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books and schools
Jul. 14th, 2008 09:06 pmI ran into a copy of The Mysterious Benedict Society at the library the other day and, having heard good things about it (but not what it's about), I checked it out. I still haven't read it, but my oldest read the entire thing (in German) today. It's like 400-500 pages long? He says it's good. Must be; he's far less likely to do that with a book in German than with a book in English.
Oh, and while doing research for something else, I found that there's a new Stravaganza book out! Stravaganza: City of Strangers, by Mary Hoffman. I love these books; they are a great mix of mystery, time travel, and alternate universeness. I'm looking forward to this one, although my new library doesn't own it, so I might be er, forced to buy it once we get to the States.
Now that we have an address I was able to look up the school our kids will go to. Being summer vacation, no one was in the office, but I did find a bit of info for people moving in. It looks like there's not a lot you can do beforehand because they want all these documents you can't get until you're really there. (Like the proof of residency--I guess you can bring in a copy of your lease, though.) Anyway, they also really want but don't require a "request for student records form" from your previous school. Sorry, there is no way a German institution will respond to that! But we can certainly bring in report cards (in German). I did send an e-mail saying we'd be showing up, and a week late. Just so they know that three more kids are coming and can think of where to put them.
The sad thing about moving is that the curriculum doesn't usually match. Not stuff like when you study local history, etc., but when you start music classes, if there is a chess club, what sports are available to what grades, etc. I've got a kid who is completely ready for band, and it looks like it doesn't start for another TWO YEARS. He'd also like to play chess. Not available at this school. Stuff like that. I'm sure there will be other things to entertain him, but I'm a little sad on the music. He's really made huge progress with the recorder and sounds quite good.
I still can't find any kind of classes whatsoever for three-year-olds. Hopefully library story hour will be enough.
Oh, and while doing research for something else, I found that there's a new Stravaganza book out! Stravaganza: City of Strangers, by Mary Hoffman. I love these books; they are a great mix of mystery, time travel, and alternate universeness. I'm looking forward to this one, although my new library doesn't own it, so I might be er, forced to buy it once we get to the States.
Now that we have an address I was able to look up the school our kids will go to. Being summer vacation, no one was in the office, but I did find a bit of info for people moving in. It looks like there's not a lot you can do beforehand because they want all these documents you can't get until you're really there. (Like the proof of residency--I guess you can bring in a copy of your lease, though.) Anyway, they also really want but don't require a "request for student records form" from your previous school. Sorry, there is no way a German institution will respond to that! But we can certainly bring in report cards (in German). I did send an e-mail saying we'd be showing up, and a week late. Just so they know that three more kids are coming and can think of where to put them.
The sad thing about moving is that the curriculum doesn't usually match. Not stuff like when you study local history, etc., but when you start music classes, if there is a chess club, what sports are available to what grades, etc. I've got a kid who is completely ready for band, and it looks like it doesn't start for another TWO YEARS. He'd also like to play chess. Not available at this school. Stuff like that. I'm sure there will be other things to entertain him, but I'm a little sad on the music. He's really made huge progress with the recorder and sounds quite good.
I still can't find any kind of classes whatsoever for three-year-olds. Hopefully library story hour will be enough.
