Late Birds

School this year has been significantly easier than what each of the kids were used to in Seattle, particularly in math.  Benjamin doesn't seem to mind at all and Josie is quite distressed by it and it continues to be her number one complaint about living here.  She fells somehow that she is being left behind by all of her APP/HCC cohort that she separated from to move here. We are trying to figure out how to remedy this.  We brought along the math book that her friends in Seattle are working through this year so we could keep her caught up with a few after school and weekend math sessions per week.  However, completely understandably, she does not want to do extra math in her free time she just wants the math level in school to be correct.  I have to believe that having a lighter load in math has allowed her the mental capacity to be excelling in German the way she is.  Pros and cons to everything I suppose.
Not only is Benjamin's academic school day easier but it is also shorter. 

Grades K-2 only attend school from 8 until 1PM, which feels like early release EVERY day!! (3rd and 4th grade attend until 2PM and grades 5 and above attend until 3PM)  Thankfully we live near school as this would be a total pain to have kids on such different schedules. They do have many after school optional activities.  He is taking chess class on Tuesdays but that doesn't start until 2PM so we still have to go collect him and 1PM and eat lunch or hang out with him until 2PM when his chess class starts. Again, proximity to school and our fairly flexible days (and the fact that the weather has been mild) makes this not all that annoying actually.  On Fridays he plays lacrosse but not until 3PM so he comes home for a couple of hours and then we head back.  They do have a couple of after school care options as well.  Hort is a government subsidized full time, any time school is not in session, child care.  During breaks and conference days and early release, there is always Hort.   This program is for two working parent families and since I'm not working we don't qualify.  I've been told that we could just say we want him in the program so that he can learn the language and they would allow him in. But he doesn't want to give it a try.

There is another program called Late Birds and it is a pay as you go (I think it is 3 or 5 € per hour) and a bunch of his buddies attend this. I keep asking him if he wants to give it a shot (particularly on Tuesdays and/or Fridays to avoid going back and forth to school so often) but he kept saying "no"  Well, last Friday because of the House Hunters filming we needed somewhere for him to go as we just couldn't get back to school by 1PM to pick him up.  And wouldn't you know, he loved it!! 
This week he went on Wednesday... of course he chose Wednesday since it wasn't one of the days he has an after school activity but whatever.  We were all happy about him liking it.  I'm hoping he wants to continue with at least one day a week of Late Birds.