I hope you have a fun adventure

Somewhere along this last school year, when we moved two months into the school year, the boys started a new school in a new country, again, and we had 4 months of home schooling thrown in there during a pandemic quarantine, Adam finished second grade and Malcolm finished kindergarten. 

It wasn’t the school year any of us thought it would be but it ended up being special in its own way. It was the first school year for the boys in Ukraine, the first school year they had to bring snow pants in to be allowed outside, the first school year they were both together at the same elementary school. It was the school year we ALL learned how to use Zoom, how to work together in one dining room, and how to do arts and crafts project with limited supplies. It was the school year that Malcolm learned to read and how plants grow. His teacher Ms. Jackson is one of the kindest souls I have ever met. Poor Malcolm cried a bit when he realized he has to switch teachers next year and I might have teared up a bit myself. It was the year Adam learned how Google hangouts works, got a school email address and was able to stay in touch with his friends even though we weren’t allowed to leave the house. He learned how to make Google slide presentations that put mine to shame. He learned multiplication and how to write stories. He takes after his mother and loves a good run on, but who doesn’t. I am so proud of these two boys. They adapted like true foreign service kids and we decided we should celebrate their last day of school. While home schooling has its fair share of challenges and my patience was definitely not on the the level of Ms. Jackson, I loved seeing what the boys were learning and getting to be a part of it for this small moment in history and we all agreed a party was necessary. 

For the last day of school there was a big assembly. Balloons were hung, special breakfasts were made, we all dressed up and my technical skills were stretched for the millionth time in 2020 and I managed to connect my computer to the TV so we could have a big screen assembly. Malcolm was chosen by his sweet friend Gunes to say a few words of goodbye before she moved back to Turkey. Adam won an award in music, that he definitely gets from Randy and we said goodbye to Adam’s second grade teacher, Ms. Nikki. All in all a great graduation day and definitely a school year we will all remember!