School Days
Perhaps you’ve all been on pins and needles wondering about our school decision. Well get comfortable and I’ll give you the long version of what occurred!
As many of you know we spent all summer break trying to decide where to send our kids to school. Although there were good and bad things about each school last year, overall we felt the American School would be the best choice for us. Having had Lucy and Kaleb at different schools last year was difficult for many reasons and we felt we missed out of being totally involved in either place because our time was cut in two. We were sad that the kids missed out on things at the other’s school and overall had very different experiences. We also struggled with the daily car pool routine since both schools started and ended at the same time. For these reasons (and a few others) we felt strongly that we wanted both of the kids to be at the same school. We also decided that after being home with Mom for a year Mia needed a chance to go to school as well. It seemed the right time for her to go and make some friends and develop her social skills (which I might add are already very good) and have a chance to spend much of the day playing, sharing and being with others. So in order to avoid repeating some of the same mistakes of last year, we felt we should choose a school where all three could go. This being the case the American school (AISM) was the most obvious (and only) choice for us because they have a pre-school as well as an elementary and therefore all three could be at the same school. The one catch was the cost, which was extraordinary, but we felt perhaps we could get a scholarship from school to help pay.
In the meantime we felt we needed to have a back up plan in case the funds didn’t come through. So we decided we could send the 2 older kids to CAM (Christian Academy of Mozambique) and we would only have to look for a preschool for Mia close to home. This would be better than three different schools, but still not what we were hoping for.
We prayed A LOT, processed a lot and sought out others to pray that if we were supposed to be at AISM God would provide the funds. We received a letter from the school that the board had granted us a scholarship in the form of a waiver of the new student fee. Although this was nice, it was only a drop in the bucket of the financial assistance we needed. We were discouraged, but believed that God could provide another way for us to pay for the school. We had a meeting with the director of the American school and explained our financial situation (again) and were told that there may have been some wrong assumptions made on the board’s part about our financial needs. She suggested we write a letter to the board and ask again for them to consider granting a larger scholarship. So we did and then we waited to hear. While my parents were here we went to Tofo (the beach) and one morning while Steve and I watched the sun rise over the Indian Ocean we prayed that God would clearly show us where our kids should go to school by opening one door and closing the other. We were trusting although a bit anxious because we knew school was starting in a week and we still didn’t know where the kids would go!
When we returned to Maputo I got a call from my friend Angie telling me that the director of the Christian school had called her and asked her to be the kindergarten teacher. She said she would ask permission from her mission board to teach if I would be willing to help her in the classroom. Oh and by the way if I would assist they would open the class to pre-school as well! I couldn’t believe it! That would mean that Mia could go to the same school as Kaleb and Lucy and that would alleviate our problem of 2 different schools. It seemed like a good possibility, but we were still waiting to hear back from AISM and we were still feeling like that would be our first choice of schools. If the scholarship came through we would send them to the American school and I would not want to be tied to teaching at CAM.
In light of this we set up an appointment with the director of CAM and spent an hour being very honest about our concerns, desires and reasons why AISM was our first choice over CAM. She was wonderful and told us she understood that we needed to do what was best for our family, but there was definitely room for us at the school if we changed our mind. She also asked if I would be willing to talk about the possibility of assisting in kindergarten. I agreed to come to a meeting and talk about it. School was scheduled to begin the next day and we STILL didn’t know where the kids would go. That night as we talked through the options Kaleb looked at us at 8 pm and said, “I would like to start school tomorrow. Can we please go to CAM?” Well, how do you say no to that? So we agreed that the kids would start at CAM and if the scholarship came through we would switch them to AISM (which started a week later). That was Tuesday. On Thursday I sat in a meeting with the director and Angie and found myself agreeing to be the assistant assuming we stayed at the school (which honestly I still wasn’t convinced we would). An hour later as we were setting up our classroom I received a phone call from a board member at AISM. We chatted for a while about our holidays and then I asked if she had seen our second request for financial aid. She said no because the board had not met and would not meet until the end of August. I explained our situation and she said she had no idea what the criteria were for scholarship (this was her first term on the school board), but she acknowledged we were asking for a large grant. As I hung up the phone Angie was answering a call from her husband. He was calling to say that there was chaos at the airport in London and oh by the way you got an email from our mission board saying you can not take the teaching job at CAM. I was shocked as she looked at me and said, “Well, I guess that makes you the new kindergarten teacher!” I started to cry and said, “No, that’s not the plan!!! I’m not qualified!!! I can’t commit to that – what if AISM gives us a scholarship?”
