We finally found a school!

Hi friends and family –

Thanks for all your prayers - - we finally have a school!

What an uphill battle this has been. There are quite a few big name International schools here with an American or English curriculum (Hong Kong International School, German Swiss Intl, French Intl, Chinese Intl, English Schools Foundation, etc. etc…). Per the advice of friends and contacts here, we have made application to any school that would accept it, and there are simply no spots available. Despite getting on the wait lists a little late, we have been faced with 2 considerable hurdles, the “corporate debenture program” (many multi-national corporations bring expats in and out of Hong Kong quite often, so they hold spots at these schools open for BIG money – AA is not involved as I am the only person with a family who has taken this post in over 20 years, from what I hear), as well has (only in China!), we have a daughter born in year 2000 (year of the lucky golden dragon or something like that…along with a zillion other kids who were born the same year).

It was looking as though home tutoring was on the horizon, and if you know us and our children, you would know that breaking the news to them that they would not be going to school and interacting with other children was the worst, most dreaded option possible.

But, we did finally this August make contact with a real education specialist, Suzie Nuttall, who knows the school system inside and out (has taught here, has 4 children who have been through school here) as well as the challenges expats have trying to get into the system.

So, she began frantically searching for us for any spot open, and she knows the smaller schools as well. She recommended we try the “Harbour School,” which is quite convenient to our home.

Of course I hurried there immediately to put in the application. The first sight was quite underwhelming. Although it is on sort of a charming typical Hong Kong “city” street (complete with Bakery, little cute shops, etc.), you have to enter into a building through a crack in the wall, practically. The school occupies a single floor in this old office building. They have no playground, and the receptionist told me that they walk the kids across the street to the Community Center for swimming and other PE activities (the receptionist was the only one there that day). Further, they are moving to a new facility so the school was in a bit of disarray. Things were looking pretty grim.

Last weekend, though, we got acceptance letters from this school. Since it was looking like home schooling or The Harbour School at this point, I took Mark back with me to take a second look.

It was our lucky day, because the founder of the school was there. Wow! She's a native of Clearlake,Texas, and she completely OOZES fun education! She has a PhD in Child Psychology, her husband has a PhD in information systems and has worked all his life in education technology, and her sister (who develops their ROCKING curriculum) has a PhD in education and is insanely creative. The founder/director/principal gave us a look around the school. They have a neat kitchen – for their very important cooking projects (cooking is math, science and reading, we were taught!), and the new facility has this adorable kitchen with kid size sinks, etc. Each kid has a computer (a small lightweight one – some smart guy thought that they should be affordable so that every kid should have one – these are quite popular here but MicroSoft has hindered their entrance into the US markets). The kids do their own research on the “education approved” internet. They type in what they want to research, what grade they are in, and sift through the content- and age-appropriate information. She explained the program in detail to us. She also showed us photos of the new facility (they will relocate there October 1 - its a couple of blocks away), and it looks adorable.

Jessica will be working in a fascinating social studies program that begins the year studying the dawning of humanity and how it migrated northward and ended up taking two branches – one westward towards the Tigris/Euphrates area and eventually into Europe, the other came east toward into the region of the Yangtzee and Yellow Rivers in China. She will be studying the one that came into China, and up into the 1700s (she’ll take the other path next year). They will top off the course of study with a 3-day trip to see the Xian terra-cotta soldiers (yes, of course Mark and I will be chaperoning)!

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/

Christina, as she is learning to read, will have a special project to complete on “how to be a good tourist.” Her class will decide collectively what things you need to be a good tourist – what to pack, what key words you should know about the place you’re visiting, what research you should do, etc. They will even be interviewing tourists to see if they are “good” or not! Then, they will have to figure out a place they would like to visit and do the appropriate research to be have a successful tour in that location!

Anyhow, we just couldn’t be happier. The school is small and emerging (it is 5 years old), but there’s apparently some really terrific learning going on there! Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious. There’s just a ton of “doing” going on along with the “learning.”

After I win the horse races here in Hong Kong (the preferred method of gambling – they’re not terribly “lottery crazed” here), I hope to retire and apply for first grade myself!!!

Oh, and although the kids do go to the community center for PE (a nightmare to any native of suburban-US), this community center is newly renovated, sparkling, clean, and complete with a water park! [There is one very neat thing about having a communist government in charge (and lots of low cost labor available) …when they want a park or public area, and they want it CLEAN and SAFE, they really make it happen!] Additionally, the school reserves the facilities they use during certain times of day, so it is sort of private. And walking across the street in HK is NOTHING like walking across a city street in Dallas…they’ll be completely safe.

But we’re so happy – if this team lives up to its reputation and its sales pitch, then we’re going to be in for a great year! Good things really can come in small packages, sometimes, hopefully we’ve found one!

Love, and thanks for the prayers! E.J.