WHAT OUR SCHOOL DAY'S LIKE-- by Katie Cukrowski

The blog you've all been waiting for--The school day!

8:00 Mom comes in to wake up Krista and me for the day.

8:30 Go downstairs for breakfast (cereal, toast, bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, milk, orange juice, coffee, and tea).

9:00 Chapel starts (AKA: a devo done every Tuesday and Thursday by two college students who switch off weekly).

9:20 Chapel ends and everyone heads off to Spanish class.

9:30 Spanish begins. For the next hour and a half, I'm in a classroom at the church next door with all the other students, my family, and our teacher Amelia (pictured below with Dad). The teaching method Amelia uses is where she teaches something for about 5-10 minutes and then spends the next 10-20 minutes going around the room asking questions to each individual person about what we just learned. When she thinks we know everything about that certain subject she moves on and we start over again. This method really helps because we are speaking a lot and you have to know how to converse with people here, so her method works. We do this every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but on Thursdays we have a quiz over those last few days. This means that most Wednesday evenings are spent cramming for said quiz. Every week we cover about a chapter in the book (We also have workbooks where we do the exercises that correspond to what we learn each day. They are great because then you see the information in a practical way that you can actually use it).

11:00 Class is over for Krista, Mom, and me, but some of the kids have to stay for a class after that is taught by my dad. So when we are back at the house, Kris and I go into our parents' apartment to do homeschooling. Their apartment has 4 rooms (bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and a study/office), and it's in this office where we have all our textbooks and materials for homeschooling. How we've decided to do school here is different from how it is at a school because we kind of pick a subject, Chemistry, for example, and we do like an entire chapter that day, instead of doing one section today, one section tomorrow....,we do large amounts of one subject each day and that seems to work better for our schedule. So another day we might read the entire book we have to read for an English class or a chapter of biology, etc.

12:30 The other class Dad teaches is over now so it's lunchtime. Everyone heads downstairs for this meal and we go into the kitchen where there is a table that has all the food lined up on it and we make a line and you choose whatever you want. It works out really well because you eat what you like and don't what you don't; however, there isn't much that people don't like!! The two women who prepare our meals are named Raquel and Mariela and they serve a nice variety of food choices. We have had very normal things to eat like spaghetti, fajitas, fish, chicken, and sides like mashed potatoes and broccoli which are very good, but then some days we have more traditional Uruguayan dishes like empanadas, chivitos, and Shepherd's Pie, also very good! Everyday there is also a dessert that they make piled with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or ice cream. Needless to say, this would not be the place or time to start a diet!

1:30 Time to head upstairs and take a nap!!! I believe in the siesta...

4:00 Wake up and continue with more homework.

7:00-ish Dinner time! Mom will either make a meal that day or we go out to eat. Eating out is very easy here and much cheaper than in the States. To get a pizza here is a little under two dollars...about the same price as a drink! We have found a few restaurants we really like and go there often. Right by the house there is also a gelato shop that we are regular customers at. When we don't eat out, however, we have over to the apartment different college kids and have them eat with us. That's nice because then you get to know some of them bettter.

8:00 From now on we have the rest of the day to do whatever. Usually, it consists of talking to friends on the computer, watching movies, playing games, reading a book, listening to music, doing Spanish and lots of other homework, or just talking to other people here.

12:00 Bedtime!