Dear Sir and Madam,

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to provide our input in your decision making process. I am
writing to provide further information on Vandereyd-Kim Maya (hereafter, Maya) current
circumstances on her homeschool education. I believe that it is the child's best interest that we are
all working for, hence with all due respect, we would like to clarify and correct a few things
regarding Maya's recent general inspection report.

I will first start with corrections on the facts. Please check through the 'document folder' we had
prepared and provided to the inspector at the time of inspection.

a. Personal details of the 'Responsible 2' on Page. 1

Name: Kim First name: Su Hyun (Sue)

b. 3.2.1 * Comment est organise l'enseignement on Page. 2

Minimum of 1 hour is spent on phonics, reading, writing and math practices. The rest of the day is
spent on exploring following subjects: French (as foreign language), Science and Eco-Integrity
(environment), Social studies and Diversity (this includes geography and world history), Arts and
Crafts, Performing Arts (Carnatic Music and Kathak from ancient India), Ethics, Religion and
Philosophy and character building (through studies of ancient scriptures).

c. Activites culturelles on Page.2

For local outing activities, we also mentioned the Natural Science museum in Brussels (been there
multiple times over the year as Maya loves the place), prehistoric park of Flemalle, caves and
animal parks, concerts and cultural events. We also highlighted that the biggest outing was a long
distance field trip to India and Sri Lanka, last visited museum (as questioned during the inspection)
being the National Archeological Museum of India in New Delhi, alongside all the magnificent
ancient historical sites she had been to. For Maya, this was a mind blowing experience that
expanded her cognitive mind greatly. We understand that it is hard to observe such details during
the short inspection, however, we strongly feel that it should be mentioned.

d. Sports activities on Page.2

Regarding Maya's Kathak guru (teacher), I think 'a remote teacher via Zoom' is certainly an
understatement and to give everyone a better picture of how serious her training is, we feel that we
should describe it better. Maya is learning Kathak from a renowned Kathak Master from one of the
most prominent Kathak family lineage through the ancient method of Guru-student transmission
(via Zoom). This is a serious affair and not just a mere Zoom lesson from a random teacher. Of
course the inspector didn't seem to have enough time to ask any further questions on this, thus we
understand such information got dropped out, however, we strongly feel that it should be included.

RE START:
f. Social Activities on Page 3
If we have understood it correctly, through this section, the authroties want to know more about
Maya's social experience in general. As mentioned in the 'Document Folder' we provided at the
time of inspection, Maya is socially very active. She has an international group of close nit friends
(which is why English is sufficient for her current social life) in varying age groups. She also has a
group of friends in Sri Lanka and India that she keeps in touch with. GVS is also newly developing
a new platform for children to connect, and Maya will be participating in the program. Also, Maya
also has many friends way beyond her age, in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties... She has
vibrant tapestry of social connections and friends all over the world.

However, on her local immediate social scene, we feel that we have to elaborate in regards to her
current capabilities in French. As expressed on the document presented at the time of inspection,
and also the documents we have provided before the start of new school year, Maya has just started
to take French lesson so that we can provide her with more opportunity to more actively participate
in local social and cultural activities.

As discussed during the inspection, the reason Maya is only starting her French lesson now is
because she initially had ill reaction when someone spoke to her in French (or even to Flemish). For
some reason, she was reluctant to learn French or Flemish. She would cry or run away when she
was small, and in second grade, we tried to introduce French lesson with help of a friend, but she
remained uninterested. In the expert perspective of an early childhood educator, our mentor Ms.
Barbara suspected it to be a natural biological response, especially when she was small. As she lives
in an environment where her mother tongue (English) is different from the prevalent local language,
it is natural for some kids to feel protective over one's mother tongue. Ms. Barbara advised at the
time from Kindergarten that though bilingual upbringing is beneficial for expanded brain
development, it should not be forced when the child exhibits negative reactions. It can have reverse
ill effect later on, thus give her more time. 'She's still small, I'm sure she will grow out of it'. We are
glad we took Ms. Barbara's advice and allowed Maya compassion and patient regarding this. When
we ask Maya now, she explains that the different sounds in French and Flemish felt scary when she
was younger, but now they don't and she likes studying French now. Of course it's normal that she
can't speak French like the children of her age with Wallonian parents, but she is taking the first
steps, and for us, this is a long waited start. And, we want to be positive and supportive about it. We
beg for your compassion and patience for Maya's French development too if it is possible. Being
born on the 6th of September, she's only eight and four months old now. Please do understand that
we are motivated have Maya speak French and expand her social experience.

g. 3.2.2 Analyze de documenta fur lesquels se fonde l'enseignment dispense on Page. 3-4
The curriculum provided by Global Village School isn't an American curriculum. All their
curriculum is in accordance with the Common Core Standards of the western regions of America, it
is not factual to state that. For History for example, she is learning 'world history' which follows
international standards. Though Maya's school is registered as a private school in America, it is an
international school, hence you will easily reach such conclusion by looking at the comprehensive
book lists provided in the 'Document folder' that we provided in the beginning of the inspection
meeting.

Also, by going through our previous documents (all the past documents including annual
auhtorisation request forms and extra documents that we were asked to present), we believe that it is
easy to conclude that one of the reasons we have decided to educate our child in such way is so that
we could provide her with an alternative curriculum that focuses more on deeper understanding of
materials presented. Especially at Maya's current age, we want Maya to explore, investigate and
experience what is to be learned without limiting the contents to what is conventionally deemed age
appropriate. Can a first grader get a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of the human
race? Our answer through our personal experience is yes. If they are intrigued, we have seen that
they can. Of course, we had to think of creative ways to present it in a way that she could
understand, and by now, Maya already has a profound understanding of evolution of species on
Earth. Should she have waited till higher grades to understand it? Our approach is why wait if we
can propel the learning by following their curiosity? From the inspection tests, we felt that most of
everything is geared toward technical aspects such as how many words she can read in one minute.
With all due respect, our philosophy in education our child goes a little beyond that.

