Can't forget about our little scholars too! This week Ben finished Kindergarten! I'm so proud of him. The secret is that we moved on to first grade reading and math probably a month ago, but yesterday I had him complete those last few things in his Kindergarten work so that we could officially say he was all done! I've loved watching him grow over this past year and I love seeing him read just about everything now. He still loves math, just like Noah, and he still loves to draw illustrations for the things he reads. On the days he doesn't feel like drawing I basically beg him to, just because I so love to look back at those when they're older! He's so happy to be in first grade now. We will keep moving through his material over the summer, with plenty of breaks for fun too.

This little guy made huge progress too! He came home knowing how to sing the alphabet and he did know some of his letter sounds, but I knew we had a way to go. Over a few weeks he really picked up on the rest of the sounds by playing with those little felt letters that I grabbed from the Target Dollar spot before I even met him. I tried some curriculum loaned to me by a friend...I tried some worksheets I printed off the internet....I tried jumping into the middle of some books we already had...so many things assume that a child has a basic understanding of English. When I would pick up a book that said, "Parent tells child, 'This is the letter A. Point to the words that start with the A sound", I would sigh and close the book. He just couldn't do what some of the very beginner books were asking, because he didn't have the vocabulary yet. 

Finally I decided to just go back to what I know, the phonics program that taught Anna and Noah and Ben to read so well. I had resisted using it because Will already knew his letter sounds, and it felt too easy for him. But after a while I took the advice from other moms and from the publishers themselves, and decided to just start at square one. It never hurts to have a child feel super successful in those first few weeks! So he flew through Book A in probably one third of the time it normally takes. He never said it was too easy, but he did it happily and felt good about it all. Once we got to the end and it was having him read short stories, he would sometimes look at the page and say, "Oh no, this too hurting!", which is how he says something is hard to do. But I told him I would help him so he gave it a try - and of course he could do it all on his own! I wanted to be very intentional about not letting him skip ahead if he hadn't really understood the material, so I was thrilled to see him reading and sounding out words all on his own! We still have some barriers based on this being his second language. Hearing rhyme is a struggle, as is recognizing sounds in the middle of a word. But he is progressing so well. He was SO excited to get to move on to Book B and after he read the first short story in that one he smiled up and me and said, "Mom! I know-a so much-a English now!".

Kate finished preschool on Wednesday but this morning was her art show. She was proud to show us her butterfly and she was happy to see some of her friends.

We had to get a photo with her sweet teachers. The one on the right has been with us since Anna's first day.

We had some gifts for them that were a little heavy so we said we would leave them down in the classroom. Everything had been taken down for the painters coming next week, but I made them stand by their old cubbies so I could take a picture. Sniff sniff...I can't believe we won't be back in that dear Owl Class ever again. I got sad walking down that hall for the last time, remembering Anna skipping along in her sparkle shoes and Noah and Ben having to be pried off my leg, ha. I'm glad they have such fun memories of those days too.

One last photo by the stained glass. I told Will that he could be in this photo too, but he wasn't happy because I was taking so long and he wanted to leave and eat lunch!

So now the little kids are all finished with school too, at least for a week or so! They're so excited for their new school in the Fall and Kate and Will ask at least once a week when they can start. As much as I've loved the preschool years, we really are ready to move on. I will miss the sweetness of it all, but I will not miss driving the length of the busy road we take to get there, or the mid-day carpool that often interrupted our school time at home. I'm looking forward to the new routines we will make in the Fall!

You guys. School is pretty much over. Anna and Noah have one more day. Kate is finished except for walking us through her little art show on Friday, and Ben has one more lesson and he's finished with Kindergarten. Never mind the fact that the youngest three will just keep going on school with me next week, because it will still be summer! How on earth?! I have to admit that I'm not at all prepared for summer, but these end of the year events are making me realize that it's here whether I'm ready or not! 

This morning was a little crazy because Nathan had to leave at 6 a.m. for an out of town meeting and three kids had to be in two different places at the same time. I got all 5 up and ready, drove Anna and Noah to their event, ran Kate over to preschool and left her in the "Early Birds" (that we've only used maybe 3 times in 8 years?), and raced back to Anna and Noah with the little boys in tow. Luckily their school Closing Ceremony today was for grades 3 - 6 and when I slid into the back row the third graders were still up there. I hadn't missed anything yet!

They did their recitations and the sixth graders sang this little Dwarves Song song since they read the Hobbit in the last month. I thought it was so cute a cappella and all. You will need to just close your eyes and listen, because the actual video may give you motion sickness. Benji was bored and floppy and laying all over my arms!

(video)

When Will doesn't know what a word means, he will say, "I don't know ______" and add in that word. On Saturday after soccer we told him we were going to the park and he said, "I don't know park. Is fun?" and we said, "Yes! Very fun! Swings and slides!" (complete with hand motions). Then he yelled out, "Oh! I like-ah very fun! I like-ah park!" :)

Once we arrived he settled into a squat to watch the creek flow by. I sent this photo to my friend Ashley and she said he must have strong thighs.

Where did the month of April go? It's certainly not on my little sidebar of posts over there, is it? Life has been crazy busy, but today preschool is cancelled so we are staying home until it's time to get Anna and Noah. The constant rain for days on end is making that easier!

So what have we been up to lately? So much! A million birthdays, doctor visits, school events, travel, holidays, and just regular life. Here's a quick recap.

Everyone keeps asking how Will is doing and the short answer is that he is doing fantastic. We've had some hard moments, but they always pass and he's back to being his laid back and happy little self. We've noticed as the weeks have passed that he's getting better at handling things, and he's no longer offended by little slights and accidental hurts from his siblings or other kids. He's learning to laugh at himself and take things in stride even better than he did when we met - and even then he was pretty good about things like that! His confidence in speaking has increased too. He's always talked a ton to us but talking to strangers has been a challenge. Just in the last few weeks he has said goodbye to people that say it to him (a big deal!) and this week he told someone his name when they asked. This is a giant party in our eyes!! So proud of him and how brave he is. A couple of weeks ago he had the awesome opportunity to talk to one of his "China friends" on FaceTime. This little guy came home a few weeks after Will and lives in Colorado now. It was so fun to watch them talk (in Mandarin, for over an hour and a half!) and we plan to talk again this weekend. Will tells me that this little boy slept in the bed next to him and was his good friend. I'm so glad they can still talk!

We're thankful that they work with many adopted children and they're very familiar with their unique needs. We're excited to get started and once we got home all three kids were asking, "Can we start tomorrow? The next day?". I'm learning every day to shift my thinking from how things *should* be on paper, to how they really need to be in real life, and I'm grateful that homeschooling offers that flexibility. Will won't just be shuffled through a system and pushed along with no thought to his actual abilities, and he will get to make some "America friends" as he calls them.  :) It's going to be fun to still have them home most of the time, but to see them branch out a little on their own as well.

This week we were finally (after weeks and weeks of phone calls and insurance runaround!) able to lock in some medical appointments for Will. He will be having oral surgery next week and some cleft related surgery in early June. We will keep you posted, but luckily neither of these should be too difficult of a recovery for him.

So that's April in a nutshell, leaving out the 4 billion other ways we filled the days. We're all counting down to summer, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a tad nervous about having 5 bored kids on my hands for over three months. The good news is that this is Will's first summer in America, so we have lots of fun things to show him and to do together. I will keep schooling through the summer with the youngest three and Anna and Noah will have their usual summer reading and Latin and math. But even if there is a little boredom, we are more than ready to stop washing uniforms and studying for tests for a while! Maybe I can even get back into this space a little more often. :)