Home schooling for us

Today I'm home schooling. If you'd told me 10 years ago just before my first child was born, I'd never have believed you. Me, home school? Not that I am fundamentally against home schooling. I have lots of good friends who home school. It just was never something that I've been interested in doing. I guess I myself had a good school experience. I also enjoy time apart from my kids! I know there are many different reasons why people home school, but I primarily see it as a calling and something that needs to fit both the kids and the parents. In our case, it fits neither. So how did I end up home schooling? Well, it is more of a stop-gap measure than a long term lifestyle. Our middle son, as you might have read, just finished Japanese kindergarten. We ourselves are going to Australia in under 13 weeks (!!panic!!). Our six-year-old son will start school in July, the middle of an Australian school year. So our alternatives for the intervening weeks were: 1) Send him to Japanese primary school for 10 weeks. (Big culture shock) 2) Send him to CAJ (Christian Academy in Japan) for 10 weeks where our eldest son goes and my husband teaches. (His age would put him into kindergarten there too, hours of 8.30-12.30 every day. I would spend most of my day commuting - 20/30 mins each way). 3) Do nothing. (But this doesn't prepare him to start school in July very well.) 4) Home school (As well as sort and pack our house for moving.) If you add into the equation that his personality is one that takes a while to get used to new situations and people, and the decision to home school was not too hard to make. But hard to explain day after day as well meaning mums at kindergarten and in the neighbourhood enquired! Actually I have been home schooling part-time for the last 3 1/2 years. Ever since we last left Australia in the middle of my son's grade one year. We desired to give our children a head start with the language and culture by attending Japanese schools when they were young. So that is what we did. So he didn't lose what English he already had, I home schooled him in reading and writing before and or after school. It met all my expectations - difficult, impossible, frustrating and undesirable. He is no longer in Japanese school and the day we finished home schooling with him was a day of celebration. Thankfully our second son is a little more cooperative and compliant. On my second day of 'full time' home schooling, I can say that I am glad that I am no longer working around the time table of kindergarten. I can use the best hours of his day to teach him! All that being said, I am being fairly relaxed and we are not doing a full curriculum by any means. Reading, writing and arithmetic would about sum it up. All I'm doing is (hopefully) smoothing his entry into school in Australia in July. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Ueno Zoo

Well, previously I wrote about getting to and from the zoo, but nothing about the zoo. To be honest we were pleasantly surprised by the zoo. The only other Japanese zoo we've been to is the Sapporo Zoo and even though the kids loved it, we felt like calling the RSPCA (animal welfare association in Australia) because the animals looked very unhappy. BUT Ueno Zoo was greener and by and large the animals looked happier. We even found some Australian animals beyond the kangaroos. A couple of emus with evil eyes. Kangaroo rat, fruit bats and a couple of others I've already forgotten. The gorilla was a great one. We were looking at them through glass, when this guy hopped up and came right over to us and sat down, looking cheekily at our boys. I cannot believe I actually got this photo. The whole zoo experience, though, was a reminder of how energetic our three boys are. Our Japanese friends have two children, a girl just a little younger than our eldest and a boy just a little older than our youngest. Our boys outran them all the way. They were looking a tad ragged at the end of the day (so were we). This kind of comparison helps us feel that our tiredness at looking after our mob day after day is legitimate :-)

Why we don't often travel by train as a family

Are trains and Japan synonymous in many people's minds? I've been in Japan too long to remember! I've gathered some thoughts about trains and how they compare to our 'home' country, Australia. Japan is much more suited to trains than Australia due simply to large numbers of people living close to one another. Trains come every couple of minutes, missing one is not the big deal it is in Brisbane, where trains come every half hour outside of peak times. Even though they come so often, getting a seat is still a significant triumph. And certainly not considered a right. We laugh when we read about Brisbanites complaining about having to stand the whole way to work. Etiquette is stricter here, probably necessarily so, otherwise we'd not be able to have so many people using the train without violence. Don't talk on your mobile (cell) phone. Don't cross your legs (they stick out). Don't put your bag on a seat. Don't stretch your legs out. Don't eat or drink. Sit close to other people. Don't talk unless you are with friends. Try not to look at people. For the above reasons, our family doesn't use trains as a family unless absolutely necessary. On Thursday we met friends at Ueno Zoo with friends. Close to the city, this was one time that trains were more convenient. Not necessarily nice, though. On the very first train we hopped on, it was standing room only, not super crowded, just no seats. Our two youngest decided that they both wanted to look out of the same skinny window in the door, the only available window. For several stops they fought, screamed, cried etc. Can you imagine how loud that sounded in the context of a quiet, orderly totally silent carriage? All of our boys are persistent, and there was no dissuading them that this was an unimportant fight. It was not until someone got off and another window 'became' available that the fight ended. But not before mum and dad were embarrassed and emotionally spent - all before the day began. The other significant travel event occured on the way home. First train was pretty good, all three boys got seats - next to each other and not having to sit next to anyone 'strange' (i.e. unknown, another stress point for at least one of our boys). We thought a bit of music would help our tired kids, so pulled out our iPod and let the two younger ones listen with earphones. All good, until we had to change trains. Chances we were going to let these two attached by wired umbilical cords wander through one of the biggest stations in the world? None! So, off went the music. Tantrum anyone? Our youngest threw a wobbly for all to see and hear. He made a motion to get off the train, then stopped at the door, just as the whole carriage had gathered up momentum. We carried him unceremoniously onto the platform, resulting in more screams. On the second train, we had no seats, but space on the floor near the door was available. Exhausted kids flopped (probably a no no, but exhausted parents didn't care). We reapplied iPod and had peace for the rest of the journey! Yay!! The next day we piled into the car for a shortish trip and pondered how much easier we find car travel than train travel. The boys read books in the back seat and we had no tantrums. Not to say we never have fights in the car, but at least they're not for public consumption.

