Last year we decided to enroll Léo in a French school. We moved a bit south (still too far from the school. Well, only 10 miles but round trip, picking him up takes me about an hour) and off he went, just 3 days after his little brother was born. Talk about transitions! Tomorrow we need to bring his re-enrollment paperwork to school. I think we're going to keep him in that school. The teachers are really nice and the philosophy of the school (students first) is definitely attractive. But two things have me wonder:
1- He still doesn't understand much French and is VERY frustrated. He doesn't listen during class because it's hard to focus when you don't understand what is being said. I am trying to talk to him in French more but he says "Mama, speak English (which sounds like "Enguh-lish!")". He cries almost every morning and finds new excuses not to go to class. He's really not liking this school too much. To be fair, he also had issues with his school last year, so it's not this particular school that he doesn't like, but the fact that he doesn't understand anything 3 hours per day is not helping.
2- The French system focuses a lot on play. I think it's great. Kids have plenty of time to focus on schooling. But if we decide to put Léo in public school when he's 6, I'm afraid he's going to be late. In France, you start learning to read and write at 6, in 1st grade. Here in the US, you start to read and write at 4 or 5. You arrive in 1st grade ready to learn math, pretty much. This year for instance, Léo's teacher told us students learn to recognize numbers from 1-3. Great. Except Léo had done that last year, from 1-10 pretty much. I see friends' kids the same age as Léo already adding numbers. And as much as I don't want to compare, I also don't want him to be late and made fun of when he arrives in public school.
So I think we're going to re-enroll him, because, well, it's too late now that the deadline is tomorrow (resolution for 2015: be more organized. No kidding. That's my resolution. Case in point!). I hope he's going to like his school, learn French, let me talk to him in French, watch cartoons in French, and learn as much as his American peers. The pressure. And he's only THREE!
1 comment:
Whoa gal! Who are you hanging out with?! Genius children! I'm sorry Leo isn't loving school. I'd probably be frustrated too with a lot of words I don't understand, even thought I think it's awesome you've chosen this school for him! Oliver is in TK right now - because his birthday was two weeks before the deadline, we kept him back. So, he'll be starting Kindergarten at 6 in the public school. I worried he would be the oldest in TK. NOPE. Half of his class is older than him - with even May and June birthdays! And many (most? all?) do NOT know how to read. I've helped in his class, and some have just barely learned to write their names. His is not a heavily academic school, much more developmental and play focused, so I've been working with him on practicing reading and sight words, etc. at home. But I have several friends with older children in the same public school O will go to, and they said the kids will all be taught the basics of letters and reading and numbers and counting in Kindergarten because a LOT of kids don't know them yet. Even things like tying shoes, etc. get worked on in Kinder. I have barely just started teaching Oliver addition with numbers, and they haven't begun learning it at all in his class! Eeek. I get stressed about all of this stuff too. I just ordered some sight word books from Amazon and a Leap Frog reading DVD and I get stressed when I read reviews from moms saying their 3 year olds are reading all to themselves now! What?! Sometimes I think we do put too much pressure on ourselves. My mom was a great mom, but she never worried about this stuff or teaching me this stuff at home. She was like, "that's the school's job!" While I don't have the same view, I DID learn to read and write and go to college...so...! p.s.this is the readiness checklist for our school (pages 12 - 13). I think O has it down, except he writes his name all in caps. So now I'm freaking about that! I guess I need to practice lowercase with him and spend less time on Facebook! http://ogres.capousd.ca.schoolloop.com/file/1218999040030/1218996696468/5772129340383977121.pdf
Post a Comment