Homeschooling in Egypt--Part 4

AMMAN—BAD MIDDLE AND END

Frequently my kids would come home frustrated because they didn't speak the language. They were frustrated because if a teacher couldn't speak fluent enough English to explain something in the lesson, the teacher just explained it in Arabic. OR, if a supervisor was unhappy with a classes behavior all the yelling and berating (and there was that) was done in Arabic. My kids weren't ever sure if they were in trouble or not or even what they should avoid to stay out of trouble. The kids at the school spoke to each other in Arabic so my kids were kind of the outcasts because they couldn't communicate.

I know what you're thinking because I thought the same thing . . . "They're in a foreign country and their upset the people speak the local language?" No. We weren't upset. It's just that we felt like we'd done our research, asked the questions, got the right answers so our kids would be the most comfortable with their school AND still be getting an education. We actually only very briefly considered taking them out and putting them somewhere else but decided to keep them at ISC because what better way to learn a language than to be immersed in it? (Nevermind the fact we'd already spent tons of money on uniforms--right even down to the black shoes they were supposed to wear.) And I do think that was one benefit they got from ISC was a better sense of the Arabic language.

However, the education was only slightly better than ASK. If a teacher was sick or absent they didn't get substitutes. If a supervisor or another teacher was available then they would come in and sit with a class. Remember, the Sabis lessons are very strictly followed in a certain order so not just anybody could come in and teach. So my kids frequently had free periods where they would just sit and talk. Sometimes they were told to study for another class.

Another issue we had with ISC was something we originally thought we liked--and that is the activities. Each term the students could sign up for an activity to be held once a week during their lunch break or at the end of the day--depending on the activity, their grade, etc. It was a great idea. My kids played basketball, learned to cook some things, swimming, tennis, golf, drama, did crafty things. . . The problem was that their activity was only once a week. So 4 days of the week they had a lunch break that was 1 1/2 hours long. On their activity day their lunch break was 1/2 hour. It was perfect for activity day but on the other 4 days, 1 1/2 hours was a long time. Especially for my younger kids. They were doing construction the entire school year long that required the playground to be shut down/off limits. So the entire year the kids didn't have anywhere to play but still had that 1 1/2 hour break 4 times a week. My kids all left for school at 7:30 am. Cricket and Red returned at 3:30 and the older ones at 4:30. Those are some long days when they're not even doing extra-curricular activities.

Then there was student behavior. Many of you have heard me talk about “wasta.” That is roughly translated as having influence. The parents of the students at ISC had wasta. If their kids misbehaved there was no recourse for the administration. They couldn’t expel nor even suspend the students. Their method of suspension was sending the students to sit in the supervisor's office for the rest of the day but the same kids were right back in class causing problems the very next day. The problem behaviors ranged from throwing things out the window, theft, setting things on fire inside the classrooms, yelling back at the teachers/supervisors, etc. To be fair, I do think the overall atmosphere of the school was one of discipline but it only takes a few students to ruin it for the rest. And like I said, if the problem children have wasta then there’s nothing that can be done.