What about School?

Nina is 7 and is in Second Class. Her younger sister Sara is 5 and in Senior Infants (where did they come up with that grade? I remember when it was even worse - Low Infants and High Infants). They will have finished one term in First Class and Third Class respectively, when we take them out of school for the following two terms. There are probably laws about this kind of thing. So how are we going to go about doing this?

In January we will make an appointment with the principal of their school, explain our plans and ask for cooperation (not permission). We'll explain that the itinerary includes long periods where we will be staying put, which are designed to make home schooling easier. We'll explain that both of us are university educated and both capable and determined to keep their schooling up to the standard that they will need in order to rejoin their classes. But we'll also explain what we consider to be the unique educational aspect of the trip itself, in the wider sense of that word.

I'm optimistic that the principal and her colleagues on the school board will accept our bona fides and offer to cooperate. What we would very much like to do is to keep our daughters' classmates up-to-date with our movements and experiences. These girls use computers once a week, and I'd like to set up a separate blog that Nina and Sara can use to record their experiences and send photos of the places they will visit.

As with so many things in life, it's down to the individuals in question. I just hope that the school authorities are enlightened about this, rather than defensively bureaucratic. We shall see.