Our kids go to the International School on Mondays only. Our purpose in sending them is three fold. First, the British School has been a wonderful way for us to meet other English speaking families in the area. Second, on Mondays they have PE and art at school. Since it has been so cold for so long, it is very nice for them to have a place to run and play games and be with other kids. Lastly, it is nice for the kids to have a break from being with mom all of the time. We do not send them to the international school for academics, though they have certainly benefited that way. The girls have done a really neat project on Berlin and they are now learning about the countries of Africa. Ben has had exposure to physics and some advanced algebra that he would not have had otherwise. Trey gets more practice with reading and writing. And I'm pretty sure he's more cooperative with school work with Miss Marta than with me! We spend the rest of the week doing school work so that they will all be ready to go back to their regular schools in Kansas in the fall.
Natalie is at an "in between" age where she could have gone with the older group or gone with the younger group. Since she has not had much algebra, we decided to have her stay in the younger group, so she would not be stressed out and could enjoy her time there. Well, here comes the dilemma. The Polish Government Education Authorities came to meet with our school director. They have decided that Natalie, along with another boy in her class, Jacob, will have to take a test to determine what level they should be enrolled in. Ok, a few issues: The test is April 8th and we had talked about being out of town that week. I'm not sure if our travel plans will work out for that time frame, but we could get in trouble if she does not show up. I don't know what "trouble" means, but I am not looking to get in any trouble at all! Next, we are leaving Poland in 15 weeks. We are not coming back anytime soon. Our kids will not be educated here and have been enrolled in our schools back home for the fall. So what is the point in taking this test? And finally, here's the big one: the test is in Polish. All in Polish. We know a few words and can get by in day to day life here. I was actually very pleased with myself the other day when I went to the little store across the street and asked for bread in Polish. While that was a proud moment, that's the extent of our skills!
So we are going to write a letter and the secretary at the school is going to translate it. We are going to request that Natalie be exempt from the test. The secretary does not think this will be accepted by the complicated Polish bureaucracy, but we are going to give it a try. If they do not excuse her, we will have her show up for the test, she will write her name on the paper and leave the test completely blank. Jacob has the same problem with the language and he will do the same thing. He is from Denmark, but his situation is more complicated than ours because he will be returning to the school in the fall. He is taking Polish lessons but does not have a firm grasp of the language to be able to take an exam.
On another Natalie note, today in PE the kids were playing basketball. She's not sure exactly how it happened, but her ring finger on her right hand was injured in the game. It is swollen and she can barely move it. She can move it a little though, so we don't think it's broken. On the way home from school we stopped at an apteka. This is a little pharmacy where you get prescriptions and all over the counter medications. I was hoping they would have a splint for her finger. They did not. Where's a Walgreen's when you need one? They did have some medical adhesive tape so I bought some of that. When we got home, I ran across the street and bought a popsicle. Myles was very helpful and ate the popsicle for us. We then used the popsicle stick and the tape to splint her finger. It is working just fine and she is on the road to a compete recovery.
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