Anyone adopt an international older child? How did you handle school?

[Cindy in C-ville]

We are considering adopting a now 7-year old little girl from Ukraine. You're welcome to visit my blog to read about our experiences with her this summer. :) As we are praying about this, gathering information, etc., we're thinking about her schooling. And so here's my question. How should we approach homeschooling? I would think that the first thing is for her to become acclimated to our family and to learn conversational English. In reality, I'll have to continue to homeschool the others and so will need activities for her to do (I'm envisioning this sort of the way I handled preschoolers) while I'm schooling the others. Yet, she is bright and I would want to keep her moving forward in math. Yet, I don't speak Russian, so how is this possible until she has a working grasp of English. She did do a few fact sheets when she was here with us this summer, but as far as explaining any new concepts, there's no way I can do that w/o a common language. Also, how does it work, as far as requirements for homeschooling a child in this situation. I almost don't even want to talk to our local public school folk b/c I imagine they'll tell me she would be best-served by their services... Thoughts?

 

We're excited about the potential and just want to move forward with our eyes wide open!

[sheryl]

We are considering adopting a now 7-year old little girl from Ukraine. You're welcome to visit my blog to read about our experiences with her this summer. :) As we are praying about this, gathering information, etc., we're thinking about her schooling. And so here's my question. How should we approach homeschooling? I would think that the first thing is for her to become acclimated to our family and to learn conversational English. In reality, I'll have to continue to homeschool the others and so will need activities for her to do (I'm envisioning this sort of the way I handled preschoolers) while I'm schooling the others. Yet, she is bright and I would want to keep her moving forward in math. Yet, I don't speak Russian, so how is this possible until she has a working grasp of English. She did do a few fact sheets when she was here with us this summer, but as far as explaining any new concepts, there's no way I can do that w/o a common language. Also, how does it work, as far as requirements for homeschooling a child in this situation. I almost don't even want to talk to our local public school folk b/c I imagine they'll tell me she would be best-served by their services... Thoughts?

 

We're excited about the potential and just want to move forward with our eyes wide open!

 

 

Hi Cindy,

 

We do not have the experience you will be having, but my cousin adopted 2 girls from Russia. They were sisters before coming over. One is now 16 and the other 14.

 

There is a woman in our church who adopted a girl from China. I'm thinking she may have been about 8 or so and is now 14, I think.

 

It seems you have a logical outlook on expectations with the below from your post:

first thing is for her to become acclimated to our family and to learn conversational English

 

There may be bonding issues which you'll need to address. She may be culturally shocked for a while, etc. And, consider her past history: socially, physically, emotionally, psychologically, etc. I know you know that already.

 

She will need to learn English first. She is accustomed to speaking Russian. All of the sounds will be different, etc. One of my cousin's dd still has a somewhat heavy Russian accent 12 years later...after coming here. It would depend on whether she knows ANY English. Perhaps buying the Abeka phonics program, which is good, to teach/review the sounds, rules, etc. of phonics.

 

And, wean her into homeschooling. I'm going to assume that you wouldn't start her right away as she needs to become familiar with her new family!!! That is more important right now. Give her some coloring books, and dolls, etc. and keep her occupied in the same room where you school.

 

In time, she'll be ready. But, she is still at a tender age.

 

I hope something in here has helped. God's blessings to ALL of you!

[Ottakee]

For English, you could look at Rosetta stone in English.

[Cindy in C-ville]

Thanks Ottakee and Cheryl. If we move forward, we can actually pay a translator to spend time with her once a week and teach her English. I would send Rosetta Stone to her and that's what she would use and then would continue once she gets here. When she was with us this summer, she picked up an amazing amount of English in just a few weeks. I guess what I'm wondering is what do I write on my "Intent to Homeschool" form, provided she joins our family next summer. I probably am going to just need to call and ask and trust that the person on the other end of the line doesn't give me a "song and dance" about what a good job the public school does with children in this exact situation. Any other input? TIA!

[kate in seattle]

I haven't done this but one of the moms I know adopted siblings from Russia (they came here for a summer, went back, and them came back 'forever'). They learned English VERY quickly and the older of the two (girl) is the most amazing learnier you have ever seen - she whizeed through her Awana books (and still remembers nearly ALL her verses). Obviously she is a bright kid, but having to be bright in a second language didn't phase her at all!

