How to lose an acceleration of 2 years overnight..

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

My son is 10, going onto 11. He's always been advanced in French (first language) and math/science. Technically in school, he'd be in 5th grade in September, but he's ready for 7th grade, possibly even 8th but I don't want to push too much, especially since he's not demanding it and the work level will be much heavier.

 

Locally 7th grade is the start of high school. And I'm getting a bit nervous about it so we decided to go with long distance schooling, at least for French. Therefore we're going with CNED, the long distance education program from France.

 

Now France is more demanding of its students - at least in French - than the local schools and they start 'collège' in grade 6. Their grade 6 content is pretty much the grade 7 content here, and I wouldn't want my son to tackle French grade 7, the second year of 'collège' without any transition. So he's going in grade 6. Poof, one year of acceleration gone by switching systems. Note that he'll still be working at the appropriate level where content is concerned.

 

My son is an October baby. The local cutoff date is sept 30th, thus putting my child in 5th grade as an old 5th grader. In France, the cutoff date is Dec 31st, and that puts my child in grade 6 as a young 6th grader. Poof, second year of acceleration gone!

 

I now have a normal child on my hands! :D

:leaving:

[Arch at Home]

Wow! I will use the French system on my 3 dc. Poof, no accelleration.

[Desert Rat]

And to think, it's just that easy! I wish other areas were! :o)

[Storm Bay]

Two years' of accelleration gone, but just in French, right? Still, it must seem odd at first. I hope this goes well for your ds!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Two years' of accelleration gone, but just in French, right? Still, it must seem odd at first. I hope this goes well for your ds!

 

Yeah, it's a bit odd. In fact, the reason I posted, (and I forgot to even write it!) is to show that what can be considered accelerated in one part of the world is taken for granted elsewhere. Of course, a HUGE acceleration would never really disappear, 2 years isn't that big a gap, but I never expected to see it melt away so fast either.

 

And yes, it's only in French. The French program for math does things completely out of order compared to us, so it's hard to match. While he's starting Algebra with Lial, he would still be in grade 6 in math because they're way more advanced in geometry.

[Ailaena]

Yeah, it's a bit odd. In fact, the reason I posted, (and I forgot to even write it!) is to show that what can be considered accelerated in one part of the world is taken for granted elsewhere.

 

 

I was thinking the same thing when I was reading your post, it's just so interesting!

 

I have been kicking around the idea of sending dd to France as an exchange student in a few years, and one of the things that I found out, possibly specific to France, I'm not sure, is that they warn you that unless you are an exceptionally strong student, you WILL be placed in a classroom with younger kids, because the schoolwork in France is much more advanced. Then they warn you that the school day is essentially 9-5 with study hours/groups/sports until 6 or 7 with half-days on Saturdays and Wednesdays.:D

 

We have a friend who is hosting a student from France this year and her parents were so worried that she was going to essentially "miss" an entire year of school that they enrolled her with CNED. Of course, given that the school district here placed her in 10th grade (based on age), and we are in Arizona (48th in education, yay!), I cannot blame them!

[Storm Bay]

Yeah, it's a bit odd. In fact, the reason I posted, (and I forgot to even write it!) is to show that what can be considered accelerated in one part of the world is taken for granted elsewhere. Of course, a HUGE acceleration would never really disappear, 2 years isn't that big a gap, but I never expected to see it melt away so fast either.

 

 

Oh, yes, this is very true, and I'd thought of that, but was reacting first to the loss of accelleration. In Europe it's not uncommon for students to graduate with the equivalent of a BA, whereas here you have to go to university for that. However, the last I knew, and this is some years ago, kids are put into different types of school at a relatively young age based on whether they'll go to university or trade school, etc. I can't speak for all countries, either, just a few.

 

My OB/Gyn became and MD at the ripe old age of 21 because he went to med school in Scotland (he's American, his parents immigrants.)

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

the schoolwork in France is much more advanced.

 

See, the Metamorphoses from Ovid are mandatory reading in grade 6. Well, I don't know about 'mandatory' for sure, but every grade 6 French book (from France) I've seen had extracts from it.

Ok they don't read the whole thing, but wow, on this side of the Atlantic, that's barely touched upon in grade 12 (we don't actually have a grade 12, it's called first year of Cegep - and that year has mandatory philosophy.)

[Mere2]

Can I ask a question?

