I am so sorry, I have to apologize to my friends and blog readers, I have been slightly MIA (Missing In Action) due to a few reasons the least being that I was sick last week and my tonsils were the size of lemons, I am now on 2 antibiotics and doing fine, I can talk and breath now :)
My first reason is why I will continue to be a little more MIA, I have a major addiction to buying, or I like to say collecting, and right now my favorite thing to collect is fabric, hehe. After College I was a collector of books, I have almost 1000 books, then movies, scrapbook supplies, stamps, make-up, essential oils and herbal/vitamins. Spending thousands of dollars on every new "collection" after all, I needed to make sure I had everything. My first real love of color came when I started collecting glass to do stained glass windows and hot glass work. So addicting all of the pretty glasses, just like fabric, the different brands the different colors, they even have limited edition collections of glass, like AGF's limited designer editions. So when I moved to Greece I left my crates of glass with a girlfriend who owned a Stained glass Store. I threw away the majority of the make-up and herbal/vitamins, the rest of the stuff moved with me. I have boxes and boxes of basically unused Scrapbooking supplies, lots of essential oils and boxes of books (mostly read) and movies (all watched once).
And my new addiction happened last year, Fabric. Last month I read a blog post written by Diane of "From Blank Pages" talking about her fabric buying addiction. And it made me slow down, mostly slow down on my blogging and blog reading, cause I am tempted, sorry I like pretty things. So to keep the story short, I am on a "no shopping" diet, I have enough fabrics to do a lot of things, wish I had been smarter and bought more yardage than so many FQ's, but hey that will just keep my projects small too!
My other reason for being MIA is getting the kids into school, this week has been a blessing the first 2 weeks were pure hell. Can I tell you about Greek schools, or the way I see them.
First Day: The priest comes to bless the school (no separation of church and state, here), A little over an hour and half at each school, Kat is going to a pre-school/kindergarten School (that her Grandfather went to school when he was young), Nik's school is just down the block from hers and it is an Elementary school, he started 1st grade.
Second Day: Kat wants to go to Nik's school, his teacher doesn't even realize that she has included a 4 yr. old in her class, gave her a chair/desk and everything, lol, I really think we could have left her there and she would have been happy to stay. But we forced her to leave after the teacher spoke to the parents and it was time for us to go and Nik stayed another 2 hours on the "first" day.
Well this was Kat outside of the school after I dragged her away, she weighs a ton, like cement.
Okay you can't tell to much, but she is rubbing her back up and down on the dirty car and there is dog shit all over the gravel area, do you see that piece right there? Screaming her head off about not wanting to go to her school just up the block. Gah, we went home.
Over the weekend my Auntie and Uncle came to visit, Monday was a holiday for our town so the kids had no school and we took them on a trip to the lake.
Third day of school: I am so proud of Nik, he is going to school with no problem at all, what a sweetheart. Katerina went to school with an entourage or in Greek we call it a "Parea", first it was just me and Auntie, but then she wanted Grandma to go to, so the 3 of us ladies walked her to school. Uncle and Dad had taken Nik to school and we met them on the road so they came along with us to take Kat to school, so she had 5 adults tagging along behind her to go into school, it was hilarious, I am sure it was the largest group of adults to ever accompany any one child to school. Well all of the yohumdinging and she still didn't want to go to school, Nope, no school. Bloody hell.
4th day: Nik does great, Kat refuses.
5th day: Nik does great, Kat finally stays in school as long as I am outside waiting for her, she lasted 45 minutes.
6th day: Nik tells me he feels sick, I make him go to school anyways, Kat stays in school as long as I am outside waiting for her, she lasted almost 2 hours. Thank god I was outside because she ran out of the school shouting "mommy, mommy" (with out the teacher) and I was sitting in the front and I was like here I am.
(by the way Nik was sick, he ended up throwing up that night, a Friday night and was sick over the weekend)
A new week:
Monday: Nik goes to school, Kat goes to school as long as I stay outside, for some reason the normal teacher is not here and we have the afternoon teacher teaching this throws Katerina for a loop but she stayed for 3 hours.
