School is cool

As you all know from my previous posts, I had to leave my school because I became too old to stay there. Not an easy step for me to take as I really felt at home there. Although I tried to persuade our minister of education to stay a few years longer, there was no way to reverse this decision.

So the past few months we have been looking for alternatives. Home education was one of them but that turned out to be quite expensive if you want to do it properly with real teachers instead of mom and dad teaching me. We visited another school where I could start but it just didn’t feel right. Not only was the school quite far and my folks don’t want to put me on a bus each day, the atmosphere at this school didn’t match with my parents feeling. I’m sure they are a good school and try their best to make their students feel at home, but it just didn’t resonate for me.

Due to the whole Covid situation, I’ve been home since we came back from our last trip to Dubai in february last year. I’ve had my orthopedic operation back in June and spent the summer recovering and learning to walk again. As the new school year was sneaking up to us in september, the second Covid wave had brought along some severe restrictions and we didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks so I stayed home all that time.

Before we knew it, the holiday season started and the isolation started to wear everyone off. I missed being with my friends and classmates and although the care at home is supreme, being around other kids was something I really started to long for.

So my parents went to visit another school for me. We visited the Bernardus Driesprong in Oudenaarde – a special school which is merely 12 kilometers away from where I live. When entering the school we immediately saw lots of paintings on the wall that the children had drawn and it just felt right. We received a warm welcome from the staff who really took their time to show us around. It’s a school with excellent facilities and a warm and caring staff. Truth be told, this being a secondary education school, I’m the smallest child of the entire school, but they facilitate two special living groups with kids like me for which the day schedule is different from the rest of the school to avoid difficulties. As the days passed after our visit, my parents grew more and more convinced that this could be the right place for me.

A few more phone calls and some paperwork later I was enrolled in Bernardus Driesprong and last week I had my first two days in this new school. I met my teacher who has a very warm and caring personality and also the other teachers treat me with a lot of love and care. But most of all, they all love to dance, just like me! As I started school two days after my 16th birthday I got to start with a real birthday party. There were balloons everywhere and we listened to music, we sung and we danced. We also have a huge projection screen to watch children’s programs and our classroom has a fabulous multi-sensory stimulation room adjacent to it.

Last friday a had little accident. Although my teachers had regularly put me on the toilet during the day, I was too late in letting my teacher know I had to go to the little boys room so I ended up sitting in a puddle. So they took me to the special bathroom and gave me a great relaxing bath in their very own mini-wellness center which was awesome. So maybe I shouldn’t be rushing my potty training as I sure love those baths 🙂

Anyhow, I’m very happy with the decision my parents made and I’m convinced I’ll quickly make new and wonderful friends at this new school.

To end this exciting week of new experiences and meeting new people, it snow this weekend and with my parents, my brother and my dog, we made a fantastic hike through the woods and the countryside on my sled. All tucked in with warm clothes we walked for more than three hours… well I didn’t do much walking myself but I’m not complaining… the sled was great fun!

So I hope you enjoyed my blog and like my new blog website. Don’t hesitate to react or reach out to me and stay tuned for more!

Have a great week!

CU – Jerom!