Mid-Year Evals

Our oldest attends an innovative school for home schoolers two full days a week.  The program runs much like a college where you can take a single class or go full time, offering all the core instruction for each grade level as well as a wide variety of enrichment courses.  There are about 250 students K-12 in the school and class sizes are always 10 attendees or less, commonly six and under.  The teachers, in most cases, work at the school part-time while actively practicing in their respective fields of expertise in other settings.  Due to the small size of the school and classes, everyone knows everyone and the teachers get a real sense of who the students are as learners and as individuals.  Evaluations are not by letter grade or any numbers, but thoughtful, detailed notes prepared by each teacher for each student in their classes.

Yesterday, we received Ella's evaluations for the first semester of 20/21 and I hope you will indulge me in sharing some highlights here.  Her reports were full of praise and indicated that she is excelling in every class academically and personally.  We're very proud of her hard work and all of the progress she is making.

Mindfulness: From the beginning to the end of class, Ella is focused and works hard to complete her projects.  Ella is a jewel. I love having her in my class.

Film Narrative: Ella is quite active and excels in our classroom activities and assignments. I can always count on her to inspire class participation, and to take assignments and discussions to sophisticated levels.  Ella has a real talent for writing and should continue to hone and develop her talent.

Yoga: Ella shares and encourages others to both share and engage in positive group dialogue. She offers her peers positive feedback and seems honestly curious about others.

Sign Language: Ella brings her keen intelligence and sarcastic nature to class every week.  She learns signs very quickly - and remembers them! - even knowing signs from last year.

Grammar: Ella is developing competence in utilizing grammar concepts in her writing allowing her ideas to be more fluent and concise.  Ella is attentive and hard-working in class and always willing to accept the challenges presented.

Music: Ella has been wonderful this year! I have noticed a big change from last year in regard to her interjections.  Last year she seemed to interrupt quite frequently and with attention in mind. This year it is much more of an inquisitive nature and I love it! She is very bright and immerses herself in the creative exercises. 

Art: Ella has been an enthusiastic and engaged learner in this class. She brings a positive energy to our classroom each week.  Her artwork is thoughtful, creative, and beautifully ties in elements of the country or art-making style we are learning about. Ella is a social butterfly in class in the best possible way. She is friendly and kind to other students. She encourages other students to keep trying when they get discouraged and is very complimentary of other’s work. I have been particularly impressed with Ella’s creative thinking when she starts a new project. She often takes the prompt in an unexpected direction – a wonderful quality in a developing artist! 

Storytelling:

Pancake Day 2021

Our only Mardi Gras tradition is to have pancakes on Shrove Tuesday.  So two dozen buttermilk pancakes (don't worry we froze some), a pack of strawberries, maple syrup, and some homemade whipped cream spelled another successful Pancake Day dinner.

And just for fun a blast from the past: Emilia and Craig five years ago today.

IAC 505-507 Results

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 505 which was held on October 8, 2020:

1) Spanish dossier from February 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status

2) German dossier from April 2013 referred sisters aged 4 years and 2 years and 10 months.

3) US dossier from July 2014 referred brothers aged 3 years and 4 months and 5 years and 4 months

4) US dossier from October 2014 referred a male child aged 3 years and 10 months with features in health status

5) German dossier from January 2015 referred a female child aged 9 years

6) Belgian dossier from March 2015 referred a female child aged 2 with a family history

7) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred a male child aged 9 years and 3 months with features in health status

8) Italian dossier from January 2017 referred a male child aged 5 years and 1 month with features in health status

9) Maltese dossier from March 2019 referred an identified waiting child

10) Cyprus dossier from March 2019 referred a male child aged 11 years and 11 months with features in health status

11) Italian dossier from May 2019 referred a male child aged 10 years with features in health status and a family history

12) US dossier from September 2020 referred an identified waiting child

13) US dossier from October 2020 referred an identified waiting child

14) US dossier from October 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 506 which was held on October 15, 2020:

1) US dossier from November 2014 referred a female child aged 9 years and 11 months

2) Finnish dossier from March 2016 referred brothers aged 7 years and 10 months and 8 years and 10 months

3) French dossier from February 2018 referred sisters aged 7 years and 8 months and 9 years with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from July 2019 referred a female child aged 10 years and 2 months

5) US dossier from July 2019 referred an identified waiting child

6) Italian dossier from October 2019 referred sisters aged 10 years and 6 months and 7 years and 11 months

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 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 507 which was held on October 22, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from October 2013 referred a female child aged 7 years and 3 months

2) French dossier from August 2015 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with a family history

3) French dossier from October 2016 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with a family history

4) French dossier from November 2017 referred a male child aged 2 years and 10 months with features in health status

5) Italian dossier from March 2019 referred a male child aged 10 years and 9 months

6) US dossier from October 2020 referred an identified waiting child

7) US dossier from October 2020 referred an identified waiting child

8) US dossier from October 2020 referred an identified waiting child

Picture Of The Day

In her Mindfulness class, our oldest child was recently asked to produce a drawing that shows an animal she likes in an interaction with an animal she dislikes or fears.  I am not sure she would have shown me her work and I may not have heard about the details of this project, but I came across her while she was sketching this in her bedroom and was so impressed and fascinated with her creation.  It certainly gives me a lot of food for thought and a renewed appreciation for the innovative and enlightened approach of the educators at her little school.

