School in Japan...again....

We are nearing the end of the school year (school in Japan ends in March, and the new school year begins in April) and so the kids have had their end of the year performances and observation days, and I LOVE THEM!

There are often times that we wonder if we made the right choice putting our kids in the local schools here.  We did have the more "comfortable" option of putting them in school on base.  But when we go to events like the ones we have been to over the past couple of weeks I can't help but be so incredibly grateful that we made the more difficult, time consuming and uncomfortable decision.  The decision that stretches all of us, sometimes past our limits.  The decision that is physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting ever. single. day. 

Why?  This one simple decision has allowed not only our children to learn and grow in ways they never would have been able to otherwise, but also myself, Andrew, our family all together.

Some of the minor things that I am so glad they get to experience include cleaning their own school, and participating in preparing and serving lunch. 

There are not hired janitors at the schools here.  The students are in charge of cleaning their classrooms and various other rooms in the school.  Each student has an assigned job that rotates throughout the school year.  They are to provide a cleaning cloth that they use during their cleaning assignment.  They are taught the proper way to clean and what products to use.  They are also taught respect for their school, responsibility for the things they use, and how to work together for the good of the whole.

 Everyone at school eats school lunch (unless they have a written note saying they can bring a home lunch).  On any given day, the menu may be rice, fish fillet, vegetables and miso soup.  For the most part the kids L.O.V.E lunch at school (they are a few exceptions: Holland hates sweet potatoes, Keane isn't big on mochi or sweet potatoes, but they figure it out).  Each day students are assigned to go get the lunch trolley, bring it to their room and serve lunch to their fellow students.  They then work together to clean up the lunch and return the trolley to to the kitchen before they are allowed to go out for recess.  Again, responsibility for themselves!

Back to the performances:

Holland had an end of the year performance a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning.  She had been practicing for weeks for this and was pretty nervous.  It was at a big performance hall in the community.  Unfortunately all of the videos I have are too big to upload, but first each class did a "gymnastics routine".

                                       

She had to run to the springboard, jump over the block (guys..i know nothing about gymnastics), dive through a hoop into a summersault, and do a forward and backward flip on a bar.  And it was adorable.

After that each class did a musical performance.  The things these teachers did with kids ages 3-6 is nothing short of incredible.  I wish so much that I could figure a way to upload one of the videos.

The instrument of choice in schools here is called a Pianica.  It is a cross between a piano and a harmonica.  It has a piano keyboard and then a mouthpiece you blow into in order to hear noise when pushing the keys.  And that is what it sounds like.....noise.  I won't like: I was not looking forward to the pianica numbers because the sound they make is horrendous.  But again, the teachers worked miracles and the kids played amazingly, with harmony, and it sounded like (very nasal) music!

The only picture I have is of Holland and some of her classmates after the performance.

 

Moving on to Keane: the school year is set up into trimesters.  Each trimester there is a "parent observation day" when parents can come and see what the kids have been working on in class.  The students prepare a short presentation depending on what grade they are in.  In Keane's class each student explained their name and where it came from (poor Keane had to say, "my mom found it on the internet and liked it"), and then either told a story or showed something they excelled at over the term.  Keane read a story he wrote about picking cherries with friends when he was younger.  Then each student turned and looked at their parents and thanked them for being good parents.  Guys...that's when I started bawling.  Masks are good for something: they hide cry boogers.  Whew!  Unfortunately still, the video of his presentation was too big to upload.  BOOOOOO

Nervous about his presentation

He's waiting for his turn. Also, check out his shoes, they are "inside shoes".  When we first got them he swore he wouldn't wear them because they "looked like ballet shoes".  But as soon as he saw that even the roughest toughest kid had to wear them, he let it go.  HAH! Also, doesn't he look like he's ready to go into a business meeting????

At the end, after all of the presentations, the kids turned and thanked the parents for coming, in the loudest most obnoxious way possible, as elementary school kids usually do.

Also, please note the inside slippers everyone brought.  I got to actually bring my slippers to wear inside the school.  Hello????  who wouldn't love that???

Now Cache: Cache hasn't actually started school yet.  He is enrolled at a Yochien (Japanese kindergarten which is 3 years--ages 3-6) very close to our house.  (Holland is also in Yochien right now and preparing to enter 1st grade at Keane's school.  She goes to a Yochien across town because it's where there was room when we got here.  We decided against that Yochien for Cache because there is a LOT of English spoken there.)  While the elementary school you attend depends on where you live, the same boundary standards do not apply to Yochien.  So we really could choose where we wanted Cache to go, provided there was space for him.  We LOVE this one.  It's small, and because of that they do things some of the bigger ones can't and don't do.  

Right now, every other Saturday they have "open school" where kids can come and play and get used to being in a school setting.  They don't have to be attending this specific school, but for Cache it is great because he is becoming familiar with the teachers, the school, and the routines.  It is from 9am-12pm.  There is free play time, exercise time, snack time, listening and reading time.  

During free play the kids started digging with shovels in the sand.  One of the teachers showed them how to dig a trench and then went and got a bucket of water and let them make a river.  The kids took their shoes off, rolled up their pants and proceeded to really play in the water.  I thought it was amazing!!!  Sensory play at it's best.  

This was their warmup before they did a little obstacle course.  guys...im in love.

Needless to say, things are very different here.  So very different.  And sometimes there are meltdowns.  Sometimes there is anxiety about doing the "right" thing so we don't look dumb.  Sometimes we wonder what the heck we were thinking.  But when I get to be part of these different things with the kids, my mind is put at ease and I know we made the right decision for our family.