Are you curious about how we’re handling school while we’re in France? Today, I thought I’d write up a little report for you all about it. But first, let’s admire these pretty French school notebooks from Laughing Elephant. Aren’t they handsome? I love school supplies at any time of year and from any country. They make me want to write a book report. : )
Now to business. We have gone back and forth, back and forth on how to handle school for the kids while we’re here. But in the end found it was something that needed to be decided once we were actually here and could check out the schools and see how our kids were adjusting to the move.
First, we gathered advice from everyone we could. Blog readers, family members that had lived abroad, friends with experience in French schools. And boy oh boy, did we get a mix of pointers and precautions. Everyone seemed to have a different experience. No surprise really, the same thing can be said for school discussions in America.
But based on the advice we received and research we did, we came up with several scenarios.
1) We could use K12.com (the company that employs Ben Blair). They offer online courses that would continue the curriculum our kids had been learning in Colorado and keep them up to speed with their American counterparts. Ben Blair and I would work together to help them through their coursework and we would supplement their learning with a French tutor who would come to the house and specifically work on French immersion.
2) The younger kids could go right into the local schools, while the older kids used K12.com and worked on their French. (Middle school can be rough anyway — without being the new kids who don’t speak the language.) Then, next fall, when their French is better, the older kids could join the younger kids in the schools.
3) Everyone could go right into the local schools. (FYI: we live in a rural area and the nearest International School is about an hour and a half away — too far for us.)
France doesn’t do much in the way of FSL (French as a second language), but our landlords had recommended the local school that could best accommodate foreigners. They had contacted the school on our behalf and made email introductions. So when we arrived we immediately set up appointments to visit the school and learn more about it. The recommended school is a private Catholic school, but is very different from the typical Catholic schools in the States. There are no uniforms, no nuns, and it’s heavily subsidized by the government, so it’s not expensive. They do offer religious education for about an hour per week. Other than that, it functions very much like a public school. The campus has a building for each age group. Preschool is called Maternelle. Grade school is called Primaire. Middle school is called College. And high school is called Lycée.
Our kids have been gung ho to meet friends and learn French since we arrived, so they were very excited to check out the school and immediately wanted to enroll. We had a long, frank discussion with them about it. Our kids are excellent students and have always done very well in their American schools, but here, they weren’t going to know what hit them. The school days are longer. From what we hear, the curriculum is more intense. And most of all, they don’t speak French (yikes!).
We told them our priorities for schooling are different this year than they were in Denver or New York. When we consider what we hope the kids will get out of our time in France, the goals are: make friends and learn French. Beyond that, we told them we really don’t care how much they’re learning the rest of the curriculum — at least until their French is in order, which will be months and months. Homework won’t be a priority. Getting good grades won’t matter. If they’re making friends and learning French, that’s plenty for this year.
Yesterday, Ralph and Maude had their first day of College. They loved it! They came home beaming. They went on and on about the food (a great topic for another post) and how friendly the students were. Tomorrow, Betty, Oscar and Olive have their first day. I’m very nervous for them, but excited too. Each of their teachers speaks a little bit of English and in Olive’s class, we know one classmate is from Ireland so they’ll have English in common as well.
Today, we’re feeling great about our schooling decision. We know we may feel differently as the year progresses, but I like the comfort of having K12.com as an option if this doesn’t work out.
I’ll follow up with another schooling post next week to share some of the details and stories the kids bring home. Things that are the same and things that are different than American schools — for example, they don’t have school on Wednesdays. Yay!
Thanks for following along.
I’m sure your children will benefit enormously from being in school in France, its a great way to meet children of their own age and they will pick up french really quickly. If they get some extra tuition at home there will be no stopping them.
My daughters best friend is german and started school in the UK aged 10, year 5, within a couple of months her english was useable and within 6 months fluent. Prior to her arrival she spoke no english at all and had no extra tuition. Now her mum is worried that her english is better than her German.
I applaud your family’s choice! We had a great experience with Japanese schools while we were in the country. Our daughter loved it! (She still talks about how great the lunches were!)