Picture Of The Day

Even though we're suburban dwellers, we still see quite a bit of wildlife in our neighborhood.  At this time of year, it's not unusual to spot deer in the front yard and a neighbor reported recent sightings of coyotes.  Today, a bird of prey has been visiting our property several times and we have watched it with great curiosity.

IAC 482-504

It's been about a year since I last posted referral results from the MOJ in Bulgaria. The main reason was that the MOJ revamped its website and for the longest time, I couldn't find the info after the new site was up and running.  But, I have re-discovered it, so here are all of the results published in 2020.  As you will see, the IAC sessions are not labeled in chronological order and I am not sure why, but this is what's posted.

The big take-aways from this data for those waiting for a traditional referral are that of all the referrals made in this period, only 20% were considered fully healthy by the MOJ and of those 20%, 86% were sibling groups and/or children over the age of 10.  Among the traditional referrals under the age of 4, less then 10% of the children were considered to be healthy by the MOJ.

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 482 which was held on December 5, 2019:

1) Spanish dossier from July 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from July 2014 referred a sibling, a girl aged 3 years and 4 months and a boy aged 5 years and 1 month with features in health status

3) Italian dossier from July 2015 referred a male child aged 9 years and 3 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from January 2016 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status and a family history

5) Italian dossier from May 2017 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from December 2018 referred siblings, a girl aged 7 years and 10 months, a girl aged 12 years and 5 months, a boy aged 8 years and 10 months

7) US dossier from November 2019 referred an identified waiting child

8) US dossier from November 2019 referred an identified waiting child

9) US dossier from November 2019 referred an identified waiting child

10) US dossier from December 2019  referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 483 which was held on December 12, 2019:

1) US dossier from September 2015 referred siblings, a boy aged 7 years and 3 months and a girl aged 5 years and 7 months with features in health status

2) Spanish dossier from October 2015 referred a male child aged 11 years and 9 months

3) US dossier from November 2016 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status and a family history

4) Canadian dossier from February 2017 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status and a family history

5) US dossier from July 2017 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from May 2019 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history

7) US dossier from December 2019 referred an identified waiting child

8) Italian dossier from December 2019 referred a male child aged 11 years and 7 months

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 484 which was held on January 9, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from April 2014 referred siblings, a boy aged 5 years and 3 months and a girl aged 3 years and 5 months

2) French dossier from December 2015 referred a female child aged 5 years and 8 months with features in health status

3) Italian dossier from October 2019 referred an identified waiting child

4) US dossier from October 2019 referred an identified waiting child

5) US dossier from November 2019 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from December 2019 referred an identified waiting child

7) US dossier from December 2019 referred an identified waiting child

8) US dossier from December 2019 referred an identified waiting child

9) US dossier from December 2019 referred an identified waiting child

10) US dossier from January 2020 referred an identified waiting child

11) Italian dossier from January 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 485 which was held on January 16, 2020:

1) Spanish dossier from November 2012 referred a male child aged 2 years and 4 months

2) Luxembourg dossier from April 2015 referred siblings, a boy aged 5 years and 2 months and a boy aged 3 years and 6 months

3) US dossier from June 2016 referred a female child aged 4 years and 2 months with features in health status and a family history

4) US dossier from January 2017 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from January 2017 referred a female child aged 1 year and 1 months with features in health status and a family history

6) US dossier from June 2017 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

7) Italian dossier from November 2017 referred siblings, a boy aged 7 years and 11 months and a boy aged 6 years and 10 months with features in health status and a family history

8) US dossier from January 2019 referred a male child aged 12 years and 6 months

9) US dossier from January 2020 referred a female child aged 1 year and 1 month with features in health status

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 486 which was held on January 30, 2020:

1) Spanish dossier from March 2013 referred a female child aged 2 years and 2 months with features in health status

2) Canadian dossier from April 2019 referred an identified waiting child

3) Canadian dossier from October 2019 referred a female child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from January 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 487 which was held on February 6, 2020:

1) Luxembourg dossier from November 2012 referred a male child aged 1 year and 11 months with features in health status and a family history

2) French dossier from October 2013 referred a male child aged 7 years and 6 months with features in heath status

3) US dossier from March 2016 referred siblings, a boy aged 2 years and 1 month and a boy aged 4 years and 9 months with features in health status

4) Canadian dossier from December 2016 referred female child aged 1 year and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

5) Canadian dossier from December 2019 referred a female child aged 11 years and 11 months

6) US dossier from January 2020 referred an identified waiting child

7) US dossier from February 2020 referred an identified waiting child

8)  US dossier from February 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 488 which was held on February 20, 2020:

1) US dossier from April 2016 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months with features in health status and a family history

2) US dossier from January 2019 referred a female child aged 1 year and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

3) US dossier from April 2019 referred a male child aged 3 years and 2 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from February 2020 referred an identified waiting child

5) US dossier from February 2020 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from February 2020 referred a female child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 489 which was held on February 27, 2020:

