Today our family began a new stage in life – with the entrance of dd15 and dd16 to the local girls’ high school, our three oldest children are out of the house and this will be a big shift for us to get used to.

Registering the girls has been pretty quick – I called the principal on Sunday, told her we had two girls interested in going to the high school, and she told me no one does the registration now.  I explained to her that we had moved from the US just a week and a half before, and that I had tried to reach her several times in June to take care of this as much as possible in advance but never was called back (she told me she doesn’t pick up the messages on her voicemail).

Anyway, she told me to send the girls to the orientation being held the next afternoon for all the girls in the high school.  I told her that the girls really weren’t comfortable with that before knowing if they were accepted or not, but she said they should come and she might have a few minutes to speak to them while they were there.  So off they went, and came back four hours later.

What in the world can take so long?  There was a speech by the rabbi of the city, followed by a low grade film for three hours.  The girls said the quality was so poor that it was painful to watch, but the topper was that as everyone exited, they were told they had to pay 40 shekels for the privilege of watching it!  At least our girls didn’t have to pay since they weren’t yet accepted.  🙂  Then they bought their uniforms, which weren’t as bad as they expected; I think they look rather nice, although it’s not the personalized look that each of them usually have.

I waited for the principal’s call the next day, since we had agreed she would call me to set up an official interview for the girls, but late in the afternoon, I called her since it was getting late.  She told me she was waiting for me to call!  So we arranged for us all to come in the next morning, just a day before school began, for the girls to be tested.

The principal told me several times that the girls, as English speakers and as homeschoolers (who clearly couldn’t have learned anything in all of their years at home), would be put a grade lower than where they belonged.  I told her during our initial phone call that I didn’t agree, and the during our face to face meeting reiterated this at more length with her.  I basically told her that I wouldn’t agree to placing them below their age level, and she told me it’s not my choice to make – the committee has to meet to discuss what to do with them.  I realized that while this is true, it’s also true that there’s an image to uphold of them running the show and I wasn’t interested in turning it into a power struggle, so I left it with her that she’d call to let me know about their placement (remember that this is a day before school starts!).

After I spoke with the principal, I spoke at length with the yoetzet/high school advisor, who was lovely and we enjoyed our talk very much.  She told me if there’s ever anything she can help us with, to let her know, and I felt she really meant it.  Then I went on to take care of the official registration, and after filling out all the forms, told the secretary I wasn’t going to pay yet.  I explained that it would be a waste of her time and mine if I was notified they were placed not according to what I felt their best interests were, and then I had to come back and get a refund, and that I’d pay once I got confirmation on their proper placement.

I finally left the school without the girls – they found most of the tests very easy, but the math is taught here very differently, and even though they’re both good math students, didn’t understand many of the questions.  I was told that their placement would hinge in large part on their math scores, which wasn’t very reassuring, but I told them not to worry about it.

Apparently the committee met and despite the poor showing in math – which I had told the administration I was concerned about before they even finished their testing – they were approved to go into their proper grades.  I found this out at 8 pm that night, and they were supposed to be in school at 8:15 the next morning!  I was told today by a new friend in the community that her husband was called to find out what is this homeschooling business, and is it legitimate – it’s much less common here than in the US.  There’s an advantage and disadvantage to that; the advantage is that all that people know about it is what they know about you, and if they think your family is okay, then they’ll tend to think of homeschooling in a better light.

I’ve been asked a number of times about why we’re sending the girls to high school at this point.  I’ll start with dd15, who has been planning this from the time we decided to move.  She’s been homeschooled since she was four, and felt very ready for the challenge of integrating into the school system.  She wants to make friends locally and learn the language very well, and felt this would be the best way to do that.

After the orientation, I asked dd15 if she was really ready for this, because I thought the way it was run was a good indication of what she can expect from the coming year.  She told me that she knows some of it will be annoying, but she’s clear about why she wants to be there, and feels this is the price she’s willing to pay.

As far as dd16, her last year of school totally turned her off the concept of school.  So when I suggested to her several months ago that attending school here might be the best option – basically as a way to socially integrate into the community while being immersed in a Hebrew speaking environment – she adamantly refused. We looked and looked into different options, but nothing seemed right – her age and lack of Hebrew fluency were issues for all the possibilities we were considering.  The best option was to send her to ulpan, a Hebrew language program, five hours a day, five days a week, for five months – to get her Hebrew up to the level that she can be successful at a college level.

Dd16 told me on Sunday that she wants to go to school.  Why?  To make friends and learn the language.  Of course, this is why I told her it would be good, so I wasn’t opposed to the idea. 😛 She’s realized from being here in Karmiel through the summer that there’s no teenage social life, no way to meet people unless you’re in school.  She and dd15 have already gotten friendly with the only other three English speaking high school age girls from their school, and they felt they’d be limited to that without attending school – really, I’ve hardly seen any teenage girls around at all and I think they’re right. Today when the girls came back from school, they told me many of the girls in the school – which is small to start with, under 100 girls – don’t even live here!

Something I really appreciate is that the school day is so much shorter here than in the US, so the girls will be home by about 2 pm every day, which leaves time for other things than school.  The first day went well, though there’s the awkward feeling of not being able to talk to the people around you, and it will take time until they get comfortable in that regard.  But all in all, the school seems nice, the administration was pleasant to deal with – I felt they were all in all respectful of me even though they’ve never come across anyone whose homeschooled their children – and I’m looking forward to an overall positive year for the girls.

Avivah