Back to school time.
Yeah, the kids are still in grădiniţă. Guess we didn't push their Romanian quite as hard over the summer as we thought we might. But not all is lost: Teo has a new program for them which is really effective. They're writing in sentences and getting tested every day.
And I'm not going any more. Really. The poor kid has to be able to keep some self-respect.
And the fifth grade teacher has suggested Mircea come to her class next week to hang out. I'm not sure what that will accomplish other than get him out of the tiny room with the three-year-olds but I'm not one to suggest anyone turn down a new opportunity cause you just never know what might come of it.
The reality is that even if he was fluent, he would not be in the fifth grade class. In fact, he wouldn't even be at the little school house in Obedin, he would be in Breasta at the high school. Quite frankly I can't see us driving him there every day. Quite frankly I can't see the teachers there really going for our whole current education philosophy which includes pulling our kids out of school for every interesting travel opportunity that comes along. They're not really keen on that sort of thing here.
So it's just as well that he's with Teo and the three-year-olds.
We actually missed the official first two days because we were in Transylvania travelling. Just all part of our unorthodox year. (unorthodox always sounds so much better than flaky and somewhat irresponsible, doesn't it?)
And in the meantime, for all of you that have politely expressed alarm over the state of my children's education, I'm happy to report that we're hitting the books hard here at home. Science, math, social studies, language, reading. Really. Four hours a day after they get home from grădeniţă. And yes they are passing their competencies. My guilt was keeping me up at night but these days I'm sleeping just fine (when the dogs aren't barking).
Grădiniţă isn't as fun as it used to be because most of their favorite friends have moved on to the school in Breasta. Their hours are different and unfortunately they get out too late to join us at the poiană. But it's a new year, a new mix and we've changed some things up. Now its skipping rocks at the jiu on Mondays,
hiking the hills on Wednesdays
(our faithful Irina troops along even if she forgot to change out of her flip-flops)
and the pioană on Fridays
It's a younger crowd but they still have fun.
So we've lost Ana, Roberto, Mădălina and Laurenţiu to the school in Breasta although we got a nice surprise one evening when Ana came by needing help with her English homework. (Just what I wanted, more kids learning English. But its not about me, right?)
Were my children thrilled to be able to help her with those pesky contractions? Were my children happy that I had forced them to learn what contractions are and how to use them properly themselves? (so much for the 'when will I ever need to know this information' argument) Oh, it was a photo just waiting to be taken but I restrained myself for the benefit of those teen/pre-teen sensibilities.
On the home front we're busy with autumn, my absolute favorite time of the year.
Măru is helping out with wood chopping and cleaning to get ready for winter. That is, when Măru isn't being attacked by cows. He's got a black eye and a nasty laceration on his lateral left calf which so far has managed to stay free from infection. A certain RN has been doing some wound care and keeping her skills sharp. (No photos of that. You're welcome.)
And check it out, his shirt says Santa Cruz. He bought it at a second hand shop in Craiova.
So that's us on these last few days of my favorite month of the year: school work, cleaning, canning, enjoying the cold mornings and warm afternoons.
And battling head lice. Always the head lice.
What, you thought it was all glamour?
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