École Bilingue

We arrived on a Wednesday and the kids started school the following Monday, September 4th (Labor Day for the US). We decided on a school very quickly which sent me into a little panic. When it came time for the Mett the Teacher event, our jet lag caused us to sleep until 10:00 a.m. and we missed the 10:30 a.m. event. We peaked through the windows to get a glimpse at the colorful school and hoped for the best. Once they started, we realized how absolutely AMAZING the school is. 

We have a 12-minute walk on a stunning street that winds us through Jardins du Trocadero ending with a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower before walking into school. The girls were not a fan of walking but now they have scooters and the whole walk to school has changed from the girls complaining their legs are tired to us yelling "Watch out for that person", "SLOW DOWN", "CA VA?" (Are you ok? because they wiped out hard; Yes, we have helmets). 

Ginny is on the 3rd floor (really the 4th floor, in France the first floor is zero and then they start counting!). She has class in French two (2) days in a row, Wednesday is 50% French and 50% English and finishes her week with two (2) days in English. She is already starting to pick up some French! Her excitement comes in waves for homework. Brian usually spends an hour trying to figure out her French homework before we start it with her. She is freaking out that her class does not have snacks in the afternoon so we pick up their favorite viennoise au chocolat (Vienna bread...an enriched, slightly sweet French bread Per google...aka the most amazing bread ever) at the Boulangerie around the corner from School.

Charlotte walked into school like a champ! She was so excited. She randomly hugged another parent (kind of looked like Brian, tall, lanky, beard...I could see why) when she got into the classroom. She walked around each learning station, found one she wanted and told me I could leave. All the other parents stayed for a while. I can tell she LOVES her French teacher. She is constantly running to her and giving her hugs. Charlotte's school day is 50% French and 50% English each day. The class is separated by their mother tongue to start learning to read! Charlotte gets very excited about Ginny's homework so we copy it on a piece a paper for her "homework". Unlike Ginny, Charlotte's class does have a healthy afternoon snack that the parents get to bring on their assigned day. Charlotte has brought applesauce twice now and no surprise here, applesauce is the snack choice for November as well. 

Warren's first week was very slow. His first two days were 45 minutes, third day was an hour and a half, 4th day was a half day and his 5th day was his first full day. Most of the kids cried every single day. He cried a lot because the other kids were crying. For a while he would walk into the classroom, went to his teacher, look back at me and then he started crying. Now he walks straight into the classroom and does not look back. One of his teachers speaks French all day while the other speaks English all day. He has picked up the best manners so far out of all three kids and always says merci after he is given something. 

I'm still getting used to school children walking through the streets of Paris during the school day to get to various off-campus activities. Charlotte and Ginny's class put on these neon orange baseball caps...other schools have neon vests. They walk to Jardins du Trocadero for playground time, nature scavenger hunts, daily lessons, and picnics. Ginny's class walks across the Seine River every Monday for swimming at the indoor pool with a grand view of the Eiffel Tower. 

The French school calendar is DIFFERENT. Wednesdays are half days. We drop off the kids by 8:45 a.m. only to turn around two hours later to pick them back up. Also, the kids are in school for six weeks and then they have TWO weeks off and the French take their vacation time very seriously...makes a whole lotta sense now that work comes secondary. 

So, Wednesdays are tough with a lot of back and forth walking in a short period of time, but we got very lucky with such an amazing school. The Headmaster, staff and teachers are great and the parents were so welcoming. We have met families from Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Columbia, Finland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Venezuela...the list goes on. And of course, Charlotte's best friend and spirit animal, Kade, is from none other than KATY, TEXAS! His mom works for a French based Energy company and oversees the marketing for the Asian markets, which gave them the opportunity to live in Europe for a couple years.

Transitioning to this school has been incredibly smooth for our family and we've already made such wonder friendships in these past fifteen weeks. We could not have picked a better school for the kids and us!

See more pictures here