In which Rebekah discusses schools

Our plan from the beginning has been to send our children to the French public schools rather than choosing to send them to an American or British school. It is very important to us that they learn to speak French, and they will do that most quickly and most successfully if they are spending several hours each day immersed in a French language environment instead of only a few hours a week learning French in French class.

While Blaise was in Nancy at a conference at the end of June, Michele (our landlady) and I took the kids to the Mairie (town hall) and registered Sapphire and Ezio for elementary school and Cherry for preschool. I was a bit worried that we might not have all of the documentation that we needed, but it turned out that I had our documentation. Michele needed to go back and pick up an electric bill and identity card to prove her identity and that she owned the apartment, but we managed to get the registration done. The woman who registered us recommended that we stop by the school after lunch and drop off our registration cards.

One of the biggest selling (renting) points for the apartment that we're in is that the elementary school that children in this complex attend is just out our back window, probably a 2 or 3 minute walk away. It has both an elementary school and a maternelle, or preschool, in separate buildings and with their own play areas. This was the school that the Mairie registered us at, and the school that we walked to after lunch.

The headmistress of the maternelle was very friendly. She assured me that Cherry would pick up French quickly, probably within a month or two. They had had other non French speakers in the past and they had all learned the language quickly. She gave us a tour of the building (Cherry loved the pint sized potties) and a book (in French) about the first day of school. She also told us that she is the teacher for the youngest kids, so Cherry will have her for class.

The headmistress at the elementary school was less helpful. Apparently there is a different elementary school that is much further away and in a rougher part of town which has most of the French as a second language students (and no others). She wanted to send Sapphire and Ezio there. We don't. We want them at the school across the street for many reasons, and in most places in France, they would go to the local elementary because there isn't a French as a second language school. So, Sapphire and Ezio have been working their tails off on Rosetta Stone this summer. Sapphire has been doing work out of French workbooks as well.

This morning, I mailed a letter (in French!) to the headmistress at the school outlining my reasons for wanting my children to be at the school across the street. The letter was vetted ahead of time by a friend of Blaise whose wife happens to be the headmistress at an elementary school in central France. The letter should arrive at the school tomorrow, though I don't know whether the headmistress will be there or not. I'm hoping to hear something from her in the next week or so, though I've been told that she probably doesn't have to return to the school until the 31st of August.

If you are a praying person, would you be willing to keep this in your prayers? If the headmistress refuses to allow them to attend the local school, we'll be forced to look into private schools or homeschooling.