Last night we watched a current affairs programme that
ran a segment on a private school in Sydney.
It looks like a great school.
The one phrase that caught my attention was that the one mother they
were interviewing felt that the school was her partner in raising her
children. I guess I read in between
the lines there; that she felt that the school and the family were heading in
the same direction for her children.
This is so often not the case.
The interesting thing was to see the effects of this
report on our children.
Jess was a little amazed that the school didnt seem to do
any academics. The report showed the kids surfing, being involved in music and drama, running an in-house radio station and computer studies. She asked the question when would I learn
math? (She is really enjoying her math at the moment!) I assured her that the school did do
academics, they did actually have a high academic direction doing well on
State exams etc but in the report it didnt come across to Jess this way.
Josh felt that there was some merits in this school and
wondered if we would send our family there should we live in Sydney. Initially we talked about the cost and how I
would have to work maybe a 10-hour day as well as Daddy working the way he does
now, just to afford the fees. (This is what the family interviewed were
doing). We equated this with a
lifestyle I would be out the door at 5.30am and home at 7.00ish in the
evening. This would mean that I
wouldnt see the kids in the morning and would see them only for a little bit
before they went to bed. The
weekend though would be a good time to catch up with the family but I would have to do a week's worth of housework and cooking. I assured them
that it looked like they were stuck with homeschooling the younger three all
cheered at this point but Josh wasnt convinced.
His next comment was It might be worth it though the
returns might be worth it. Mmmmm
conversation not over!
I asked him what was shown in that school that he would like
to do. (Hoping it wasnt surfing since
we live absolutely nowhere near surf!!)
He commented that the robotics was pretty interesting. I reminded him that I had bought robotic
kits for him, they were in the top of the cupboard and he had shown no interest
in them at all. I concluded that I was
not going to work 70 hours a week and be away from my family for something that
he wasnt really showing any commitment to.
By which stage he began to look sheepish.
It really was a case of things looking greener on the other
side of the fence.
