Yes DD is getting a sister. A big sister.
I had a meeting at the school with the headmistress, DD's class teacher and the school counselor, to see how we could help DD with her Hebrew. Having practised reading at home since December and now that we are learning for the spelling tests (which we did as soon as I knew that there were word lists given out), the teacher has changed her mind about assessments for learning difficulties and agrees with me that it's lack of exposure to the Hebrew language that is holding her back.
I also may have mentioned to her that I cannot afford a tutor for extra Hebrew lessons. Because of that and me being a single mother, there were a few subtle questions about our financial situation. I wasn't offended and answered truthfully that although I only just make enough money to reach the end of the month, we do live in our own apartment so we won't be out on the streets and we have enough to eat. (I eat more than enough actually but that's another issue.)
However, before they realized that I own my apartment and teach at college level, the school counselor had already nominated us for a big sister. The Big Brother Big Sister network is an international organisation essentially to give children at risk an adult other than their parents to mentor them through school.
If you look at the American Big Brother Big Sister website you'll see that it's all about helping the children graduate high school, not drop out of school and avoid falling into drug and alcohol abuse. I don't care as long as our big sister speaks Hebrew. And of course I'm all for graduating, not dropping out of school, etc...
I had to call the co-ordinator for Jerusalem. When I asked her if she was the co-ordinator for the whole of Jerusalem, she firmly informed me that she was the social worker and that she'd like to make a home visit before assigning us a big sister. Ho hum. Now we have a social worker.
So I spent the day of the home visit cleaning the house and was considering whether to start baking bread and putting classical music on to softly play in the background, when my mother skyped us from London. Then the Social Worker arrived just in time to see three generations of happy family connecting across the continents. I couldn't have planned it better.
I was expecting her to snoop around a bit. But it wasn't like that at all. Turns out she's a friend of my neighbour and actually she just wanted to discuss the programme. I think I got confused by all the social sevices horror stories in the Mail Online.
So she's coming back on Monday with our big sister who will be spending a couple of hours a week with DD to speak and play with her in Hebrew. She might help us with the homework or go with DD to the park. They get tickets for shows and concerts sometimes for the children to go to with their Bigs.
Our big sister is a first year student on a four year course in Jerusalem. If everything goes well we could have her in the family for the next four years. Or longer. We're excited about it. I'll let you know how it goes.
I had a meeting at the school with the headmistress, DD's class teacher and the school counselor, to see how we could help DD with her Hebrew. Having practised reading at home since December and now that we are learning for the spelling tests (which we did as soon as I knew that there were word lists given out), the teacher has changed her mind about assessments for learning difficulties and agrees with me that it's lack of exposure to the Hebrew language that is holding her back.
I also may have mentioned to her that I cannot afford a tutor for extra Hebrew lessons. Because of that and me being a single mother, there were a few subtle questions about our financial situation. I wasn't offended and answered truthfully that although I only just make enough money to reach the end of the month, we do live in our own apartment so we won't be out on the streets and we have enough to eat. (I eat more than enough actually but that's another issue.)
However, before they realized that I own my apartment and teach at college level, the school counselor had already nominated us for a big sister. The Big Brother Big Sister network is an international organisation essentially to give children at risk an adult other than their parents to mentor them through school.
If you look at the American Big Brother Big Sister website you'll see that it's all about helping the children graduate high school, not drop out of school and avoid falling into drug and alcohol abuse. I don't care as long as our big sister speaks Hebrew. And of course I'm all for graduating, not dropping out of school, etc...
I had to call the co-ordinator for Jerusalem. When I asked her if she was the co-ordinator for the whole of Jerusalem, she firmly informed me that she was the social worker and that she'd like to make a home visit before assigning us a big sister. Ho hum. Now we have a social worker.
So I spent the day of the home visit cleaning the house and was considering whether to start baking bread and putting classical music on to softly play in the background, when my mother skyped us from London. Then the Social Worker arrived just in time to see three generations of happy family connecting across the continents. I couldn't have planned it better.
I was expecting her to snoop around a bit. But it wasn't like that at all. Turns out she's a friend of my neighbour and actually she just wanted to discuss the programme. I think I got confused by all the social sevices horror stories in the Mail Online.
So she's coming back on Monday with our big sister who will be spending a couple of hours a week with DD to speak and play with her in Hebrew. She might help us with the homework or go with DD to the park. They get tickets for shows and concerts sometimes for the children to go to with their Bigs.
Our big sister is a first year student on a four year course in Jerusalem. If everything goes well we could have her in the family for the next four years. Or longer. We're excited about it. I'll let you know how it goes.
Have to say you got me going there for a moment!!! As planned of course, I'm sure. I think everyone else must still be in shock. By the way, Tal was a Big Brother through the Perach programme in Jerusalem for the last couple of years or so - he really enjoyed it and I think he gained as much as he gave :-)
ReplyDeleteI did think that it was a title likely too get a lot of hits. A firend on fb called it a click-bait title. LOL.
DeleteTotal clickbait - I did perach - do not expect the person to continue - it's incredibly rare for someone to do more than one year with the same kid.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I wiped out about 2 months before the end, and my manager had to push me through it. There were a lot of factors, including the fact that both parents were home at all times, chain smoking, so I got sick every time I went there... but it's emotionally more draining than you realize.
Oooh it never occured to me that I could go out while they are together - even just to take a walk. I think though that she might take her out of tsaharon early one day a week so I'll e working. I don't think we are emotionally draining and we won't suffer if she needs to take a week off sometimes. We also go away.
DeleteWhat a great idea, I hope DD's nw big sister will be a great help to her. Mich x
ReplyDeleteThankd Mich. It could be a great experience for all of us. Here's hoping.
DeleteWhat a wonderful idea. I really like that and would think that Big Sister will have as much to gain from this as your DD little sister. As a parent of an only child also I see other benefits too. Best of luck, I hope it's a massive success!
ReplyDeleteThe social worker told me that the Bigs gain a lt from it too. I hope ours will. I can'th elp thinking she will get a cushy number with us - or maybe I'm just being a snob.
DeleteHow exciting for DD to have a Big Sister to learn from. Howard was a Big Brother to a lovely young boy in Los Angeles for several years. In this case, his "Little" had two Mothers and a sister, so he joined Big Brothers to have an older male presence and influence in his life. In the beginning, Howard and his "brother" would be together with the rest of the family. Once trust and rapport was quickly established, the two of them went off alone to have fun and just hang out "as boys do." It was a very positive experience both ways. We also have other friends who have participated as a Big Brother or Big Sister and all have had great experiences. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Nicola. I'm very excited about the whole thing.
DeleteSounds a great idea, keep us posted on progress :-)
ReplyDeleteWill do.
DeleteIt sounds like it has the potential to be really beneficial. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWe have high hopes.
DeleteWe nearly got involved in the Big Brother Big Sister programme here and I was very impressed with it. I hope it works for you and DD. And don't worry about social workers, they've been popping in and out here since Smiley was born 19 years ago and they've always been helpful x
ReplyDeleteI'm not really worried but every so often you here a story about a family that were doing everything right and then some mistake led to social workers taking their chidren away. It could happen to anyone. But I agree that a good social worker can be very helpful.
DeleteDefinitely a click bait title :D What a fabulous idea though, I love the sound of that programme! Sounds like both big sister and small sister will get something out of it! :)
ReplyDeleteWe've had one meeting and it went very well. Dd really enjoyed it and is looking forward to next week.
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