First of all: when they came for the initial assessment we told them (my daughter about 20 times) that we were going to Portugal for 8 days and they asked us when. They noted the dates in their little clipboards.
Guess what? They decided to send us the report, by registered mail, on the 1st of November...
The day they knew we'd be gone. Here in Ireland, if you miss a registered letter, they will hold it for three days and then return it back to sender. I only found out on the 8th that they sent it and couldn't get to the post office until the 9th.
They had no clue where the letter had come from, but I had my suspicions so after some track and trace I found out it came from Dublin. I called them, and yes, it had been them who sent it, and if I was going to be around to accept it this time?
So the letter came back here, today. There was a request to go through the letter and reply not more than 14 days after they sent it out to me. Dated the 1st. This pretty much showed me that this was done on purpose.
First there was a moment of panic, but then after I spoke to Pippa (homeschool advocate here in Ireland) who was here during the assessment, I now know the deal:
- They have NO business whatsoever to finalize a report yet, AT ALL!
- They should, according to their OWN guidelines, have contacted me to make an appointment, to discuss their findings.
- They obviously don't know their own guidelines or even consider them, but we as parents are supposed to be perfect.
So with that information in mind, I decided to call the assessor.
When I told him about my concerns, he apologized profoundly and made an excuse. He pretty much told me it hadn't been him, but his boss who did it this way. Of course, I could appreciate that, although I always have a feeling that he might be playing the good cop in my case, so I'm always weary. Never trust anything they say!
When I told him that I think that they sent this letter to me on this date on purpose because they knew I'd be out of town, he really had nothing to say.
Silence speaks a thousand words...
The report - what it said - no surprise here: They haven't got a clue what they're doing, let alone what they're talking about
First they gave me a 10 page long account of what had been discussed between us. 10 pages for each child!
Mentioned were all the things we have covered. The list went on and on.
Then their issue with it: "It is unclear if the children receive a minimum education because there is not a lot of WRITTEN evidence of this."
The thing is: with unschooling, as it is in our case, it is very hard to provide written evidence.
I don't sit the kids down to do tests. I don't ask them to slam down the times tables. I don't do spelling tests, or maths tests, or science tests.
What do we do?
We discover nature and take photos. We try to find out what kind of insect or bird or tree we've seen on those nature walks.
We make diners and lunches together and sometimes the kids will do it all on their own.
We read books, in Dutch and English and sometimes I'll even speak some German to them or try some French and Spanish, both know how to write their names in Katakana and they know pretty much all the curse words in Mandarin (that was a proud moment).
We do science experiments.
We explore the world map and learn as much as we can about different countries.
When we went to Portugal, we were constantly learning for instance. Best way to learn anything is to live it after all.
But do I have all this in writing? No, hardly anything.
I don't have to record anything on paper, because I KNOW.
When my 8 year old does maths problems for 10 year olds, I know he makes progress.
When his sister asks how to spell difficult, and he yells out the spelling, I know he makes progress and when he puts together a spreadsheet of all the countries he wants to visit and ads the continents without even looking at the map, I know too. That moment when he asks me to fix a problem with the computer and then tells me he fixed it already, I KNOW.
When my 9 year old cooks a full diner on her own and LOVES it, I know she makes progress.
When she sits next to me, acts like my financial adviser and tells me to buy a certain cryptocurrency and this coin is worth 4 times more the next day: I sure as hell know! (note: this is not something that happened only once, she's right about her 'hunches' 8 out of 10 times!).
When she sees my friends honeymoon photos in the Maldives, and yells: "That's in Asia!"
I just KNOW they are making progress and are learning more than anyone their age would if they are in school.
Just try it, ask a 9 year old child in school where the Maldives are and they probably answer America or 'dunno...'
To be honest, I think you could even get the same answer from a college student if you ask me..
http://www.esquireme.com/content/20933-cyber-security
But no, we don't have it in writing mostly. We have photos and we have their work done on the computer (which is a lot).
But in their opinion this doesn't count. Probably because their little minds don't go beyond reports written on paper.
The funny thing with this is though, that if I would have cheated and asked someone in the homeschool community who follows a curriculum to borrow their kids written work, I would have been OK.
But I didn't cheat, I showed them photo after photo and the diary I keep that covers what we've done and the work they do on the computer (like a computer program that SHOWS you that they are way ahead of their age group with maths).
Why I'm not worried - yet
All of this indicated even more than before that the social worker is involved in this from beginning to end.
The fact that I haven't seen her for weeks and that she never once asked me about my dealings with the home ed assessor, told me as well.
She acts all nice and friendly (as if we could be best friends...ya RIGHT) but I know she has a hidden agenda.
In our first meeting, she made it very clear that she thought my kids (and all kids for that matter) needed to be in school. I doubt that in the last few weeks she changed her mind on this subject.
Anyway, the assessor set an appointment for the beginning of December.
Pippa will be there because she'll have something to say too (very exciting, she is nothing you want to mess with).
At this meeting, he will tell me what the issues were and how to proceed from here.
They will then set a new appointment for a comprehensive assessment, which pretty much means that they will ask the kids to read something, write something and probably some maths and whatever else they have learned.
What I will do during this assessment?
Well, once they are done with their assessment of these topics, I will calmly ask them to assess my kids on the following subjects:
- Dutch. I would really like for them to ask my kids questions in Dutch to assess their progress with that language.
- German. Same as above.
- French/ Spanish...
- I would love for them to sit down with my kids and hear them explain about cryptocurrency, about the best times to buy and sell, about pump and dumps, trends, upcoming ICO's and the best of all: SHOW them the profits they've made with their little investments. I am pretty sure they won't be able to find a single child in any school in the area who invested 20 Euro in Antshares to turn it into 250 only weeks later with Neo!
What do I want for my kids?
First of all: I want them to be happy. If for one moment, I think they're not happy, I will change course and try something different.
Second: I want them to be free. Free of chains and limitations put on them by schools, teachers and social workers who think they know everything.
Third: I want them to question everything and everyone - even me. Thinking for yourself they call it.
Fourth: Be happy, be free, question everything and LIVE the way they want to live their lives.
Honestly, who doesn't want this for their children?
And what if?
Yes, I have thought about that too.
Before Portugal I was already trying to come up with an exit strategy.
Now that I started on a new job as a freelancer and combined with Steemit, it will be a lot easier for us to move anywhere really without having to worry about money.
After Portugal, a new world had opened up to me.
I loved the country and the people, or at least what I've seen so far.
So that is one option.
I have a friend who recently moved to Peru who says I would fit in really well and do well there.
So that's option 2.
I have another friend who asked me if we would like to spend some time with her and her daughter in Hawaii.
Option 3.
But who knows where the wind takes us?
What I do know is that there are always options. It might not seem that way at first, but there are.
For some it is easier than others, that's why I believe in the project @familyprotection because I know that one day it will be possible to help others just like me, but who don't have the means to just move or change direction because of whatever reason.
What I also know is that, however much I love Ireland (minus the rain) and its people, it is becoming a place where I don't want to be. Not for long anyway.
So the plans are on the table.
The rest will follow...
If you'd like to read more about my dealings with home education assessors and child protective services, you can find this here:
and here:
@misslasvegas/the-child-protection-workers-now-overstep-their-boundaries-again
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