200 Percent

Yes, this is a picture of Claire this morning at 7:00 am as she met Logan and Kegan and they all headed off to their first day of German school together. She made this decision all on her own, a little bit to my dismay because I was looking forward to having my educational way with her, but when I asked Mark if he was 100% sure it was the right thing to do, he said he was 200% sure. How can you argue with that? She was released at 1:15 pm today and seems to be none the worse for wear, although she wrote her homework assignment in her notebook in German and now she can't remember exactly what she's supposed to do! German grades run by age, so she was placed in the 3rd grade, and the clencher for her attendance at school was really the fact that all the 3rd graders get to go swimming every Tuesday morning at the city pool. There are four 3rd grade classes here and I think the teachers are insane to put seventy 8-9 year olds on the tram, but hey, I'm American and what do I know? In addition to swimming, she has German, English, Math, Sports, Gardening (yes there's a school garden), Ethics, Social Studies, Handicrafts, Art, and Music. My plan is to keep going with my homeschooling and let the school thing be a grand adventure with no pressure for her to perform. That way if it's too much for her and she doesn't do well, she won't be held back from 5th grade when we return home. Because I shiver to imagine the wrath Mark and I would suffer at the hands of our daughter if this gig in Germany resulted in such an educational disaster.