When you decide to host an au pair as your child care solution, you receive an enriching cultural exchange experience and flexible, dependable support — but you also get so much more. Our au pairs can help with the intellectual development of their host children, providing personalized one-on-one attention if needed and assistance in the facilitation of academic growth, including homework or other projects.
Having a built-in homework helper and study buddy at home can be a huge relief for parents. Nadine, an au pair from South Africa who is hosted in Long Island, NY, is the perfect example of that.
Check out this incredible account of her supporting her host child’s interests and academic goals at home! Nadine shares:
“For the last few months Lilianna has been introduced to the Magical world of wizardry. We have been reading, listening and watching everything there is on Harry Potter. Lilianna just loves the stories and she loves the idea of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And of course I was super excited when she finally started reading the books, listening to the audio books and of course watching the iconic movies. I got to experience it all with her. Seeing her reactions as she sits quietly watching the movies, how she jumps up if something “scary” happens and how she has a billion questions afterwards, I of course excitedly answer all of them for her! It’s been such a great bonding experience.
So this year when I heard she has a science fair coming up I couldn’t help but wonder if we can’t combine her love of Harry Potter with her Science Fair project. And so Potter’s Potions came to be. We decided to use the experiment on the reactions of carbon dioxide and create a fun little spell for her (Lilianna’s Spell). And we went with the all to familiar red and yellow color scheme as Lilianna loves Gryffindor. I had so much fun creating this project with her and me being very creative this gave me the opportunity to make it as mesmerizing as possible! Lilliana also had her own special wand and she wore her magical glasses with pride!
We had so much fun showing all the children at [her school] her experiment and of course it was a big hit not only for the children but for the parents as well.
Lilianna came home the next day with a huge smile on her face and a beautiful medal of participation around her neck. All the hard work immediately paid of after seeing her that happy. I hope our project showed everyone that we all have a little bit of magic in us!”
Nadine’s host mom, Liza, was thrilled that she was able to help Lilianna put together this incredible project for school. She was impressed that, “Nadine helped her make a potion with popping rock, food coloring, baking soda and vinegar to demonstrate the effect of carbon dioxide. Nadine even made a wand for effect.”
Interested in hosting an au pair like Nadine? Learn more about au pair child care through Au Pair in America today!
