Hever Castle and Homeschooling

We've been having a nice little Indian summer here. After a miserable May, June and July, the sun finally peeped out at the beginning of August, promptly disappeared after my parents left until we went to Paris, and then has been more or less sunny and fairly warm since, although it has been cooling a bit. Not that it was ever that warm, mind you - the high over the entire summer was probably about 75F. Still, as I said, the past three weeks or so have been really quite nice, although this morning was definitely nippy.

Dalton started school back on the 5th of September, and this past week was assigned a project to write a brief report on Anne Boleyn. (History lesson alert! If you're adverse to history - please skip the following.) Anne, as you may know, was the second wife of Henry VIII, one of the unfortunate wives who was beheaded. She was born about 1501 in Hever Castle, which is located about 30 - 45 minutes away by car. Fortunately, one of his classmates, who lives just down the street, also was assigned to write about Anne Boleyn, and very graciously offered to take us to Hever Castle on Saturday. (Other classmates got Henry's other wives. Bonus points if you can name them all without looking them up on the internet.)

Hever Castle was quite cool. The Astors owned it in the early 1900s, and so parts have been renovated, and the gardens were also planned and planted about this time - and the gardens were very neat. I'll post pictures of Hever Castle this evening. The woodwork inside the castle (where we couldn't take photos) was incredibly ornate. I left thinking that often, it's the places that are a little off the beaten path that impress you the most. Just little hidden treasures, waiting to be found. Sure, you'll find Hever Castle in the guidebooks, but it won't be one of the Top Ten. Still, even though the castle was small, it was fun - we picnicked on the grounds, and went through the castle, and then spent the rest of the afternoon in the gardens.

Sunday afternoon, Dalton and Maggie attended their first English birthday party, which was pretty much the same as an American birthday party. We went to the bowling alley, and the kids bowled while we watched, and then Dalton had pizza, while Maggie had a beef burger, and then cake. Remind me to write about the cakes sometime. Different. Still, it was enjoyable, and after the weekend, I really felt like perhaps we had finally "adjusted", and that the going from here on out would be much smoother.

Surprise! As many of you know, Michelle and I have decided to home school Maggie, as we have had numerous issues with finding her a school. Michelle has ordered materials, and we have a whole curriculum for her. Michelle is doing well teaching, Maggie is learning and having fun, and I personally am proud of both of them, even though I know Michelle has been tried at times. The principal at Dalton's school has told Michelle several times that Maggie needs to be in a school, however, given our circumstances, we have decided not to do so. On Monday morning, as Michelle took Dalton to his school, the principal told Michelle that Maggie really needed to be in school, and that she was reporting us to Child Services. This, despite being told that we are homeschooling Maggie. As you can imagine, this event has caused no small amount of stress in our household.

We have spoken with Child Services, and they have told us that homeschooling Maggie will be fine - as long as we can show that she is learning, and we have semi-annual inspections by the council. So, we're working through that, but it isn't easy. We have had an absolute outpouring of support from our neighbors. It has really been unbelievable what some of them have done to show us support - this from people who haven't known us for more than four months at most. Because of the nature of the internet, I won't name names, but, if you happen to be our neighbor, and you read this, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You all have been overwhelmingly gracious to us.