Back to School - Homeschool Edition (starting September 7th, 2021)

 When we made the decision to move to Bahia Asuncion full time, one of the things we were most excited about was for our children to go to school here, to really experience full immersion.  As of now, things are still up in the air as far as what school reopening here will look like.  Additionally, Mikayla has not had the opportunity to be vaccinated, which makes her a bit anxious.  Zac and I decided we will start the year by homeschooling the kids.  Between the two of us, we've taught grades 6-8, so we feel pretty confident about the education our kids will receive.  

It's important to us to involve both Gabriel and Mikayla in the planning of their education.  Math, reading/writing, and Spanish is mandatory, but we wanted the kids to have input on the rest.  For math, we'll be using Khan Academy.  The kids will start the year with a novel study for reading and writing.  Also, both kids will continue working on their Spanish with Drops and Duolingo. 

To begin the year, we'll have the kids do some science research, based on the local habitat.  We've seen a few jellyfish on the beaches here, but nothing like this year! Gabriel, lately, had 4 up close encounters with the jellyfish, so they'll be researching jellyfish.  Mikayla wants to work on art, cooking, and handwriting for her electives.  Gabriel has been working on his typing, and has asked to continue this for the time being.

All of this added to the real life learning they've experiened since moving down here.  Both Gabriel and Mikayla have really taken to cooking (I'm a lucky girl!)  Gabriel is gaining a lot of experience working at the restaurant, and Mikayla has surprised us several mornings with breakfast and has experimented with a few dinner meals.  Both kids have really taken an interest in the garden, and spend a lot of time with Zac taking the daily walks to check the growth.  Gabriel has had some opportunities to mountain bike and work on the trails, but has really grown as a runner.  We enjoy watching/listening to Mikayla play with her friends and communicate fully in Spanish.

We'll be planning some fieldtrips in the future.  We're fortuate to have two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in our backyyard.  The first are the 10,000 year old cave paintings in Sierra de San Francisco.  We've had some incredible trips there and are really anxious to return.  https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/714  Also, it's been a few years since we've been to Ojo de Liebre to whale watch, and that is also a plan for this year. https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/554 We also plan on going to a center where the pronghorned antelope are being reintroduced to the habitat.  We recently learned they are the fastest land animals in America. Of course we'll proably throw in Baja 1000 and who knows what else!  

We certainly look forward to the both kids being in school, meeting new friends and becoming even more a part of the community.  But for now, we couldn't be happier to watch Gabriel and Mikayla grow each and every day, right before our eyes.