Hosting a Foreign Bear for Easter

A bundle arrived in the post from New Zealand, the contents of which included a little teddy bear, a selection of souvenirs from the Far East, Hawaii, and New Zealand, and a letter which requested we show him a good time in our country before posting him back to his homeland of San Diego, California.

Isaac arrives in Britain:
Notice the red phone box in the background,
and all the cars driving on "the wrong side".

Isaac Bear is part of a project for an elementary school in the US, and we were very excited to take part in it. He joined us for everything: our homeschooling co-op with the Aberkats, swimming training, meals out, cinema trips -- it was a great time for him to be with us, as it was our Easter holidays.

Aberkats Co-op

We especially enjoyed bringing him along to the various Easter celebrations: Good Friday walk around Banbury, doing the stations of the cross, and an Easter sunrise service in the fields of the Cotswolds, not to mention an all-you-can-eat Thai buffet with our friends.

Stations of the Cross

Sorry, Isaac -- a sunrise service
in England doesn't always mean
there will be sun!

The piece de resistance was taking him to the Castle Inn at Edgehill on Easter night, looking out over the hills where Charles I had begun the English Civil War in October of1642. Too bad it was really foggy!

Isaac's such a ham, he forgot to look at the view!

As per instructions, we sent him packing on the 22nd, hoping he'll make it back to his headquarters by the May 1st deadline.

Bon voyage, Isaac.
(Banbury Cross in the background)

For me, the best part of the project was that we received our bear from a homeschooling family in New Zealand, some of whom are currently my students for the Dreaming Spires literature courses I run. It's making global connections like these that are the future of homeschooling, so I liked showing how it works in practice to my kids.