Classicsmoms,
I've done some research on homeschooling here in Norway and it seems to be a nascent phenomenon which is catching on pretty rapidly. If we do decide to homeschool him, the social authorities will sometimes conduct random checks to see if the education is up to par and the school board will provide study material etc. It's definitely an option that I'm increasingly leaning in favour of.
MegMeg,
The society itself is pretty intolerant about bullying. It's considered to be a really low thing to do and people tend to get very angry if their kids are bullied. The thing is that this causes schools to get defensive and stop being open about what's going on. Incidents of serious and extensive bullying tend to result in suing fests, where the parent/community demands the head of everyone from the teachers to the school board and national government administrators. So schools like to keep things under wraps.
TMI Grandma,
The health service has been very supportive and they've set up an appointment with a psychologist tomorrow (Sunday). I'm hopeful that it would benefit him, talking to a professional. I was thinking of making him join some sort of self defence class too. He hasn't expressed much interest but I'll try and get him into it.
Grinity,
Yes that's what I'm hoping for. There's nothing like long ride on the Autobahn to make someone open up. Definitely heading to Bergen next week. It might even be fun! Lol
Austin,
I wish he was that independent! He's interested in a lot of things but he never wanted to join a club. He's always been a bit of a loner and an introvert and right now he's much more so than ever. I'll definitely try and encourage him to join something though.
Adrienne,
I'm so sorry that happened to you. It's such a shame that some people take it upon themselves to make others feel worthless. I think he might be suffering from a guilt complex too but I'm also pretty sure that the bullying hasn't stopped.
Last week, I saw the words "Jeg er en h�lvetes faen" written on his schol bag. It literally means "I am a hellish devil", except that h�lvetes faen ("hellish devil") is just about the nastiest word you can come up with in the Norsk language.
It was faded, so obviously, someone tried to erase it. When I asked my son about it, he said it was just the school prankster and it was nothing serious. As a mother, it was sort of obvious to me that he wasn't being truthful. But even if it was just the prankster, I still thought it was very serious and duly called up the principal who said that he'd "look into it".
So I've stopped sending him to school for the moment and I'm looking into homeschooling as an alternative.
