Homework

Our international agency requires us to complete an online interactive certificate program about international adoption titled "With Eyes Wide Open" by Adoption Learning Partners. There's 20 chapters to the program, and each chapter has homework. Kevin and I have been doing 1-2 chapters together at a time. It's really hard to sit around and talk about a whole lotta what ifs at one time. A lot of the chapters have things we've already talked about, so that's a good thing. Some are kind of dumb, but I understand the purpose. Some parts I've never thought about, like what does the "Average Joe" in Taiwan think of the police, and how do the rich in Taiwan treat the poor on the streets? 15 chapters done, 5 to go. I had no idea it would take this much effort. It's easy to answer the questions you can by yourself, but takes a lot longer when you've got to put your head together with your partner to form an answer. The Adoption Learning Partners website also has seven other programs that you can take for free, but have to pay to get the certificate.

For those of you that are interested, here's the chapter titles for "With Eyes Wide Open."

Chapter 1 - Image of Our Child
Chapter 2 - Adoption Losses and Gains
Chapter 3 - The Sounds of Early Life
Chapter 4 - Food and All That Means
Chapter 5 - Bed and Sleep
Chapter 6 - Child Development
Chapter 7 - Preparing for the Abused Child
Chapter 8 - A Special Child
Chapter 9 - Transitions from Orphanage to Home
Chapter 10 - Enclosed in an Orphanage
Chapter 11 - Bonding to a Rejected Child
Chapter 12 - Separating from Caretakers
Chapter 13 - Travel and Culture Shock
Chapter 14 - Home and Post-adoption
Chapter 15 - Preparing for Prejudice
Chapter 16 - Siblings and Adoption
Chapter 17 - When They Fight, Test, and Act Out
Chapter 18 - Birth Families Revisited
Chapter 19 - An International Family
Chapter 20 - Resources You Can Use