(copied from an e-mail list)
>>How is everything with your children? How are
you doing?<<
Hmm...I could go on for a VERY long time answering those two questions...but as I'm pretty tired (there's part of one answer, anyway), I'll try to keep it short for a change. :-) As far as school goes, Marie and Jacob are mostly happy with it and I'm more and more disgusted with it every day. My husband and I have a meeting with Jacob's teacher on Wednesday, which we requested after a very unsatisfactory parents' meeting last Wednesday. I keep saying (and believing that I mean) that I don't really care what they do (or don't do) in school academically, but two and a half weeks of practicing the number 1 and the letter I/i over and over again were starting to bug me. The teacher went on and on about how the most important thing for them to learn is...drum roll please, and say it with me...socialization. She said a LOT of things I agreed with 100%: children need to learn to get along with all sorts of people and academics are not the most important thing; children are individuals and all learn differently and at their own speeds; one teacher can't possibly always know what's going on with each one of 23 students; and so on. Homeschooling was the answer to every single goal and difficulty (she listed lots more of both) she named. I keep reminding myself that this is good for the children's German. (It's interesting, though, that although I think of their German as being weak just because it's not as strong as their English, Jacob's teacher didn't realize he was bilingual at all and said his German is absolutely normal, and Marie, having never been to school before and "supposed" to be being in second grade and being in third and only having had very sporadic German language arts work required of her is one of the first ones finished with her German work in class AND is doing it well...) Of course, I could have done without the German word Marie brought home and called her brother. (It wasn't a term of endearment...)
Okay, I'll stop now. It's all very frustrating, and not getting less so. My husband called the DTS in Montana last night, and we should have a decision from them by the end of this week. Yes, I want to go, but more than that, I just want to know what we're doing next and be able to PLAN something. If we're not accepted (or decide not to go, which is a possibility), we'll pursue moving to Belgium. My husband has been spending a lot of time that we don't have looking for houses in Belgium on the internet, especially on the days when we're most frustrated with school. The second week, he said something like "They're wasting my children's time! That's the worst thing! The shameless audacity of wasting my children's living time!" (It sounded better in German, but I think the point still comes across.)
Hmm...I could go on for a VERY long time answering those two questions...but as I'm pretty tired (there's part of one answer, anyway), I'll try to keep it short for a change. :-) As far as school goes, Marie and Jacob are mostly happy with it and I'm more and more disgusted with it every day. My husband and I have a meeting with Jacob's teacher on Wednesday, which we requested after a very unsatisfactory parents' meeting last Wednesday. I keep saying (and believing that I mean) that I don't really care what they do (or don't do) in school academically, but two and a half weeks of practicing the number 1 and the letter I/i over and over again were starting to bug me. The teacher went on and on about how the most important thing for them to learn is...drum roll please, and say it with me...socialization. She said a LOT of things I agreed with 100%: children need to learn to get along with all sorts of people and academics are not the most important thing; children are individuals and all learn differently and at their own speeds; one teacher can't possibly always know what's going on with each one of 23 students; and so on. Homeschooling was the answer to every single goal and difficulty (she listed lots more of both) she named. I keep reminding myself that this is good for the children's German. (It's interesting, though, that although I think of their German as being weak just because it's not as strong as their English, Jacob's teacher didn't realize he was bilingual at all and said his German is absolutely normal, and Marie, having never been to school before and "supposed" to be being in second grade and being in third and only having had very sporadic German language arts work required of her is one of the first ones finished with her German work in class AND is doing it well...) Of course, I could have done without the German word Marie brought home and called her brother. (It wasn't a term of endearment...)
Okay, I'll stop now. It's all very frustrating, and not getting less so. My husband called the DTS in Montana last night, and we should have a decision from them by the end of this week. Yes, I want to go, but more than that, I just want to know what we're doing next and be able to PLAN something. If we're not accepted (or decide not to go, which is a possibility), we'll pursue moving to Belgium. My husband has been spending a lot of time that we don't have looking for houses in Belgium on the internet, especially on the days when we're most frustrated with school. The second week, he said something like "They're wasting my children's time! That's the worst thing! The shameless audacity of wasting my children's living time!" (It sounded better in German, but I think the point still comes across.)
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