Clausons in Mexico

Today, Nils and I told the boys that they will be changing schools from their Spanish speaking Montessori school where they have attended the last 3 years to an English speaking missionary kids school called Oaxaca Christian School.  Our friends and colleagues Patty and Lisandro Restrepo had their son Sammy at OCS last year and they have been very happy with it.  Our boys have really enjoyed the Montessori school and have made good friends, however, this past year we have seen more and more things that we are not happy with at the school.  We’ve been praying about this decision for several months now and feel peace about making the switch.  However, Nils and I will lament many things about leaving Montessori like:  the boys coming home with Spanish slang to teach us, the 10 minute walk to school (now we will drive 20 minutes), the many cultural activities, like visits to museums and participating in the Guelaguetza dance (thankfully both boys had a chance to participate the last two years).

At the same time we look forward to many things at OCS like:  the boys improving in their reading and writing in English, excellent teachers who also love and care deeply for their students, small class sizes (between 6-10 students), values that are more in line with our family values, and the new friends they will make who may understand them even better as MKs (missionary kids) and TCKs (third culture kids).

We were nervous to tell the boys about this change because we didn’t know how they would respond, but they definitely surprised us with their response.  Even as they admitted that they will miss seeing their friends from Montessori every day, they are excited about making new friends and the smaller class size. It may be a harder change for Lucas, as he admitted to being nervous about learning to read and write in English and already missing his friends. And when he said, “but I don’t want to lose my Spanish”, it brought tears to my eyes, because that is also a concern of ours in this change.  I know they won’t lose their Spanish because, honestly, it is already so good and they will continue to use it living here in Mexico, however, we want them to continue to move forward in their language ability, not backward.  Matías, on the other hand, said, “I would love to change schools every year!”, which was great for us to hear since they will both be changing schools again in one year, as we will be heading to MN for our year of home assignment starting the summer of 2015.

We ended our conversation encouraging them in this new change and promising that we would keep in contact with their Montessori friends and then prayed as a family for this new school year.  Would you also say a short prayer for our family in this change?  Gracias!