Covid 19 Lock Down : My house is my school

France has been locked down from 17/03/2020 to 10/05/2020 due to Corona virus outbreak. The school was closed, and will only reopen on 14 May, under some restrictions:

1. Each class will only have maximum 15 kids

2. Half day school with no canteen and no after school care provided

3. Each student will come two mornings per week

4. Students should keep their distance. They are not allowed to play together

5. School will not provide face mask, students can bring their own

Since the school can't bring back everyone (all classes have more than 15 students), the school principal had created a survey to know how many kids would go back to school. We decided to not send the kids back due to these reasons:

1. We are both working from home, we should leave the spot to parents who need it

2. Our kids don't want to go back after hearing that they can't play with their friends

3. Our kids have never worn a facemask, we can't guarantee they would wear one at all time, there is a risk of contamination

Anyway, since 17/03, hubby has been their teacher. There was no online courses and there will never be one. Teachers send weekly workloads through the school principal by email. Hubby picks up the print out at school every Monday. He wakes them up on school days, and classes start around 8:30am, the same time as if they were at school.

The little one has no homework. She mostly just do colouring, writing ABCD, matching photos. Then playing all day. The big sister has a lot of work. She cried a lot because she didn't understand or did some mistake. Hubby has been patient, but he yelled at her sometimes.

It has been hard on hubby. He handles all the teaching and cooking, and only manages to work half day. My work has been busy since we are starting a new project. I thank him wholeheartly to contribute lots of his time to the family.

My only intervention is to ask them tidying up! I have bad mood when the house is messy.

My only regrets:

1. School year-end performance is cancelled. It was scheduled to be on the 2th of June, the big one has been practising a secret dance with her friends.

2. This is the last year in this school for both of them. I wish they have more time to say proper goodbye, but it seems that they won't go back to the school anymore. The summer holiday is just around the corner and it doesn't seem that the viruses would go away soon.

New school year 2018

The school year starts in general in Sept in France. I always wonder why they would "start" something in Sept, the 9th month of the year, instead of in January. When I told my coworkers about this, they can't imagine that in Malaysia we start the school year in January, and, without a long summer holiday break! Anyway, the girls were eager to go back to school.

Sept 2017

Sept 2018

Every morning except Wednesday during the week, I have to prepare them for school. I usually wake up earlier to prepare myself, then wake them up to have breakfast together. It was a stressful moment, as either they complained about the breakfast, or they fought, or they took their time for everything. Especially the youngest, she would first lay down in sofa, refused to eat anything. Then by the time everyone was done, she came and requested breakfast. Of course I refused, I didn't care if she went to school with empty stomach, I had already warned her enough about the consequence. At one point, the eldest required a different hair style per day, and she had it listed on a paper. Some of them took me 10 minutes, and sometime she changed her mind last minute.

The school gates open at different time as one is in primary and one is in kindergarten. I have to send the little one to her class, sometimes she wanted me to stay to see her play a game, to show me something she has learnt. When I finally managed to walk out of school, there was traffic jams waiting, and I showed up always a bit late at work. 

A morning kiss to her sister before entering their school compound (primary school and kindergarten are separated by a gate).

Schools here will have 6 or 7 weeks of classes, then follows by a 2 week break. A lot of parents appreciate the break, including me. The girls usually go to their grandparents, that leaves me some personal time, and very relax mornings. It is amazing how having kids and without kids can change one's day. 

After the break de la Toussaint, we suddenly manage to have less stressful mornings. Hubby wakes them up before going to work, and the youngest stopped laying down on sofa, instead she comes directly having breakfast with us. And most importantly, the eldest prepares breakfast for me, and she is very proud about it. I still have to rush the little one to eat faster, as she can spend all her time talking or day dreaming. The eldest is less picky about her hairstyle as well. Sometimes they are done earlier so they read on sofa or play together while waiting for me to get ready. I always try to clean up the kitchen after breakfast.

The little one was chosen as class representative. That was a surprise to me, but well three of them were chosen because there was a tied at vote for two of them. The election process was quit formal, they had to write the name of the person they chose on a paper and put it inside an envelope, and the teacher counted the vote by taking out the paper one by one. A democratic process at young age.

