Home School June Week 4

This was our last week of intense home school for the summer. I cannot believe how quickly June went by.  My mom has come and gone and some of summer's highlights are already behind us now, too.

Our theme for this week was Trees and Ella did a great job.  She learned the difference between broadleaf and evergreen trees, was introduced to the concept of oxygen and how trees make it for us, acquired new tree related vocab (bark, limb, needle, palm, etc.) and gave some thought to all the resources we gather from trees, including all the things made from wood in our daily life.  Since it was timely, we also threw in some Fourth of July books and worksheets.  Ella was super excited about America's birthday and kept saying, "America is free now."

Ella mastered 12 new sight words, bringing her total to 49.  At the end of the school year, her teacher gave a me a list of 42 First Grade Dolch sight words.  Ella can now read 26 of them.  Her other sight words are from the Dolch pre-primer and primer sets.  In addition, Ella (and Emilia) earned their second level prizes in our library's summer reader program.  They each have to read just four more books by July 31 to be declared Super Summer Readers.  Among our literary selections, Ella especially enjoyed The Story of America's Birthday and The Giving Tree. Even though our tree themed week is over, she brought the latter book to me this afternoon and said, "Can we read this again?  I am still interested."  After reading the book once more I asked, "Why do you think the tree always helps the boy and almost gives up her whole self for him?"  Ella answered, "Because she loves him so much."

Even though home school as such has come to a close for this summer, we will continue to work on reading and sight words every weekday afternoon and on math every weekend until Ella begins first grade in August.  I also have a few ideas for some additional topics and concepts which we will address in a less formal setting.

Our sight word wall before the change-over last night

Today Ella got on the school bus bright and early at 7:15 and started attending summer school.  She's signed up for the two hour reading and the two hour math sessions through July 31.  She arrives back at home just after noon, in time for lunch, naps and afternoon fun.

Bulgarian Adoption Reunion 2015

This year we attended the fifth annual Bulgarian Adoption Reunion in Ohio.  I continue to be one of two organizers, so the event is a big milestone for us each year.  We were excited to welcome 27 families with 120 or so people and more than two dozen Bulgarian adoptees.  Craig and I are always looking forward to spending time with many folks who have become friends over the years.

Here are some photos from the weekend:

Performance of Bulgarian folk dances

Emilia got on someone's bike one night and started riding -
first time ever.

Emilia's close-up look at a snake
during our visit to Parky's Farm

Some of our group checking out the calf
(Ella's in the red sweater and pink shoes)

Fun in the giant play barn

More play barn action

Climbin' sibs

Rex doing the bungy activity

Ella doing the bungy

 Upside down playground fun

We all had a wonderful time and are looking forward to the 2016 reunion weekend already.

IAC 320 Results

*Please also read this blog post by a fellow adoptive mom regarding MOJ statistic on BG referrals: https://bulgariatomaineadoption.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/iac-319-and-moj-statistics/

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 320 which was held on May 21, 2015:

1) German dossier from February 2011 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months with features in health status

2) US dossier from December 2011 referred two waiting children (#2458 & #2459) with profiles on the MOJ site

3) Italian dossier from May 2012 referred a male child aged 3 years with features in health status

4) Canadian dossier from January 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years with features in health status

5) US dossier from April 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status and a family history

6) US dossier from May 2014 referred a female child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status and a family history

7) US dossier from July 2014 referred a brother and sister aged 1 year and 6 months &  4 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

8) US dossier from September 2014 referred twin sisters aged 3 years with features in health status

9) US dossier from February 2015 referred three children, male and female, aged 4 years & 7 years and 2 months & 5 years and 8 months with features in health status

10) US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2441) with a profile on the MOJ site

11)  US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2120) with a profile on the MOJ site

12)  US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2697) with a profile on the MOJ site

Picture Of The Day

So proud of our beautiful boy whose daily reports from school usually look like this nowadays.