 

My friend has always homeschooled. We only have to put an age, not a grade, on our declaration of intent here in WA. Our school district is not alert enough to notice 'new' children showing up in a family, so that wasn't a concern.

 

I am sure it will be fine.

 

Kate in Seattle

[Brigitte]

Get a Russian student at UVA for an hour or two a couple of times a week to help with explaining new concepts? Just a thought.

[Jean in Newcastle]

When I was in 1st grade we had a new German girl join our 1st grade class. She was 7 and knew no English. She started over at 1st grade because of her English skills, but had been working at a 2nd grade level in German. By Christmas she was caught up to 2nd grade. Your little girl may progress slower or faster (this girl was highly gifted to begin with) but she will start to speed up as her language skills progress.

 

At first, doing 1st grade math will be primarily about learning the English math language that you need for math. I think that it is preferable to learn that at a lower level so that she's not dealing with both math words and concepts at the same time. But once she learns the language and if she had learned the concepts in her home country, she will be able to speed up and apply the new math words to her own level in math.

 

I think that phonics/ reading should also be started at the beginning. She will already have the concepts of what a letter is and how to combine letters into words if she had started reading Russian. But she will have to learn a new alphabet (and relearn sounds for those letters that look the same in the Cyrillic alphabet) as well as the phonetic sounds.

 

Science tends to be hands on so that should transcend language. History she might be lost a bit but just go ahead and read aloud. If you could give her a coloring sheet or something hands-on like that, you might do that. I wouldn't worry at age 7 if she doesn't really understand her history. She can always re-read some of that material when she's a bit older.

 

As far as your reporting goes, if you're supposed to register 7 year olds then my advice is to do so as a 1st grader. You can always skip a grade the next year if she's progressed fast enough.

[Cindy in C-ville]

This is such good advice, ladies! Thank you! And thanks, Brigitte, for the UVA suggestion. I have already been thinking that if Katya joins our family, I'm going to need some help around here next year. Now, I'll have to figure out how to pay them!

[SonshineLearner]

How Exciting:-) As my husband is pretty good in Russian, he's talked about adopting a child or children who would come over knowing Russian. He thinks it'd be a little less traumatic for...well, him! I would want to teach her English, but I'd also show importance to the language that she knows. I'd want to take the opportunity to share some of her heritage and language. There are places here that you can gather to celebrate other "like" cultures with the ones that you/they left. I've always thought that I'd want my children to remember their first tongue as they also gain mastery of English.

Would you mind sharing what type of program you're in that allows visits to the US before you decide whether you should adopt??

 

Carrie:-)

[Cindy in C-ville]

Really neat, Carrie. We anticipate that we'll be going back and forth to Ukraine b/c of a "sister" church with which we are involved. This could be a great way for her to stay connected to her culture as well as us to get connected. Dh and I were there for 10 days back in the spring meeting folks, doing a marriage conference, and getting to know the area. Our involvement in Ukraine could change if we adopt Katya and then it is not a good thing for her to go back, if she needs a complete separation from her former life, etc. We'll just prayerfully move through that down the road.

 

The program we worked through is called Frontier Horizon. They offer opportunities for orphans from Ukraine and Nicaragua to come to the US. They are not an adoption agency AT ALL and Ukraine is not a "pre-selection" country. Most people travel to Ukraine on invitation (after all the documentation is completed, approved, etc.) and meet with the government people in Kiev. There you give them your specifications and they give you an orphanage to go to and then you choose your child there. For us (and other families who host and want to adopt their host child), there is no guarantee that child will be available. For us, there is a pretty high likelihood that she will be available b/c she is older (most people want to adopt little ones) and won't be available for international adoption until late spring or early summer. But, it's not a guarantee. We are praying that God will place this precious one in a family, ours or someone elses. A LARGE percentage of these girls are released from the orphanages at 15yo and become prostitutes to survive. We know we can't rescue them all, but are available if the Lord calls us into the life of this precious one. There is a video at my blog that talks about "life after the orphanage." Thanks for your interest! (And, I'd love your prayers for wisdom for us and protection for her as she waits ... :()