For those who don't know yet, I have officially moved back to Mexico. This time around, I am living at our San Antonio del Mar Campus, just south of Tijuana. I know what you are thinking. How can you possibly live in Tijuana, it is dangerous, are you crazy??? Never fear, God is here! Seriously, I am exactly where God wants me for this season & that is the safest place I can be.
So why am I living in Mexico again??? I'm so glad that you asked. A few months ago, my friend and campus director Janet Lambert was showing me the preschool trailer. As we walked in I kept oohing & awing at all of my wonderful preschool goodies that were being used once again. If you didn't know, I taught preschool for several years prior to moving to Mexico and a few years ago my mom sent lots of my teaching materials & decorations over to use in Ensenada. For the past several years it's been sitting in storage. It was so good to see everything on the walls and out of boxes. In passing, she made the comment that they were looking for someone to take over the preschool for the April quarter. I replied, "find me someone to take over Mission Adventures registrar & I'll do it". Again, all of this was said in passing, almost sarcastically. As we left the trailer, I started really thinking about it & started getting excited. About 30 minutes later, Janet's daughter, Rachel, came over & mentioned that I was going to take over preschool in April. Again, I got excited & met with Janet to nail down some specifics.
So why am I living in Mexico again??? I'm so glad that you asked. A few months ago, my friend and campus director Janet Lambert was showing me the preschool trailer. As we walked in I kept oohing & awing at all of my wonderful preschool goodies that were being used once again. If you didn't know, I taught preschool for several years prior to moving to Mexico and a few years ago my mom sent lots of my teaching materials & decorations over to use in Ensenada. For the past several years it's been sitting in storage. It was so good to see everything on the walls and out of boxes. In passing, she made the comment that they were looking for someone to take over the preschool for the April quarter. I replied, "find me someone to take over Mission Adventures registrar & I'll do it". Again, all of this was said in passing, almost sarcastically. As we left the trailer, I started really thinking about it & started getting excited. About 30 minutes later, Janet's daughter, Rachel, came over & mentioned that I was going to take over preschool in April. Again, I got excited & met with Janet to nail down some specifics.
Fast forward to the end of March. I moved down over the course of a week & transformed the preschool trailer from a daycare to a fully functioning preschool classroom. Where all the furniture was pushed against the walls before, now there were clearly defined spaces with lots of kid-sized storage. Small bookshelves become dividing walls and bilingual signs let you know the expectations in each station.
April started with the arrival of our current DTS (Discipleship Training School) and along with them 2 families with 4 kids ranging in ages of 3 - 13. I oversee the education from home of the 2 older boys (11 & 13) as part of the Foundations School while full-on teaching preschool to the 2 DTS preschoolers and our 5 base kids. Did I mention that I do this in two languages?? Yup, that's right, our school is bilingual. It is really stretching my mad language skills!
Did I also mention that I am still doing my regular San Diego work as well??? Needless to say, my days are full & I am definitely ready for bed in the evenings.
My day basically looks like this now:
8:00 - Base Clean-up & organizing materials for the day (1 day a wk we have morning small groups)
8:30 (2 days wk we have base meetings)
9:00 Foundations School (FS) boys (school age staff/student's kids) - debrief yesterday & independent study assignments
9:15 - Preschool students start to arrive for free play while I tutor one of the FS boys
9:45 - Preschool Clean up & Circle Time (songs, games, calendar, weather, lesson)
10:00 - Preschool Rotation Stations or Morning Specials (Music & Art) FS - Morning Specials (Spanish/Mexico Culture, Worship, Art, etc)
10:30 - Snack Time
10:45 - More Specials (PE, Spanish/Culture, etc)
11:15 - Table Top (practice fine motor skills like write, tracing, cutting, etc) for Preschool & Independent Study for FS
11:45 - Group Reading Time
12:00 - Independent Reading with a stuffed animal friend (Preschool)
12:15 - Pack & Outdoor play
12:30 - LUNCH
Most afternoons are then spent catching up on emails & phone calls for our Mission Adventures teams as well as lesson planning & prep work for the Preschool & Foundations School kids.
Dinner at 5:30 & sometimes, more emails or planning & prep.
Pretty full days indeed but I am very happy with what all I am doing. I get to work with all my age groups!! I've always said that I love working with kids of all ages!!
To leave you for today, check out a tour of our classroom and to see some pics of our kiddos in action, check out our facebook page (www.facebook.com/littlebuildersschool).
Want to help grow these young missionary minds?? Consider donating some school supplies, teaching materials, costumes, books, etc to our classroom. Leave a comment below for more details.
April started with the arrival of our current DTS (Discipleship Training School) and along with them 2 families with 4 kids ranging in ages of 3 - 13. I oversee the education from home of the 2 older boys (11 & 13) as part of the Foundations School while full-on teaching preschool to the 2 DTS preschoolers and our 5 base kids. Did I mention that I do this in two languages?? Yup, that's right, our school is bilingual. It is really stretching my mad language skills!
Did I also mention that I am still doing my regular San Diego work as well??? Needless to say, my days are full & I am definitely ready for bed in the evenings.
My day basically looks like this now:
8:00 - Base Clean-up & organizing materials for the day (1 day a wk we have morning small groups)
8:30 (2 days wk we have base meetings)
9:00 Foundations School (FS) boys (school age staff/student's kids) - debrief yesterday & independent study assignments
9:15 - Preschool students start to arrive for free play while I tutor one of the FS boys
9:45 - Preschool Clean up & Circle Time (songs, games, calendar, weather, lesson)
10:00 - Preschool Rotation Stations or Morning Specials (Music & Art) FS - Morning Specials (Spanish/Mexico Culture, Worship, Art, etc)
10:30 - Snack Time
10:45 - More Specials (PE, Spanish/Culture, etc)
11:15 - Table Top (practice fine motor skills like write, tracing, cutting, etc) for Preschool & Independent Study for FS
11:45 - Group Reading Time
12:00 - Independent Reading with a stuffed animal friend (Preschool)
12:15 - Pack & Outdoor play
12:30 - LUNCH
Most afternoons are then spent catching up on emails & phone calls for our Mission Adventures teams as well as lesson planning & prep work for the Preschool & Foundations School kids.
Dinner at 5:30 & sometimes, more emails or planning & prep.
Pretty full days indeed but I am very happy with what all I am doing. I get to work with all my age groups!! I've always said that I love working with kids of all ages!!
To leave you for today, check out a tour of our classroom and to see some pics of our kiddos in action, check out our facebook page (www.facebook.com/littlebuildersschool).
Want to help grow these young missionary minds?? Consider donating some school supplies, teaching materials, costumes, books, etc to our classroom. Leave a comment below for more details.
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