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Had to chuckle Devora...here I am! Thanks for the confidence. Hope I can help. Hope this doesn't get too long. My posts usually do.

Our boys were both 4yrs old when they came home from Guat, two yrs apart. Since I homeschooled K with our four older kids, I did the same for them and got to have them home three more yrs and then send them to 1st grade. They learned English quickly, and by the time they started school, they did fine. Typical boys, they've had to learn to take school seriously, but are doing well...not excellent, but well and improving.

We brought our 10yr old daughter home from Guat in Feb 2005. All three of our kids lived in the same small, private orphanage and had excellent care and bonded with caregivers and friends. I agree it would be great to cut down hrs and be with your daughter as much as possible. That being said, we decided to put our daughter in school after only a few wks home. She had been to private schools since a preschooler, was used to being around lots of kids, and was already grieving the loss of friends. To keep her at home with just me and DH around during the day (we farm) seemed to only make her more sad. We had her tested by a bilingual friend and area aducation specialist and recommended third grade placement. We did make the point of spending time alone with her as much as possible, our older kids home with our younger ones. She had some early "issues", mainly goofiness and trying to get and being given too much attention at school, much selfishness and less maturity than you'd expect to see from a third grader. But there were reasons for some of this behavior. We just tried to give her the attention she needed at home and discuss these things with her. She had a few grieving times, but was able to communicate with us about them. She still seems to get sad when I cut her hair or dry it. There may be other triggers along the way. (She may just be sad her mother doesn't do braids as they did for her in Guatemala.!)

She learned English quickly, but as has been suggested, they learn "social" language rather quickly. We've been told it takes 5-7yrs to really grasp a language, to understand humor, etc. Not sure how true this holds, but I'm sure it depends. Doing academics in a foreign language is another story. She's blessed to be bright and bold and enthusiastic, so that's helped her catch on quickly. Our school was at a loss as to how to approach teaching her, but this year she has an aid, goes to Title 1 math and spends time with the reading teacher. Last year I really wondered what she was gaining, doing all her work in English...basically just copying everything. But somehow, she is catching on. It's amazing. I expect her to be behind for at least a few more years, but am praying she can get caught up at least by high school. She does lower level spelling than the class, which is totally undestandable. She has had to adjust also to the idea that she can't do everything her classmates do. She HATES to be different, which is sometimes to her advantage for the challenges she is willing to face.

Since you're a teacher, you would know much that would be helpful to teach your daughter at home or to at least supplement her learning. Since she hasn't been to school, it would seem a good idea to at least give her time to adjust a bit at home before thrusting her into that environment. I've had to ajust my thinking about goals for our daughter, learning to accept that this is going to take awhile, even as smart as she is. It's important to let her just play and have fun and learn other things besides school work. I struggle with how much to work on things at home, after she's been in school all day. We try to read to her, her to us...and the ever present flash cards our boys need help with, too. Sometimes I wonder if they are all a bit slower with math because they didn't have access to as many manipulatives during early childhood, but who knows. They might just be like their mom. We're all more on the creative side and less analytical. One thing I struggle with is knowing how to correct her accent. It's neat, it's hers, but she also needs to be understood. She is willing and correctable, so I remind her of pronunciations from time to time. We've tried to encourage her to keep her Spanish, but not until very recently, nearly a yr later, has she shown an interest. She is listening to Spanish children's CD and more willing to "translate" for us. We are NOT bilingual.

News from Guatemala is our file was just given to the lawyer for the 8yr old girl we met on our trip for our daughter last year. Here we go again! We haven't the heart to tell the school until it's closer to happening. They've scrambled to figure out how to help our daughter, and I hate to break the news to the same teachers they might have to do this again! They all show great concern in helping our daughter learn as quickly and as much as she can during her tenure in their rooms. Our daughter is the first non English speaking student in our small community.