December the 6th the kids celebrated the completion of their first year of school. The Uganda school year makes FAR more sense than the U.S one and runs on the calendar year, starting in February and ending in December of the same year. So much simpler!
Once an American always an American so I arrived at the celebrations a half hour late, only to be the first one there for about an hour! Ha ha! Typical! The kids danced, did skits, danced some more, danced more, and did I mention that they danced? At first I thought it was really cute but after several hours of little kids dancing I think I could die happy without ever seeing a little kid dance again :). Which is pretty bad since my youngest is just going to be starting P1 soon, so I have many more years of these kinds of celebrations to look forward too. Ha! What a party pooper I am ;)
So here, in pictures, is a a quick snapshot of the big graduation day and party. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures but Ella is quite the dancer while Frankie... not so much ;) He honestly dances like ME, poor boy!!
Those are banana leaves all the little dancing kids are sporting :)
Ella as King Herrod - she was great using her big deep Herrod voice!
I told you there was a lot of dancing involved! And these are only a few of the pictures! A fun time was had by all though and Frankie could NOT stop singing for several days afterwards. In fact, he sang himself to sleep the next two nights :). I'm not sure if it's his age or school or maybe a combination of both but Frank is a VERY different boy than he used to be. He is a genuinely HAPPY chap who can laugh at himself and come up with some good come backs, rather than just gettng cranky and pissed. He was very concerning as a toddler with his PTS and anger and mood issues, but he's worked hard and God has truly changed him.
Academically they both did pretty good. I'm a bit taken back with Ugandan kindergarten curriculum however, especially after continually hearing about how crappy and second rate Ug education is compared to "the West". Do most American kindergarteners come out of kindergarten knowing FRACTIONS and writing short sentences? I don't think so! Well, Ugandan kindergarteners do! Uganda actually has a pretty good standard curriculum and I appreciate the fact that my kids are learning in a context which they are familiar with. When I had Ella in an American curriculum she couldn't relate to a lot of it, like libraries, garbage men, etc. I've also noticed, through the American and Ugandan curriculum, how much cultural and social norms are taught in school to young children, so it is good that they are learning the cultural and social norms of their home country, in addition to what I teach them about American norms. All in all, I've been very happy with their school year experience!
So congratulations Frankie and Ella for completing your first year of traditional school. Your mother is so proud of you both and the fun and kind people you are becoming!