Okay we are doing good right? slowly slowly she is staying longer, well I have NO idea what happened but the next day,
Tuesday: Nik goes to school, Kat refuses.
Wed: Nik goes to school, Kat refuses. We tell her, we have thrown away all of your barbies. She comes home and starts to play with my curtain holders, like they are dolls.
Thursday: Nik goes to school, we tell Kat that her teacher has a barbie for her, if she stays in school. It doesn't work, she has a major tantrum and is screaming and yelling at the top of her lungs, the teachers are freaked out (really) and well let's just say it was CRAZY!
Friday: I take Kat to school first, early, so early we are there before the teachers, SHE STAYS, yep, I found the ticket, she wants to be the first one there, she wants to have her teachers undivided attention for a few minutes before the other kids come. She didn't even care about the barbie that was given to her at the end of the day, she stayed for the whole 4 hours.
Now this is what I dislike and probably what had Katerina so freaked out, the first hour and half, is free time, the kids do whatever they want and I think this kind of confused Kat, she was like, what do I do? It's 35 kids running around getting different things out and it is very noisy. I think this is a long time to have free time, any pre-school/kindergarten teacher's out there, is this long? Plus they don't lock the doors till 9, so this past week, I have been staying outside till I hear it quiet down inside cause then I know they have her in the classroom and with the door locked she can't run away. Nik one time escaped school and ran home when he was 4 so the possibility of Kat doing it is very probable.
So how is this week, pure bliss, she has stayed every day the full time, I still stay in the mornings till I hear the key turn in the lock and when it starts to get quiet, so at about 9:30, I work on my embroidery projects, while waiting and then when I leave I walk down to my favorite coffee shop, get a nice hot latte, walk by Nik's school cause then he is having a recess, still have not been able to catch his attention, but I can hear them yelling. Then walk by Kat's school to make sure all is still quiet I try to listen for a bit so then when I pick her up I tell her I heard "....." and she thinks I have been sitting outside the whole time. She really likes being "the teacher's helper" and I hear her greet the kids in the morning as they come in and this way she is kind of in charge, I think when I was bringing her later and all of the other kids were already there it just freaked her out, so many kids doing so many different things.
Okay all done, if you stayed this long Thank you. here is a pretty little piece I worked on last week while waiting at Kat's school.
And if you can stop by and say hello to my friend Shirley, of SimpleSew, she is having some health and family problems and needs a good internet hug, or on facebook. She is also the one who supplied me with the vinyl you see that I used in the top photo for Nik's pencil case and the really cute super hero fabric I used for the back side.
My first reason is why I will continue to be a little more MIA, I have a major addiction to buying, or I like to say collecting, and right now my favorite thing to collect is fabric, hehe. After College I was a collector of books, I have almost 1000 books, then movies, scrapbook supplies, stamps, make-up, essential oils and herbal/vitamins. Spending thousands of dollars on every new "collection" after all, I needed to make sure I had everything. My first real love of color came when I started collecting glass to do stained glass windows and hot glass work. So addicting all of the pretty glasses, just like fabric, the different brands the different colors, they even have limited edition collections of glass, like AGF's limited designer editions. So when I moved to Greece I left my crates of glass with a girlfriend who owned a Stained glass Store. I threw away the majority of the make-up and herbal/vitamins, the rest of the stuff moved with me. I have boxes and boxes of basically unused Scrapbooking supplies, lots of essential oils and boxes of books (mostly read) and movies (all watched once).
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| A finish 2 weeks ago |
My other reason for being MIA is getting the kids into school, this week has been a blessing the first 2 weeks were pure hell. Can I tell you about Greek schools, or the way I see them.
First Day: The priest comes to bless the school (no separation of church and state, here), A little over an hour and half at each school, Kat is going to a pre-school/kindergarten School (that her Grandfather went to school when he was young), Nik's school is just down the block from hers and it is an Elementary school, he started 1st grade.
