Back to School

Today was the first day of school for Emily and James. I got to accompany Emily to school for the first period of the day. The classroom had small desks with students’ names on them, hooks out in the hall for jackets, a chalkboard at the front, and generally could have been mistaken for any elementary school classroom in America, or anywhere else. However, there are a lot of differences, some small and some huge, between school here and what we are used to back home.

For starters, the calendar is very different. With a short, 6-week summer break, school starts in mid-August and goes through the first week of July. But, there are several long breaks throughout the year: fall break (3 weeks), winter break (2 weeks), sport break (1 week to go skiing), spring break (2 weeks), and Whitsun week.

The grade levels are different, too. Last year, Emily was in 1st grade and James was in Kindergarten (K5). Here kids don’t start in elementary school until they are 7, so Emily is in 1st grade again and James is in Kindergarten again at a completely different school dedicated to Kindergarten. There isn’t much academic learning in Kindergarten here, mostly just playing and working on social skills. So, the curriculum is going to be fairly easy compared to what the kids have done back home. However, since everything is in German, including talking to their friends, their brains are constantly on overdrive and they are sure to learn a ton outside of the curriculum itself.

There are no school buses in Switzerland. Children have to get to school on their own, and in a small town like Münsingen, that means walking. So, there are throngs of kids walking the streets in the morning without supervision. In fact, James and all the kindergarteners were given reflective sashes to wear while walking to school and Emily was given a bright yellow hat that says, “Back to School! Watch Out for Kids!”

There are no school lunches in Switzerland either, so all of the kids walk back home at 11:50am for lunch. And then, depending on their age, they walk back to school again by 1:30pm for the afternoon periods. However, in Kindergarten and 1st grade, school is only mandatory from 8:20-11:50am. Emily and James both go back to school on Tuesday afternoons, and Emily goes back every other Monday. But, that means my kids are home all afternoon 3-4 days a week!

Then there are all the small, interesting differences that I started noticing when I went shopping for school supplies last week. The primary item Emily needed as far as school supplies I am used to is called an “Etui.” It is a small, highly regulated zipper container with pencils, eraser, sharpener, colored pencils, ruler, markers, ink, and a few other things. All the kids have one that they use from 1st grade through high school. Then, there were some other things on the list, including a toothbrush, water bottle, “house shoes,” black ballet-style slippers, and a gym bag with gym clothes. We bought everything not knowing exactly how it would all be used, especially the odd assortment of shoes.

On the first day of school, we learned that children do not wear “outside shoes” into the classroom. They change into their “house shoes,” which are usually slipper-like shoes with rubber soles that are kept at school. Also, they change into gym clothes (even in 1st grade!) and they don’t wear tennis shoes for gym, but rather special black slippers. And, every other week for gym, Emily gets to go swimming!

All of these differences are neither good nor bad, they are just different. My only hope is that my kids have a good year and, as I wrote on Emily’s “school spiral project” this morning, “I hope you learn a lot, make many friends, and have fun!”