Time is flying

I can't really believe that the kids only have about two months of school left before we leave. It seems like time is flying by again. I realized this as things have come up like school pictures, would they even be ready in time before we leave? and parent-éleve elections and donations to the caisse d'´école where we won't even be here for any of the class field trips. It just seems strange because our community is so centered around school and here we are leaving behind all that--the schooling too and entering a sort of no-mans land--exciting and scary at the same time.

Seb seems to be really warming up to my homeschooling idea. We even decided that the kids won't start school in 2011 and at least until the end of February they'll be home. I'm a little daunted by the whole thing and worried that they'll be bored, that they'll fight, that they'll overwhelm me. I think I'm mostly afraid because I know Seb wants to start a school curriculum at home and I had no intention of doing it like that. He told me he wants us to create a little school with set hours. I feel like it's doomed to fail! I think I need to sell him some more on my unschooling idea but I'll have to do it in small doses. He had such a strict upbringing!! Even during their last visit my in-laws hounded Little S about getting a peek at his homework. It was his birthday and they had his books out on the table. When he visits them they spend lots of time tutoring him on the abc's and his numbers. I can't say their method doesn't work because Seb is definitely well-educated but Seb is also a workaholic who takes no pleasure in anything outside of what his duty is. I have a hard time getting him to relax and do nothing with me and the kids.

Fortunately all along Seb has had my little voice in his ear and now he sees things firsthand. Homeschool was so abstract before but now he sees how laxidasical the teacher at S's school is about his relationship with the kids and the effect it has on his son. We had a small conference with S's teacher last week and he just seemed bored. He worked into the conversation three times how he was overworked and how he wasn't getting paid for doing the overtime for after school study groups and for the conference we were in with him. I think he's a nice teacher and I hate criticizing the school so I won't go too much in detail but many of his responses, his general attitude about a bullying incident and Little S's general attitude since he changed schools has even the most skeptical, Seb, changing his mind about public school.

I'm reading Holt's How Children Fail right now. I've only read excerpts from his books but I finally ordered two of them for my library. I'll probably be talking a lot about this in the next few months, sorry in advance!

By the way here is a l i n k to an interesting emission on TF2 about homeschooling in France. And then another I found on a local savoyarde tv news channel. Very interesting to see homeschool families here in France.