The sun was shinning, spears through the dimness of the forest green. We nervously drove them kilometers.
An eagle flew over the car, cross the road and down towards the lake.
An eagle flew over the car, cross the road and down towards the lake.
My heart was pumping. My sweet boy.
Reflections in the back mirror of these past 9 months and everything we tried to achieve. There was no feeling of failure but a definitive accept- in the wild lands of Scandinavia we don´t home school. Not anymore.
For the sake of the children.
Reflections in the back mirror of these past 9 months and everything we tried to achieve. There was no feeling of failure but a definitive accept- in the wild lands of Scandinavia we don´t home school. Not anymore.
For the sake of the children.
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| On the road again |
Then this happened: the school director was such a pleasant and well coming lady. Awake eyes and a proud smile as she showed us the marvel of public school. Build in the 90ies Lysvik School is state of the art. The roof opens automatically to bring fresh air into the classroom. I like that. I like fresh air in public school.
I also like the free warm lunch, the free health and dental care. I like that kinder garden is just across the yard, I like the trees in the yard and the children running around. I like that it is a small school, maybe 15 pupils in each class. I like the way ski´s and skates float on the floor, ice hockey helmets and woollen socks.
I like the big library and the big collection of rare stones found in the vicinity. I like the way every teacher we met shook our hands. And I liked... well, I feared... the groups of children staring curiously on my boy.
I also like the free warm lunch, the free health and dental care. I like that kinder garden is just across the yard, I like the trees in the yard and the children running around. I like that it is a small school, maybe 15 pupils in each class. I like the way ski´s and skates float on the floor, ice hockey helmets and woollen socks.
I like the big library and the big collection of rare stones found in the vicinity. I like the way every teacher we met shook our hands. And I liked... well, I feared... the groups of children staring curiously on my boy.
My sweet boy. He kept in the corners and the shadows, staring out from under his - way too long- hair.
Then this happened: the principal lady opened a door and said "See, this here is your class".
Silas almost ran away, Jeppe grabbing him by the jacket, pushing him in, both of them pretending to be cool as fuck whereas I tried to to smile.
Everybody staring at us.
"Come. Let´s sit here" said the principal lady (and I call her principal lady because she really was a lady)
Then the teacher made everybody present themselves. So they did. And they carefully explained in which little house, in which little town, on which little farm, in this and that direction they lived.
Then the teacher asked us where we came from in Denmark. She got a map and made us point to the tiny little island we come from. Not a single bully trying to make us feel stupid, not a single group of whispering girls. No attacks, no laughter, no nothing- but curious sweet well raised children.
So my sweet boy began to loosen up. He eventually even smiled. A little. A drawing in the corner of the mouth. The teacher was so calm. She made us feel calm.
Then the teacher asked us where we came from in Denmark. She got a map and made us point to the tiny little island we come from. Not a single bully trying to make us feel stupid, not a single group of whispering girls. No attacks, no laughter, no nothing- but curious sweet well raised children.
So my sweet boy began to loosen up. He eventually even smiled. A little. A drawing in the corner of the mouth. The teacher was so calm. She made us feel calm.
"So does anyone has any questions for Silas?" she asked and some of the polite children raised their hands.
"Do you like sports?"
"No"
"Then what do you like?"
Silence.
Me: "Well, he likes to fish and hunt and stuff"
Teacher: "That´s nice. How many of you in this classroom like to go fishing?"
....
... and then they all raised their hands. All 15 of them. Boys and girls.
(that´s Sweden for ya)
(that´s Sweden for ya)
Principles office.
"Now, Silas I´d like to know what kind of subjects you like"
Silence.
"Here. Let´s do it like this".
She took a piece of paper, divided it into squares (Easy funny/boresome and hard funny/boresome).
My sweet boy took the pencil and very carefully put the subjects into squares. In SWEDISH!
I don´t know where he picked up how to spell in Swedish, just goes to show how bright he is. My sweet boy. My bright boy. Always good in school, always babbling, always popular... but this day so very quiet and shy.
The school system felt like a warm embrace.
"Everything will be allright. We can do this. Everything is fine"
Competent, innovative, intuitive and calm. I am so happy right now, such a relief. No matter what I might think of modern society SOME things work... SOME of the time. And when it does it makes it just makes me feel, well, proud to be human.
I can´t even begin to tell you about what a relief this is. A stone falling, not from my heart, or my shoulders or the dark abyss of my brain, no, a stone falling from the very universe itself. Relief!
He was so happy. My sweet boy.
The polite children, the teacher, the architecture of the school. He spoke about it non stop all the way home, while eating the candy bar we had bought for him in the grocery store.
We saw two elks staring at us as we drove through the forest.
Home.
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| This is the temporary (house) |
Of other news: I am to relaunch this blog very soon with a great deal of new features: weekly podcasts, Do It Yourself´s, wilderness recipe's, a new kinnda blog (with more pictures) and... some more.
And a new name.
Because this is a new chapter. Well. Actually it´s a new book.
And a new name.
Because this is a new chapter. Well. Actually it´s a new book.
Ps. the birds have begun to sing again
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