6 months to go

COUNTING DOWN

Counting down has never been this hard before. When we were counting down in 2017 until we would leave it was of course also sad that we were saying goodbye to everyone we loved. But that was temporary, we would be back in no more than 2,5 years (ok, we kind of stretched that one, but we didn't know that at that moment, so we grew into that:-)). This goodbye from Raynham feels so different and is so definitive, which makes us said every time we talk or even think about it. Even now, while writing about it, it is with pain in my heart. When we leave in July 2021, our life here in Raynham is over, gone! Of course our friends stay, technology to stay in touch is awesome these days, but our life here is over. Whenever we come back to visit (which we will!!) we don't have a house to go to, we will never go to school here anymore and we will not be enjoying the wonderful long summers and the very cold and snowy winters anymore. Oh boy....I hope you brought some tissues, I know I'm tearing up while writing this and I could name a few names that I know are having tears in their eyes now too:-(.

But boy do we feel lucky that we were able to be part of Raynham for 4 years! We often tell eachother that this step in our life has so far been the best choice we have ever made!

As of today it is 6 months from now until we leave. Winter is no way near gone, so seeing our friends is still challenging. At the moment I am writing this, I have no idea how school looks in the near future. Are we gonna be remote until the end of the school year? Will we be able to spend the budget for the Fieldday like every year? Will we be able to go to WaterWizz one more time? Will we be able to join some friends at the RAC or Edgewood coming summer? We do know that we will most likely not be able take our last roadtrip that we have been planning. We wanted to go to Virginia, North and South Carolina. I would've loved to go to Savannah just to name one. We can of course still do that kind of traveling in the future, but in Holland it is not possible to keep your kids out of school at all, only during official vacations (and I'm not talking about that you shouldn't. It really isn't an option, if you do so and they catch you going on vacation, you get huge fines.) That means that if we would want to do a certain roadtrip it is during vacations and very expensive to do so, especially travelling with 4 people, renting a car and having to book hotels or Airbnbs etc. But hé, never say never. There are worse things in the world, especially these days. We will see!

SCHOOLS

At this point we are looking into schools for Nynke. For Pim we have already found one. In Holland we don't have school districts. There are lots of different schools, especially in the city's, that you can choose from. There are Catholic, Christian, Montesori, Public schools etc. The school you pick for your child is up to you (for a big part, sometimes there are waitinglists). Before we left to Amerika Pim and Nynke went to the Berkenschool, which is a small town school with only one class per grade. That means that the kids spend 8 years together in the same class. Also at bigger school this is still often the case. (Per example, Erik and I spend the whole elementary school in the same class, but it was not enough time spending together, so we ended up getting married:-)). The Berkenschool is a great school and we were very happy there, but when you pick a school your child is only 3 years old and you don't really know anything about their style of learning yet. Now we do know that, especially after watching Pim during remote learning. So we decided to look around for Pim, see if there would be a school that would be a better fit for him. We think we found one in about 5 minute walk from our house in Holland, which is awesome. No waitinglist, so he can start there end of August.

For Nynke it is a different story. Nynke's previous classmates at the Berkenschool are currently in the last year of Dutch Elementary and all searching for a new (high)school. There are also many many higschools in Holland, again the larger the city, the bigger the choice. (And we live in quite a big city).You cannot compare it to American schoolsystems at all. Depending on MCAS type scores you will get a school advice for 4, 5 or 6 years of highschool. Depending on that you visit all kinds of schools that appeal to you and your child. There are open days and even days that you can be in that school and experience it for a day or two days (this process usually starts in the forelast year of elementary). Funny is that after Elementary the whole class we be falling apart because everyone will go to different schools. Some kids will go to the same school of course, but often will end up in different classes. A fresh start for everyone, as kids come from so many different elementary schools, you often don't know anyone, or maybe only one or two in your new class. Also the schools are different in another way, some will focus more on theorethical material while other schools are more practical in their approach.

In lots of ways Corona sucks big time, but one thing that it has been good for for us, is the fact that the open houses cannot take place, everything will be online. Which makes it easier for Nynke to come to a good choice for her next step in education. Nynke has a top 3 at this point and we were very lucky that all of them have been willing to have a videoconference with us over Thanksgiving break. Based on those calls, Nynke has a preference ofcourse, but in January and February we still have the online open houses, no idea how that will maybe change her preference, we will see! We have to make a decision before March 16th, the applications have to be in then. Lots of decisions to make!

To be continued!