Friday 9 September 2011

Off...to new schools


Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our children's school life. 
After much thought and debate 
after some secret conversations 
while I changed from work clothes to lunch clothes 
after phone calls between me and my eldest, 
-me at the shop, she at home-
we pushed through with our decision to take the kids off private schools,
English and Greek,
and enroll them to the public school system.


Our decision wasn't an easy one.
Most of my readers are not familiar with teachers going on strike for a month or more,
or with kids barricading themselves in their schools aided by anarchist extremists and destroying everything on the way to the revolution...
You may not be familiar with schools startng on September 10th 
and not having books to work from until November
or not having a science teacher till Christmas.



For all those reasons
and because we don't really have much help since our parents live hundreds of miles away,
we found it necessary to send the kids to private schools 
where a bus collects them in the morning and brings them home in the early afternoon 
and most of the work is done in the classroom.

However
we have grown increasingly disillusioned with the kids' schools.
J changed school half way through the year, this year,
and we found out that most students getting into College get private tuition, 
whether they go to a private school or a state run one.

Add to this the current financial
{ahem}
restraints
and we had to make up our minds about whether getting the kids into the real world was for us at this moment.
Cause mind you, having to drive them to and fro school, having to read with them their lessons and, well, parenting them in their new wilder environment, while we need all of our energy keeping our business afloat,  is not an easy thing to contemplate.

We prayed alot, and deep in my heart I believed that God would give us the answers. 
A thread of events unfolded in the past week, leading us into being confident in our decision. 
We hope and pray for times when we will enjoy our time with the kids more, when they wll appreciate their free time, and when they will grow up into more confident and self-sufficient people.



P.S. My 10 year old boy washed his own football uniform tonight. Must be agood sign!


love, Irene

2 comments:

Stephanie @ La Dolce Vita said...

As parents, we make the best decisions we can and hope for the best! I hope they adjust well and succeed in their new schools!

LindyLouMac said...

Difficult decisions, but I am convinced that the most important part of any child's education is the guidance they get from home. They will be fine with their supportive parents.

Best buys