave it to me. So sweet. (She's drawn other pictures while here but most of them have been for Vili which is perfectly fine. It just was so cool that this one was for me.) And then she went and added a few more touches to it to make it even more special--she gave the heart eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth and a decorative edging. Finally, she made sure we added it to the collection of her artwork that is displayed on the freezer door in our dining room.
The other special thing was that at bedtime, rather than hiding under her blanket when I came in, she crawled clear across her bed to give me a big hug. YES!!
Also yesterday I spoke at length to our principal about the ESL (English as a Second Language) program at our school. He was telling me about the benefits of total immersion in language acquisition vs other seemingly-gentler but slower methods. His recommendation was just to enroll Abby full-time in school. I don't know. As far as enjoying the other students and multiplying her learning--I think Abby would do fine with that. On the other hand, we have to take bonding and attachment into consideration. She has a whole lifetime to go to school. So I'm also considering just having her go a couple hours a day at first. There's a chance that Abby could participate in summer school next week. This might be really cool--would introduce her to the building, some of the students, some of the teachers, the lunchroom, etc. but would be with much smaller groups and shorter hours. I'm still thinking about all this.
I agree with the bonding. Our Samson was 3 when he came home. He spent 7 years fully immersed in school due to the state of TX requesting he be schooled right away. I didn't want to do it. But what could we do. By age 10 he was still not well bonded to us, so I pulled him out of public school to homeschool him. Now at 16 he is fully bonded to all of us. He could go back to school, but he doesn't want to!
ReplyDeleteOur school district does "total immersion" but in a classroom with all ELL children. Worked for both our kids.
ReplyDeleteYou need to post the glitter heart :)