Back to School

Now that it is the end of August, the Back to School season is upon us. We’re lucky to be in France for this period, where the COVID-19 pandemic is under control and children are able to go to school without too many disruptions. After our vacation in the United States this summer, it was obvious that this was not going to be the case there. I’ve seen images of children as young as 5 years old in front of a computer screen at their house for their first day of Kindergarten. As a parent I can’t imagine that situation, and am so happy it won’t be the case for our family.

Heading back to school is a fun time. It’s the moment when we get all new school supplies, with that new Back to School smell. The pencils are sharp, the folders are unblemished, and the papers are all blank, ready for work to be done. Our daughter Miriam loves getting that stuff. In addition, as fall approaches, it’s a nostalgic time when we think back to previous Back to School moments, and how much we have to look forward to this school year.

The French school year starts the first week of September, and never before. In fact this year, Miriam goes to school on the 1st of September, which is a Tuesday. French children start later than many Americans, who are already in school by mid or late August, but they end much later, typically the first week of July. Even more different, this year Miriam’s school has removed those last few days in July and has replaced them with Saturday mornings. This is not completely unheard of in France. I’m not sure how well it would go over back in the States.

French kids get a lot of vacations to keep them in school until the end of June. They get two weeks off for Halloween, Christmas, Winter, and Easter, respectively. That divides the year up into periods of about six or seven weeks, with two week vacations between them. In elementary school, and perhaps middle school, French schoolchildren also stay home on Wednesdays. As parents it’s not really ideal, and many mothers who work have either negociated a schedule on which they don’t work on Wednesdays, or have found a caretaker for Wednesdays, and often other days as well, to pick the kids up from school. It’s definitely a complaint I have with the French system, which I see as hurting the family, as well as creating a sort of underclass of immigrant or poor babysitters. We’re lucky to have my wife at home to deal with this schedule, but it definitely isn’t ideal to constantly have the schoolyear be broken up by two week periods of vacation, after which Miriam is more reluctant to go back to school, or for her to be home every Wednesday.

This will be Miriam’s third and final year of Ecole Maternelle, which is like Preschool. This year, Grande Section, is the equivalent of Kindergarten in the USA. On the one hand, I think it’s exciting that she’s finally the same age I was when I first went to school, but on the other hand, it’s a little anticlimatic since she has already been going to school for two years, and is still in Maternelle.

In any case, we’re excited to start the school year, partly because it will mean Miriam will get back to school to interact more in French, and will leave my wife a bit more peace and quiet at the house. Obviously with the COVID-19 pandemic and schools being out for much of last year, she has dealt with two little kids at the house for months extra. This will be a nice break for her, albeit not a real break since she still has our son Daniel with her.

We know the first day is always difficult. No matter what Miriam says in the days leading up to the First Day of School, she is reluctant to the point of tears to leave the house on that morning. As the week progresses, she is quickly reminded of how much she enjoys school, and is okay to leave the house. We’re looking forward the most to that time.