117 Hours.....

Cue music......."Schooools out for tha' summer!"........ okay--now cue the screeching of the needle across the vinyl record...because we are NOT out.  Here in France, or maybe just here in Normandy....we are still in school-----until July 7th!  So the rest of you can just pipe-down! Seriously. (No, just kidding--sorta.)

What makes it worse is that it has been decided that both 'garcons' will repeat or 'double' (as they say here) in the same grade-level next year. So what is the point of these last few weeks of school anyway knowing that they will have a second go at it next fall?

Oldest Garcon is changing schools and Middle Garcon is staying at his adorably cute tiny little school (11 kids in his class) just down the road.  We are not upset about this.  I think we half expected it.  Both boys with zero knowledge of the French language have managed to survive in all-French-speaking, writing, teaching schools ... survival being the key term here. ( I think it's 'survivre' in French, but I am not sure).

We had high-hopes that the children would pick up French tout de suite having pliable-ready to learn-sponge-like brains that they have...but alas! That is apparently just for video-games!  But we have to give them props for trying a little--even though they are not fluent-- after-all, they did go to school every day with minimal rebellion and complaints.  Although to be truthful, there were some tears in those first few months...(okay, so they were mine!)  But it's tough to see your kiddos struggle, and remember I was teaching English at Oldest Garcon's school at the start of the school year so I got to see first-hand how tough it was for him.  Visualize this my Mama-friends---your child in a sea of 'foreign-speaking' school mates (around 500 or so)....sitting ALONE in the middle of the crowded lunch-room, head-down, staring at his plate.  That was my boy--my funny, out-going, sweet kid---without a friend to eat lunch with (a 90 minute lunch mind-you.)  I got to see that as I was sitting across the room at the teacher's table.  Did I go to his rescue?  Heck-yeah!   I didn't care if it was uncool for him to be talking to his Mom at school--and guess what?  He appreciated it.  I sat with him for a few minutes and I am happy to report on subsequent days he did get on fine and made a Fran-glais or Ang-cais buddy who saved the day. The only other English speaker in his grade.  This friend will be so missed when he switches schools next fall--but his current school, a flashy-pricey private school has not lived up to it's promise of mono-lingual integration and we can't have him academically suffering another year...and not being taught at least a bit of French during the school day, as promised, to keep him at his school level.

Middle Garcon has lived up to his super-star rep.  He speaks and understands more French than any of us....but the caveat? Only when he wants to.  His teachers think he is darling...and he is.  He is the tiniest guy in his class so 'doubling' will actually be a bonne idée.  And because his class is split with first and second grade together, he will be with the same teacher and kids from this year and that is going to be really good for him.  He is very smart, his French-script is really coming along, and he has a few friends so I have continued optimism that he will be just fine.

Then there is my French! Remember my eluding to pending deportation?  Well let's just say that the French government takes fluency in the national language very, very seriously.  But quelle dommage!  I am out of time!
 .......To be continued mes amis!  Until then--enjoy your last few hours of kids-are-in-school bliss...your last days or hours are waning---Et moi?  I've got 13 school days left to go--that's 117 garcon-less hours, that's 7,020 minutes of  "I-can-clean-their-rooms-and-it-will-stay-that-way-for-at-least-8-hours" -bliss--and I intend to make the most if it!