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Dear all,
my sister-in-law (my husband's sister) is having her 6th kid these days. It's a great news, especially after the things she and her family have gone through, so I am delighted to see their new family expanding.
This also means that I am to house up three of her kids, the youngest ones, aged 9, 8 and 2. I'm unsure about my ability to check your site, or my, for that matter... and also, about my ability to handle the situation in general. I'm not very good with kids, you know, the two I have gives me enough job and challenge, but now I'll be having 5! - one of them not yet 2 years of age.
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Other not-so-great news is that my son was refused from the high school we tried to get into.
We have the following options:
1. try to get into said school a year later
2. stay in the school he's now in
3. search for a new school
We are going for for option #1.
If you followed my previous thoughts on the state of that school, you understand why option #2 is outruled.
If you knew my son as much as we do, you'd see why option #3 also is out of the question.
It means that he will be homeschooled for as long as he gets into a secondary school.
...
This month April is set to find a great solution to this problem we face. We also have to find the reason for rejection. Aspiring kids had to write a test paper on Math and Hungarian (you know, the type of subject you have as English - it's both about grammar and literature).
Out of 50, he scored 46 in Math, which is a nice result.
His Hungarian was 37/50, which is... not so much. I was kind of shocked to see how low his Hungarian score was.
Well, beside these scores, the results of former years also are important. The final score is counted upon using the results of the two previous semesters. These points were quite good.
Also, since this is a Church-based school, the way he takes part in the Community also matters.
And this is where we absolutely fail.
We do not attend services, nor do we take part in any activities organized by the Reformist Church.
Prior to his writing tests, this school has a talk with the parents about the way they see the world, about their ideas about the school. I think we (my husband and I) passed this successfully and trust me, we did not lie to get a good impression.
We have our faith and are trying to raise our children to make them a useful and intelligent part of the society. We acknowledge the rule of a tough school in the right handling of the youth. We believe in setting a good example and having a fair but strict hand. This is what normally what we believe about upbringing a child. Teaching and keeping traditions and working hard to succeed - we have no problems with that.
It is the Sunday school and the community events we are not able to attend - the reasons?
It is on Sunday and we organize our life so as to have a family gathering each Sunday. Cousins and relatives often come and join us in our semi-country house. We have a meal and generally, we just spend time together.
Also, to get into town to attend the Sunday school (and the church service) would take considerable time. Time away from being home, being together and alone with our family. We are living far from where the Church is and we have no car.
Also, being pagans, we don't see the importance of being in one special building to get into contact with the Higher Being. Of having one special gathering for the purpose of serving one another and God. Of the importance of one special book in finding our way.
See?
We are not Christians.
We have not told this particular bit about our faith to the school. Had they directly asked we would have surely told them it all.
But there are so many misunderstandings we wanted to avoid.
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We chose this particular school because we are sure this is the best possible one in town. There are four high schools in our town. Going to another town was out of the question (remember we do not own a car).
One school is Catholic. There's no way we can get into that one. The rules are even stricter over there. One belongs to the Reformed Church (the one we tried to get into). The third is a state school, with quite a good reputation for its results in Math and English (yes, English) - but there's no background of Hungarian traditions and spirituality at all there. It is strictly based on materialism, as we've heard. This is somehow repels us. The fourth is a Rudolf Steiner-based Waldorf school, the one my son was rejected from at the age of 10. We do not wish to re-enter that school by any means.
So, this is where we are...holding our heads, looking for directions...
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I wish I could tell you some more good news, my dear. Spring is here, tulips are out.
Cheers,
SzF.