Well, to make a long story longer the director also asked me if I would be willing to be the full time kindergarten teacher. I told her I really needed a day to think about it, talk to Steve and examine what that choice would mean for my family and me. She said that was fine and I came home to process. I prayed and talked and prayed some more and felt that I was supposed to say yes. I was scared to death for many reasons – I had no teacher training, I didn’t want to go off to a job everyday, what would happen to my Portuguese if I taught in English all day everyday, and would AISM come through and then I’d be stuck at CAM. I thought, “I don’t think I moved all the way to Africa to teach kindergarten!! I could have stayed in MN for that!” But as I continued to pray and process and talk to Steve and others I really felt sure that I was supposed to do it. And there were parts about it that would be great. I would be at school just a stone’s throw away from my 3 kids all day, I would get to learn new things, I would have a legitimate voice in the school to help change things that I thought needed changing. So I went back to CAM on Friday and said I would be willing to take the job and we would just have to walk by faith that if the scholarship came through from AISM we would have to cross that bridge at that time.
This past Monday was my first day as Mrs. Snider the new kindergarten teacher. It was a LONG week with a steep learning curve and lots of long hours trying to figure out how I would ever get my head above water long enough to make sense of what I had agreed to! BUT as I sit here on Sunday night writing I’m smiling and looking forward to seeing those seven smiling faces in my class tomorrow. I know I still have lots to learn, but I feel hopeful that God will enable what He requires of me! And for some reason He requires me to return to kindergarten every day for this next school year.
Oh and by the way, it’s August 27 and we still haven’t heard from AISM. We heard rumors that the school board met on Wednesday night, but we haven’t heard anything else. So it looks like that door is officially closed! Actually, that’s the funniest part about it all. You know how they say hindsight is 20/20? Well I realized last week that the door was never open to us at AISM. It was never an option for us because we couldn’t pay the school fees. Instead of realizing that, we saw it as an open door that would close if we didn’t get the money instead of seeing it as a closed door that could open if we got the money! Funny how your desire for something can block your ability to see the truth of reality!
So that’s the long version. If any of you teachers out there have some insight or advice for me please don’t hesitate to send me an email. And when you think about me say a prayer. I’m trying not to live up to the expectation that “Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten”!
As many of you know we spent all summer break trying to decide where to send our kids to school. Although there were good and bad things about each school last year, overall we felt the American School would be the best choice for us. Having had Lucy and Kaleb at different schools last year was difficult for many reasons and we felt we missed out of being totally involved in either place because our time was cut in two. We were sad that the kids missed out on things at the other’s school and overall had very different experiences. We also struggled with the daily car pool routine since both schools started and ended at the same time. For these reasons (and a few others) we felt strongly that we wanted both of the kids to be at the same school. We also decided that after being home with Mom for a year Mia needed a chance to go to school as well. It seemed the right time for her to go and make some friends and develop her social skills (which I might add are already very good) and have a chance to spend much of the day playing, sharing and being with others. So in order to avoid repeating some of the same mistakes of last year, we felt we should choose a school where all three could go. This being the case the American school (AISM) was the most obvious (and only) choice for us because they have a pre-school as well as an elementary and therefore all three could be at the same school. The one catch was the cost, which was extraordinary, but we felt perhaps we could get a scholarship from school to help pay.
In the meantime we felt we needed to have a back up plan in case the funds didn’t come through. So we decided we could send the 2 older kids to CAM (Christian Academy of Mozambique) and we would only have to look for a preschool for Mia close to home. This would be better than three different schools, but still not what we were hoping for.
We prayed A LOT, processed a lot and sought out others to pray that if we were supposed to be at AISM God would provide the funds. We received a letter from the school that the board had granted us a scholarship in the form of a waiver of the new student fee. Although this was nice, it was only a drop in the bucket of the financial assistance we needed. We were discouraged, but believed that God could provide another way for us to pay for the school. We had a meeting with the director of the American school and explained our financial situation (again) and were told that there may have been some wrong assumptions made on the board’s part about our financial needs. She suggested we write a letter to the board and ask again for them to consider granting a larger scholarship. So we did and then we waited to hear. While my parents were here we went to Tofo (the beach) and one morning while Steve and I watched the sun rise over the Indian Ocean we prayed that God would clearly show us where our kids should go to school by opening one door and closing the other. We were trusting although a bit anxious because we knew school was starting in a week and we still didn’t know where the kids would go!
