This must be the number one question that I have gotten from friends and family lately, so I thought it was high time for an update.
The kids are adjusting to school. They seem to like it, actually. They have both made great friends at school, which helps. I have made friends with a lot of the parents at the school which helps too. Everyone is very nice, and very helpful, and everyone - students, teachers, and parents alike are capable of speaking English - which helps a lot.
Cooper and Addie both have an English teacher and a German teacher. They are taught some courses in German, some in both languages, and some courses in English. Their course subjects include Math, Science, Social Studies, German Reading and Writing, and English Reading and Writing (including cursive with a fountain pen). They also have Arts and Crafts, Library time, and Gym Class throughout the week. Cooper and Addie both have expressed frustration that they don't understand much when only German is being spoken - but that is to be expected. However, I must say that their German is coming along quite nicely. Slowly but surely. I'm pretty sure that they will be teaching us German really soon.
Public school here compared to public school in Texas is very similar in some ways and very different in
many other ways. Here's a brief rundown...
Similarities:
KIDS DON'T TALK MUCH - It's just as hard to drag out details about how school is going from the kids. No matter how many detailed questions I ask, I can only get a very vague picture of what is actually going on at school. But overall - the responses are positive.
HOMEWORK - So far the kids have about the same amount of homework. There is usually homework and reading every day, along with a list of weekly spelling words. Most of the time Friday's are a little more lax, and homework is less or none.
Differences:
SCHOOL DAY LENGTH - The school day is much shorter here. School begins at 8am and ends at 12pm or 1pm depending on the day.
DISMISSAL - Time of dismissal varies by day, can also vary week to week, and sometimes can change with only 24hrs notice. (I think this is a lesson in flexiblity.) Dismissal time also varies between classes! (this has been the hardest thing to adjust to for me - the pick-up lady, it makes things very difficult when it takes 30 minutes to get to school (with two very tired little boys, mind you) and then Cooper gets out at 12 and Addie gets out at 1pm. We get to sit and wait around for an hour?!) Luckily, I've met a mom with siblings in the same classes as mine, who actually lives very near me - and we have teamed up to trade pick-ups and avoid these hour long waits. Who'da thunk, right?
SWIMMING?! - Cooper gets to have swim lessons during school. From now until mid November, his whole class travels to an indoor swimming pool for swim lessons every Friday. Cooper is learning breast stroke this week. He digs it.
HOUSE SHOES - Every morning, upon arrival, the kids go to a cloak room where they take off their jackets (or other external wear (the kids wear full on snow suits on super cold days) and change out of their street shoes into house shoes (crocs, or other slippers only worn inside the school) to wear for the remainder of the day.
PERMANENT CLASS - The teachers and classes remain the same for all four years of elementary school. Meaning your first grade teacher moves up with you for second, third, and fourth grade as well, along with your classmates. Because of this policy. The teachers and the students (and parents) feel very tightly knit and cohesive as a class. There is a bit of class pride that I can sense as well.
SUPER TEACHERS - The class teacher is also the gym teacher, the librarian, the art teacher, and so forth. The staff at the schools is very small. These teachers do it all and esentially never get a break by sending them off to "specials" during the day. (no wonder they end so early in the day, right?)
SCHOOL LUNCH - The kids do not eat lunch in the cafeteria at school. There is no cafeteria at the school for that matter. The parents are encouraged to pack a healthy "snack" for their child each day. About every hour or two, the kids have a snack break. They take out their cloth napkin, spread it on their desk, and eat their snack. Since they have so many oppurtunities to eat, I pack essentially the same amount of food (and very similar items) as I used to pack for their lunch at school. They usually end up eating it all throughout the morning.
STAIRS - The school is inside an old Vienese building, on the first five floors. Lots of stairs.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION - For gym class, the kids actually change out of their street clothes, and into a t-shirt and gym shorts. They go barefoot to gym class. Natural minimalists, I suppose.
DRESSING OUT - The boys and girls all change into their gym clothes in the SAME room - together (GASP!) As mentioned before, Austrians have a completely different (much more relaxed) attidude about nudity and privacy. So, where it would be a HUGE issue and concern for many Americans, it seems to be no big deal for the kids (or parents) here to have the kids change together. Cooper and Addie were appalled when I warned them of this policy - but they both seemed fine after they realized that none of the kids make a big deal of it, or stare, or snigger, or giggle, or poke fun. It's just normal here.
RELIGION - In addition to course subjects, an hour of religion is taught once a week. We had the choice between Catholic, Prodestant, or Islamic religion classes. We also could choose to opt out completely, and the kids could go and sit in a room by themselves and do worksheets, if prefered. After talking with the parents and teachers, we found out that about 85% of the class stays in the Catholic religion class - and that generally it indludes bible stories, children's songs, and lessons about Christian values and moral standards. We talked to our kids about it and they said they would prefer to stay with the majority of the class. So far they have really enjoyed it, and they have learned some really cute new songs about Christ - in GERMAN!
PARENT/TEACHER COMMUNICATION - This is a doozy for me. I still haven't quite figured this one out. There is one little notebook in which the teachers paste notes about happenings in the class, upcoming events, and forms to sign and return, and then there is another notebook in which the kids write their homework assignments. But between everything being in German - and most of it being severely abbreviated (German abbreviations make NO sense to me), I don't understand about 95% of it. But between what the kids have heard, and what I can get from other parent friends, we've made it this far...
SCHOOL BAGS - It is highly reccomended that every grammar school student wear a hard framed back pack. These are heavy and horribly big, but I've seen them on almost all of the students. When I inquired as to why they are so highly reccommended, a teacher told me (very seriously) that the hard frame of these school bags serve as more of a protection to the students in case of an acciddent, like getting hit by a car during the commute to school. Interesting reasoning, I think. However, I think more than anything, it's just one of those culture things that they just do here.
We have not yet adopted this part of the culture, but we'll be sure to look both ways for cars.