Our Family Aliyah: First year

Yaakov in Ashkelon

OK, so I haven't been great at keeping up with the blogging. But we are coming up on our one year anniversary, and I think I need to spend a little time writing about what has happened.

First of all, the kids are doing remarkably well. They have all made friends and are mostly happy. That isn't to say all has been totally smooth sailing. I'll go one at a time, that way I can add some pictures.

Yaakov doing a project

Tel Aviv during Sukkot

First meeting of mechina

Yaakov was in mechina this year (pre-first). As an aside, now I understand why Jewish schools call kindergarten pre-1A. Anyway, his school was great. He has learned a ton. He got to take the bus to and from school, which he liked and I LOVED! It is amazing to not have to do carpool.

His main teacher was Sachki. She was very loving and really helped him learn Hebrew. His accent is adorable and I would say he is 80% of the way to being fluent at grade level. He can read in Hebrew, he plays with friends who don't speak English, and overall he is super acclimated.

Pirate for Purim

Chanukah

They had a meeting the day before the first day of school. They made projects and got to see the classroom, meet the teachers and the other kids. The classes are divided up by geography and also by olim status. We were very lucky that his class was new olim and kids from Dagan (our neighborhood). He had plenty of English speakers, but not exclusively English speakers. It was a great combination for Yaakov.

In the first few weeks of school, Yaakov was enjoying his new freedom here in Israel and on Shabbat morning he took his scooter for a ride around the neighborhood. This is no problem and kids here really have a a lot of leeway in doing things on their own. Happily, he wore his helmet. Unhappily, he did not wear his shoes.

Yaakov and Eitan last day of school

At Herodian with his jug

All of a sudden, at around 8:30 am, there was a very loud scream... Yaakov had gone down a steep hill, couldn't stop (since he was barefoot) and crashed onto his head and face. Remember the helmet? Well, it cracked! At least it wasn't his head. He had a huge cut on his nose and lip, scrapes on his feet and hands, but overall he was totally fine. Very scary way to start September.

Yaakov didn't do any chuggim this year. His best friends have been Meir, Eitan, and Calev, all of them English speakers who live right nearby. He gets to visit his friends by himself, which is very different than in America.

Sachki

With Reb Yitzhak and his new Chumash

So strong at the beach

During Sukkot, we went to Tel Aviv for a few days with friends who were visiting from the US. It was super fun to be in a different part of the country. And we all love to be at the beach.

In Acco

For Purim, it was amazing to see all the costume shops popping up everywhere. Yaakov was a pirate for part of the day, then we was a ninja for a while.

Yaakov and Kobe

Grandma and grandpa came to visit us twice this year. We went on some fun trips with them including to Acco and to a little yishuv near Meron for Lag B'Omer.

Yaakov received a Chumash at the end of the year. Now he is all set to start Kita Aleph! So exciting!