I always remind myself, that there is only less then 2 school years left that they will go to the same school together. At one point, the eldest will go to middle school, and they will each have their own circle of friends, and school life. Therefore, I should appreciate these mornings, when they are still eating and playing together.

Summer holidays childcare options

8 weeks of summer holidays could be a headache for parents who work. In my case, we use a combination of solutions:

1. Taking time off and heading for vacation somewhere with the kids

A week vacationing in the Alps mountains. Hiking, swimming, sightseeing. We got a rental apartment with my CE with subsidized rate. Hubby was pushing us almost everyday to go hiking somewhere. The little ones walked better than me. Aelig was sicked almost the whole week, she got red eye and running nose. She had to wrap her nose every two seconds and that irritated the skin under her nose, which made her very uncomfortable. Even so, she continued walking with us. Awena enjoyed so much indoor swimming she urged us to bring her there everyday.

Another week in Provence. I had always wanted to go to Provence to see the famous lavender fields. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the lavenders were already cut off where we stayed. It was Awena's round to get sick, she had sunburn and refused to go to the swimming pool as it was outdoor. Aelig on the other hand enjoyed the children club. She chose to stay with the club instead of heading out visiting the villages around with us. The rental was with hubby's CE, including three meals per day. Hassle free holidays indeed.

2. Working from home

My company allows working from home so I took advantage of it. The kids stayed with me for a week. The other week Aelig went for the summer camp and Awena stayed with me. When both were with me, I organized play date so that they got to have fun with their friends. They knew they shouldn't disturb me when I work. When Awena was with me without her sister, she played quietly beside and knew to not make noise when I was over the phone with someone.

3. Sending the kids to grandparents

We are lucky to have grandparents who are willing to take care of the kids. I entrusted them 100%. They eat and play well there. Went to the beaches 8 times. My MIL even had Aelig doing summer school exercises. They also got to visit some relatives, a real bonding time with the big family. Not forgetting, it also means parenting holidays for us! No kids for several weeks, it was heaven for me.

4. Going to work with the kid

When Aelig was in the summer camp, Awena went to work with hubby for a day. She was curious to see her dad's office. She went to have lunch with hubby and a coworker, and managed to take a nap in the office.

5. Summer camp

Aelig has participated in summer camps since 4 years old. She really enjoyed it, so we sent her to a different camp every year. They sleep in a tent, and was trained to participate in cooking. The Town Hall organizes an information session around March, and parents have to fight for a spot for those popular camps. One Saturday morning after the information session, hubby would be on his computer at 9am sharp, and fill the online form as quick as he could to secure a spot. Luckily, we always got what she wanted.

These were options we chose to make sure the kids have a fulfilling summer holidays. In the past, when we still had a babysitter, we paid her to take care of the kids. We also sent Aelig to leisure center. These options were quite expensive, we can't afford to do this the whole summer. Overall, its best to have family nearby who are willing to help. 

The unworthy mom

One morning, we arrived at school to discover that some students were in sportswear, a bus was waiting at the entrance. My daughter immediately realized she missed something : she forgot it was sport's day for her class! There were so many activities going on that I completely forgot as well. She cried, urging me to explain to her teacher what was going on.

Shame on me, I still walked toward the teacher. She was disturbed as my daughter didn't wear sport shoes. As for lunch, other students can share with her. I didn't know what to do, I still had a young one to send to the class, and then had to rush to work. The teacher finally said she was going to find a pair of shoes for her, I handed over the snack box that I prepared for my younger daughter, and left.

On the way to work, guilt fell all over me. How can I forgot this? I'm supposed to be the secretary who handles all their activities until their are old enough to take over the responsibility. Ideas flashed through my mind to handle the situation.

As soon as I parked at my company's parking lot, I called two moms. The first one to ask if she was accompany the class to the stadium, but she was not. I kindly asked her to bring some snack for my younger daughter (her daughter was in the same class), as I had given the snack to the elder. The second one, I was sure she would be with the class, so I asked if she could bring some food for my daughter. Luckily she had some spared one and she gladly agreed to share them with my daughter.

