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.)

Flying Solo with Young Children: Single Parent Hacks

February 10, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Travel, Reflections on Parenting

One of the most daunting aspects of our family trip to France this past year was knowing that I would be parenting alone for a month and then flying home with my three young children on two flights (totaling 9 hours) until we could rejoin my husband in Oregon. Thankfully, those experiences were mostly smooth, and not worth stressing over far in advance (as we parents are prone to do). Recently, however, one of my close friends told me that she will be flying alone with her three children on more than twenty hours of flights, and she's asked me for advice. Here are the hacks I suggest:

Beginning February: L'Amour and Crêpes

February 01, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Cultural Reflections, French Culture, Home Management

Février est arrivée--Now that it's February, I'm glad to guide my children through some simple activities connected to love and light. One of the clearest descriptions of love, the apostle Paul's summary in 1 Corinthians 13, lends itself to a simple bilingual project:

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:

My Focus for 2016: Less Fun, More Joy

January 19, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Home Management, Reflections on Parenting

January is more than half over but I'm still planning and gaining momentum for the year ahead. I'm grateful for the awe-inspiring blessings God provided for my family in 2015--a baby boy, an extended stay in France, and a plot of land (here in Oregon) on which we plan to build a home. That said, 2016 will be a work-heavy year for me as we get deeper into homeschooling, homebuilding, and parenting. Knowing this, my focus this year is self-discipline. That doesn't sound very appealing, does it? None of us like putting ourselves in painful situations or depriving ourselves of fun experiences, but that's not quite what I mean. Instead, I plan to focus on these two points in 2016:

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:

Joyeux Noël & A Podcast about Our Family Language Trip

December 23, 2015 by Michele Cherie in International Exchange, Education, Learning Resources, Reflections on Parenting, Travel

Joyeux Noël, les amis! Yes, Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas! I have a little gift for you if you listen to podcasts and are interested in traveling as a family to help you or your children improve your bilingual skills! You see, Marianna DuBosq at Bilingual Avenue has just released the 100th episode of the Bilingual Avenue podcast, and in this episode, Polish mama & translator Hanna Cheda and I share about how we took our families overseas for amazing language immersion experiences. I give details about how we saved money for the trip, how my children handled the experience, and how I enrolled my daughter in a French school. Hanna shares about locating affordable family housing and finding free immersion experiences for children. I hope you love what you learn!

3 Short Bedtime Questions that Help Me Understand My Children

November 23, 2015 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Reflections on Parenting

Every parenting book and magazine seems to point out the importance of having a bedtime routine to help children prepare to sleep, but my favorite part of our children's bedtime routine is the part that helps me understand who they are and what they value. You see, I ask the same three simple questions every night, but hearing their unique and changing answers has taught me quite a lot about their interests, perceptions, and personalities. It's also helped me understand some of the tough emotional situations that I couldn't untangle during the day. Here's what I ask (in French, but also included here in English):