At Carrollwood Day School, we are lucky to have families that represent a wide variety of nationalities from around the globe.  In fact, in the history of our school, our population has been comprised of parents from six of the seven continents (we’d love to welcome a family from Antarctica one day!). The International Baccalaureate program allows us to learn about and celebrate these cultures through MYP and DP classes and the PYP units of inquiry.

Last week, one of our parents, Anastasia Remington, shared with kindergarten students what life is like in her home country of Ukraine. The kindergarten students, including Mrs. Remington’s son, Blake, are finishing up the “Wake Up World” unit of inquiry. With Mrs. Remington, the children learned that, even though Ukraine is half a world away, there are many similarities to the United States. Mrs. Remington’s hometown, Kharkiv, is a large metropolitan area, where most everyone lives in apartments. It is bigger than Tampa and reminds Mrs. Remington of Washington, D.C., with its historical buildings and museums, wide streets, multiple parks and squares. Ukraine also has beaches and mountains, warm summers and mild winters.

In Ukraine, holidays are important, and Mrs. Remington makes sure to maintain those celebrations with her family here in the United States. As she explains, “The biggest holiday for us is the New Year - it's when we decorate the tree and kids get the presents. Christmas is celebrated separately and is strictly religious, though in our family kids get some presents for Christmas too because their dad is American and we have to find ways to celebrate the holidays of both countries. We celebrate International Women's Day (8th of March), it's a very important holiday for Ukrainians when we celebrate the important women in our lives. Easter is also really big in Ukraine, probably bigger than Christmas. We bake Easter bread and hand-paint or dye the eggs.”

Mrs. Remington came to the United States in 2007, although it was not her original intent to immigrate. “I was a cultural exchange program participant. Back in Ukraine, I had a job at an Education Institute and worked on my Doctorate degree. I wanted to stay in the US for a year or two, to improve my English. However, in the US I met a handsome young man who became my husband in 2008. So, since that time I have lived in the US permanently.”

At home, Mrs. Remington has taught her two young sons (Blake and three-year-old Aiden) her native language, Ukrainian, and they speak it with her and her mom. She also knows Russian. And the family goes back to Ukraine every few years, enabling her husband and sons to experience her culture first hand.

We are grateful to Mrs. Remington for sharing her story with us! Please watch the video below to see what life in Ukraine is like.