School is Ending and Rainy Days are Coming

As we head towards the winter months and the holiday season, it means certain things to us in Honduras and at Give Hope 2 Kids.  Since they don’t celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving here, things move from celebrating Honduras’ independence in September, straight to Christmas decorations in October.  (Thankfully, I don’t think I’ve heard Christmas music in the stores yet, but now that October is over, I’m sure “Frosty the Snowman” will make the airwaves.  Let’s not let Frosty get us too off-track  though.)

The end of October means that school is wrapping up for the year.  We never quite know when the public school will end, until about a week out.  This year there are two different heads over the public education system giving two different end dates for classes!

For our Afterschool Program, we’re ending along with the private schools.  All the kids just finished their final tests for the quarter and now we’re hosting a carnival day to celebrate how well they’ve all done.

Our Afterschool Program went so well this fall.  We’ve taught classes full of enthusiastic learners and seen so much progress in them.  Having a more focused program, with kids that are attending because they want to be here, makes a great learning environment.  The English students have made faster headway than in their previous classes, the drum class can keep time with a simple drumbeat, and the youngest class experienced learning as an adventure through oceans and cities and a pirate treasure hunt, among other things.

Here the winter months include long rainy days, where it gets cool enough to enjoy sweatshirts and warm drinks.  It’s a time where things move a little slower, so we can take a few deep breaths and regroup from the busier months.  During our months of school vacation, we’ll pare back our educational activities to a simple Library Program, more like what we did in the past.  We’ll offer reading time and activities in an informal setting. 

So here’s to more time for family and friends in this next season of the year!