Back to school, Part II

Hello again, dear Reader (and I do realize there is just one of you... Hello, Aunt Anne).

Fall must really be here, despite what the calendar says. It's dark now by 9 pm! Oh, the joys of living so far north...

P. has adjusted to being back in school relatively smoothly. He does have more periods this week - a total of 21 45-minute periods a week, with as many as 3 help periods. The 3 help periods are for Math, German, and Reading & Writing. I don't yet know how those last two differ; we're to learn at a parents' evening next week. P's presence has been requested in German help this week.

Do I like the primary school system here better than in the US? Hard to say; there are pros and cons. As said before, the practice of keeping the same teacher for 4 years can be either a pro or a con. At least the teacher knows the children very well when, at the end of primary school, they make the potentially life-altering decision of which school the children are suited for - Gymnasium (roughly equivalent to a U.S. high school); Realschule (a high school with the goal of getting the students out into apprenticeships) and Hauptschule (very basic schooling; ends at 10th grade).

Ok, so I'm not really thrilled at the idea of a fate determining decision for my kids at the age of 10. But we'll work with it when the time comes.

I also have a hard time with the variable length of the school day. It should be pointed out though, that all the Germans I know find this completely normal, so it just might be me. On some days, school starts at 8:10; others, 8:55, and lasts from 3 - 5 periods for P. If it weren't for the after-school program, which I use partly to smooth out the days, I'd be in trouble (I admit it - I might forget my child one day because I mixed up days!). There also seems to be a lot of changes in schedule - adding a period here, subtracting there, based largely, it seems, on the availability of teachers and funding. I may have that wrong however; there might be deep and profound reasons P.'s schedule changed 6 times last year.

However, I really like the fact that they have started off putting these extra help periods into the school day from the start, and that there seems to be no stigma among the kids that anyone is in one of these sessions. The teacher changes that part of the schedule often - a child might be in Math Help for 3 weeks, overlapping 2 with Reading/Writing, etc.

I also have to give kudos to the after-school program. Really, it starts before school, as they are there from 7:30 for any kids who have later class-start. Then it goes to 4 pm, which really is a bit short for full-time working parents, but it's a start. In between they have homework help, games and crafts with their "teachers" (in quotes only because the Germans don't call them teachers; the term they use, Erzieher/in*, is more like "educator"). Soon they will be offering special interest programs in the afternoon - from exploring the woods to puppet theater to kid yoga - they are constantly on the lookout for new ideas and leaders. At some point I'd like to work with the older kids on English, maybe starting them on Dr. Suess or something like that.

Meanwhile, A. has enthusiastically reentered Kindergarten (a combination of Kindergarden and Preschool in the US). After some real program problems last year, it would seem that the Kindergarten is getting its act together. I, however, never satisfied, am picking a fight with them about how they are structuring the lunch program. More on that later.

the d.h.


* Off subject, but: German professions almost always have a masculine/feminine form - like teacher / teacheress.