Proud Parents

These are our kids, Joseph, Micah and Anya (picture taken in Utah). We are very proud of them for many reasons and I want to share one of those reasons here on the blog. For the last five years they have faced many challenges growing up in Ukraine. One of those challenges was the language. We speak English at home and Russian with everyone else. Three years ago we decided to send our children to Ukrainian school. That meant that besides Russian they needed to learn Ukrainian. This has been very difficult. People often tell us that it is easy for children to learn languages. It is true that children often (not always) learn languages very fast, but it is rarely easy. Our children have worked very hard and have been blessed for their efforts.

Anya went to preparation school two days a week and studied with a tutor one day a week. She learned the Ukrainian alphabet, Russian alphabet, English alphabet, math and reading. She can read simple Ukrainian books and English Bob books.

Micah completed first and second grade. She received high marks in all her subjects. This is amazing to me since she is studying in a non-native language. Her accent is the best out of all of us. She speaks English, Russian, Ukrainian and British.

Joseph was the first to start Ukrainian school. We home schooled him for two years and decided to take advantage of an opportunity to start him in Ukrainian school. He started in third grade in Kiev. He had a pretty good grasp on the Russian language but didn’t know Ukrainian. The first semester was very difficult. During the first semester, we all shed many tears and he worked very hard with his tutor. By Christmas he was able to participate in class in a meaningful way and the tears flowed less often. The second semester went better. After completing one year we moved to Odessa. He completed fourth and fifth grade in Odessa. This last year all his grades were higher than 8 out of 12. When that happens the student is called an “otleechneek” – (excellent student). We are very proud of our otleechneek.

Here are some examples of their grades (2-12, 12 being best):

Micah

Ukrainian Language: 9

Ukrainian Reading 8
English Language 11
Russian Language 9
Math 8
Me and Ukraine 10
Music 11

Health 10

Joseph

Ukrainian Language: 9

Ukrainian Literature 10

Foreign Literature 10

English Language 12

Russian Language 9

German Language 11

Math 11

Etiquette 9