Every time they came home from preschool in Kirksville, I noticed their new English vocabulary. It's amazing how they can just absorb it all. They'll probably laugh at my sometimes lousy English at some point. :)
You may wonder, don't they have a dad who speaks English with them? Well, they do, but he works such crazy hours most of the time that they don't get to see him much other than on the weekend.
We did/do get English books and Dvd's from the library and went to playgroup and had play dates over the summer, so they wouldn't be totally underexposed.
We found a very nice school for Luca and Leea. It's up to 6th grade and every class has way less students than the public schools here, which is 25 vs 15 kids for Luca's class.
The kids learn Spanish from a Native, have rich music exposure, art, PE and free play, with all wonderfully committed teachers. We got to know them yesterday and I'm very impressed. The head of the school is a former music teacher, so they have a pretty big focus on that and lots of different instruments there. Sometimes somebody will play the harp during lunch time and then kids will join in voluntarily and sing along. I love it. They also have field trips every month. I think we found the right school and I'm pretty excited for them to be able to go there. It's only possible, because we were given a wonderful grant, which we feel so blessed for.
When I was a kid in Germany and had my first day of school, we were all given a "school cone" (Schultüte) filled with goodies, little toys, things for school etc. Luca knows about this tradition very well from several of our books and my kids pictures and wanted one too. So I made him one and gave it to him for his first Day of Kindergarten. Maybe I should have made one for Leea, too, because it was her first day of preK, but now she's anticipating one for her first day of Kindergarten next year. The head of the school loved the idea and would like to introduce something like this, so the kids will remember their special first day.
Luca's Kindergarten teacher Michelle.
Luca all happy and excited about his Schultüte (cone).
Aren't they cute? Heck, they grew up so fast! 
One of the things in the cone was a "frog and toad" book- one of Luca's favorite storybooks.
Lincoln got home for lunch, because he needed the car to go to a different clinic. It's was perfect, because we were able to celebrate their first day with our whole family.
Me with the cone fillings. I was so excited, because it's kind of like reliving wonderful memories of my childhood and home. Plus I knew Luca would really like it. The day before I made this cone, we went to a German deli in town and bought the "Russisch Brot" alphabet cookies and the German chocolate mini cars. This place was so fun. I could have eaten the whole store, but left it mouth watering, because of the outrageous prices in there. So yes, I went a little overboard with the whole thing, but it's a once in a lifetime thing.
He got some lego cars, a balloon boat, candy, chewing gum (his new favorite), play money, a flik flak learning watch (I always wanted one as a kid) and a Biene Maja learning DVD, that came from my mom. and of course the "toad and frog" book.
2 comments:
Wow..you both are such amazing parents. I love how you incorporate so much of both culture's in your kids lives! Thanks for sharing. :)
That's so cool that you've succeeded in getting your kids to speak German well. It's my dream that if I have kids to raise them bilingual, but I worry about teaching them a language that is my second language, and also that they will refuse to use it.
What methods do you use? I'm sure there is a lot involved, and a lot of effort too.
I like the school cone idea, it's really cute.
My mom told me they opened a really cheap German goods store in Pittsburgh. She gave me delicious chocolate that was kind of like a fancy kit-kat, but individual wrapped and with hazelnuts. Maybe German imports are cheaper on the East Coast...
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