Not wishing to make anyone jealous here, but I am writing this in 33 degree heat, whilst on holiday. Sadly, I am nowhere more exotic than Germanz (and struggliing with a German kezboard, as zou can see!), and around me there is a slight sense of disappointment after a shameful effort in the Euro cup finals, however I am loving the fact that I can hear my two bigger children speaking ever-improving German with their Omi (grandma) in the other room as I type.
Before we left, I felt guilty putting a holiday form into school. After all, I am a Governor and I know that the local LA has sent out several letters to schools about attendence. Our Head is less willing than ever to authorise holidays and I understand why it is not ideal for children to be out of school – when I was teaching I saw it from a very different perspective. However, now here, my guilt has disappeared completely. So far, the kids have swum in the sort of Lido we just don´t seem to have in the UK, played with cousins they rarely see, fished jelly fish out of the sea (I wasn´t so keen on this activity), eaten food they would normally turn their noses up at and generally enjoyed having their dad about 24/7. On top of that, Milly is keeping a diary about everything we do – at the moment it is taken up mostly with accounts of the number of windmills she has seen, what the windmills do, how big they are and how many she thinks there may be altogether in Germany. Next week, Milly will be going to Kindergarten with her cousin (although they are both six and Milly is in Year 1, her cousin will only be starting school in September) and hopefully picking up even more German. And in between, I suspect I will be Googling ´windmills`so that I can answer some of the questions being thrown at me.
Admittedly, I don´t know what Milly is missing in school this week, but I really do feel that the experiences she has had over the last week will more than make up for anything she may not been learning.
Primary Assembly: If at First You Don’t Succeed