General News about Frederik, Mary and Family 12: August 2013 - July 2014

[Winnie]

Funny how different it is seen in various countries. In Germany the law is very strict about compulsary schooling and you will find police checking on families eg at the airport a few days before the holidays start and parents end up paying huge fines. But of course this doesnt apply to royals I guess.

Every country has different laws, wouldn't matter if you are royal or president's children. I certainly did it and my girls were excellent students. Informed the school staff prior and got approval.

 

[polyesco]

Agree.

I think Christian and Isabella are still young enough that it wont be too much to take them out for a week or so. It gets harder when the kids are older and they are in testing and what not

 

[ricarda]

AFAIK home schooling is perfectly legal in DK, but almost unheard of. I can't recall knowing of someone who was home schooled for the past 30 years or so.
That would require either parents who are extremely qualified as teachers, as they have to teach accoriding to government standards and it would also be recommended against since children need inputs different from what they will get at a home school, where the environment tend to be very static. - And indeed they would be severely disadvantaged later on in an educational system that is very much based on social skills and group work.
Or that the parents employ skilled teachers, which would be insanely expensive!

I think Frederik and Joachim were home schooled for the first years and then it was decided they should be regular pupils? How about Margrethe and her sisters?

 

[Muhler]

I think Frederik and Joachim were home schooled for the first years and then it was decided they should be regular pupils? How about Margrethe and her sisters?

That's correct. Back in the 50's that was unusual and in the 70's most unusual.

 

[polyesco]

Im glad they dont home school the royal kids anymore and that the majority are going to public schools

 

[HereditaryPrincess]

I agree. It's a chance for the royal children to have wider circles of friends and experience things they wouldn't experience in an "at home education", such as going on school journeys abroad with their classmates.

Just adding my two cents to the discussion:

In England, taking your child out of school for a holiday is usually frowned upon (there was a recent story of a parent who took his daughter out of school to go to Spain just for leisure during term time and was fined £450), and taking your child out of school in general. Unless they have a valid reason of course, such as illness, or a family event like a wedding or funeral.

 

[suztav]

Seems as if Frederik & Mary won't be taking their annual February ski vacation with the kids due to his Olympic commitment during that time frame. Perhaps that's why they are taking this vacation with the children??

 

[Roskilde]

However, it can all be boiled down to Lene Balleby confirming that M&F went on a "secret and private holiday at a foreign destination".
It seems however not to be a skiin holiday but a more warm place. Where BB has that particular information I don't know.

So overall, all we know is that Frederik, Mary and children are on "a private holiday at a foreign destination" which is confirmed by Lene Balleby. And who actually saying we need to know more I hope they enjoy each other and have some good quality time together as a family. Some of the best experiences I have from my own childhood is from when we were out exploring other parts of the world with our parents.

 

[Muhler]

Seems as if Frederik & Mary won't be taking their annual February ski vacation with the kids due to his Olympic commitment during that time frame. Perhaps that's why they are taking this vacation with the children??

You are probably right, Suztav.

Perhaps Mary and some of the children will join him in Russia?

 

[polyesco]

So far, its on the DRF calendar that Frederik will be in Sochi from the 4th to the 8th. probably in IOC meetings before the olympics start. Mary has events in DK, from the 3rd to the 6th.

Frederik will also be in Sochi from the 17th to the 22nd. maybe mary will join?

While I love seeing pics of them, I am glad that they can sneak away and have a nice family trip away. : )

 

[redtulip]

Homeschooling exists in Denmark, and there are currently round 250 families with children in homeschooling. - Parents don't have to know anything about teaching or what to teach, as it happens in co-operation between the child and the government organization. Parents have to authorize it, of course.

HSLDA | Home Schooling - Denmark

 

[Muhler]

Homeschooling exists in Denmark, and there are currently round 250 families with children in homeschooling. - Parents don't have to know anything about teaching or what to teach, as it happens in co-operation between the child and the government organization. Parents have to authorize it, of course.

HSLDA | Home Schooling - Denmark

Thanks Red Tulip.

No wonder I haven't heard about children being home schooled!
250 familie, with an average of 1.8 child by family, that constitutes well under 1.000 children in total. - Out of a total of 708.569 attending various forms of basic school.
Source: The Ministry of Education Elevtal i folkeskolen og frie skoler - Undervisningsministeriet
In this statistics home schooled children are under Friskoler = Free Schools.

And I expressed myself clumsily beforehand. I meant that the parents have to extremly proficient in teaching, not necessarily being professional teachers themselves. They do after all not only have to be able to teach but also fully understand themselves what they are teaching, otherwise the child may fail the tests set up by the Ministry of Education.
Don't know about you, but I would be able to teach say my daugher Danish, history, geography and how the society works, and both my wife and I are good at calculating and she is very good at social issues and biology. But maths? That's where we both pass. And neither of us are quailified to teach English and German. Not to mention French or Spanish. As for IT - well they often teach us...