Home School June Week 3

Due to the Bulgarian Adoption Reunion, our home school week was only three and a half instead of seven days long.  Hence, we did not cover as much material.  We did some math, ESOL, and sight words of which Ella was able to add seven more to her mastered repertoire.  We also continued with our book reports and summer journaling.

Our theme for the week was Our Street, Our Town and it was our most hands-on topic yet.  We spent some time walking our neighborhood and discussing concepts such as house numbers, fire hydrants, and street signs.  While in the car, we talked about highways, exit and entry ramps, stores, schools, churches, etc.

I was a bit impressed with Ella's quick understanding of maps.  Working on drawing a map of her room, I told her to pretend she's a bird in the sky and asked her how her room would look from that view.  "Like a big rectangle," Ella immediately answered and we went from there.

Even though it was not home school, Ella also learned a lot at the Bulgarian reunion, especially in the social emotional realm.  She made friends with several different children quickly, some older, some younger, some peers.  She learned their names, participated in new joint games like Four Square, did crafts, became very confident riding a scooter, etc.  Ella picked up many new words and phrases from the other kids.  She also appreciated seeing many children with limb and other differences and once again thinking about the idea that everyone is able in his or her own way.  Ella was brave and touched the animals at Parky's Farm (even the snake which scared her so) and did the bungy activity.  She was rather obedient during the entire reunion weekend and, given the amount of stimulation and "newness" she experienced, behaved very well.  I told her at the close of the weekend that I was proud of how she had handled her first event of this magnitude.

Kindergarten Report Card

Ella's final report card for her Kindergarten semester arrived this week.  She passed with flying colors.

Plus means meets expectations, check mark means progress toward expectations, PA means participates and NA means not assessed

We're immensely proud of our fierce little Armenian firecracker.  She started Kindergarten at two months home, having been immersed in the English language for only that long, but she managed to hold her own with her peers and academically perform in the range of the normal for a child her age.

In addition, Ella had a check-up at our local international adoption clinic this month where she tested out of the Denver II Developmental Assessment, showing off great skills across the board to the team there.  This girl is on a roll!

IAC 318 and 319 Results

*IAC 317 has not yet been posted.

The following results were issued in IAC session 318 held on May 7, 2015:

1) Spanish dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months

2) Spanish dossier from March 2011 referred a male child aged 6 years and 5 months

3) US dossier from May 2014 referred a waiting child (#2803) with a profile on the MOJ site

4) Italian dossier from May 2014 referred a male child aged 6 years and 1 month with features in health status

5) US dossier from July 2014 referred a male child aged 5 years and 1 month with features in health status

6) US dossier from October 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

7) Italian dossier from November 2014 referred a female child aged 10 years and 10 months

8) Italian dossier from January 2015 referred three waiting children (#2874 & #2875 & #2886) with profiles on the MOJ site

9) US dossier from January 2015 referred a waiting child (#2802) with a profile on the MOJ site

10) US dossier from April 2015 referred two children (#2009 & #512) with profiles on the MOJ site

11) US dossier from April 2015 referred a waiting child (#2563) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) Italian dossier from April 2015 referred three siblings, male and female aged 7 years and 1 months, 9 years and 6 months & 3 years and 9 months

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The following results were issued in IAC session 319 held on May 14, 2015:

1) Spanish dossier from November 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 1 month

2) Italian dossier from January 2013 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history

3) French dossier from July 2013 referred a waiting child (#2909) with a profile on the MOJ site

4) US dossier from January 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years and 8 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from February 2014 referred a waiting child (#2821) with a profile on the MOJ site

6) German dossier from February 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 1 month with features in health status

7) Italian dossier from June 2014 referred a male child aged 8 years and 3 months with features in health status

8) German dossier from September 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

9) Belgian dossier from November 2014 referred a female child aged 9 years and 10 months

10) Canadian dossier from April 2015 referred a brother and sister aged 9 years and 5 months and 11 years and 4 months

11) US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2652) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) US dossier from May 2015 referred a waiting child (#2759) with a profile on the MOJ site