Higglytown and Homework

I’m not going to try to pretend that there is any excuse to turn on a t.v. in Tamarindo one week in, HOWEVER, we have a t.v. here and the kids have needed a little downtime. We quickly found some old favorites, like Higglytown Heroes, Imagination Movers, Agent Oso and of course Mickey, on the Disney network. The shows are dubbed in Spanish, but given the kids’ familiarity with the characters, songs and story lines, they are entertained and easily following along. These shows, for better or worse, are familiar to me as well. I am getting as much out of “interpreting” the familiar phrases as they are, and we have spent some time together translating the songs into English, as well as the repetitive words and phrases.

We take our first scheduled Spanish class at CSI tomorrow and I am excited to have some official class time under my belt. Just like surfing, we will all be in the same location, but Matt and I will have our own teacher, the boys will have their own teacher and Abby will have her own teacher/babysitter. Our team has taken great care of Abby, but she is on the very young end when it comes to this program. Our surf and Spanish sessions are about two hours in length and they know that her time will have to be mixed in with games, breaks and play time. While this is also true for the boys, they can handle this classroom type of experience, because of their time in school and their ages.

While we aren’t on our own “schooling” schedule at home yet, we are trying to gradually ease this in to our daily experience. Since today, (at 11 pm) marks our first official week, we have decided to start with an hour a day of good, old fashioned, reading, writing and arithmetic. Thanks to our amazing teachers at home, we have some materials to get us started, (and keep us going). I am trying to keep the kids up to speed with a daily journal, but all three of them did some math today, (online and worksheets) and Abby is doing a lot of drawing and coloring in addition to her journal and kindergarten math.

Needless to say, the steady onslaught of information is overwhelming, and even without Spanish classes, they are already using common words and phrases in Spanish and know as much about the ocean, currents, tides, swells, and animals as I do, at this point in time. With regards to surfing and Spanish, I have no doubt that they will pass us by within the week and won’t look back.

I say, lead the way, I’ll follow you!!!

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2 Comments

  1. I can’t decide what sounds harder – learning Spanish or learning to surf. I bet both will come naturally to the kids and Erin you’ll be surfing like a pro in no time.

    1. Hi JIll! I’m going to have to cast my vote for surfing as the more difficult one. And you’re right, Erin already is surfing like a pro 🙂

      Miss you guys!

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