Kindy graduation

I just realised that it is a week since our middle son graduated from Japanese kindergarten. Here are some photos to prove that it is no ordinary event. Very formal. The preponderance of black. Many of the women and most of the men wore black jackets. My emerald-green blouse felt a little casual and very bright! But I was comfortable and happy. Below you see our son about to accept his graduation certificate from the head of the kindy (a priest, it was a Catholic kindy). The kids had been drilled repeatedly and did exactly the right thing the whole time. It looked better than my final speech day at high school did! During the ceremony the children made a long recitation (of which I understood little). But the impressive thing for me was that it was long and word perfect - they've been practising for months! Plenty of sniffing, but none more than when they sang the "Sayonara song". Full of phrases like, "we've played together, been sick together", "but when the cherry blossoms come out we'll be wearing randoseru" (Japanese elementary school leather backpacks). After the ceremony (which lasted more than an hour). We lined up for final class photos and then went back to the classrooms for our final final farewell with their teachers! The teachers were dressed beautifully in kimono, but their faces were sad. Again things dragged on and on, and the strain was clearly showing on the kids. One of the boys had a fight and burst into tears. His mother then burst into tears as she tried to resolve it and finish well. In the meantime her husband came over to help and she pushed him away. It was a distressing scene that all regretted. We ourselves had another important appointment in the afternoon to keep, so we got out of there as fast as we possibly could. Probably the best thing in the end. Prolonging the agony didn't seem to be helping anyone! Below you can see the classroom with all the parents gathered around. The importance of the event is only underlined by the fact that almost every child had both parents present - a rare event. Fathers took time off work to come! Now it is a new beginning. This week is spring vacation (yes, the American coming in) and on Monday we start school in our lounge room.

Handwriting

It has been a long time, but in another life I spent a lot of time being an Occupational Therapist. When I became pregnant with our first child, I gave up my registration as we had plans to go to Japan and no opportunities for me to practise. In fact I wasn't sure I would ever get to do it again. It was the end of an era, I thought. Little did I know that 10 years down the track my skills would come in handy again. We've been confronted with the lack of resources available to English-speaking residents in Japan who have children with therapy needs. Particularly Speech Therapy, but also Occupational Therapy. Last year I was called upon to assess and write a report on a fellow missionary's child. Now I am giving advice about the handwriting problem of another missionary kid. The future? Last week I mailed off my application to rejoin our professional association: OT Australia. 12 months in Australia will give me the chance to upgrade my skills. I will not pursue re-registration at this time, so I won't be able to work in Oz (just to be clear on that). However, hopefully as a volunteer at CAJ I'll be able to help that handful of kids who struggle to get their words clearly onto paper and who knows what else God might have in store for me? I'm beginning to learn that in God's economy nothing is wasted.

Furniture lists

That we are considering furniture lists is a hint that the move we're making in 3 months time is not an ordinary one. We have a household of furniture here in Japan and half a household of furniture in Australia. Not many people in our economic bracket can say that. We don't have a house in Australia, just some stuff! So, we find ourselves with a foot in both worlds at present. We're taking stock of what we have here: deciding what we want to store for the year we'll be in Oz and what we want to ditch and replace when we come back. At the same time we're considering what we left in Australia four years ago and what we need to borrow to supplement that to ensure we have enough beds for everyone and so on. It is a challenging assignment, one akin to juggling balls. Hoping, as we consider one aspect of this move, that we don't forget another and drop the ball!

Accomodation beyond the ordinary

I've just had a way past the-edge-of-ordinary moment. If you had a family of three young boys and were planning to move to a city for a year. Would you consider: a). Moving in with a 40 yo house mate in a 3 bedroom house? OR b). Moving into an inner city 2 bedroom flat? Well meaning people have tried to offer us these possibilities. We wonder if they are really serious! Why is it that people think that missionaries will put up with anything to save a buck? I've heard terrible stories (beyond the used tea bag type) of misisonaries being given dreadful furniture because a family was upgrading or being sent used, unwashed clothes! Why do people think that missionaries are on a different level to themselves, somehow elevated beyond ordinary needs and desires? No, we're not expecting a large mansion, but on the other hand, we can afford rent on an ordinary sized house in the suburbs. Our year in Oz will be stressful enough as it is without a stressful home living environment as well. At the moment, as spring finally sets in, I am longing for a back yard to send the kids into. For one extra room to spread out into. (Our house in Tokyo is a massive 82 sq m with no backyard.) Just the same as any ordinary Australian mother? Why do people think of putting on an entertainment room or another garage and yet are happy to suggest that missionaries live in a situation they'd never consider?