Off they go!

After much discussion and deliberation, we decided that Lucie and Kathleen should attend French public school...so off they went this morning! Lucie is going to College Mont Sauvy which is the middle school for our town and is located about a 10 minute drive away in Orgon. She is in the cinqueme class (which is the 7th grade in the US). Her school day starts at 8:45am and is not over until 5:00pm! She does have a 2-hour lunch so she is not in class the entire time, but it stills seems like a long day! I have signed her up for lunch in the canteen (cafeteria) so that she can stay at school during that time and socialize. On Wednesdays, the college (middle school) only has classes until noon. When I took her this morning, I checked her in at the main office and got her schedule. She has the basics…Math, History, Science, English, Latin, PE, etc….all in French of course!

Kathleen is in CM2 (or 5th grade US) at the elementary school just up the street. There are only 106 (now 107 I guess!) students there, so it is really quaint. Her day is from 8:45am until 4:15pm with lunch from 11:45am until 1:15pm. She has the option of eating lunch at the canteen which she may do a couple of times a week, but we decided that she would come home for lunch today. I have learned that I have to buy her lunch tickets at the mairie (or town hall) which I find really interesting, so when she is ready to eat lunch at school, I will be off to the mayor’s office! FYI, the elementary school does not have class on Wednesdays at all! When I took her to school today, we met her teacher, Monsieur Blanchard, for the first time. He asked if she spoke French and I told him that she spoke a little bit. He said that she would learn…

And that is basically why we decided that the girls should attend French school – so that they could improve their language skills. We thought it would be a pity if we spent the year here and they didn’t end up speaking fluent French - which I am hoping they will eventually since they will be surrounded by it at school all week. Plus, they need the social outlet! They have done remarkably well with each other for the past five months, but they are eager to make friends. We have enjoyed and appreciated homeschooling the last few months, but without the interaction with the community, we didn’t feel like they were getting all of the benefits of living in France! So, they are off to school…I am looking forward to hearing about their first day. I am sure the next few weeks will be transitional, and I am expecting some frustration and tears (for us all!), but I am confident that this step will be a positive one. I hope this experience will be a gift that Lucie and Kathleen will appreciate one day. We will see!!

First day of school...Janvier 4, 2010