The school is about a 10-15 minute walk from home, and we hope to walk them often, to get some more energy out of them.
The staff and teachers were extremely kind and helpful and gave us a lot of their time, which we really appreciate in this era when so often public schools are vilified and underfunded (when adjusted for cost of living, California is 41st in the nation in spending on education). This especially when we are not in a wealthy neighborhood. About 60% of the students attending the school are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches.
In addition to all the time and energy the staff and teachers gave us, they also agreed with us that Elisey is better off in a 1st grade classroom, even though he is old enough for 2nd grade, a classroom with a lot of structure and shorter modules, and that the boys will just start on half-days for now, leaving before lunch. (Dimcho is in kindergarten.) This will make the transition easier for them. We got to sit in for a few minutes with the boys at their classes. The teachers also even took the time to look up a couple of basic phrases in Bulgarian. The main thing we had to educate them on is that Bulgarians shake their heads from side to side, rather than nod up and down, to signal "yes," something very counter-intuitive to Americans.
We are still keeping our fingers crossed. The boys are used to school, but it may still be overwhelming to them, with their delayed emotional development. Or, we hope, they will really take off, with structured learning and new children to play with and follow. While Dimcho seems more natural at initiating play on his own, Elisey seems to do well watching and imitating, so we have strong hopes for this.
Our schedules are flexible so that we can easily stay home afternoon for the immediate future (I'm officially on paternity leave until the end of February, with a retired professor taking over my classes until I am back) and will be available should there be any problems. I expect any major problems will surface in the next week or two, and after that we can breathe more easily.
Here are the boys with their backpacks, ready to head off to school!
