Michael's school

First, the guys made it to Grenada and are currently on the beach. They head to Boa Vista tomorrow as early as possible with hopes of making it to Manaus before the end of the day. This is their last chance to enjoy a beach in the Caribbean! And these pictures prove that it is a beautiful as I had imagined!

Michael, Maira, and I went to the two schools that are close to our house today. I had been praying that God would make it clear to me if I really should put Michael in a school and then which school would be best. God clearly answered my prayers today. We went to the school where he has two friends already. They greeted me so nicely and right away took us for a tour. Then the director (principal) had me sit in her office to talk to her. Michael and Maira stayed with me and she asked me all sorts of questions about what he had already learned. As I prayed to God, I told Him that I wanted to find a school that would understand why I am homeschooling and not criticize me for it. (home schooling does not exist here) Well, the director totally understood and was very supportive. She said she would put Michael in second grade and that the teachers would do everything possible to help him out until he gets the swing of things. Then she turned her attention to Michael and asked him if he liked the school and if he wanted to go to school there. He said he liked the school, but wasn't sure he wanted to go to school. She asked him why, and he said he was kinda scared. She asked him why he was scared. He just shrugged his shoulders, not able to put into words what he was feeling. She asked him if he was scared that he would not be able to do the school work like the other kids? He immediately replied yes, that he was very scared about that. She talked to him for awhile about how we are each good at different things, but that nobody is good at everything. She assured him he would be the best in his English class! That made him smile and he was quickly put at ease. She also told him that he should always ask his teacher if he doesn't understand something and that he can ask again and again until he understands. And that he could come to her office and talk to her whenever he needed to and that she would do whatever she could to help. Well, I was sold, but I felt like I needed to at least look at the other school. I explained this to the director, and we headed over to the other school. We spent probably all of 5 minutes there. No comparison. The lady I spoke with (I'm not even sure who she was...secretary, director, etc.) immediately said Michael would have to be in 1st grade because he had not been to a Brasilian school yet. She showed me his classroom and there were twelve 5-6 year olds...clearly much younger than Michael and he would have major self-esteem issues if put in there with those little kids! She asked no questions about Michael or what he knew. I went right back over to the first school and enrolled him. Michael is even looking forward to going tomorrow! We decided that he would just go during snack time and recess tomorrow so he could make some friends before getting into the classroom setting. He is open to the idea of staying after recess, but he will make that decision on the spot tomorrow. He already has his uniform (all schools use uniforms here) and tomorrow I need to get all the materials on a nice long list that I was given! I can't believe he is going to go to school. We will have to really push in the mornings to get homeschool done in time for me to get lunch on the table and get him to school by 1pm. But I feel that God is opening this door, so in we go!