That sounds like a great plan. I can’t wait to hear about the food! I heard there is no ‘kid food’ in France. I thought that was so cool. There is no ‘kid food’ in this house either! :)
i’m so glad you are sharing these details. i’ve always looked forward to your posts, but now more than ever.
I cannot wait to hear about the lunches.
Will you adopt me? Seriously. : )
What great parents you two are!
Wow! That’s impressive! Sounds like you’re the proud parents of some very secure middle-schoolers. Of course, they will still be impressive/great kids when the inventible bumps it the road come too. I love that you set the priorities simple and clear “friends and French” sounds like a pretty great combo. And a year (or at least a few months) to ignore grades and homework, what freedom!
Is there a Mormon temple/ward (not sure what you call it) around? Are you going to pull them out of the 1 hour religion class or just reinforce that it’s different strokes for different folks?
Do you have any babysitting for Baby June?
I love the design posts but these posts about practical life in France are my favorite. I can’t wait to hear more about the schools and how fast the kids are picking up the language. It’s like the missionary experience, total immersion is the best way to learn!
Will you still do a French tutor at home to help the language skills along?
Bienvenue en France ! un petit bonjour d’Aix en Provence.
L’expérience école sera courte car c’est bientot les vacances ! bon courage à toute la troupe !
this is great! you must have a tight knit family with some wonderfully confident kids!
I loved my semester (8th grade) in a Spanish speaking school in the Dominican Republic. The semester before, my mom had home-schooled us (since we didn’t know a lot of Spanish), and I ended up feeling very isolated, and almost trapped in the home. I was much happier when I was able to make friends and use my newly developing language skills! I hope your childrens’ French classmates are as welcoming as my Dominican ones were. If so, they will learn the language in no time! I’m excited to follow their adventures and hear how they like it.
I’m twitching with the thrills of these French posts!! Once we, your loyal bloggy readers, are all adjusted to living in France with you and the family we can resume regular programming :)) Thanks for all the sharing.
Such a great and fair approach!!! I love it.
Love it. You’re all very brave, happy to hear the updates and how you decided to do schooling, sounds perfect. Oh, and the house is really a bonus- what a perfect match for a lovely family.
You may have covered this in another post, so apologies in advance. As a second language teacher, I have worked with many exchange students and recent immigrants. The patterns of assimilation – excitement, exhaustion, loathing & acceptance – occur in them all but at highly variable rates. If your kids are exhausted after a few weeks, don’t feel bad to give them a break and lots of extra protein. Their brains are working hard! I hope you and your children have a wonderful school experience!
I do have teaching credentials and am certified to teach English as a Second Language and have been the teacher of students who couldn’t even ask to go to the bathroom (well maybe make sure they can do that esp. the little ones ;) and ya know somehow they just figure it out and sitting through lessons and trying to grasp instruction is a great way to learn a language. As long as you are totally connected and they can ‘opt out’ at any time it sounds very fun for them! You might still want to hire a tutor though to go through the lessons with them at night in English because that would be very helpful in the their progress with the language because they will go in the next day with more of a frame of reference for what is being talked about all day and children really like to succeed. It was always so disheartening for my ESOL students to do poorly on everything especially when they had those skill in their own language.
That sounds so wonderful! I wish I could have spent some time doing school in France! What fun!
I have a friend for Guatemala who just recently moved to the states with her 7 year old daughter. She took the same approach as you did with your kids, learn English over getting great grades.
Due to the nightmare it was trying to get them visas, she choose to home school her for a few months so she could learn English (they were going back and forth from US to Guatemala every few weeks!) until everything settled. In just a few months, she picked up English and can now speak it incredibly well. She just recently started at a regular school and is loving it! She’s getting great grades and making tons of friends.
I think the approach you took is wonderful. I’m sure they’ll have a great time in France!
That’s so cool of your kids to be ready and willing to just jump in! I wish we could all be like that as adults. Way to go raising kids with that enthusiasm.
