A Homeschooling Mother's Experience of Mainstream School

When we returned to the UK in June of this year after 11 years in Russia, we faced a number of cultural adjustments. For example, on my first few visits to the supermarket I was completely overwhelmed by all the choice available. When driving, an oncoming vehicle flashing their lights meant 'come on through, I'll wait for you' as opposed to 'watch out, I'm coming through at some speed'. And it took us a while to get used to dogs who lived in people's homes and not in a kennel out in the front yard.

However, one of the greatest cultural adjustments was sending our two eldest daughters off to the local primary school after having homeschooled them up to this point. Here are some of the things we had to get used to:

• Mornings now involve a lot more shouting and cajouling as we try to get the girls dressed in their uniforms complete with packed lunches, book bags and gym kit, and out of the door in time for the 8.45am school bell.

• I've gone from knowing in great detail exactly what my girls are learning and how they're doing academically, to having to bombard them with loads of questions just to establish whether or not they did in fact have a maths lesson that day (let alone what they actually learnt in it).

• The amount of paperwork work that comes home, in the form of letters to parents, could stock a small-sized rainforest.

• The Parents Association are absolute pros when it comes to eeking out extra money from you, whether it's that school disco that everyone is going to, or the school photo that you just have to buy. At one point I found myself making chocolate cupcakes for a bake sale (my child surely couldn't be the only one without a contribution the next morning) which I then felt I had to buy back at 50p a plate the next day to show my support!

• Everything now needs a name label on it. For a recent school trip I was up late the night before labelling sheets, socks, a soap box and even the toothpaste! My parents knew what they were doing when they gave my brother and me the same initial!

These are just a few of the funnier adjustments we've had to make. I'll talk another time about some of the more serious negatives I've encountered as well as some of the positives we've experienced.

Qu: If you've been in a similar situation, what are some of the more humorous observations you've made?

Abide in Him!



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Photo Credit: freedigitalphotos.net/creativedoxfoto

Hi - I'm Back!

Hi everyone!

It's been a bit quiet on Grace To Abide for the last few months. Just to recap:

• in June we had to leave Russia, where we'd been living for the past 11 years, and move back to our 'home' country of the UK

• the summer was spent travelling around temporary accommodation and living out of suitcases

• at the end of July I found out that I was pregnant again, and experienced the worst 'morning' sickness I've had with any of my pregnancies, which basically wiped me out for several weeks.

So here we are in more stable, rented accommodation in my husband's home town. I'm still feeling nauseous at 21 weeks, but it's definitely getting better. My eldest two children are in a local primary school this year, so I'll have lots to say about how this homeschooling-at-heart-mama is dealing with that, as well as the ups and downs of being first-time buyers on the property market, and of course the culture shock that we're still dealing with.

I hope to see you here at Grace to Abide more regularly from now on :-)

Abide in Him!




Are you new to Grace to Abide? Keep updated with each new post via email, facebook or twitter.