I can't believe you're doing this to me!

OK, here's the background for those who haven't gotten my reasoning already:

Coming home from our last trip to Bolivia in July, I had this realization: now (before Susana goes to Kindergarten) is the perfect time to put my kids in school for a few months in Bolivia. Why?First, my kids always start speaking Spanish after about 3 weeks into our trips (and then we come home and backslide), so what would happen with a longer visit? Second, Susana and Foster are old enough now to get something out of it, we're paying tuition for them to go to preschool now anyway...why not pay tuition there? And Elliott is not so old that taking a few months out from school will be too terrible. Third, in La Paz, Susan hasn't moved yet (although she & Javier plan to move a smaller home) so right now they have room to keep us.

So then I ran this all by Larry, who agreed with all my logic short of how he could take a leave of absence from his job for three months. We worked out a plan that we think we can all get by if he visits for the middle month of our trip. Then I talked to Elliott's principal and teacher, both gave their blessing, and promised Elliott would be promoted to 4th grade no matter what. I contacted the Montessori School in La Paz and they agreed to take on all three as special students for the start of the 2010 school year which begins Feb 1st. And I contacted Bobbi Sue and Javier who agreed to take us in... Lastly, I renewed the passports and bought plane tickets-- and now we are set to depart on Jan 25th.

The hardest part of this all so far was breaking the news to Elliott, whose response was "I can't believe this is happening to me! I'm not going to go." and quite a few tears. I knew he was not going to be thrilled about leaving his friends and going to school all in Spanish, but I was not prepared for how bad I would feel to see him feel so bad about my family study-abroad adventure. To his great credit, after a day or two of moping, he was willing to come to terms with my plan and ready to review the alphabet, work on spelling in Spanish, and get somewhat prepared. Foster and Susana are not the least bit concerned with anything...although they do seem to fully understand that they will be going to a new school. I of course know that they don't have any conception of how long we will be gone, and that the ugly days for all of them are still ahead when they start new schools in a few weeks.

So is it worth it? I'm obviously banking on it, yes. I would love to know for certain that we will all come back speaking Spanish at a level that we will be inspired (and capable of) maintaining at home. I would also love to know that many years from now the kids will be thanking me for disrupting their lives with this little adventure, appreciating how much they learned, how much it broadened their horizons, how it built their confidence, taught them take risks and try something new. Time will tell. For now I just have to hope for the best.

I have never written from a blog site before, but I'm guessing this is a good way to post news, pictures, and let family and friends get easy updates. Let me know what you think!

Stay tuned for postings from Bolivia--wish us luck!
Karen