The whole morning I was feeling guilty. I don't know how other parents handle things, it just doesn't work well with me that the school sends out emails about activities, put a note weeks before, and expecting me to remember everything. We need to put a calendar in a visible place to jot down all the ongoing stuffs.

When I got home, I saw a pair of sport shoes on the kitchen counter top. So the teacher did find a pair for her, thanks God! She was all happy and didn't at all blame me for anything. She was surprised to know that I called her classmate mom to share food with her, as it was done naturally. And, since she had enough food, she didn't eat the snack from her sister. They went to after school class and she handed back the snack box, but the teacher told her that her sister already had one (the mom I called did send a snack for my younger daughter).

This makes me realize how important to have some network among the parents. As an introvert, I don't usually go towards them. And I have a big problem : I do not recognize easily people I had talked too! I just don't know who's who's mother or dad. This is quite a drawback to socialize with the parents!

Where is Mona Lisa?

The school organizes a stage performance for the kids every year. This year, only students from elementary classes participated, whereas the kids from kindergarten stayed with the parents.

The theme was about the portrait of Mona Lisa, La Joconde in French. Students were acting as tourists visiting The Louvre Museum. They were looking for the Portrait, all the performance were mainly through singing. What struck me was, that some students were chose to sing solo from time to time, and they sang badly sometimes. I mean, some were out of tunes. Maybe the goal was to make students participate, it didn't have to be perfect. This is unthinkable during my times as elementary student. Teachers at that time always chose students with perfect voices. There were singing competitions for every grade, and the winners got to represent the school for a higher level competitions. French school do not organize singing competition apparently.

During the performance, I suddenly felt that my kids are so lucky to be in this country. All those paintings, monuments in Paris, are from their heritage, and they could just go see them. I mean, I'm not sure Malaysia has created any great arts for the human history.

First week of school

The little one has started to enroll into the French education system since the beginning of September. She was so eager to go to school. I guessed she wanted to do everything just like her big sister.

Back to the school for the eldest, first day of school for the little one.

The big sister had no problem integrating into her new class, as her three closed friends are in the same class. Everyday she told me that she is so happy to go back to school.

 Happy to go to school

Ok I didn't know kids start learning computer skills at kindergarten level

Things turned out differently for the little one. The first day we sent her to her class, she was exploring the classroom without problems. We waved goodbye and she just smiled at us, whereas a little girl one age older than her (they are sharing the same class between 3 and 4 year old), had problem letting go of her mother. I picked her up after school and she was all fine.

Surprisingly, she was all gloomy the second day. She refused to wake up, saying that she was sick, and the whole morning laying down on the sofa didn't want to eat breakfast. She kept saying that she didn't want to go to school. I didn't know what to do. The big sister didn't have this problem at all. She went to school 6 months younger than her little sister now, and since the first day staying after school till we picked her up at 6:30pm. For certain people the school day was too long for her but she never complained.

I decided to bring the little one to school as I had to sent the eldest anyway. I told her that if her teachers agreed that she could go home, I would bring her home since I worked from home that day. However, when I told the teacher about her situation, the teacher insisted that she stayed. She held her little hand, brought her to a corner and introduced her to new friends. The little one burst in tears hearing that she had to stay. I turned cold turkey and walked away. It was the right choice, as in the evening when I picked her up, she was ok. Her teacher said that she was a bit disturbed eating in the canteen. In the evening she kept telling us that she vomited in my car, which was not true, I didn't know where she got the idea.

Wednesday had half day school, they were both happy to go, and happy to see me when I picked them up. The little one even tried to sing us a song with hand gesture, I guessed she learnt it from school.

Thursday and Friday were big days for me. My company had moved to a new location since Monday, and I was going there for the first time since I worked from home at the beginning of the week to be able to send and pick up the kids on time. The school gate for the eldest opens at 8h35, but the little one only at 8h45. I was afraid to arrive too late at work, so I arranged that a parent with whom both her kids in the same class as mine would take care of them as soon as she arrives at the gate. They had to stay after school so I had to prepare a snack for them. But surprisingly, the snack box was untouched in the little one's school back so she didn't have her snack. On Friday the other mother told me that it seems that parents have to put the snack box in a different location, and she was going to ask for me as her kids didn't need to stay in the garderie after school. Till now, I didn't know what happened, the little one said she did have her snack, but the snack box was missing...

