Barrister's obnoxious thread full of smug parenting stories

[Barrister]

So Tim is moving up to grade 7 when means - junior high.  There's no one, really obvious, junior high school for him to go to in the public school program.

Option 1 is our designated school.  It's two city busses away, has a fairly high number of low income students (for good and bad).  Tim has only one good friend attending, and that kid is going into the Gifted and Talented program (which Tim did not qualify for).

Option 2 is about the same distance away as #1.  He'd have to apply to get in on a lottery, but most kids make it.  It's catchment area is much wealthier.  A lot of his more second-tier friends are going there.

Option 3 was even further away.  It's still a public school, but there are extra fees involved and they have specialized programs in different sports.  There's an intensive hockey, a generalized fitness, and outdoor adventure program (even an e-sports).  A couple of his good friends are going there.


So Tim looked at all of these options... and wants to go to the Catholic school system*.  There's a school that would only be one bus ride away.  It's a K-9 school, so it's technically not a junior high.  It's smaller than the other options.  No one from his current school will be there, but 4-5 kids from his hockey team (and that he's played 2-3 years with) will be going there.

I always said it should be his call, but this kind of surprised me.  It's both a very safe choice for him (closer, smaller school), but also very bold (he's completely changing school boards, and no one from his current school will be there).  I hope it's a good choice for him.


*ultra-brief history of schooling in Canada.  In the beginning in most regions you had separate protestant (english) and catholic (French) schools.  Over time those protestant schools changed into the public school system, but catholics have kept their separate schools.  They are government funded, which I know is shocking to any americans.

[Grey Fox]

Is the catholic board school bilingual?

Bold choice by Tim.

[HVC]

I'm the product of the catholic school system... take that for what you may

As a general rule catholic schools are safer and achieve higher scores then public schools in Ontario, not sure what the deal is in Alberta though. They teach all the same courses except you have to take a religion course. Doesn't effect your kid now, but by grade 10 it became a general world religion course for me (at two different high schools and school boards). There also a monthly mass that you don't have to attend. 

[HVC]

Also, depending on your age there are special classes that prepare you for things like first communion and confirmation. Of course non-catholic kids don't have to participate.

[Barrister]

I'm the product of the catholic school system... take that for what you may

As a general rule catholic schools are safer and achieve higher scores then public schools in Ontario, not sure what the deal is in Alberta though. They teach all the same courses except you have to take a religion course. Doesn't effect your kid now, but by grade 10 it became a general world religion course for me (at two different high schools and school boards). There also a monthly mass that you don't have to attend. 

Remember - I didn't go to a Catholic school for most of my school career, but I did my last two years and graduated from an all-boys Jesuit high school.  Curious - we didn't have an option to miss the monthly mass.

When we mentioned there was a religion class involved he said he'd be interested in learning that kind of stuff.  We say we're Christian, and we went to an evangelical church when Tim was young, but haven't done a very good job about teaching him about Christianity.

One of the parents whose kid Tim is friends with who goes there did seem to love the school, but they did say there weren't a ton of white kids there.  I'm not sure exactly what that would mean for this school.  At my old high school it meant we had a ton of Filipino kids.  The downside risk is a lot of kids doing ESL which takes teachers attention away from the other kids.  The upside is a more varied school experience - his current school is very white, with the few minorities being east indian / chinese (aka the "good" minorities).

[Barrister]

Also, depending on your age there are special classes that prepare you for things like first communion and confirmation. Of course non-catholic kids don't have to participate.

Hadn't thought of that.

Mrs B was baptized catholic and I think was even confirmed as a kid.

But as an 18 year old she moved out on her own, and for a time was in a vaguely cult-like evangelical Church in BC.  We got married in a United Church, and as mentioned the only church we attended as a family was an Alliance Church.

Anyways we signed him up as non-Catholic and it seemed like there was no problem with that.

[HVC]

Right, I forgot about the Jesuit school. Was it a private school? We had a minority of non Catholics, primarily Jewish, and they didnt have to go. Actually i don't know if the Catholic kids *had* to go either, but they did. 

