Saturday, September 15, 2007

Back-to-School

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.”
--Tom Bodett


Last Monday several of the residents of Charis House began their new term in college (upper high school). For most of them this is the first time they’ve been enrolled in school in several years. They have all been excited and really enjoying their first week of school. They are coming home early to work on homework rather than simply milling around the house with their children in the evening. During dinner-time when I’m at the house I’ve been offering to help them with homework ranging from dividing fractions to letter writing to working on Macbeth.

Their excitement rubbed off on me and I realized that I’m actually sad that I’m not in school and learning new things everyday. That is something I never thought I would say since I was about 5 years old. I guess you could say that I’m a student of a different type of schooling, but it’s not the same. I think I can attribute my excitement to start graduate school next year to the women living in the Charis House. I’m really hoping that all our excitement will endure over the year. Most women are enrolled in courses that will ensure jobs upon completion. I’m so proud of them for taking this difficult step in bettering their lives.

I’m still working on figuring out the schooling system in England—it’s rather confusing so I’ll get back to you on this one…

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