On September 1st little girls all across Russia donned black jumpers with white blouses and arranged big, white fluffy bows in their hair.  The boys put on their best black pants and vests with white dress shirts.  And they all gathered up beautiful bouquets of fresh flowers.  It was “Day of Knowledge”, the first day of school.

In Russia September 1st is always the first day of school, even if it falls on the weekend.  Our girls, Christina and Katie, attend School #6 in Berdsk.  Christina is in third grade and Katie in second.  They love Russian school.  They love being with their friends, and they love the classes, too.

Russian public schools have two shifts of classes each day.  Children go to school either in the morning, from 8 to 12:30, or in the afternoon from 1:30 to 6.  At our school the second and third graders have the afternoon shift.

The mornings we spend with homeschooling.  We have a Bible lesson, math, language arts, and social studies or science.  It works out nicely that the two girls are so close in age and ability so they can do a portion of our morning lessons together.  After lunch, the girls are off to Russian school.

We are thankful that our children can attend a good public school.  We are thankful for their excellent teachers and their extra measures of patience!  We are also thankful that we have the mornings at home to teach our children God’s Word and other classes in English from a Christian perspective.  May God bless all of our children as they learn and grow this school year!

Jennifer Wolgramm