A Day in the Life of the Brittans

Today is Wednesday, and we are all settling in for the night. Right now the children are all in their PJs and watching a movie. They will be going up to bed soon. I decided that it was time to start journaling what is happening here in our lives. I would really like to blog daily, but I am realistic. I know that if I am able to write a few time a week that will be doing great. Our schedule is going to be pretty busy, so keep checking back if I have not posted in a few days.

The children completed day 3 of their school. Yep, I said "school". We have enrolled Hattie, Emma, and Harry in a school for them to learn the language and to make friends. The school is absolutely wonderful!! It is very clean and neat. The program they are in right now is basically the end of their summer camp. This time is helping them get adjusted to the school before the term begins on May 16th. The kids are learning how to greet their teachers, change to different classes, national etiquette, and making friends. This is so important for them to know before school starts. I know that Hattie and Emma love having art class, and of course, they are in heaven each day they go swimming. The school year will offer all major classes in Thai, and there will be a class in English and one in Mandarin. Yep, the children will be studying 3 languages (English, Thai, and Mandarin). They will have art, music, computers, history, science, and math. Hattie will be in "1st grade" to help her learn how to read, write, and speak in Thai. Emma will attend the kindergarten class where she will begin to learn how to speak, write, and read also. Harry will be in "Nursery" which is basically a Pre-Kindergarten class. They will begin teaching them how to sit in their seat, follow directions, and other such important tasks to know for school. All of the classes are in Thai (except the English and Mandarin classes), so the children will be learning by repetition each day. There are some English speaking teachers at the school to help the children during difficult times at the beginning. These teachers are basically tutoring the kids privately right now. I know I can't wait to see what they learn. I know they are going to do great! Please pray for the teachers at the school, and please pray that the children will make friends and learn Thai quickly.

We will begin our homeschool curriculum after this term is over at the end of September. The school will be closed for the month of October, and another term will begin in November. During the month of October we will have a chance to get a good start with our homeschool curriculum. The children are very excited about their curriculum. I have been getting a supplies list together to see if I can get everything we need here locally. We have found a great "office supply" type store which I think may have most of what we need, so I will start getting things together soon just in case I need a care package sent this way.

Harry and I started language school this week, also. Our teacher's name is Goon. She is great! We have also completed three days of language study, and I think we are doing well. There are some frustrations with some sounds that our mouths have not been trained to make. Today we learned that the letters b and p have very similar sounds. There are many sounds that we do not have in the English language, so we are trying very hard to train our minds and our mouths to make these sounds. Keep praying for us to learn the language. We really need to learn language in order to grow the relationships that we have already started.

OK....I have to quit for tonight. I have so much to say, and I have so little time to write. Keep checking back regularly to see what's going on with us!