This week has just been one of those really long weeks. I tried a few times to start writing a blog entry, but I gave up each time. I even thought of some creative, interesting blogs, yet those didn’t pan out either. Instead, you’re left with a boring update of the week. Sorry, but that’s just the way life goes.
I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things here in Cameroon. Tomorrow will mark the end of week one teaching 6th grade. Teaching elementary kids has definitely been an adjustment—for them and for me! I graded a lot of homework today. It was a little discouraging to say the least. (Actually, at one point I believe I questioned my ability to teach.) Let’s just say there will be some reteaching happening in math and English class.
I’ve also been working hard on getting organized this week. Because I ended up coming to Cameroon later than I had last year, I wasn’t able to start the school year off with the kids. Thankfully, they all have very capable parents. However, I have some grading and recording to catch up on. I’m making progress each day, so hopefully I’ll be finished with that by the beginning of next week. One of the families didn’t get all of their homeschool material in till early this week, so we’re working on transitioning into all of the subjects.
I began violin lessons with one of the families this week. I’m upping my expectations of them this year—I’m now requiring 30 minutes of practice time 5 days a week. I’m excited to see how they progress this year. Today was my first violin lesson with the little 4-year old. We ended on a positive note, so I think it went pretty well. I brought over a ¼ size violin, but it’s actually too big for her. Hopefully she’ll grow a lot this year so that I can get her started on some songs before she’s bored of the violin. Today we worked on very basic things—how to hold the violin and the bow. I told her that this week I wanted her to show Mommy 5 times each day how to hold the bow properly. She whispered in my ear, “But I don’t know how to count.” I said, “Well, Mommy can help you.” Then she held up 5 fingers—“Is it this much?” She was very relieved when I said that was indeed five. |
Update on School
