Library Visits in France & the Children's Books We Loved There

March 01, 2016 by Michele Cherie in French Language Learning, French Resources, Travel

Bonjour! The rain is pouring down, but spring is whispering from around the corner here in Oregon--there are little purple crocuses blooming in our front yard and yellow forsythia blossoms beckoning from the backyard. Nonetheless, today I'm taking you back to our summer travels in France to share about the library books my children enjoyed during our stay there. (I'll link to them on Amazon so you can obtain them if you're in the U.S. or Canada.) We visited libraries everywhere we traveled in France, and we were thrilled to obtain a library card in Lyon during the last two months of our France stay. (I simply needed to sign a form swearing to our address in France, however temporary it was.)

Playing in Paris with Little Ones: What Local Families Know

January 29, 2016 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, French Language Learning, Travel

Bonjour les amis! We've been back from France for four months now and I'm feeling the distance. It's been nice to send and receive new year's cards this month (as the French do so throughout the month of January), but a completely unreasonable part of me wishes we could have stayed for the whole school year! Some of you are hoping to take your children to Paris someday soon just as my husband and I did. If you go, you should know about these two lesser-known family-oriented places that will give your children opportunities to play and speak in French:

A French Language Progress Update: 3 Months After Our Extended Stay in France

December 29, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Language Learning, Reflections on Parenting, Travel

This past Christmas Eve marked three months since my children and I returned from France, so it's fair to say that the French usage patterns that we still have now are the patterns that will endure for a while. Before we left I was so curious about how an extended stay in France would affect and impact our family's bilingual development! Everyone knows that language immersion will improve one's ability to understand and use a language, but exactly how much language fluency can a child gain in a few months of immersion? Here's what happened for our family:

How I Enrolled My Child in Preschool in France (for one month)

November 05, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Education, French Culture, French Language Learning, International Exchange, Travel

Bonjour les amis! Je m'excuse--I've chosen to focus on homeschooling and homemaking lately, and I took an unforeseen break from blogging. Nonetheless, I missed writing and I definitely look forward to the times I get to reconnect with you. Today I want to answer a question posted on Intentional Mama's Facebook page about exactly how I managed to enroll my three-year-old son in public preschool while we lived in Lyon, France. We were only there until the end of September, but attending French school was an opportunity I didn't want my son to miss! I can't promise that you or your friend would be able to enroll your child based on these two steps, but honestly the process was far easier that I expected and it's worth trying!

On Returning to Oregon

October 02, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Language Learning, Travel, Cultural Reflections, French Culture

We'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.

French Schools Follow-Up: Summarizing My Children's Immersion Experiences

September 16, 2015 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, Travel, Education, French Language Learning

This 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!

La Rentrée: A Tale of Two Schools

September 01, 2015 by Michele Cherie in International Exchange, Education, French Language Learning, French Culture

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:

Family, Food, and Friends: One Week in Bretagne

July 27, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Travel, Contentment, French Culture, French Language Learning, International Exchange

I'm writing you with a full stomach and a contented heart because we've just spent a week in Bretagne (Brittany in English). Bretagne is on France's northwestern coast below Normandy, and it's a popular vacation destination for Parisians who want get out of the city. It's an area with Celtic culture that can be seen in the age-old erected menhirs and dolmens--great Stonehenge-like monoliths that you might recall from Asterix comic books. We didn't see those rocks, though we enjoyed hiking among similar ones with my distant relatives. Actually, I should say my probable relatives--we haven't proved we're related, but genealogy suggests we are and we share a variation of my maiden name. I enjoyed staying with this retired couple ten years ago, and this past week my husband and children got to join me in experiencing their amazing hospitality.