School Days

This week, the "Manor Kids" went to school. Isaac is in grade 9, Micah is in grade 8, and Abby is in grade 2. Jack, Abby's brother, goes to Puddle Ducks, the preschool, 2 days a week. The first thing you will notice about kids going to school is that they look "smart" (AKA dressed up).

Micha, Abby, and Isaac

Even the little ones wear uniforms. Everyone wears a uniform no matter if you are attending a public or a private school. Abby attends the village school and is in first grade at home. Here, she is in grade 2. Kindergarten is counted as grade 1. I ask Abby frequently about what she is studying in school, but I have a hard time figuring it out. I did learn that she takes numeracy instead of Math and that she does a lot of reading and a lot of playing outside. Her teacher, Ms. Ironmonger, is a new teacher and she is nice although "she does yell sometimes, but not at me". Abby is pretty popular with the other kids in her class. I don't know if have it quite all straight, but I think that the kids go to schools like the village school until they are in what we would call middle school.

Once the kids go to middle school, their school becomes single gender. So Micah, looking smart in her uniform,

goes to an all girls school. Isaac on the other hand....

goes to an all boys school. Isaac and Micah ended up in the schools that work best with Harlaxton and that were close to the manor. However, if they were British kids, they would take exams and then would be placed in a school based on their academic abilities. Isaac's school consists of kids who are performing in the top 25% of their class. Isaac's school is quite rigorous. Here is a list of his classes: German, English, Art, Geography, Music, Games, Physics, PE, Chemistry, History, Biology, Information Technologies, Designing and Technologies, Careers, Maths (yes, it is the plural of Math), and Religious Education. Isaac is in high school - I think high school starts at grade 9.

The boys in Isaac's class will be taking their GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) in the spring. When they get good enough grades on their CGSEs, they can show competency in that subject area. According to Isaac, their scores on these tests will get the kids good jobs and will help them get into the more difficult programs at university.

Isaac's schedule is different every day and it is different every week. He has an A week and a B week. The classes Monday - Friday are always different. He has 5 subjects a day. He leaves the manor on the 0810 shuttle and does not return to the manor until about 1700. He is transitioning to school well and is doing well. However, what he is finding challenging is the length of his day. He comes home pretty tired.

Micah's school is a school where kids below the top 25th percent would go. Her curriculum is a little easier. She only has 2 sciences and her curriculum also includes textiles (sewing) and other "home ec" types of classes. She does not have nearly as many subjects. However, she does have to play field hockey and had to buy a mouth guard and shin guards for school. Micah was also elected as form leader (AKA class president) her first day of school - she is quite the young woman :)

Micah and Isaac ride in on the shuttle with Ziggy, our favourite bus driver.

Ziggy takes good care of the Manor Kids. He is really a great guy and looks out for our kids while they are coming to and from the Manor. On Mondays and Wednesdays, John takes Jack into Puddle Ducks for preschool.

Jack and John

The kids in preschool do not wear a uniform. But the interesting thing is that Jack's school is peanut-free. So even though he takes his lunch, Nancy and John have to make it in a peanut-free environment and they cannot send peanut butter and jam (the typical lunch that Micah, Abby and Isaac take) with him. Instead, they take a piece of bread from the cafeteria home and put cheese on it.

Another interesting fact about school is the textbooks. They are quite small. Many of them look like workbooks. Additionally, the children are given little notebooks to use in class. The notebooks look like larger blue books that we use sometimes to give written exams or like the small composition books that you can find with the notebooks at Target. Isaac took his Algebra book in to his teacher today. His maths teacher is going to evaluate what Isaac would be doing this semester in the US and will let us know what, if anything, he will need to study. Isaac's maths teacher said, "Why is everything so big in America?" when he saw Isaac's book. Here is what the stack of Isaac's books looks like:

Isaac's books

The one spiral notebook is his diary (AKA planner). It is actually one of the thickest books in the stack! Isaac really is lucky to have this experience. I think that going to school here is such an awesome opportunity. He has met new friends already and is totally immersed in the culture here. Actually, he and the other manor kids probably are more immersed than the college students are. He is learning from his school, and his school is learning from him.

I will leave all of you with one last picture. I love this picture of Jack and Ziggy - they have the same facial expression in this picture, which I think is just priceless. I am forever grateful that we are here and truly appreciate the support of the staff of the manor for all that they have done for us.