All these years, I have tried my best to explain our such philosophy, desire and the support system
that we have with GVS and how our homeschool operates. I hope I have provided enough
information to confirm this, in this section of the report, I feel that the inspector found our
'international standard' curriculum insufficient or inferior comparison to that of the Wallonia-
Brussels federation, without providing much detail. For the comment on page 3, we like to humbly
ask for further elaboration on what exactly is lacking in our curriculum that we personally feel goes
beyond usual school standards.

From the books we have selected to present at the inspection, we tried to to demonstrate how Maya
has progressed since kindergarten until now in technical aspects such as phonics and math practices.
While doing so, we had presented the books starting from letter 'a' in kindergarten until her point
now. We also have specifically mentioned to the inspector that following the Montessori
philosophy, we did not prematurely introduced any of these subjects to Maya before Kindergarten
hence in today's standards, she's a late starter in reading and writing. However, we have presented
all her workbooks from kindergarten until now and demonstrated how gradually she has been
building her phonics and technical literacy. We have also pointed out that she has been making
significant progress recently internms of sound and word formations and that at GVS we adapt
hands off approach on the technical aspects such as writing in lower grades giving them time to
learn at their own speed. Of course, there will be a point where things become worrisome when the
child doesn't pick up for too long, but according to our mentor Ms.Barbara, considering Maya's
exact age she is still in the range of average reader's group. Studies show that children pick up
reading and writing at different speed according to the language. English was one of the languages
that children take the longest to master, as the nature of language is full of exceptions. We
personally feel that such things should be taken into account when we make an assessment of a
child's educational progress.

For the third comment in the section, we would like to point out that the pictures of manipulation
and tools were included in the 'Document Folder' we presented at the inspection. As you can see in
the picture, we use many of heavy Montessori apparatuses that it is hard to present at the inspection.
Thus, we included the pictures in the 'Document Folder', and also presented the pictures from the
GVS student work folders demonstrating how our lessons are followed using the Montessori animal
foot print cards, and how the whole unit of studies became a self directed investigation, but
unfortunately, all such information seemed to have been dropped out, and we feel it is worth
mentioning.

g. 3.3 on page 4 (Analyse des Faits Preleves)

Though we can't be certain, I think all this abscence of what we deem crucial information could
have originated from the translation process. (No offence to the translator, as we personally felt
during the inspection that the contents were being translated. But, with our limited French, we can't
really say for certain, and for this, we beg your parden).

Unfortunately, I can't really say what the inspecting officer has writen in the section for French is
what had happened at all.

Though we feel that we didn't get enough chance to elaborate all this in great detail, I had pointed
this out to the inspectors from the beginning and the end of the inspection. I can clearly remember
mentioning this to the gentle man who acted as Maya's translator during the inspection, not just
once but over many occasions. As I wanted to be open about what Maya is lacking and
constructively nevigate through challenges if necessary. And when I presented Maya's guided
writing work (which I could have easily pretended that it was her own writing if I wanted to), I had
honestly mentioned it to the translator. And again, I stressed that she is in the lower group of
readers, but that she has been picking up the speed lately and that Ms. Barbara and we are following
this matter and we have previously agreed to give her a chance to catch up and see where she stands
at the end of the third grade. Then only, not the inspector but the translator said that, let's see what
she write and asked Maya to write about something about today. Hence her writing mentioned in
the report. We do agree with the inspector that Maya needs to improve her writing skills, and since
the inspection, we have adopted a new writing curriculum called 'Building Writers created by the
publishers of the renowned 'handwriting without tears'. We even mentioned at the end of the
inspection that we admit that Maya's writing is not up to standards, and that we are happy to come
back in sometime to be tested again to show how she progresses. We personally deem that these are
all relevant information and worth mentioning, but we are confused how the inspector reach such
conclusion that is writen in the raport. Also, it is writen that Maya or the parents are interested in
teaching cursive, but that is not true at all. A simple 'is she learning Cursive letters?' could have
avoided it, however, Maya is learning cursive letters, we just didn't mention it officially, because it
is happening at a very slow speed, and as the inspectors would agree the need for it, we are more
focused on improving reading and writing skills. Maya personally wants to learn it because she
thinks it looks cool. We are sure, she will master it at one point, but we are not entirely sure whether
that should be our immediate focus. As for her reading, it is true that Maya still sound out words
when she reads, but we have recently seen a big improvement in Maya's reading and she can read
much better than when we were at the inspection. Also, we would like to point out that as when it
comes to literacy and fluency, our curriculum is more focused on increasing the ability to effectly
absorb the meaning of the contents that are being presented, and their ability to logical and critial
thinking which in the long run determines one's commandery over a language in later years. Hence,
Maya is not used to being in the spot to read something (as she is not yet a fully confident reader)
while someone records how many words she can read in the given time. Oralization and expresssion
is not something that we artificially teach, as this is something that develops naturally as the child
grows up to start having better command of the language. We beg your parden for our ignorance in
understanding how French is usually taught to children, and I have no personal objection again it,
but applying the same rules to a student who is from a different linguistic contents is deemed in
correct in our view. And as we all know, Belgium constitution allows home schooling children to be
educated in any language. In such case, we personally feel that a broader view is required.