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| "Second" Day of School |
Second Day: Kat wants to go to Nik's school, his teacher doesn't even realize that she has included a 4 yr. old in her class, gave her a chair/desk and everything, lol, I really think we could have left her there and she would have been happy to stay. But we forced her to leave after the teacher spoke to the parents and it was time for us to go and Nik stayed another 2 hours on the "first" day.
Well this was Kat outside of the school after I dragged her away, she weighs a ton, like cement.
Over the weekend my Auntie and Uncle came to visit, Monday was a holiday for our town so the kids had no school and we took them on a trip to the lake.
Third day of school: I am so proud of Nik, he is going to school with no problem at all, what a sweetheart. Katerina went to school with an entourage or in Greek we call it a "Parea", first it was just me and Auntie, but then she wanted Grandma to go to, so the 3 of us ladies walked her to school. Uncle and Dad had taken Nik to school and we met them on the road so they came along with us to take Kat to school, so she had 5 adults tagging along behind her to go into school, it was hilarious, I am sure it was the largest group of adults to ever accompany any one child to school. Well all of the yohumdinging and she still didn't want to go to school, Nope, no school. Bloody hell.
4th day: Nik does great, Kat refuses.
5th day: Nik does great, Kat finally stays in school as long as I am outside waiting for her, she lasted 45 minutes.
6th day: Nik tells me he feels sick, I make him go to school anyways, Kat stays in school as long as I am outside waiting for her, she lasted almost 2 hours. Thank god I was outside because she ran out of the school shouting "mommy, mommy" (with out the teacher) and I was sitting in the front and I was like here I am.
(by the way Nik was sick, he ended up throwing up that night, a Friday night and was sick over the weekend)
A new week:
Monday: Nik goes to school, Kat goes to school as long as I stay outside, for some reason the normal teacher is not here and we have the afternoon teacher teaching this throws Katerina for a loop but she stayed for 3 hours.
Okay we are doing good right? slowly slowly she is staying longer, well I have NO idea what happened but the next day,
Tuesday: Nik goes to school, Kat refuses.
Wed: Nik goes to school, Kat refuses. We tell her, we have thrown away all of your barbies. She comes home and starts to play with my curtain holders, like they are dolls.
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| playing with the curtain holder things, what are they called? |
Thursday: Nik goes to school, we tell Kat that her teacher has a barbie for her, if she stays in school. It doesn't work, she has a major tantrum and is screaming and yelling at the top of her lungs, the teachers are freaked out (really) and well let's just say it was CRAZY!
Friday: I take Kat to school first, early, so early we are there before the teachers, SHE STAYS, yep, I found the ticket, she wants to be the first one there, she wants to have her teachers undivided attention for a few minutes before the other kids come. She didn't even care about the barbie that was given to her at the end of the day, she stayed for the whole 4 hours.
Now this is what I dislike and probably what had Katerina so freaked out, the first hour and half, is free time, the kids do whatever they want and I think this kind of confused Kat, she was like, what do I do? It's 35 kids running around getting different things out and it is very noisy. I think this is a long time to have free time, any pre-school/kindergarten teacher's out there, is this long? Plus they don't lock the doors till 9, so this past week, I have been staying outside till I hear it quiet down inside cause then I know they have her in the classroom and with the door locked she can't run away. Nik one time escaped school and ran home when he was 4 so the possibility of Kat doing it is very probable.
So how is this week, pure bliss, she has stayed every day the full time, I still stay in the mornings till I hear the key turn in the lock and when it starts to get quiet, so at about 9:30, I work on my embroidery projects, while waiting and then when I leave I walk down to my favorite coffee shop, get a nice hot latte, walk by Nik's school cause then he is having a recess, still have not been able to catch his attention, but I can hear them yelling. Then walk by Kat's school to make sure all is still quiet I try to listen for a bit so then when I pick her up I tell her I heard "....." and she thinks I have been sitting outside the whole time. She really likes being "the teacher's helper" and I hear her greet the kids in the morning as they come in and this way she is kind of in charge, I think when I was bringing her later and all of the other kids were already there it just freaked her out, so many kids doing so many different things.
