Looking for something fun and interesting to do with your family this summer? If you have adopted children or are considering adoption, an adoption “culture camp” or “heritage camp” may be just the thing! Here’s a list of some 2007 camp dates and locations. Be aware that many are accepting registrations now, so if you find one that’s of interest, don’t delay!

AFRICA

African/Caribbean Heritage Camp June 28-July 1 Snow Mountain Ranch, Fraser, CO

CAMBODIA

Cambodia Heritage Camp July 19-July... more

If you read the other parts of this series, you know that I consider homeschooling to be a great option for older, internationally adopted children, but I thought you might like to hear the perspective of some other moms. It’s significant to note that while many of these families were already homeschoolers at the time they adopted, for some, as was the case in our family, the adoption was the catalyst for choosing homeschooling.

Sharee, a homeschooling mom of four, including Sarah, who was adopted from China at nearly six years of age, had this to say:

“During... more

First, wipe out your expectations. Assume you’re starting with a blank slate, and think of any skills you identify right away in your child as bonuses. This is not to say you should expect your child will be unintelligent, but chances are that he will be behind, will have learned things differently, and in the case of international adoption, will have limited English skills.

Second, don’t worry too much about doing formal “school” for the first few months. Just play! Read together, sing, dance, go for walks, plant flowers, go shopping, visit the park, go on picnics, cook, do art projects, play games, draw pictures, watch movies and just get to know your new child. In our case,... more

As I wrote in part one, I believe that homeschooling can be a great option for older adopted children, particularly when they come from an orphanage environment in another country. I think it deserves real consideration when parents begin to contemplate what their child’s education will be like once they arrive in their new home.

My very favorite reason for homeschooling our new 8 year old daughter is that it has given her the chance to do myriad things as part of “school”... more

When we adopted our daugher, Lulu, she was nearly eight years old but had had very little formal education in her birth country of Haiti. We knew from prior visits with her that she couldn’t write (and didn’t draw well), and that she couldn’t do basic math or even recognize letters and numbers. We also knew that on top of her limited academic experience, the language barrier would be an issue. During our adoption wait, we began to give some thought to homeschooling her as a way to help her catch up. I worried a little about how she’d feel being the only “big kid” not going to school, but over time, we started giving heavy consideration to homeschooling all our kids.

About this... more

If you’re not interested in maintaining a blog but would still like to make your adoption experience available to the public, or just to friends and family, there are other options.

The first is to set up a private discussion group, such as a Yahoo group where you can post pictures and information about your adoption plans and experiences. These groups can made public or private, depending on your preferences. You can even elect to have them not appear in the Yahoo groups directory if you’d like. You can post messages and photos, and members of your group can do likewise, depending on the way you set the group’s permissions. One advantage... more

I am reeling from the news we received today that Ethiopia will be limiting adoptions to families with 5 or fewer children in the home. The good news for our family is that the new rules will not apply to us since we are already in the process. The bad news, however, is that a once large family-friendly country will join the ranks of many others who exclude families because of the number of children in their families.

From what I learned from our agency, exceptions will be made for families wanting to adopt HIV+ children, those with severe special needs and for sibling groups of more than three children. (There’s more than a little irony there. “I’m sorry, your family is too big... more

Out of all the steps of international adoption, I dread this one the most. When we first began adopting, we had to travel two hours away to the sheriff’s office in our nearest big city. It was an inconvenience, but doable, and we ended up making a fun day out of it. The second time we adopted, we found out the sheriff’s office would no longer do the fingerprinting because it was too much hassle for too little money. We ended up having to travel two hours in the opposite direction to a tiny little town to have it done. This time, it was a pain, but it still... more

In part two, I discussed the many sources of knowledge and support to which we turned as we made the decision about adopting a child with special needs. Even though Cora has been home with us for more than six months now, I am amazed at the help that seems to bubble up continuously to help us stay on the right path. We have a wonderful physical therapist and a fabulous occupational therapist, a super TVI/COMS (teacher of the visually impaired/certified orientation and mobility specialist), and a skilled family support specialist who are all a part of Cora’s care and growth. (I might add that she also... more

As I wrote in part one, fear was the biggest obstacle to our feeling open to adopting a child with special needs, but we quickly learned that knowledge was power. The more knowledge we acquired, the less scary it seemed. Here are the steps we took to educate ourselves and to get up and over the fear hurdle. In our case, they’re specific to vision impairment and albinism, but the same basic steps can apply to any sort of special need.

1. Use the Internet to research

When we first learned about an available six-month-old baby girl with albinism in Haiti, I started to research... more