1) French dossier from November 2012 referred a male child aged 3 years and 5 months

2) Spanish dossier from June 2013 referred a female child aged 6 years and 10 months with features in health status

3) Dutch dossier from February 2016 referred a male child aged 3 years and 3 months with features in health status

4) Spanish dossier from April 2016 referred a male child aged 9 years and 3 months with features in health status

5) US dossier from December 2916 referred  siblings, two girls aged 1 year and 6 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from February 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 490 which was held on March 6, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from December 2012 referred a male child aged 7 years and 7 months

2) Italian dossier from June 2014 referred a female child aged 2 years and 1 month with a family history

3) Italian dossier from September 2018 referred siblings, a boy aged 8 years and 9 months and a boy aged 10 years and 8 months

4) Italian dossier from April 2019 referred siblings, a boy aged 10 years and 9 months and a girl aged 6 years and 1 month

5) US dossier from March 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 497 (not sure what happened with the others) which was held on July 16, 2020:

1) US dossier from September 2018 referred an identified waiting child

2) US dossier from March 2020 referred an identified waiting child

3) Dossier from March 2020 referred an identified waiting child

4) US dossier from May 2020 referred an identified waiting child

5) US dossier from May 2020 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from May 2020 referred an identified waiting child

7) US dossier from May 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 498  which was held on July 23, 2020:

1)  Finnish dossier from October 2015 referred siblings, a boy aged 5 years and 8 months and a boy aged 4 years

2) US dossier from January 2017 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status and a family history

3) French dossier from April 2018 referred a female child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status

4)  US dossier from May 2020 referred an identified waiting child

5)  US dossier from June 2020 referred an identified waiting child

7) US dossier from June 2020 referred an identified waiting child

8) US dossier from June 2020 referred an identified waiting child

9) US dossier from June 2020 referred an identified waiting child

10) US dossier from June 2020 referred an identified waiting child

11) US dossier from July 2020 referred an identified waiting child

12) US dossier from July 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 499  which was held on July 30, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from May 2013 referred a male child aged 4 years and 8 months with a family history

2) Danish dossier from July 2013 referred aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

3) US dossier from July 2013 referred a male child aged 3 years and 6 months with features in health status

4) Spanish dossier from November 2014 referred a male child aged 1 year and 11 months with a family history

5) Italian dossier from April 2016 referred a male child aged 6 years and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

6) Italian dossier from October 2018 referred a female child aged 10

7) Italian dossier from October 2019 referred a female child age 15 years and 8 months

8) US dossier from June 2020 referred a male child aged 2 years with features in health status

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 500 which was held on August 5, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from February 2015 referred a female child aged 2 years and 7 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from April 2015 referred a male child aged 5 with features in health status

3) French dossier from July 2015 referred a female child aged 3 years and 9 months with features in health status

4) Italian dossier from August 2016 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with a family history

5) US dossier from November 2017 referred  two boys, aged 3 years and 2 months with features in health status

6) Canadian dossier from April 2018 referred a female child aged 10 years and 6 months with features in health status

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 502 which was held on September 11, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from October 2019 referred an identified waiting child

2) US dossier from May 2020 referred an identified waiting child

3) US dossier from August 2020 referred an identified waiting child

4) US dossier from August 2020 referred an identified waiting child

5) US dossier from August 2020 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from September 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 503 which was held on September 18, 2020:

1) Italian dossier from November 2012 referred a male child aged 12 years and 5 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from July 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years with a family history

3) Spanish dossier from December 2015 referred a female child aged 2 years with a family history

4) Italian dossier from April 2018 referred siblings, a girl aged 9 years and 8 months and a girl aged 7 years and 1 month

5) US dossier from September 2018 referred siblings, a boy and a girl aged 7 years and 2 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from November 2019 referred a male child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status

7) Canadian dossier from January 2020 referred a male child aged 2 years and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

8) US dossier from September 2020 referred an identified waiting child

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The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 504 which was held on September 25, 2020:

1) Spanish dossier from June 2013 referred a female child aged 7 years and 1 month with features in health status

2) French dossier from September 2013 referred a female child aged 7 years and 3 months with features in health status and a family history

3) French dossier from July 2014 referred a male child aged 2 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

4) Italian dossier from March 2016 referred a male child aged 2 years and 7 months with features in health status

5) French dossier from February 2017 referred a male child aged 4 years with features in health status

6) Finnish dossier from August 2017 referred a siblings, a boy aged 7 years and 1 month and a girl aged 9 years and 1 month with a family history

7) Italian dossier from May 2018 referred an identified waiting child

8) Italian dossier from December 2018 referred an identified waiting child

9) US dossier from February 2020 referred a female child aged 2 years with features in health status

10) Canadian dossier from July 2020 referred a male child aged 3 years and 7 months with features in health status

11) US dossier from September 2020 referred a male child aged 3 years and 6 months with features in health status and a family history

Inauguration Day

They are female, like her.  They have a foreign-born mother, like her.  They are growing up carrying multiple cultures within them, like her.  They have big dreams, like her.  

Today my daughters experienced a historic moment that will shine new possibilities onto their paths.