Okay all done, if you stayed this long Thank you. here is a pretty little piece I worked on last week while waiting at Kat's school.
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| For a swap package. |
And if you can stop by and say hello to my friend Shirley, of SimpleSew, she is having some health and family problems and needs a good internet hug, or on facebook. She is also the one who supplied me with the vinyl you see that I used in the top photo for Nik's pencil case and the really cute super hero fabric I used for the back side.
Do you think Kat would do better in the afternoon class? I wonder if it was something about the teacher or teaching style that worked more effectively. I taught first grade in New Mexico. We have a plentiful amount of standards to cover and too many students for what I would call free time in the classroom. There was recess on the playground (1 hour total for 6 1/2 hours of class). Students did have some choice about what activities they did during portions of the day, but each activity was geared at accomplishing a learning objective. Options might be silent or partner reading, writing, listening to audio books, playing a math game, etc. I considered it my responsibility to know where each child was, and what they were doing at all times. I definitely would have noticed if a child left the room. Do you think Kat was more prone to leaving since she knew you would be waiting outside to take her home if she wasn't up to staying the entire day? Did Nik get a reward for staying the entire day too? You might want to be careful not to endorse initial resistance with greater incentives than perpetual good behavior.
ReplyDeleteok, so I know this WAS NOT fun for you...I laughed and laughed! My daughter Kaitlyn was the same way! Oh the memories this brought back! Good going Mom...proud of you!
ReplyDeletewow! What an adventure getting your daughter into school! Hope things calm down for good :)
ReplyDeleteAs a retired teacher, I can assure you that an hour and a half of free time at that age, ok, any age, is insane!!! No wonder she doesn't want to stay - I wouldn't want to stay!! A 15 minute recess in the middle of the 4 hour class is quite enough "free time". I would not be happy with my child in a class like that! If they are going to continue the schedule of the free time at the beginning of class, I would just ask when free time was over and take my child then - otherwise she is wasting a great deal of time.
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry Mara :-( Putting our kids into a school in a culture that is different from our own is a hard hard thing. I think its great that you are investing so much of your time into trying to help them settle. There are no easy answers except to keep loving them, keep communicating with them and keep praising them for the little steps that they make forward. xx
ReplyDeleteSounds like a trying few weeks, hope that things keep getting better :) I am with you on the fabric diet thing...so hard when there are so many pretty new lines and projects popping up all the time.
ReplyDeleteAwww thanks for the Hugs xoxo I feel the internet love.....
ReplyDeleteDont they have Doors????????????
ReplyDeleteOh dear, you must be exhausted!!!!
ReplyDeleteReminds me of when Ella started going to school... After two weeks I really had to go back to work, they didn't seem to realise! I must say the gate was always locked. That's very strange they don't lock the door... Your embroidery is super cute!
ReplyDeleteOh, Phew! So glad it finally resolved itself! It was like reading a riveting mystery/horror story there for awhile, lol!
ReplyDeleteChecking on you, seeing if your still standing Guard.. lol
ReplyDeleteWow! What a nightmare! I can't believe that she could actually get out of the school without the teacher realising - is it just one teacher for 35 pupils? When Anwen was that age there were 43 pupils in her class but the staff to pupil ratio was 8-1 which was very reassuring. I don't have any teaching experience but and hour and a half sounds like a LOT of free time - even preschool here is very structured with fifteen minute free time slots in between 'lessons' (structured play) Hope Kat has settled now - it certainly sounds as if things are going better x
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for your troubles, but I must say I was laughing my ass off reading this! From your daughter's cute little pouty face while standing in poop, to imagining you pretending you've been waiting outside all day - hilarious! I'm also jealous that you have so much family in the neighborhood!
ReplyDelete