Yochein

After much thought we decided to take Calista out of her Japanese school and enroll her into kindergarten on base.  When we originally signed her up for Japanese school we considered keeping her in another year and then enrolling her in 1st grade on base.  We decided to switch now instead.  She isn't really getting an education at the yochein and I'm not concerned about her missing out on kindergarten because I know I can teach her the letters and numbers at home.  The problem is she needs to go to speech therapy and that is definitely not something the Japanese school is going to teach her.  She also wants to switch schools.  While she likes her teacher and her class and the other kids.  She really has no idea what is going on all day.  She just sits there not understanding what is going on until someone helps her.  I couldn't imagine what that would be like every day all day.  She also doesn't like the school lunch.  The school makes them lunch four days a week and they make her eat it.  She doesn't like it and they sit there and try to make her eat it, to the point of daily tears.  I've talked to other parents and it is pretty normal practice for Japanese kids.  They have to eat their lunch at school and if they try not to the teachers will make them.  Beatrix likes the school lunches and doesn't have any problems with it.  Beatrix will continue to go the the Japanese school.

Below are a couple of pictures and videos of the girls with their classes.

Yochien Time

My babies are officially gone for a good part of the day.  Calista and Beatrix started Yochien which is Japanese preschool/kindergarten.  The bus picks them up right in front of our house at 8:10 and drops them back off around 2:30 five days a week.  It is so weird being in the house alone.  I can't not even think of a time I've been home alone since Tucker was born!  It is so crazy.  I miss the kids a lot.  All of them actually, not just these two.

They are super cute in their uniforms though.

They have tons of stuff they need to bring to school.  I'll take a picture of what is in the bags someday.  But it is mostly their gym clothes, back up clothes, indoor shoes and a ton of lunch supplies including a water bottle, dishes, a placemat and two hand towels.

These are their winter uniforms, in July they start wearing their summer ones.  They are almost exactly the same but short sleeved and the skirt has a faux button on the front.  Oh, and the hat is different.  

The uniforms cost about $470 per child!!!! Not to mention the $100 in supplies we had to buy.  Luckily the school got the idea I did not want to pay that much and found some preowned uniforms I could buy from them for $70 per child.

This next picture is of them in their gym clothes, they have a short sleeve version of these as well.  They have been wearing these to school everyday this week.  But I think later they go in their fancy uniform and then change into the gym clothes at school.  I actually have no idea.  I sent them in their fancy uniform the first day and then saw the bus pull up and all the kids had their gym uniforms on.  So not only do my girls get to go to a school that is %100 in a language they do not understand they have a mother who doesn't understand either and keeps doing things wrong.  I get so many papers and flyers all completely in Japanese it is really hard to figure everything out.  Then on the first day the bus came early so I wasn't waiting at the road and their teacher had to walk them all the way to our door.

They have gone a couple days already and seem to really love it.  They both were happy to go and came home happy.  They say they really like it.  Today and yesterday morning though before getting dressed Beatrix keeps saying she doesn't want to go.  She has some Easter eggs that she wants to play with instead of getting ready for school.  I think she likes school but she doesn't love her reduced play time at home, especially in the mornings.

Scarlett's Graduation

Scarlett graduated from preschool!  I love her preschool and Scarlett loved it even more.  Every morning she would wake up and ask if it was a preschool day.  They had a little graduation ceremony the other night.  It was really cute.

They sang a few songs.


We watched a video of the kids throughout the year.  Then did a little graduation march.  It was cute.


Lastly they passed out diplomas.

They even threw their hats.

Even though Scarlett loved preschool I have to admit that it is kind of nice not to have to drive her back and forth to it anymore.

Bug Museum Field Trip

Scarlett's preschool did one last field trip to the Bug Museum.  I don't really like bugs, but the kids think it is cool so I try to support and not act like it is totally disgusting the entire time.

I like their yellow garage door.  Such a fun bright background.

This next picture is of Scarlett's class.  Check out all the parents taking pictures in the window reflection.

 The have reptiles too.  I'm not the biggest fan of them either, but I like the turtles.

Leon's favorite color is yellow, so of course he loves this boa.

Scarlett and Leon were barely brave enough to touch the snake.  They were not interested in holding it.

 The whole class on a caterpillar.

See you next time bug museum.

Farm Field Trip

Scarlett's preschool went on a field trip to a farm.  With al the siblings of the preschool kids we had kind of a big group.  Here they are all lined up.

They had sheep, goats, a pony, chickens and a rooster.  Scarlett was a little scared of the animals.  She didn't want to get close, but she did seem to really like them.

One of the highlights for the kids was the rides.

Tucker even said it was the best ride ever.  I guess all the money we spent on Disneyland was a waste.

Going to the farm just reminded me how much fun it could be to have some animals of our own.  We want to get chickens but I'm a little hesitant.  Before we went Scarlett kept talking about the chickens and how she was going to get an egg.  I asked her what she was going to do with her egg and she said "play with it... softly."  I told her that we would have to eat it and there is no playing with eggs.  Once we got it home she wanted to save it and wait for a chicken to hatch.  I once again told her we needed to eat it.

This is probably my favorite preschool field trip.  

Dentist Field Trip

Scarlett's preschool went on a field trip to the dentists office.  It was pretty cute.  They toured the place and taught them about good dental hygiene.  The tooth fairy was even there to show them around.

My kids have always done really well at the dentist.  But Leon has never been, so this was a great way for him to see what goes on in the back.

The kids even got to go on a "ride."


I couldn't help but laugh at Leon while the chair went back.  He was so scared to put his head back.  It was cute.

Here is the class, and Leon, and the tooth fairy.

Scarlett loves preschool so much!

Plolice Station

I recently went on two field trips to the Police station.  We've lived here for seven years and I've never gone.  Then a couple weeks ago two completely separate field trips were planned, and I went along.  One for cub scouts and one for preschool.  

For me the cub scout trip was a little more exciting.  Probably because the boys were more excited about it.  We toured the station.

The boys had lots and lots of questions.

Then we went outside and saw not only their car and...

The K9 unit.

It was pretty cool because the kids got to wear the arm sleeve and let the dog bite them.  I wanted to do it but we were short on time.

When I went with the preschool we had to park on the street and walk a couple blocks.  I also had three of my own children with me, I love my kids but this might be part of the reason why it wasn't quite as fun.  That, and the fact that it was my second trip in a short amount of time.

Some of the kids had questions, but mostly they were pretty shy.  Scarlett wouldn't ask anything.  After the Q&A and the tour they also saw the car.

The kids loved this part.

And here is a picture of the preschool.  I enjoyed going with them too :)

And just my kids.