I haven’t been blogging too much lately, because I’ve been busy getting the kids ready to go back to school. Getting ready for school in El Salvador means buying and labelling tons of school supplies and covering every notebook in colored paper, and then plastic. I’m not sure what parents in the U.S. have to do to get their kids ready for Elementary School but I don’t think it involves yards and yards of sticky saran wrap like it does around here. The textbooks also get covered in plastic (see pictures below) and it takes forever to get all of their school stuff ready for the first day!

But somehow I managed to get it all together, and this morning the kids were off to their first day of school! Both kids are transitioning this year. Ian is going to school all day for the first time as he enters Preparatory (more or less equivalent to U.S. Kindergarten), and he is super excited to eat lunch at school and learn to read in English and Spanish. Tori is dealing with her own transition as we made the choice, along with the school, to skip second grade and go straight into third. She had mixed feelings, but she’s excited for a new year of learning and the opportunity to make new friends.

The first day is always bittersweet for me as I miss having the kids around here. It’s very quiet this morning without them. But I am also excited to hear about all the new things they are learning, the challenges they are facing, and the friends they are making.

All of Ian’s school stuff covered in plastic and ready to go!

Tori’s school supplies covered in different colored paper for every subject, and then covered in plastic. Notice the plastic theme????

I am so proud of these two…it’s going to be a great year!