In another week we will have been on the island for 3 months. Time is going both fast and slow, if that makes sense.  And while we still miss so much about St. Cloud, we are finally starting to feel as if this new life is settling down.  We’re learning the island, developing routines, and meeting new people.  There are still the occasional tears over missed friends, and while I’d stop short of saying that we feel like this is “home” we are at least headed in that direction.

Home School

Andi and Tanner enjoying an apple sauce while taking a study break.

Where to begin…

I am learning so much about Andi and Tanner that I never knew before, and I’m also beginning to grasp the holes that exist in public education.  If I could go back in time, I would involve myself to a much greater level with their schooling and homework.

I’m not implying they are deficient, but I am saying they both have strengths and weaknesses I didn’t know about.  With more careful scrutiny and one-on-one attention, I think their strengths could be more developed and their weaknesses less pronounced.  Out of fairness to them I won’t go into details, other than to say I hope this home schooling stint will help in both areas.

In addition to learning more about my kids, I am also learning more about myself.  I said to Cari a few days ago, “I think I may have finally stumbled upon the one thing in this life that could actually teach me true patience.”  It’s interesting how it’s easier to have more patience with other people’s kids than your own.  I’m sure it’s because we want and expect the best from our own kids, and we have a desire to push them to be their best. Whatever the reason, my biggest challenge with this home schooling project has been to keep a level head when my kids are making the same mistake again, even after we’ve been over and over the point dozens of time.  I’d like to say I’m getting better, but I will also admit that there is room for improvement.

Curriculum

Tanner Tackeling Math

We’re not using a pre-packaged curriculum service.  We looked into a few based on recommendations from friends, but in the end we took the advice of my sister Rebecca who has home schooled her own children for may years and bought individual programs and textbooks for each subject.

The day to day schedule varies, but each week we cover math, science, history, English, spelling,  vocabulary and literature, with some scripture study as well.  Andi is currently reading Little Women and Tanner is enjoying Huckleberry Finn.  (side note: SparkNotes are free, can be downloaded from their website, and make excellent study guides for all the best novels out there.)

We’ve found that if we stay focused, we can get through a day’s worth of lessons in a couple of hours.  And, we take Friday’s off!

What’s Missing: Friends and Activities

Andi checking the schedule before getting started for the day

As much as home schooling has it’s rewards, it has it’s drawback as well.  Most notably is the lack of interaction with other kids.  This isn’t the US where there are extensive networks of other families who also home school, and there is no school district here where they can still join in the after-school activities.

Andi and Tanner are finding ways to meet other kids.  There are some boys in the neighborhood close to Tanner’s age who are great kids, and Andi is making friends at sailing.  But it’s no where near the same level of social immersion they would be getting with full time school.

By far the concern that occupies my mind most of the time is how to find more social outlets.

French School?

One possibility we are seriously considering is sending Andi and Tanner to a private French school on the island.  We plan to go take a tour sometime next week to get a feel for the place.  It would be a total French immersion experience and the hope would be that they would come away being fluent, or nearly so.  The tuition is less than half of CIA (the private Canadian school within walking distance) and we’ve heard good things about it from people who have connections on the French side.

We’ll see.

Grand Case

Our “Explore the Island” Day: Grand Case and Orient Beach

On Friday mornings instead of school we like to get out and explore various corners of the island.  Last Friday we went to Grand Case, a small little city on the French side.  Andi and Michelle had been there earlier with another spouse for a girl’s outing and she was anxious to show us the cute shops and restaurants.

Like so many places in the Caribbean, Grand Case has some jewels buried amongst all the clutter.  And by “clutter” I mean really ugly ramshackle buildings of which one half was abandoned before construction was complete and the other half is falling apart.  There’s a lot of that down here, but if you can look past it all, you can also find the jewels.

Some of the restaurants on the main strip in Grand Case have beautiful, open-air dining rooms right on the beach with tables overlooking the ocean.  We checked out a couple of those but we opted for a quaint looking little place off the water that serves crepes and ice-cream.    It was a good choice!

	After lunch we walked up and down the street checking out the cute shops. “Sexy Fruits”, despite it’s questionable name, was full of a wide variety of fun clothing. And tucked back inside attractive little alleyways were art and photography galleries with some very well done (and over priced) paintings and photographs.

After leaving Grand Case we headed around the top of the island to the famous Orient Bay.  For as famous, huge and beautiful as this beach is, I’m surprised it took us almost three months to make it there.  I’m happy to report that it lived up to it’s reputation.  It’s a long beach with a sweeping view of the bay and the small island in the middle of it, and it’s hopping with activity and people.  Andi and Tanner watched the parasailers floating above us with awe, and both reported that they’ve added this activity to their St. Martin bucket list.

Orient Bay: beautiful sand, crystal clear water, and lots of activity

Today is Saturday, March 24th.  As I type Andi and Tanner are doing homework, Piper is singing “Wheels on the bus go round and round” while playing with her favorite doll, and Cari (of course) is studying.  Michelle has been sick the past few days and is resting in the big bedroom.  Life has been sad with her out of commission the last few days. She adds a lot of life and spark to this little apartment and we hope she gets better soon.

This afternoon Tanner is going to the beach with Dillon and Ronan McGlue, and Andi is going to an afternoon showing of Hunger Games with Shannon, a potential new friend from church.  Last week Tanner spoke in church, and tomorrow is Andi’s turn.

Slowly, ever so slowly, life here is starting to take shape.