The end of school, the start of summer.

I always remember the last day of school being a big deal. Less so when I was in university but up until high school the excitement of being on summer break was incredible. Today was Maximilien's last day of petit section of maternelle. Bittersweet? Not really. More sweet than bitter. His first year was disappointing. Perhaps less for Max who at four rarely experiences disappointment except when his play mobil breaks or he has to go down the long slide when we play Chutes and ladders. But as for me a parent of my child starting his first year of school in France, I am disappointed. Without going into great detail about his teacher, I will tell you that seems that she may not be teaching next year and that she made this year feel like it was her year to just get through it. I learned this pretty quickly after the beginning of the year. I chose not to blog about it because I didn't want to perpetuate my disappointment. Instead, I talked to my father, who was a teacher, and asked him for advice. I decided where I felt Maximilien's teacher was lacking I would pick up the slack and then some. And to make it more interesting I only teach Maximilien in English. Apparently by the end of the petit section a child is supposed to be able to draw a detailed stick man. This is what we were told during the parent's meeting at the beginning of the year. Max could already draw a pretty detailed stick man at the BEGINNING of the school year. Last week, Maximilien's Friday teacher mentioned to me that Max really couldn't draw a stick man. I asked her if that meant he failed petit section? She laughed and said oh they don't grade the children at this age. But she did mention that he would need to work on it over the summer. We came home that night and I took out a piece of paper and asked Max to draw me a stick man and he drew a butterfly instead:

 

I found this pretty impressive. The butterfly has a face and is multi-colored and it looks like a butterfly.  But then I asked him why he drew a butterfly instead of a stickman. He told me that he doesn't like being told what to draw. Then he took another piece of paper and drew me a stick man in three seconds flat with eyes, ears, shoes, shirt, hands and hair.

What Maximilien needs to work on over the summer is listening. Not drawing a stick man. His teacher telling me that he needs to work on drawing a stick man annoys me.

Talking about this with Julien he told me that he has the exact same problem at his age. The only teachers he excelled with were the ones who had "serrer la vise" (tighten the screws) with him. Maximilien needs an teacher who exudes authority. His two teachers this year did not do that.

So, moving on... Last day of school today! Yeah! Max was excited this morning. He wanted to wear all green to school:

Check him out at the beginning of the school year:

Today, I asked him what he did at school just like I did every other day of  and he said the same response, "I don't know". I smiled at him and said, "ok".  A good friend told me at the beginning of the school year that I shouldn't stress Max about the details of what he does at school all day. I don't know why I have this very strong urge to KNOW what he is doing at school. I guess growing up with parents who were teachers made me curious about this.  Growing up we always talked about what we did at school. It was a dinner time ritual to go around the table and talk about out day. I really liked that.  Where in the US things are very transparent between the teachers and parents, in France it's all very closed door and hard to get any details about anything. This has been our experience so far. It's only the first year and next year is a new year and I am looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, Alixe is enjoying her days at the creche. She is the youngest in her class but you would think she was one of the oldest. She's taller than most of the kids in her class. What sets her apart is that she isn't talking yet. Just a few key words here and there. She says Mama, Ma (Max), Pee Pee, Lo Lo (for water and milk) and Julien confirms that she does not say Dada yet. And the key words she used a lot are "ça" (pronounced sa) and "la". This and that.

Can you guess what she's saying here?

I've got another school year to go before Alixe starts school. At La Rentrée 2012 she sill be just over 2.5 years old. I am confident she will be ready for school by then. Every morning, she goes with Julien to drop Maximilien off at school. She walks Max into his classroom and sits right down and start to color with the other kids. Apparently, it's a battle every morning getting her to leave to go next door to the creche. This summer, we will start working on potty training for little miss. She already tells us when she needs to go pee pee on the potty and she's pretty good at doing that. Potty trained by two. I am READY for this. :)

We just need to get through the month of July and then we'll be on vacation. We will be heading to our beloved island, Belle ile en Mer. I wish we could leave tomorrow...

A year ago, Alixe was just 8 months old and Maximilien was three.

I wish we could leave tomorrow...

Comments

[Mary Anne]

ahhh, We have had those years too...and as a teacher I find it very very difficult. My kids seem to bounce through ok, and continue to excel. Max is such a bright child, and his drawing skills are far beyond his years, and I think that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. It goes against every thing taught in early childhood education schools here in the US. But, he will be just fine. :) Oh, and as a teacher, I always tell my 3 year old parents to remember that 3 year olds are "forward thinkers". The past is done, and what they want to talk about is what is next. Therefore, almost every 3 year old answers "I don't know." Trust me, that will change soon enough!
Miss Alixe sounds just like her cousin Sarah(who had no more words than that at her age) Now, we can't get her to be quiet!
:)Have a wonderful vacation full of learning by playing and making all kinds of memories! :) Best learning there is!
love you guys....

[stefanie]

ah....seeing those pictures reminds me of what an awesome time we had last summer! We also used to go around the dinner table and talk about what we did at school that day. Maybe that is because my mom is also a teacher. Sliman and I still do that and I always ask how Lilah spent the day with the nanny.

[The Bold Soul]

Just to make you feel better (or if not better than maybe feel not alone in this), in the 3+ years I've known Georges and his kids, I have never once gotten a detailed answer to "What did you do at school today?" Sometimes he'll volunteer information later on, but never under direct questioning. So I stopped asking and instead now I ask "Did you have a good day at school? How was the pool/the after school activity/whatever else special might have happened that day that I knew about in advance?" Instead of worrying about what he actually does all day (I would love to know, too) I now concern myself more with his overall attitude and energy surrounding his day. If he comes out in a good mood, with good energy, then I know all went well. Some days maybe something didn't go right, and I alert his father so they can discuss it later together, just in case there's a problem with another kid or something (when he was 6 there was a 9-year old trying to shake him down for cold, hard cash, and he was really scared to go to school until his parents went to school over it). You are absolutely right about the lack of transparency in the schools here, that has been my experience too. It's like "their" world (both teachers and students) and they run it the way they want. Georges has been an involved parent, he was on the parents' board for a couple of years so that's how we knew more about what was happening, but otherwise it's not easy to get information out of anyone, be it your child or the educators. Our cleaning lady has been having a tough time dealing with the school directrice (same school as our kid) whom all the parents seem to hate, and who doesn't seem to give a crap about a bigger kid knocking a smaller kid to the ground (for example). Now there is a rumor this woman is going to move on to some other position outside this school and all the parents have their fingers crossed because she's just horrible.

At some point maybe you or Julien could find opportunities to volunteer on parents' groups at the kids' school. I suspect that kind of networking is key.

[Marion]

Hi Aimee,

If that's any reassurance, my mom was told 25+ years ago by my sister's maternelle teacher, in the most serious tone: "Madame, votre fille ne sait pas dessiner un bonhomme"..... while my sister was probably the most creative and arty of the three of us. 25 years down the line and my sister has a degree in history of art and works the Musee de Cluny.... making drawings and all other forms of art the centre of her life! It's scary to see the French education system hasn't really evolved in two decades, but hopefully this is down to individual teachers and I hope that Max will find a fantastic and positive teacher next year!