a side-note regarding kindy in Norway

I realized that I use the term kindergarten incorrectly, per se, in terms of how it is used other places around the world.

In Norway, we have something called barnehagen, literary translation: child-garden...which is the same meaning as kindergarten in the sense that kinder means child and garten is garden.

Here, most kids start in kindy when they are 1 years old, latest usually at 2 if one of the child's parents took one year unpaid leave after the first year of parental-leave is up. Not many go this route. Even less go our route of being home with the kids for the first 3-4 years, or homeschool/unschool; I don't know the exact figures - but I digress.

So usually kids are in kindy a total of five years if they start from they are 1.

Most kindergartens are split into three groups. The youngest - 1 to 2 year olds, are in one, 3 to 4 in another, and then the oldest - here in Innvik at least - are in a "5-year-old club" the year before they start elementary school. So the 5-year-old club would be the equivalent to 'kindergarten' in North America.

The 5-year-old club here in Innvik spends the mornings (inside) and early afternoons (outside) at the elementary school, and then comes back to the kindergarten around 1pm every day. This is so that they can get accustomed to the environment and have a bit of a different set-up, be more stimulated by the bigger kids' playground...and perhaps more importantly because there isn't a lot of inside space at the kindergarten here in Innvik. There is also a day a week (or two?) where the 5 year olds from Utvik (neighboring village about 7 min drive away) come and hang with the group here, or the group here go to Utvik, so that they kids get a connection, as the elementary school is combined for the two villages.

[Three of the 1-2 year olds down for their afternoon nap - in Norway the standard kindergarten (and home) napping place is in a stroller outside. It is convenient, as the kids can nap when their rhythm is used to it, not dependent on the other kids, and the reason they sleep outside is that the outside air is considered better for them. In the background you see the factory where Judge is currently working - don't think I mentioned that before? Judge has a 5-week contract. Woop!]

.