It seems that we parents have problem getting used to the new school year...

Yogurt cake from school

Aelig came back from school and took out a sheet of paper.

It has yogurt recipe on it and she requested me to make it together.

The school has been teaching them baking, making crêpes and pies with some simple recipes, but I have never really tried any at home.

Since she asked for it, I just let her play with it, and of course her sister wanted to join. The little one was more into eating the dough then making it.

The result : it was eatable considering how simple it was the making process. Plus, I had never made Yogurt cake before, hubby told me that I should use a square baking dish instead of a rectangular one.

Here is the recipe, translated from French:

Yogurt Cake

Quantity : 8 persons

Preparation : 15 minutes

Baking time : 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 natural Yogurt

2 cups of sugar (I presume it means using the Yogurt container as measurement cup)

3 cups of flour

1 cup of oil

1 tablespoon of yeast

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C

Mix in the order of the ingredients one after another

Pour into a baking dish

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes

The cake is to be eaten when it turns golden and not too cook, it will remain soft.

A visit to her future kindergarten

Awena will turn 3 year's old soon. She is eligible to enter kindergarten during the coming fall.

The school organized an Open House to allow the potential future students to visit the school.

 Parents can ask question and pre-enroll their kids.

 La chaise pour réfléchir : The Thinking Chair. Probably use to ask a kid to calm down. I sense that Awena would be here often, she is quite a stubborn kid.

 She was very happy here. So many toys to play around.

We also visited Aelig's classroom. She was very proud to show it to us.

A new organisation awaiting us, dealing with babysitter would probably soon a history to us.

End of extra-curriculum activities

French school systems do not make extra-curriculum activities mandatory. Most of the cultural and sportive activities are proposed by government sponsored clubs. At the beginning of school year, we went for a Clubs Open Day where most of the clubs have their own stand and you get to ask questions and make enrollment on the sport. She participated in three activities on school year 2015-2016.

The city's swimming pool proposes swimming classes starting from 6 years old. After queuing for two three hours I finally managed to enroll her; Since then except school holidays, she went once every week. We are so please to learn at the end of the school term (classes run from Sept to Jun), she swims! Not for long distance, but it was still an improvement.

She continued her Chinese classes with Hua Yuan Chinese Club.

The classes were consisted of kids at very different levels, and keeping kids focus was a huge challenges. So, she didn't improve much in terms of writings, but the main goal was for her to understand that there were people speaking Mandarin just like her.

During the Club Open Day, she saw a bunch of female roller skaters rolling in beautiful costumes. She got attracted to it and had decided to enroll. So, a successful marketing from the club.

After 9 months of training (and all the round trips sending and fetching), they made performance during a Gala.

The first dance, her group dressed in pajamas, rolling and dancing with the theme "wake up".

The second dance, they dressed as crocodile.

 Other performers dressed as pirates.

The teenager group performing.

Before this gala she told us that she didn't want to continue next year as she wanted to have an the same activity as her best friend. However, after the Gala, she changed her mind. It was fun and she enjoyed it. So, we are sticking to it.

This is something I really like about France. There are so many clubs around that you have so many choices, and they are all being held around the communities (except Chinese classes I had to go to other community as there was non in mine). And the prices, are affordable since it is sponsored by the Town Hall. I think it was around 130€ per activity per school year, and our companies participated in paying the fees. At the end, it didn't cost us much, and she was happy, and we got to know new friends. Yes even me made friends with moms who sent their kids to activities. lol.

The stressful request for parents signature

As parents, we stress out when Aelig comes back from school. We wonder, if we are going to see a request from her teacher for a signature.

When we have this message "Signature des Parents" in her homework booklets, most of the time it was because she didn't do what her teacher asked. Like to memorise a poem, find a word that starts with certain alphabet, did badly during a dictation, forgot to bring her sport outfits... We just wondered if we were ever going to sign because she did something wonderful.

