Happy New Year!

A Quick Recap...

So I failed miserably at updating before Christmas, it all got a bit chaotic and although I was doing a lot online, not a lot of it was happening over here!

Our Christmas was a bit of a wonky affair, hubby was working away until the night of the 23rd, he got back really late. He was home for the 24th and then had to leave at 3pm on the 25th which meant our usual Christmas shenanigans was cut short!

And just o throw an extra spanner in the works, Ebi-kun is applying to a junior high school* where he had to hand his application form in, by hand on Christmas morning!

So yes, by all accounts it was a bit of a shambles. Couple that with the decision to get a turkey crown instead of the full thing, which turned out to be tiny and just about did Christmas dinner with a wee bit left over, I couldn't even console myself with turkey butties for the week!

The good thing was that I decided to take time off, I feel like I have been attached to the internet pretty much permanently over the last few months and really needed to get back to the real world. So over the break, I have cracked open the paints, started to practice hand lettering and read a lot!

The boy wanted a new jacket and had his eye on this one, I'm not sure I'm ready for all this, I think I'm going to need a shitty stick to beat off all the girls! Although he really is going to have to start brushing his hair at some point!

*about junior high school. I am really not a fan of the JH system here, and we have seriously looked into homeschooling. I have no issues with the syllabus and reckon we could manage the education side with no problem the problem is friends/socialization.

Homeschooling is kind of frowned upon here, it is seen as what happens to kids who can't 'fit in' to school life the outcasts and the ultra-religious. It's not like the US or UK where there are normal people homeschooling regular kids who meet up in a co-op and have social interactions. Far from it.

And when kids get to JH age they get involved with the school club activities (pack mentality here) and very little happens outside school. The Football club he is in only has classes up to 6th grade elementary and aikido the kids drop out when they hit JH. So it really is a struggle to find anyone to hangout with.

I haven't been able to find anyone around his age who is homeschooled anywhere near us and being a non-religious family, with open minds and a love of curiosity our values do not match the ultra-religious lot.

So... the compromise was to look at different schools, we are in luck that one of the local schools has an excellent reputation BUT it is quite hard to get in. He needs to take an exam and if passes that an interview and then there is a lottery... please send your good vibes this way!

We have a couple more days off before work and school start again, I'm trying to enjoy them by doing as little as possible!

I have missed blogging so I feel like this year will be a bit of a revival!

School Is Out!

We another year done and duster. Ebi-kun is no longer a 5th grader and not quite a sixth grader!

We have been thinking about Junior High, here we can choose to a certain degree which JH he goes to. We have also been considering homeschool - it's so hard!

As much as I would love to go the homeschool route, the lack of friends and social life is a BIG issue. This would be different if we were in the US or back in the UK because there are bigger homeschooling networks and groups.

Here homeschooling is usually for kids who quit school for some reason, learning issues, bullying or are kids of religious parents who are sheltering their kids from the world. The education side doesn't worry me and knowing what Ebi-kun is like, I know he would thrive in a homeschool environment but not having friends is a big deal.

He could join some online groups but that's still not the sam as having friends to hang out with. He'll continue with aikido but what usually happens is that when the kids get to JH age they drop out because of the school club activities.

And that is another gripe I have about the system, kids spend far too much time at school and then with club as well, they often leave the house ridiculously early and get home stupidly late and have club at the weekend and holidays too! No time to do anything but school relate stuff - all good training to be a salaryman! Not my idea of life!

We have 2 local JH schools, one is part of a high school and has an excellent reputation but is difficult to get it. They only take 80 students at JH and the competition to get in is stiff.

The other option is winning the lottery and moving - we have 12 months to make that happen! Ha.

So right now I'm not really sure what we are going to do, the compromise would be to get him in at the good local JH and accidentally forget to tell them that we will not be here in the summer...

For now, we will enjoy the holidays, short that they are and try and pack as much fun as possible in!