I went to local schools both times we lived in Austria. There is no question that I learned German far more quickly and that it was an experience that I still draw from. I’m excited for your kids because there really is no experience that compares.
(I also learned to write my 7s with the middle squiggly line, which earned me the ire of American teachers on my return!)
Your France updates are fast becoming my favourite posts to read. I have my fingers crossed that Betty, Oscar and Olive enjoy their new school as much as Ralph and Maude.
Your children will do great. You will see how quick they are to pick up the language. You will be amazed. While we speak German here in the home, when we went to Switzerland it was as if they had to learn a whole new language with Swiss German. Our children did great. Within two weeks they were speaking like they had lived in Switzerland their whole lives. I doubt they will miss much academically. The schools in Europe are far better that ours here in the states. I don’t know about this catholic school, but one of the things my children loved about Switzerland was yes the food which was not the junk served in American schools, but gourmet menus. They also liked that the school theory was the developement of the whole child. So not only did they learn the basics, but made incredible art work, sang in dfferent languages, went swimming and hiking, along with religion one time a week. They were so happy!
how exciting! good luck, they are so brave:)
Ooh! I get giddy when you post about your life in France. So very exciting. Sounds like your kids are already thriving. You continue to inspire me.
We are living abroad this year as well and “threw” our 5-yr-old into a regular kindergarten here. We had the same goals as you – learn Hebrew & make friends – and after 5 months here, he has done both. As a bonus, now that he has picked up the language, he is also reading & writing Hebrew and learning the content of the lessons (math, science, history, etc.). From your description, it seems like my son & your kids share the same enthusiasm for adventure, which, I think, was key to his smooth transition. I’m sure your kids will thrive as well!
Hi there, Gabriel –
I was wondering how your kids were taking it so far. If any of them are homesick or are they just psyched for the new experience? I guess Ben is able to work from there?
Somewhere in the back of my mind I’ve had this idea of living abroad for a short time with my family, when the kids are a little older, say junior high, and perhaps doing the home school thing. My husband is an analyst, but has a very strong skill set of web development and I think we could leave the country for a bit somewhere in the future.
Anyway, what you’re doing is all very inspirational to me and I hope your family has a wonderful year. Are you planning on doing a lot of travel while you are over there or do you think you’ll stay put?
I totally spelled your name wrong and am super embarrassed. Please forgive me.
I think you made the best decision. Immersion is tough but so valuable.
Gabby, you realize I’m watching this whole experience with bated breath. You’re my test pilot for this. We’re heading to Poland for a month in May {thanks for the luggage recommendation by the way} to see how I feel about moving for a longer period of time. My only hesitation has been the education. My 11 year old has threatened to flee the family if we immerse her in public school in Warsaw. So, I’m watching you.
Way to go! Immersion is the best way to actually feel at home in a new country with a different culture and new friends…You are such an inspiration for a lot of us readers (well, for me, that’s for sure…) You make every day seem less difficult, I only have 2 kids to cope with, lol!
I have also experienced the change of country and language when I was 12 and my parents put us in a French semi public school (we didn’t know a word of French!) and my first year was such a great experience…so intense; I still have friends from my first class , more than 20, um, 25 years ago…
What a great approach you guys have! My older son is in maternelle in Paris and has had an excellent experience. I hope your kids continue to enjoy themselves. I bet the local kids are thrilled to have them as classmates–so exciting to be hosting the anglophones and showing them the ropes!
All best,
Jennifer
Formidable! I echo all the sentiments above. Wonderful to hear how open minded your kids are – obviously they picked it up from their parents! That being said, once the novelty wears off – there will come a point when homesickness, just general fed-up ness with “why do they do things this way?!??” will set in. Don’t give up – don’t get disheartened – whatever frustrations or setbacks come your way – the end result is 100x worth it.
Happy to offer any advice on the French school system and esp. in decoding the teacher relationship and playground culture. I’m married to a Frenchman altho’ we live in Australia at the moment. We have a 9 and a 6 yr old who go to the French lycee here. As the foreigner in the family, I’ve had to learn to decode all the school stuff myself.
