Today I began to work with a new set of clients, a Jehovah Witness family in North West London. They are a very pleasant family. The father works in business of some sort although I have not been able to deduce what this is yet. The mother is at home and cares for the children, one of whom has Edward's Syndrome.
Where to begin? Well my partner said that Jehovah Witnesses are more fringe than Mormons. I don't think there is a musical about them just as yet. I did a little research to see what I might be getting myself in for and it turns out they emerged from a Bible Study group in the 1870s. Their doctrine centres around the belief that they are modelled more closely on first century Christianity. They believe the Bible to be pretty much historically and scientifically accurate which, as I found out today, will present problems in Geography and History because they don't want me to teach or mention Evolution. In fact the boy laughed and said it was stupid to say we come from apes.
So what do I choose to teach for my first lesson but good old (and I mean literally as old as the hills) plate tectonics and volcanoes. 'Hey kids, let's look at these processes which have been happening for millions of years.' I won't mention the word evolution, but I am not going to pretend that Versuvius and Pompei happened last Tuesday. We looked at some of the worst volcano eruptions in History and then began to design our own volcano. They have the most fabulous school room at the back of the house with text books, white boards and arts materials most schools would kill for.
The children were very well behaved and actually pretty down-to-earth. They have been home schooled for a year and have a Nigerian man with a false leg who teaches them Science and Maths. I don't envy him. Geography is partially doable without too many direct references to evolution but biology and chemistry?!
The kids do circus and gynastics twice a week and the boy, in particular, is amazing. The front living room is big enough that he can do cart wheels, flips and handstands. The girl is quite earnest and is always eager to please with her work. I will have to encourage her to take more risks with her writing. Her reading age is well above average; the boy's slightly below.
It is the mother who intrigues me most. She is in her early forties and from what I can make out quite a strident woman and yet she is clearly distraught by her young baby's illness. I had never heard of Edward's Syndrome but when I googled it I was shocked that most baby's die before they are born and almost none live to the age of ten. The child is two and she cannot talk or walk. It is a genetic illness which is caused by an extra 18th chromosone and the child is usually born or develops heart and other organ defects. Basically the long-term outlook is not good. I'm not sure the kids realize how serious it is.
More to follow...
