Georgias 3rd trial at school today. Each day has been so different which is why I stayed for all 3 to experience it for myself. Next week she goes solo. Monday was eye-opening. Quite rushed from one subject to the next but still she seemed to enjoy it. New things were music class/singing and recorder. Not that we dont sing and dance and play instruments at home but it was a great challenge to step out of the I hate singing and dancing in public comfort zone. Next was sport on the oval. My girl has never wanted to do team sports. This was another challenge as she played soccer with her classmates. She does however love her swim squads and gymnastics so Im not at all concerned with her level of fitness. Next was Japanese lessons. Her father wonders what on earth it will be useful for in the future but I at least saw a lot of learning going on regardless of what language we think is best. We learn German at home and Im not concerned about LOTE anyway. She will do what she wishes if the need arises. On a Friday it was an entire day dedicated to Self-Sustainable Practices. The school has amazing vegetable gardens and recycling standards. They have fruit trees, bee hives, compost systems and chooks. Every Friday they learn about gardening, plant identification and taking care of the land. They also cook up a storm from their produce. They plan a menu of a few courses, harvest what they need and cook in their most professional industrial kitchen. They then serve the rest of the school and parents who turn up and pay. They are like Master Chefs and totally blew me away with the quality of meals. Which brings me to today. Thursday was academic day. Now dont get me wrong, my girl is enjoying this experience, but in the 6 hour day, I experienced 20 mins of silent reading, 30 mins to cover about 3 maths sums, 15 mins of a reading and comprehension question sheet, hanging out on the library bus picking a book, being read to on the mat for about 10 mins, 4 vocab words to look up, run around the oval 3 times and then free-play on their laptops. The rest of the day I just couldnt keep up with snack times and little lunch and big lunch. I felt like they had only just sat their bums on the seat and then they were outside again. And all I could hear was please sit down, I wont tell you again, youre wasting time for the rest of the class, stop kicking each other under the desks. This is just my observations and I guess I will continue because my girl is loving it and the school is really lovely and the teachers are nice and the children are friendly. Ill also be glad to sleep in tomorrow and enjoy our home school day without feeling any doubt that we are not doing enough. And before anyone thinks I am having a gripe or judge of teachers, I am not. They are all running around like clockwork mice, doing what they must to tick off everything on their list. Just sharing our new experience and next week the hovering mother has to walk away. Can I do it? Stay tuned.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 10:08:30 +0000
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