And for almost the whole week, she was fussy in the morning because she was supposed to bring back this book lend by the school, but she couldn't find it. I looked through the whole house for it, didn't manage to spot it.

And finalement, we got a "Bravo" from her teacher! She got 100% right on one of the dictations. We were relieved, she could actually do something that worth a praise from her teacher.

And guess where I found her book : it was stuck between her bed and the wall. 

The word of the day

At standard one, she has peer pressure, from her classmates.

At the beginning of the school year, she cried in the evenings because she didn't want to do homeworks. Now she is getting used to it, but there is a new challenge : the word of the day.

Her teacher gives the definition of a word, and she is supposed to find the word with the help of her parents, write it down on a paper, and bring it to school the next day. If she gets it correctly, her name would appear on a paper that lists the words of the week, and she gets one  point.

One day she got home and started crying. She forgot the definition of the word. She was so sad that she was moody for the whole evening, saying that her best friend is going to win again, that this friend has already 22 points, the other guy has 8 points, and she has only 3 points.

It is true, at the beginning, she went blank when we asked her what was the word of the day. It is rare that she could remember. But little by little, she got the pressure, and wants to see her name appear on the list. It would go like this : Aelig thought us that "brebis" means... She is thrilled when she sees her name.

I have to admit, I could never help her because I have no clue of the words she has to guess. If she ever remembers the definition, she has only hubby to depend on. For example, one day I picked her up, she ran to me excitely asking what is "le monde v"??? I had no idea what she was talking about. But hubby immediately got it : "le monde végétal" (the vegetal world). The other day she told me in the car the definition, when we got home we both forgot about it. I'm just not good enough in French to even remember the description.

With the help of hubby, she got 6 points, she was very proud. However, she has loosen up a bit. Now if she forgets she is not that upset anymore.

The cursive handwriting

Hubby's family are big in letters, so we still received them from time to time. His grandmothers send us religiously a birthday card for all our birthdays, sometimes including their fête. They send us postcards when they are on holidays.

I love receiving letters and postcards but the problem is, their handwritings are indecipherable, for me. All of them write in cursive and I have hard time understanding them. I learnt cursive writing in art classes, I remember we had to buy a special pen and use it to write connected letters during several art classes.

Here an example of a letter from the family. I never quite understand why my French family chose to write in cursive which makes my head spins each time I read it.

Now that my daughter goes to standard one, I'm seeing her learning to write in cursive everyday. So it is a norm in France! French learn to write in cursive since young age and they continue it into their adulthood. My daughter is learning to write in Uppercase, Lowercase and Cursive (script) in school. And now when she writes a sentence, every alphabet is connected.

 One of her homeworks was to write her name in Uppercase and in script.

She got a letter from a schoolmate, the last sentence was written in cursive.

Hubby was the only in her family that writes in print instead of cursive. He explained that his teachers found that he wrote badly in cursive and advised him to write exclusively in print. No wonder I can understand his writing!

PS: I was checking out why France still implement cursive handwriting in school and realised that it is a tradition back to the quill time. By connecting all the alphabets, it would improve writing speed and it would require less hand lifting. However, this is less practiced in US and UK now, some schools have stopped completely teaching cursive to their students.

Swimming pool and love at first sight

Aelig loves to go to the swimming pool, so I had been wanting to enroll her to swimming classes. Unfortunately I'm someone who is not very up to date on enrollement dates, so I missed the pre-enrollment day. By chatting with my coworker I realized that she had enrolled both her girls, while I would have to fight with a bunch of people on a Wednesday afternoon. She advised me to arrive 45 minutes early in order to secure a place.

Well, I was not keen on queuing for such a long time in advance as Awena would get bored and complained. So we arrived 15 minutes before they started accepting enrollment. There was a long line outside the registration place, I was given #47. We all wondered if there would be enough place for all of us, seeing that more and more people arriving. There was a pregnant woman coming with a foldable chair. Some moms knew each other so they were gossiping about schools, teachers, activities for kids....

