Now with the boys having overcome their first hurdle in the big race called education, I have just had my first anxiety attack too....the first of probably many more to come.
Working in a department that mainly consists of women (many of them mothers) often gives me a preview of things to come. I am completely aware of what we will have to face with the boys going to school and I know my limitations. I just didn't know that I had so many!!!
Now, I have made a broad classification of subjects where I can help them and subjects where Lindo will have to pitch in.
My subjects: Anything that doesn't include any equations or laws....and of course, no Hindi and Kannada. I am willing to take up any subject that requires the child just to grasp the concept (biology, geography, history, English...).
Most of you know that I am linguistically challenged when it comes to our national language....yes, I hang my head in shame and confess....I don't speak Hindi. I am much better at understanding now, but that's the extent of it.
Discussing Mathematics taught in primary school really gives me the goosebumps. I hardly know my multiplication tables even now. I get stuck with any mathematic problem and I am convinced that I wasn't taught half the things in school (Sorry my dear Maths teacher). Suddenly during my recent conversation with my colleague conjured the picture of 'n!' in my mind. I tried to explain it to my colleague, but we seemed equally puzzled. I was sure it has something to do with maths....but to no avail.
After asking a few of our colleagues, we came to the conclusion that n! is read 'n factorial'. I know you're thinking "DUH!"...but that was a big news to me. Further probing of colleagues' brains taught me what factorials were all about. Armed with this new found knowledge, I confidantly marched over to Lindo to show off. I asked him, "How do you read n!?" and promptly came the answer.....the correct one, with examples. My decision was made at that moment. Lindo is the one to teach Maths.
The world still holds a few secrets that I have failed to understand. Balancing equations in Chemistry, the complete world of physics and of course, Mathematics....maybe I can learn along with the boys....I can only hope.
P.S. Pahiyaa means 'wheel' in Hindi :))
I have been waiting to write this post for quite some time now, but was waiting for "it" to finally happen and when it did, I was just too busy to sit down and write the post.
Finally we have reached the time where we can say that "our boys are going to xyz school". Yes, we have joined the rat race and the boys got admission in a proper school. So far, Tim is attending classes at a Montessori and Nathan is going to a day care at church. 
2 weeks back we were informed that the boys were selected to join school and paid the admission fee, thereby ensuring the seats.
The journey till then....
Last year we happened to be too late for admissions....who knew that admissions for the school year that starts in June, got over in Sept/Oct the previous year???? This year we were well prepared and started checking for dates at the school well in advance. But no matter how much on time we were, that itself didn't help them with the admission. 1 list came and their names were not on it.
We gave a letter from the parish because there is supposedly a slight preference for children from our church.....Then came the call for the interview.....I woke up with a bad tummy...i seriously think that I wasn't this tensed for my college admission or even while joining work.
The interviews went as expected. Nathan's standard response for everything was "no" while Tim stayed quiet. The only thing that Nathan did was tell Lindo what the pictures in the book were....but he flatly refused to sing one of those nursery rhymes that he sings all the time. Tim on the other hand, explained the pictures only when we pointed to an apple and asked "That's a banana, right?"....he did count the blocks from 1 to 10 though.
Sure enough, the next list was published and...guess what? They hadn't made it. Another trip to the school and we were asked to call back the next day for a final answer. Another 2 hours.....seriously, I was wary by that time. I started making a mental list of other plans by then because I was losing hope.
The next day, we called and were told "They have been selected, please pay INR X each for admission fee in 2 weeks time". (We supposedly got a 5,000 discount each because we are bringing two children).
Various friends with whom I discussed were of the opinion that we all studied for much, much less than this and did pretty well....but I guess that even our parents must have said the same when they paid our fee....
So here's to education and our children's future. May they make the best out of it.