However, I believe quite a number of the children being homeschooled are children with issues. Just because you are mentally backwards, well, retarded to use a non-PC word, or because you have autism, you still have to go to school (in one way or another) for nine years.

 

[Frelinghighness]

Just heard a very interesting radio story about Germans who have emigrated to the US, quite a few I guess, because home schooling is against the law there.
Here it is officially against school policy to take your children out of public school for holidays, but, depending on the school, etc, you can arrange homework and lessons to be done for the younger ones. For older children, with all their committments, etc, it is even more frowned upon.
In the private school our children attended for some time, time off for vacation was strictly forbidden!
IMO, Christian and Isabella are pretty young, only 7 & 8 and won't miss much and must have some special treatment anyway...

 

[tundra]

not allowed, if needs be, there will be law enforcement, there have been cases that the parents went to jail (eg religious communities who refuse to send their children). i am not kidding!

That seems extremely strict compared to what I"m used to but it wouldn't be if that was the standard people were used to. Home Schooling seems to be on the rise here.

AFAIK home schooling is perfectly legal in DK, but almost unheard of. I can't recall knowing of someone who was home schooled for the past 30 years or so.
That would require either parents who are extremely qualified as teachers, as they have to teach accoriding to government standards and it would also be recommended against since children need inputs different from what they will get at a home school, where the environment tend to be very static. - And indeed they would be severely disadvantaged later on in an educational system that is very much based on social skills and group work.
Or that the parents employ skilled teachers, which would be insanely expensive!

The normal procedure if a child is not doing well, is for the school to sound the alarm to the parents. If that doesn't work, the authorities may be alerted, because there may be issues at home, which affects the learning.
The authorities may make investigations as to issues at home or with the child, if need be putting pressure on the parents and in extreme circumstances remove the child temporarlily or permanently from the parents.
That has happened when say immigrant parents take their children out for three months or so and travel on an extended holiday to the old country. - For several years.

Children can of course take a leave for a year, for say sailing around the world, that's after all up to the parents to decide. But it is expected that they recieve some basic schooling while away and the price can easily be for the child to leave his/her class and not move up one grade at the beginning of the school year. Nine years of basic schooling is after all mandatory in DK. (0 grade which Bella is attending is not counted, so for the overwhelming majority, basic schooling lasts ten years).

I think you would find a few of the schools here interesting. lol I don't remember what their name is but they teach knitting (from shearing to wool), milking, etc as part of their classes. Very very small minority go there.

As i understand it (but could be wrong) students can go all the way to Grade 12 and graduate if they pass the provincial exams.

 

[MaggieDenmark]

aha so thats why they not were to the handball finals ;-) ;-)
hope they all 6 have a wonderful time together

thank for the info

 

[ashelen]

my daughter does home schooling, a private one. and I am very happy with it, she has a tutor at home. and she has time to focus what she wants that it is figure skating. the scholl she went eventhoug was private until 4th grade, and non religious, had things that I didn't like it, some brainwash that we didn't agree and the languages was very poor. non I customize her schooling and we have more time to other things! like last march she went to Skate Copenhagen2013, her first international competition, and if she was in school she couldn't have done it! don't tell you all the staff she learned while in Denmark! from language, museum, history etc.... and her heritage!
this is a very interested video:
This Is What Happens When A Kid Leaves Traditional Education | Collective-Evolution

 

[marfre]

So far, its on the DRF calendar that Frederik will be in Sochi from the 4th to the 8th. probably in IOC meetings before the olympics start. Mary has events in DK, from the 3rd to the 6th.

Frederik will also be in Sochi from the 17th to the 22nd. maybe mary will join?

While I love seeing pics of them, I am glad that they can sneak away and have a nice family trip away. : )

I really hope that the Frederik, Mary and family go for their February ski holiday as this is the only photo session that they have as a family on their own. The Queen and PH usually have one in France while Joachim and family have both a winter and summer session.

Would also love to see Mary join Frederik in Sochi for some of the time at least, we usually get some great pics.

 

[Muhler]

BB mention en passant that M&F and family were seen returning to DK via Dubai, onboard an Emirates plane.

 

[polyesco]

BB mention en passant that M&F and family were seen returning to DK via Dubai, onboard an Emirates plane.

thanks
So maybe they holidayed in Dubai? or somewhere near.
Would Frederik and Christian still fly separately?

 

[Muhler]

Well, the article mention specifically that the family flew from Dubai to Copenhagen on an Emirate plane, so I guess they travelled together.

 

[Archduchess Zelia]

Surely BB must have gotten that wrong. It would be against basic royal rules and protocol to let the 2nd and 3rd in line to the throne fly together - let alone the 2nd in line and ALL of his children. I simply can't believe that. If they truly all flew on the same plane it was a extremely silly thing to do. Planes are generally safe today but tragedies do occur.

