Purposeful family living - with a French twist
Bonjour! I'm Michele Cherie: francophile, teacher, writer, runner, wife, and mama to five children. I'm a non-native French speaker from the West Coast, USA. My husband and I recently relocated our family to Alsace, France. IntentionalMama shares our bilingual journey and resources for a culturally-rich family life.
Last week I received a request for tips for traveling in France with very young children, and how to avoid stressful moments with them when possible. As I look back on our three months in France (and especially our two weeks in Paris), here's what I learned that made our family vacation and travel times easier:
Read MoreWe're back in Oregon! I'm a bit embarrassed to tell you that we've returned because I wasn't able to blog consistently from Lyon like I had hoped, but now that we are home I can still share posts about France in retrospect. How are you? Have you settled into a school routine? Can you believe it's already October and we're entering the last quarter of the year?!
Winding down and preparing to leave Lyon was emotionally difficult because our rented apartment felt like home from the start, particularly because we loved getting to know our new neighbors and we jumped right into school and meal routines.
Read MoreThis week marks the third week my children have attended school here in France, with my preschooler attending public school and my elementary-age child attending a private school. I'm extremely grateful that they've had this opportunity, and yet we're all glad that we will return to homeschooling (back in the U.S.) by next month. The flexibility and individualization allowed by homeschooling is wonderful, but we still feel that our time here in Lyon is wrapping up too quickly!
Bonjour again from Lyon! This is my family's first extended stay in France, so it's also the first time I've had the role of preparing meals for my children here. Living here has improved my meal planning skills and expanded our palates, I'm glad to say! I've consistently tried to plan French meals so my children can enjoy one of the best aspects of living in France--the food and the culture surrounding it. Here's what I'm doing differently here:
La rentrée has arrived: today marked the first day back to school for the vast majority of French students. My two oldest children went to school for the first time ever, since last year we homeschooled my daughter for kindergarten and my son was too young to attend. Here in France, however, I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for my children to be immersed in French, make friends, and experience school in another country. Here's how I enrolled them for a month and how the first day went:
Read MoreBonjour les amis! I've just posted the winner of The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children, signed by author Kim Horton Levesque. (You can read the interview with her here if you missed it.) It was a bit tricky to post that information since we're currently in the Alps with no WiFi access! Honestly though, it's refreshing to finally be somewhere with almost no Internet access. Instead of occasionally checking email and social media accounts like Instagram, I'm taking walks with my children and my former host family, and cooking and cleaning and playing--you know, living, but with no online distractions.
Read MoreLes amis, I'm delighted to share this interview featuring Kim Horton Levesque, whose sweet and informative guidebook Paris with Children was published in 2013. Actually, the full title is The Little Bookroom Guide to Paris with Children: Play, Eat, Shop, Stay. A dear friend sent me this book before our current stay in France, and I couldn't have been more thrilled! Kim's informative, pocket-sized guide is a mama's dream guide to Paris, listing kid-friendly cafés, children's shops, favorite family parks, and more. Even better, you can win a signed copy of her book by leaving a comment on this blog post (details below). Without further ado, here's my interview with Kim:
Bonjour, mes amis, from Lyon! it's been seven years since I was last in this city. It's wonderful to be back and to see Lyon looking vibrant with its squares and monuments restored. Because it's August, many residents are on vacation and tourists have taken their place, but still, the city just shines with its lovely architecture and views. Maybe it also shimmers because of the heat--It was 35-39 degrees Celcius all last week (95-102 degrees F) until a weekend thunderstorm rolled in and brought relief.
My husband ran the 100m dash this last week in the World Masters track meet--I'm so proud of him, and impressed that he ran it in 11.74 seconds despite the scorching heat! He'll long jump this week as well. The Masters' meets are open to non-professional adult athletes age 35 or older with an official mark to submit. Participants compete against others in a five-year age range. A few days ago, for example, I watched a a group of 85-90 year old women from around the world run the 100m, and they looked amazingly fit. It's so inspiring!