About Home Visits

This is my second year of August home visits and I always dread starting them because of the imposition they make on my time. Don't get me wrong, we are paid for the extra hours we use: up to 18 hours in August and 10 in September. But it is analogous to having the covers ripped away from you on a cool fall morning. Then I go on one visit, then two, and the ice is broken and I begin to be enthused and I anticipate all the potential that will be entering my classroom door. They are amusing, daunting, entertaining, adorable, precocious, timid, demanding, delightful, and more. They are part of a package wrapped in 'family' and 'culture' that add layers of information which I unwrap gingerly with as much awareness and consideration as I can muster. I think back on the little Cambodian boy who, along with his 3 year old brother, mount the arms of the family couches and vie for attention as they dramatize motorcycle stunts in their living room. I kid you not, they had all the moves down , including a pose very similar to what you see in this link. There is also the little girl who writes books; and I am being literal. She brought out a story she had written on 40, yes FORTY, pages of a sketchbook. Each page had 1,2 or 3 sentences with a combination of phonetic and correctly spelled words all in capital letters but with periods or exclamation points correctly placed. She reread her story to me using smooth phrasing and wonderful expression in appropriate places. Amazing!
I have been given coffee, cookies, much needed water, invitations to dinner and gifts of smooth pebbles, flowers, and drawings; all as mementos of my home visits.