[HVC]

Another benefit of catholic school is once you're in high school uniforms take away a lot of the pressure kids face over clothes and fashion (and the class divide that brings.  Some schools are more strict. My first we had to wear dress shoes which has a pain. Second was more lax.

I'm sure he'll have good time.

[Barrister]

Right, I forgot about the Jesuit school. Was it a private school? We had a minority of non Catholics, primarily Jewish, and they didnt have to go. Actually i don't know if the Catholic kids *had* to go either, but they did. 

Yes it was a private school (though I think it got partial government funding).

We had a lot of non Catholics.  There was certainly an element of kids who got into trouble who were sent there for more discipline.  Another element (including me) sent there for more intense educational expectations.  And then some sent for the religious aspect.  Also handful of Jews (and muslims).

We had to go to mass, and religion class.  I liked religion class as it wasn't Catholic Theology 101.  It was almost more of a Christian philosophy class, plus I also took a Church history class.  But this might be where it being a Jesuit school became important.

[Barrister]

Another benefit of catholic school is once you're in high school uniforms take away a lot of the pressure kids face over clothes and fashion (and the class divide that brings.  Some schools are more strict. My first we had to wear dress shoes which has a pain. Second was more lax.

I'm sure he'll have good time.

Pretty sure Catholic schools here have no uniforms.  Heck even 30 years ago in Winnipeg the kids in "regular" Catholic schools had no uniforms - it was only us at the all-boys school (tie and jacket) and the all-girls school (typical catholic school girl look) who did.

But we even mentioned that to him - he likes to wear a toque and all times (until it gets too warm, when he switched to a ball cap).  We warned him that might be allowed at the new school.  He said that was ok.

[Barrister]

Tim pretty much asked for money for his birthday, and had over $400 in cash sitting in his wallet.

So we went and opened him a bank account yesterday.  He was very excited.

[Barrister]

Camping for the Canada Day long weekend.  Was fun, but the Saturday was very rainy which had everyone stuck in the trailer trying to play boardgames and get on each other's nerves.

Next day I was like "my kids are old enough, I should teach them some card games".  Around 11am I sat down and tried to show them Hearts.  First hand my youngest Josh was disappointed he didn't take any tricks, until I at the end when he realized that meant he didn't take any hearts and he had "won" the hand.  But anyways after a couple hands the kids wandered away.  Oh well.

Until after supper - Andrew said "he dad can we play that Hearts game"?  And now they were right into it, thinking it was the most devastatingly hilarious thing whenever someone took the Queen of Spades.  It was awesome - there was just enough strategy to it that you could see them figuring it out in real-time as we were playing.

[Barrister]

OK, so last winter Josh had a rough time with hockey, and he definitely did not want to play again this year.

He wanted to try out martial arts, so we got him signed up for taekwondo.  He's been going twice per week since September, and he finally got to test for his next belt this last weekend (going from white, to white with yellow stripe - he's just starting).

So this is obviously like the "class recital", where you get to show off for your parents.  First he had to do his "pumsae", which is just a pattern of kicks, blocks and strikes you have to memorize and perform.  He's been practicing at home and he did fine.

Then came the board breaking.  Josh had to break a board with one of the types of kick.  You could tell he was nervous.  The boards weren't super-thick but they're legit boards, maybe 3/8 to 1/2 inch thick.  So it takes him three tries, but third time the board snaps in half and he has a big relieved look on his face.

Anyways, he has a big smile afterwards, and you can tell he's really enjoying doing his own thing, not the same as his brothers.

In fact he has a taekwondo class tonight, on Halloween.  We told him he could skip this one, and the instructors said the class is optional, but no - Josh wants to go in his Halloween costume.  So he'll be a Banana practicing taekwondo tonight.

[Jacob]

"I see you are a master of... banana style".

[Admiral Yi]

Switch him to Brazilian jiu jitsu.