Saturday school - elementary style

As my husband, son, and I sat at the breakfast table, my husband said "this brings back memories."  He was thinking about every Saturday morning as a kid, when he went off to school.  While I grew up knowing that only kids that got caught doing bad things had to attend school on Saturday, it has always been different in Japan.  School in this country has historically been 6 days a week.  Nowadays, Saturday is school is limited to once a month.

We took our son to kindergarten once a month on Saturdays for the past two years.  Those days were all fun.  Games, singing, and playing together were the focus of each of these class times.  All of them also included a parent.  

Today was the first Saturday school for his elementary school.  The day was pretty much like any other day at school.  Typically Saturday school is a way for parents to observe their kids in the classroom.  Due to Covid, parents were not able to tag along with their child.

So, our son went to school.  He attended Japanese, math, and art class.  The only difference was that he came home before lunchtime instead of enjoying school a meal with his classmates.

While I can't stop thinking Saturday school is a horrible idea and a form of punishment for kids, it is the way things are done here.  And, frankly, my son is thrilled to go to school even if it is on the weekend.  He looks forward to learning and being with other kids.  So, who am I to keep him home on Saturdays just because it doesn't fit my idea of fun.  

We made sure to have fun the rest of the day by going to the park as a family and enjoyed a late night bug hunt.