Starting Dyetskiy Sad

Today was R5's first day at dyetskiy sad, kindergarten. He and C3 will be going to a small dyetskiy sad for American and Ukrainian children, but taught in Russian instead of Ukrainian as the local schools are. And it's only a 5 minute walk away!

R5 was very excited this morning, especially about his dinosaur lunch box. The batteries in my camera ran out right as I was about to snap a picture of him in the school entrance. I sat in the main room for the first couple of hours. He ran out every so often to make sure I was there and to tell me what was going on. I appreciated that the teachers allowed the separation to proceed at his pace instead of forcing the issue. After awhile, R5 told me, "Okay--you can go now."

About an hour later, we were called because R5 was upset. He wasn't quite ready to travel by marshrutka with his new teachers and friends to the park. But he told me he wanted to be sure to be back in class when the students came back to school.

He was fine during the second part of the day, and when I picked him up he didn't want to leave! C3 will be starting at this dyetskiy sad on Monday.

I'm really happy that the younger boys have the opportunity to be in a Russian-immersion program. I think it will be a good fit for their personalities. And I'm looking forward to having more focused homeschooling time with the older two.

Posted by TulipGirl | 08:38 PM| TrackBack (0) | Words

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Comments

WOW! I am beyond impressed at the love and understanding shown by the school he attends. American schools could take a lesson from this story!
Posted by: Dana at September 3, 2004 01:17 AM

Do students in Ukraine on the first day of school bring flowers for their teachers? I know that this is a custom in many parts of Russia; just wondering about Ukraine...
Posted by: John Owen Butler at September 3, 2004 01:06 PM

Yes!

Sadly, we didn't. I planned to buy some on the way to school, and even checked the day before whether flowers would be available in the morning. But I guess it was too early. . .

Another Russian/Ukrainian school tradition, is for the boys to be in suits and the girls in frilly dresses and these outrageously huge white hair ribbons. (We didn't do those either--my boys' white shirts make them look too "mormon" and I don't think I could make myself buy those oversized white bows even if I had a girl!)

There continues to be a strong emphasis on education and respect for teachers, however, all of my Ukrainian friends are dismayed at the state of the school system--from grammar school throughout university.
Posted by: TulipGirl at September 4, 2004 06:38 PM

See this picture for a modest example of the fluffy white bows that schoolgirls wear:

http://www.alphatv.ru/news/2003/09/01/sent03.jpg
Posted by: TulipGirl at September 4, 2004 06:52 PM

Yes, that's the way I remember seeing them in pictures years ago. I always was fascinated as a kid seeing the first day of school pics from the USSR, with the girls in those awful bows, and everyone in the Young Pioneers red scarves. 'Course we boys here in the USA were all in Cub Scout uniforms and the girls in Brownies uniforms....
Posted by: John Owen Butler at September 4, 2004 07:59 PM

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