 

My DD 6yr old is bilingual. We just moved from france to Oz three months ago. I have been looking at the CNED programme but I'm not bilingual, so I have been struggling a bit.

 

I did not realise that you can just choose 'one' area of study - I thought that you had to choose the whole school programme, IFYKWIM. Obviously I am only looking at the CP level this year.....

 

My dream is to go to France for 3 months every year and start DD in school with her friends every year in Sept.......

 

Do you have any suggestions for me - I really do what to keep her bilingual but I am struggling already and its only 3 months down the track....she refuses to speak French with me, so I have a french babysitter come in and speak with her, however I think some more formal would be better.

 

TIA

Fi

[Storm Bay]

Can I ask a question?

 

My DD 6yr old is bilingual. We just moved from france to Oz three months ago. I have been looking at the CNED programme but I'm not bilingual, so I have been struggling a bit.

 

I did not realise that you can just choose 'one' area of study - I thought that you had to choose the whole school programme, IFYKWIM. Obviously I am only looking at the CP level this year.....

 

My dream is to go to France for 3 months every year and start DD in school with her friends every year in Sept.......

 

Do you have any suggestions for me - I really do what to keep her bilingual but I am struggling already and its only 3 months down the track....she refuses to speak French with me, so I have a french babysitter come in and speak with her, however I think some more formal would be better.

 

TIA

Fi

 

 

Cleo will have more information, but I want to let you know that this isn't that uncommon. My sister & I refused to speak German when we came back bilingual because everyone made such a fuss about how cute it was & asked us to speak it. My cousin went to full French immersion school starting in Kindergarten (her dad is considered French Canadian because he grew up half his childhood in Belgium & then his family moved to Montreal). She faked it at first and didn't like speaking it at home. The following summer they visited relatives in Quebec (my aunt & her dh had moved to BC when their eldest was about 1 yo) she looked at my aunt in amazement & said, "They speak French!"

 

I think the French babysitter coming regularly is a good idea and don't really think you need something more formal at this age if you'll be going back to France for three months next summer. None of my cousins learned to read in English at their immersion school, but because they spoke English at home they naturally started reading it around third grade. Later they did study English grammar, etc, in school. My dad was born in Canada but his first language is German. He later went to Sat. German school to get the reading & grammar instruction, etc.

[hswarden]

See, the Metamorphoses from Ovid are mandatory reading in grade 6.

 

Now that is interesting to me. My 11 yo dd has been asking me to read Metamorphoses all summer. Indeed, I see nothing advanced about the book, although I personally can't keep track of what who I'm reading about, what with all that changing into other things, and lordy, the gods are so mixed up. But dd has no trouble with it.

 

I would far rather see 11 year old reading that than the horrifying "Walk 2 Moons" they make them read here in 6th grade.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I did not realise that you can just choose 'one' area of study - I thought that you had to choose the whole school programme, IFYKWIM. Obviously I am only looking at the CP level this year.....

 

 

You can indeed pick and choose, but the CNED website is very hard to navigate.

I'm not too sure what to tell you though. The CP level French does require a tutor who knows French. There's reading aloud that needs to be corrected, there's phonics - not only do they teach how to read, but they expect the kids to be familiar with the phonetic alphabet too! Or at least the tutor.

Some of the stories come on an audio series, which is great. The kids are read to! You could use their French program if you can find someone willing to help out.

[NancyL]

Cleo- I would love an overview of the program if you have a minute. Are the lessons on CDRom's DVDs or are they web cast? If you have a local tutor can they just correct the homework, or do they have to watch the lessons also? My dd is also interested in going to France and she's a little nervous about the academic rigor. I had been looking into the French Amazon as a way of getting some of the curriculum, (as discussed on an earlier thread) The CNED sounds kind of cool! So--do you purchase textbooks in addition to the web program? (and then if you have a tutor--what happens after the tutor corrects the assignments? Is it like a once a week program with one assignment? (or more than one? ) And what is the cost--say you start out with one course for one year? I couldn't figure the website either! How many hours per week would the tutor need to work for this program? (we have a great one and reasonable, I'm just not sure how much more he would be available) I've always had a wish to get the satellite with the Paris programming--this sounds like a better program for students--do you get grades? Thanks so much!!! I wish they had a US office to call!!!

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I posted a CNED follow up on the curriculum board, since it's not specific to accelerated children, and may be of interest to more people.

 

CNED thread