 

[polyesco]

isn't frederik first in line?
We have seen in the past that frederik and Christian fly seperately.
I remeber during their australian vacation one year. Frederik flew with isabella and vincent. Mary flew with christian and josephine.

 

[dazzling]

thanks
So maybe they holidayed in Dubai? or somewhere near.
Would Frederik and Christian still fly separately?

I wonder where they travelled to. I guess if via Dubai they got a stopping flight at Dubai if I understand that correctly. My guess for some reason would be an island like Seyechelles, Maldives etc.

 

[Archduchess Zelia]

isn't frederik first in line?
We have seen in the past that frederik and Christian fly seperately.
I remeber during their australian vacation one year. Frederik flew with isabella and vincent. Mary flew with christian and josephine.

Clearly it was way past my bedtime when I wrote that Of course he's 1st in line. And yes, I can't recall hearing about a time when they didn't fly separately, which is why it would surprise me a great deal if they were so careless not to do so this time either.

 

[Roskilde]

I wonder where they travelled to. I guess if via Dubai they got a stopping flight at Dubai if I understand that correctly. My guess for some reason would be an island like Seyechelles, Maldives etc.

It could be a qualified guess. Or Vietnam maybe? (PC Henrik's birthplace)
I have also thought about where they travelled to? But I actually like the idea that we don't know it and probably never will. They have some very busy months sometimes, so I'm glad they could "sneak away" and enjoy small two weeks together all six without the press discovered or found them.

 

[Sun Lion]

If You're in Oz - Special Issue.

Hi Australian Royal Watchers -

In case you weren't aware, the "Women's Weekly" here in Oz has a special issue out - one of their magazine-size soft-cover "books".

I just flipped through it at the newsagent and it covers "our" Royal Family, Princess Grace's family and CP Mary and her family.

(White cover and called "Royals" - $9.95.)

Many full-page and half-page photos of CP Mary and CP Frederik from their October visit to Australia.

Also, some full-page versions of photos that where in the October 2013 issue of the magazine, but were smaller there.

There is also a double-page spread of CP Mary and Ziggy, all dressed-up in the garden, with three photos from that time, but two are not-seen-before ones.

Even CP Frederick has an almost full-page photo of his recent running event.

There is also a nice almost full-page close-up photo of CP Mary at the helm of a yacht.

Cheers, Sun Lion.

P.S. For any non-Australian posters wondering re such a small selection of "Royals" -

- Apart from our own British-Australian Royal Family, only Monaco is well-known here - thanks to the ladies' magazines of the 1950s and 1960s focusing on Grace Kelly/Princess Grace.

Now Denmark's Royals are well-known of course, but all the other European Royals are invisible to us here in Australia.


(Actually one of the weekly magazines did do a three-page article on CP Mette-Marit some time back, as a young woman with short, dark hair spending time here in Australia in her late teens/early adulthood. I had the article until recently when I did I a severe cull of my clutter, but that's the only other European Royal I've seen covered, and it was because she and CP Mary had that as common ground to share - according to the mag.)


PP.S. Also, "Royalty" magazine has nice coverage of F and M in Australia. I've seen pages on the Internet, but don't know if it isn't here in Australia yet - we're usually a few months behind - or it's been and sold out.

 

[Roskilde]

We have seen in the past that frederik and Christian fly seperately.
I remeber during their australian vacation one year. Frederik flew with isabella and vincent. Mary flew with christian and josephine.

Yes, here's an example..

Frederik arrived to Tasmania with Bella and Vincent
http://b.bimg.dk/node-images/718/4/620x411-l/4718731-.jpg

And 30 minutes later Mary arrived with Christian and Josephine on another airplane.
http://a.bimg.dk/node-images/718/4/620x411-c/4718728-.jpg

(Source: B.T.)

Does anyone know if there's the same 'rule' in other royal families?

 

[fortimo]

I found this article, I don't know where to post...
There is written about a blog, what is now closed. This blog was focused on Mary (and also some other royals), but in a really rancorous way. I am shocked, that there are such people in the world, who give so many energy and time to hate these royals. Poor Mary, I can now understand why the royals need bodyguards. These people are in earnest mentally ill...

: Hat-blogg legges ned - Se og hør
Google Fordító
Danish Royal Media Watch

 

[Lumutqueen]

Yes, here's an example..

Frederik arrived to Tasmania with Bella and Vincent
http://b.bimg.dk/node-images/718/4/620x411-l/4718731-.jpg

And 30 minutes later Mary arrived with Christian and Josephine on another airplane.
http://a.bimg.dk/node-images/718/4/620x411-c/4718728-.jpg

(Source: B.T.)

Does anyone know if there's the same 'rule' in other royal families?

Same rule applies in the British Royal Family.

 

[Lenora]

Personally I don't understand that hatred towards Mary. Everything should have limits.