Mom and the kids at the Alhambra, Granada, Spain Both kids have started German Kindergarten (Kindi) in the past few weeks. We're still going through a compulsory transition period with Nora but Joe's been in full-time for a good while and he's loving it. It's rare that he doesn't come home covered head-to-toe in sand and he still has a hard time leaving every day because he's having such a good time. His German is improving quite rapidly and he's already saying things I don't understand, which couldn't make me happier. I'm so happy for both of my kids that they get this privilege of growing up in another country and having two primary languages, which I hope will give them opportunities later in life that I can't even think of. Even without new opportunities, though, I'm happy that they can grow up in another culture and have the perspective of the world you can only gain through travel that I sorely wish I'd had as a young k
Joe and Nora at Maulbronn Monestary We've been in Germany for just about 6 months now and are finally getting into the swing of things. Joe turned 5 last month and we've still been waiting to get him into Kindergarten so he can start learning German before he's in primary school. He's been practicing here and there with Rachael, but we're worried that not getting him in soon will cause him to struggle catching up down the road. Outside of the German, Joe's been doing amazingly well with everything else. He reads at levels way beyond what I'd expect for a 5-year-old and seems to memorize everything he reads and recall it on demand. Not too long ago he recited an article about Fungi he read in a kids' encyclopedia when we started talking about mushrooms for dinner, which just about floored Rachael and I. Joe's been reading everything science-related he can find and is particularly fond of tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanoes at the moment.