When we returned to Maputo I got a call from my friend Angie telling me that the director of the Christian school had called her and asked her to be the kindergarten teacher. She said she would ask permission from her mission board to teach if I would be willing to help her in the classroom. Oh and by the way if I would assist they would open the class to pre-school as well! I couldn’t believe it! That would mean that Mia could go to the same school as Kaleb and Lucy and that would alleviate our problem of 2 different schools. It seemed like a good possibility, but we were still waiting to hear back from AISM and we were still feeling like that would be our first choice of schools. If the scholarship came through we would send them to the American school and I would not want to be tied to teaching at CAM.
In light of this we set up an appointment with the director of CAM and spent an hour being very honest about our concerns, desires and reasons why AISM was our first choice over CAM. She was wonderful and told us she understood that we needed to do what was best for our family, but there was definitely room for us at the school if we changed our mind. She also asked if I would be willing to talk about the possibility of assisting in kindergarten. I agreed to come to a meeting and talk about it. School was scheduled to begin the next day and we STILL didn’t know where the kids would go. That night as we talked through the options Kaleb looked at us at 8 pm and said, “I would like to start school tomorrow. Can we please go to CAM?” Well, how do you say no to that? So we agreed that the kids would start at CAM and if the scholarship came through we would switch them to AISM (which started a week later). That was Tuesday. On Thursday I sat in a meeting with the director and Angie and found myself agreeing to be the assistant assuming we stayed at the school (which honestly I still wasn’t convinced we would). An hour later as we were setting up our classroom I received a phone call from a board member at AISM. We chatted for a while about our holidays and then I asked if she had seen our second request for financial aid. She said no because the board had not met and would not meet until the end of August. I explained our situation and she said she had no idea what the criteria were for scholarship (this was her first term on the school board), but she acknowledged we were asking for a large grant. As I hung up the phone Angie was answering a call from her husband. He was calling to say that there was chaos at the airport in London and oh by the way you got an email from our mission board saying you can not take the teaching job at CAM. I was shocked as she looked at me and said, “Well, I guess that makes you the new kindergarten teacher!” I started to cry and said, “No, that’s not the plan!!! I’m not qualified!!! I can’t commit to that – what if AISM gives us a scholarship?”
Well, to make a long story longer the director also asked me if I would be willing to be the full time kindergarten teacher. I told her I really needed a day to think about it, talk to Steve and examine what that choice would mean for my family and me. She said that was fine and I came home to process. I prayed and talked and prayed some more and felt that I was supposed to say yes. I was scared to death for many reasons – I had no teacher training, I didn’t want to go off to a job everyday, what would happen to my Portuguese if I taught in English all day everyday, and would AISM come through and then I’d be stuck at CAM. I thought, “I don’t think I moved all the way to Africa to teach kindergarten!! I could have stayed in MN for that!” But as I continued to pray and process and talk to Steve and others I really felt sure that I was supposed to do it. And there were parts about it that would be great. I would be at school just a stone’s throw away from my 3 kids all day, I would get to learn new things, I would have a legitimate voice in the school to help change things that I thought needed changing. So I went back to CAM on Friday and said I would be willing to take the job and we would just have to walk by faith that if the scholarship came through from AISM we would have to cross that bridge at that time.
This past Monday was my first day as Mrs. Snider the new kindergarten teacher. It was a LONG week with a steep learning curve and lots of long hours trying to figure out how I would ever get my head above water long enough to make sense of what I had agreed to! BUT as I sit here on Sunday night writing I’m smiling and looking forward to seeing those seven smiling faces in my class tomorrow. I know I still have lots to learn, but I feel hopeful that God will enable what He requires of me! And for some reason He requires me to return to kindergarten every day for this next school year.
Oh and by the way, it’s August 27 and we still haven’t heard from AISM. We heard rumors that the school board met on Wednesday night, but we haven’t heard anything else. So it looks like that door is officially closed! Actually, that’s the funniest part about it all. You know how they say hindsight is 20/20? Well I realized last week that the door was never open to us at AISM. It was never an option for us because we couldn’t pay the school fees. Instead of realizing that, we saw it as an open door that would close if we didn’t get the money instead of seeing it as a closed door that could open if we got the money! Funny how your desire for something can block your ability to see the truth of reality!
So that’s the long version. If any of you teachers out there have some insight or advice for me please don’t hesitate to send me an email. And when you think about me say a prayer. I’m trying not to live up to the expectation that “Everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten”!
posted by Sniders in Africa at 8/27/2006 10:09:00 PM
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