I’m a huge fan of the French system – academically very rigorous (music to my Chinese tiger mom ears!). There are some quirks to the system which this article I came across years ago, summarises quite well.
http://www.expatica.com/fr/education/pre_school/back-to-school-tips-for-a-successful-rentre-32728_11898.html
BTW – the preciseness of the school supplies list mentioned in this article is true – in past years I’ve had to buy new 15 cm (rather than re-using the 30cm from the previous year) rulers, glue sticks of 21g size (yes – 21g!), and pencil sharpeners “preferably Maped brand”. Did all the moms follow the list? You betcha. As we were living in Singapore then, some moms even brought the supplies back from France!! (I did that the following year but only because they have such nice quality school stationery in France).
I love that the kids are excited about it! You should be proud to be raising such little adventurers!
I am so thrilled to hear your children will be attending the local school-I think they will get SO much out their year there, it will be an amazing experience. My brother-in-law has 5 children and they all attend a Catholic private school outside of Paris and have found it to be a great fit for their family. And I think your children will see how open and intrigued French kids are about the American culture-they probably already have so much in common (music, pop culture, some sayings, etc.). I wish I were there to be your tutor-I am a French teacher currently on pause to raise our first baby! My friend just opened a language school, but in Montpellier…One idea: In some French schools, there are “American Assisants” who are employed by the French Government through a program called the American Assistanship, I believe. They are typically college-age or a little older and they are contracted to teach English at local schools for the school-year…I wonder if you could check with your local schools to see if they have any (and could work as a private tutor after hours)?
I moved to France as a child & went to a lovely Catholic School. It was wonderful (although I don’t think I was so lucky in the food department – the few times that I did eat at school it was terrible!). Within 2 months I was a fluent French speaker (though I still struggle with French grammar as an adult) – and blended right in with the other children. Honestly, the most helpful thing was to have a teacher that spoke hardly any English. It forced me to be brave & try to speak. Initially I communicated with friends through pantomime & Franglish. I think this opportunity is wonderful for your family & must admit that I am a bit jealous!
We moved our family to Germany when our children were 7, 5, and 2 years old. After a year in the American school (Dept. of Defense), we moved to a little town and enrolled the oldest two in the Grundschule (elementary school) and the youngest in pre-school (Kindergarten is what it is called in Germany). Within months they were keeping up, and by the time we moved home, they were using German at home more than English. Their accents were perfect and their grades good. They made friends that we are still in touch with today (27 years later). It was a fabulous experience for all of us. Like you, we told them not to stress about the grades, but to just learn the language, make friends and have a great time. They did, and it was a life-changing decision–not without struggle and frustration, but filled with learning and expansion and fun. I am thrilled for you and your family to have this opportunity.
I just love your blog and have read a lot of it. The photos are fun and pretty… actually great. I’m envious. I wish I could have taken my children to France when they were young. And now I wish I could go myself and live for a few months at least. I still may do it.
Anyway, I love following your family and I love the ads and links you have too. My daughter in law knits darling children’s clothes and I think she should have an ad here! I’ll tell her about your site.
Hi Gabrielle, I work for K12 and just came across your blog. This was such a great read – it sounds like you and your family are enjoying the adventures of life! I did a study abroad program in college (Germany) and I love the fact that your kids get to experience another culture at such a young age. Good luck with everything – we’re rooting for you!
Hi Gabrielle. I am an American mom looking to move to France for a year with my two children (who are in kindergarten and 1st grade). I would like to enroll them in a French public school. I haven’t decided yet where we will live, but it will most likely be in a rural-ish area as well. Did you have any issues with signing your children up for school not being a French citizen (or does someone in your family have E.U. citizenship?)? Anyhow, that’s my big question. I think my kids are young enough that they would pick up the language, but I am more concerned about the legalities and enrollment requirements than anything else.
We had year-long visitor visas that we would renew, an we didn’t have any issue registering for school with those.