My little Paige is a big girl now at the Berlin British School! And as you can see she has to wear a uniform. We love it! Paige gets to wear a skirt everyday and I don't have to argue with her about what to wear! Everybody wins! There are 12 children in her class from several different places (Scotland, Russia, England and of course Germany and one other American). Her teacher Miss Shield is British as are most of the teachers, with the exception of her German teacher who is of course German. She has a packed schedule every week. Each day besides the normal everyday lessons of Literacy and Numeracy, she has additional activities. Mondays she has swimming which takes place at the Olympic Stadium. How incredible it was to go to the open swim class recently and watch my daughter swimming laps in the Olympic Pool! She is doing fantastic! And as many of you know, Paige loves to swim; therefore she is having a ball! On Tuesdays she has PE--loves it as well, Wednesday--music, Thursday--art, Friday--open play time. She has German twice a week, now--next year it will be 3 times a week. Something else they do there is really encourage them to join a club. The clubs take place either during lunch or directly after school. These clubs vary from drama, to painting, arts and crafts, ballet, music, games and construction, stories and rhymes, etc. Then the older they get, there is soccer, language clubs, even homework clubs. I think it's really great! On top of all of that--they offer music lessons to be taught at the school either during lunch or after school as well! I think this is so nice. We haven't begun any steps in that direction just yet, but when we do, it will be nice to pick up Paige from school and not have to run her somewhere else for another activity. They really put a positive outlook on family time with all of this. They spend so much time away from home that once they are finished at school, they are able to simply come home for the evening. Needless to say, we are very happy with the school and Paige's progress there. She is reading wonderfully. She is very proud of herself as is her teacher and of course the Mommy and Daddy. :) The teachers here are so attentive in every part of there day. Not only are they teaching the normal school curriculum, but they work on their manners at lunch as well! The teacher even asked me one day if I would be able to get the girls home in time for tea. Huh? Most of you know that I am all about taking tea, but to take the time to do that every afternoon is unfathomable. I can't see Brooke allowing that at all! I have to say that if there were any customs I would like to adopt from the British school, that would be it! Speaking of adopting British culture--it will be entertaining to see my girls probably end up with a British accent. Wonder if there is such a thing as Southern British?
Paige is also riding the bus now, something I was very hesitant about until I saw it. It is a very small (15 passenger) bus, with individual seats with seat belts. There is a very sweet little girl, age 10 that rides with Paige to and from and really takes care of her. Paige loves the bus! I knew she would, it was me that had a hard time with it. Now that I've seen the whole set up and know the children on the bus, we are all good to go! Well, I guess that about wraps up the update for Paige. The rest of us are still doing well. Still no house, but we are doing just fine here in temporary quarters. I'll update again after Easter!
