Life by the books and on the road Lindsay McRory August 27, 1996 In spite of the recent problems with thievery, we are enjoying Luperon and the Dominican Republic. There are few places to shop in this town, so we hired a car and driver for the day and went to Santiago about 90 miles inland. Maguil turned out to be an excellent tour guide. He took us wherever we wanted and waited patiently while we shopped and dined. We were gone from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The total charge for Maguil and his beautiful Mercedes Benz: $45 (U.S.). We also took advantage of an all-inclusive beach resort up the highway. It is like a Club Med and caters mostly to Germans. A day pass for our family was about $80 and included breakfast, lunch, dinner, kids' clubs, all you could eat and drink. It was great. We will probably visit once a week. It was surprising how many locals we knew that worked there. Kita has been hard at her schooling. Libbey from Hotwire is a retired schoolteacher. She has been tutoring Kita for the last three weeks. Kita really enjoys it. Libbey has determined that Kita's reading skills are equivalent to mid-year grade three and her math skills are those typically achieved in the fourth grade, so we are ahead of the curve. Kita likes her schoolwork and Denise and I are diligent about making sure she does it. I wish I could say all cruising kids studied hard. It's sad to say that we have been the exception, rather than the rule. There is a 15-year-old here who hasn't been to school or on a program for more than two years. His parents ordered a year of Calvert, but it was lost en route and they can't afford to replace it. A few weeks ago a father-and-son team left for Florida. Ian is 11 years old, has never been to school, and is nearly illiterate. I think his father is, too. An informal survey tells the story. Out of eight boats with school-age cruising kids aboard, only two (including us) take our children's education seriously. I hope the statistics are better than our limited experience.