A few days before Christmas and right at dinner time, Daniel came to ask if he could do some construction with toothpicks and marshmallows. I told him that is a fun project and a good idea, but it wasn't the right time. "In fact," I said, "That's a great thing to do during your winter break from school when we have all day to play!" However, winter break hadn't yet started and he was just SURE we'd forget.
"Well, why don't you write it down then," I suggested. "We can make a list of things you want to do over the break." He got right down to business:
- Mrshmelo and tuthpiks
- pool (to go swimming)
- ice skate (I think he must have made me write this, though my writing isn't much better!)
- Ice crem (he reminded us that we hadn't made good on our standard reward for passing a swimming level)
- Move nitt (movie night)
- Monopoly (it took almost the whole break to complete one game; we can only play in short spurts)
Soon after returning to school, Edward and his classmates all researched or interviewed family members about what school is like in other countries. Edward interviewed Uncle Joe over the phone about school in Brazil, where he and Aunt Brenda lived for two years before their current assignment in Mexico City. At left are the notes he took and a right the final report. Note the green school bus and the students in uniforms (pink/purple was not specified by the interview subject--artistic license by the reporter.) Boys are identifiable by the blue hats.
His writing is improving, but to help decipher it reads:
In Brazil the children wear uniforms, and the school buses are not yellow. They go to school from 7:30 to 1:00 and then come home for lunch. Parts of their schools are outside and their summer break is in December and January.