The registration started at 2pm. People rushed inside the gym to form another queue. We were told to go inside the swimming pool in order for the trainers to see which level they should put our kids in. We went into changing room, parents and kids were packed along the corridor. Trainers called out numbers, so there was no use to rush actually. I put Awena inside a baby carrier, she was curious and tried to get free. Aelig was proud to be able to walk from one end to the other in the swimming pool, as expected she was put into the beginner class.

Once the level testing was done, we headed back to the gym to submit all kind of documents : registration form, medical certificate, a check for the whole season, proof of our income group (you pay the fee according to your family income group), proof of our current address. We waited for at least one hour there. The gym was packed with kids so I let Awena out to play with them.

And then I met the boy, and his mother. Apparently he was one of Aelig's boyfriends. They were there for the registration too, so I chatted with the mother. She told me that her boy likes Aelig a lot, and it was love at first sight. She suggested that we choose the same time slot so that they kids can swim together. I agreed to her suggestion.

Now, the little girl is happy to go to the swimming pool after school once a week. The hard part being that she has homework in the evening and she is not keen on doing them. So, after a long day (school + swimming class), there would be dragging, threathening, yelling, crying. How I wish Wednesdays are still no school day (she has class on Wednesday mornings since sept)! At least she could stay later on Tuesday night.

Anyhow, this episod just made me realise that the "kiasu spirit" (afraid to lose in Malaysian language), exists as well in France, at least where I'm. Moms were fighting for a spot for their love one. I hope all the kids enjoy and appreciate the classes after all the hard work their moms put in. :-)

PS : Most of the public swimming pools are run by the local Town Hall. It offers relatively affordable price, that's why swimming lessons are one of the popular after school activities.

School year end performance : The Little Prince

The last Saturday of Jun, we went for Aelig's school year-end festival. I learnt that if it is a private catholic school, it is called "Kermesse", and if it is a public school, it is called "la fête de l'école", meaning the school festival. These year-end festivals are meant to mark the end of school year while raising some money to finance the school activities including field trips.

Around March, the kids started having rehearsal for their stage performance. This year, the dances were designed around the theme "The Little Prince". It is such a clever idea, as the film will be released this summer, now parents could tell their kids that the film is related to their stage performance.

The woman raising her right arm was the dance teacher. She designed all the dances and the costumes. Not very school has the budget to hire a dance teacher, some schools have their teachers handling the performance. In the photo, the kids dressed as The Little Prince, with green shirt and orange scarf (in our book at home The Little Prince is more wearing a yellow scarf than an orange one, maybe every book is different?).

 Then come the pilot.

 This is the scene where The Little Prince asks the pilot "Please draw me a sheep?"

His rose. While these roses were beautiful, it was painful for the kids who had them around their head.

 The Little Prince ventured outside of his planet, he met the king.

Aelig's class was splitted into two groups: one as snake and one as fox. She was in the snake group. She already showed us her dance at home. I almost told her The Little Prince died due to the poisionous snake, but I figured it would be better for her to figure it out herself.

Afterall, the film is coming out on 29 July, she could have chance to watch it. I told her about this film, she has been waiting for it. We brought her to cinema yesterday, she thought she was going to watch it, but instead if was another movie. Since then, she has been asking, when are we going to watch The Little Prince?

Jun was the month where most of the schools have their year-end festival. We went to tour around town one Saturday and attending two of them. One school had Disney characters dance this year.

 Those in green dress must be Thinker Bell? I was not sure.

This one was from a public school, their performances were simpler, but they had more interesting games.

Back to Aelig's school. Beside the stage performance, the school also prepared some stands (at the far edge in this photo).

Schools sell coupons to parents, they can then use them to play games or buy food (sponsored by parents). Some games are simple yet creative, for example on the photo, Aelig was using a broom to push a round shape thing into holes at the other edge. They would win something if they succeed.

Overall a fun day for the kids. It is also a good way to raise money. I think Malaysian schools could use this model. Instead of asking parents to directly donate money to the school, they could raise money through students / school / parents participation.

PS : The stage performance continued on The Little Prince theme, but we went for games (hubby was holding a game stand), so didn't have photos for the performance after Aelig's.