Explaining homeschooling to people from France?

[8filltheheart]

Dd has gotten to know several recent French immigrants, both teens and adults. The one conversation for her that is always awkward is when they ask about school. When she says she studies at home, there is an obvious lack of understanding.

 

Is there a French term for homeschooling? A good French homeschooling blog? (Most of the adults have fairly limited English skills.) Something she could possibly share with her French tutor? (I am sure that originally she thought we were strange, but after working with dd, she is genuinely curious and asked dd a lot of questions at their last meeting about how I have managed to teach all of them at home.)

 

Based on the feedback she has gotten, none of them have ever even heard of the concept before.

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

(And, oh my goodness, the other 2 conversations that obviously contain cultural shock from their perspective are politics and religion. We live in the Bible Belt and they do not understand the huge number of different denominations with different churches around every corner. Catholic, they understand. Practicing Catholic, they don't. ;) )

Edited May 7, 2016 by 8FillTheHeart

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

LOl at practicing Catholic...  I don't know how to explain to the parents of my godson that baptizing their children is not the same thing as being a "practicing Catholic"... and being in systematic disagreement with pretty much every teaching makes one a Protestant, not a liberal Catholic.  But I digress...

 

For homeschooling, it's just education à domicile or "le homeschooling".  I'm surprised there isn't at least a bit more awareness, as French diplomatic children abroad often times learn at home through official programs like CNED.  Obviously this is a true "correspondence school," but maybe they can sort of use the idea of a correspondence school to make the leap to true homeschool as an idea.  lol.  

 

I read les petits homeschoolers from time to time, and she has a nice list of blog links in her sidebar.  She doesn't really have an "About Us" page, unfortunately.  

 

And at some point, you sort of give up on trying to explain.  It's like home birth.  Either people get it pretty quickly, or they will never, ever get it.  :-D

 

 

[Joan in GE]

Is there a French term for homeschooling? A good French homeschooling blog? (Most of the adults have fairly limited English skills.) Something she could possibly share with her French tutor? 

 

There are lots of 'homeschoolers' in France !

 

But the term varies greatly depending on the group and ideology....

 

IEF - instruction en famille One site   

 

IEL - instruction en liberté

 

Enseignement à domicile

 

Scolarité à la maison/domicile

 

L'école à la maison

 

Hors murs 

 

Les enfants d'abord - one of the original groups in France

 

Nosco - no scholarité - unschooling

 

A book against it

 

And I'm sure others will name more options! There is LOTS of info out there and there have been various programs on TV as well.... lots of Facebook groups too

 

My perception in CH, there are more 'unschoolers' than 'schoolers', tho with exams, I think they end up more 'schooling'......not sure about France...

Edited May 7, 2016 by Joan in GE

[madteaparty]

We didn't have this issue; DS just said the equivalent of "school at home" and it was understood.

And his host family was very much practicing Catholics (cured my DS of religion for a while I think :))

[8filltheheart]

Thanks, Monica and Joan. I showed your posts to dd. She said her French tutor and a few of the other adults are under the impression that homeschooling is illegal in France and that their laws state kids have to attend school unless there is a serious health issue or some other reason for an exception. She is going to read the links and see if she wants to send any of them to them.

 

Guess your ds's host family had a different level of cultural awareness, madteaparty. It could also be a regional difference. They are from southern France.

 

Monica, dd laughed at your baptism reference. She said her tutor says things like, "We all baptize our children. But do things with a church? No."

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

Thanks, Monica and Joan. I showed your posts to dd. She said her French tutor and a few of the other adults are under the impression that homeschooling is illegal in France and that their laws state kids have to attend school unless there is a serious health issue or some other reason for an exception. She is going to read the links and see if she wants to send any of them to them.

 

Guess your ds's host family had a different level of cultural awareness, madteaparty. It could also be a regional difference. They are from southern France.

 

Monica, dd laughed at your baptism reference. She said her tutor says things like, "We all baptize our children. But do things with a church? No."

 

"Catholic" hereabouts has definitely morphed into a term to describe cultural heritage rather than religious belief.  It makes me sad.  

[Garga]

There is a man with a church in Sweden. He is often a guest speaker in churches in other countries. He came to our church. He said that it's so easy to preach in America. If he says something like, "Well...the apple, you know..." we all nod and know he's referring to Adam and Eve and sin.

 

But if he says, "Well...the apple, you know..." in Europe, he gets blank stares and has to explain things.

 

The bible, church, and biblical references are immediately understood in America, but it's just not so in Europe. They no longer seem to have that as their heritage.

 

We have had 6 different kids from China stay with us for a short while during the past few summers. They are always confused about homeschooling. They seem to chalk it up to a communication error and figure they aren't hearing us correctly. We can't possibly mean that we do all the school at home. They must not be understanding. I try to explain, but after a few minutes their faces go blank and I give up. :)

[8filltheheart]

"Catholic" hereabouts has definitely morphed into a term to describe cultural heritage rather than religious belief. It makes me sad.

I agree. However, we are used to it within our own extended family. We are definitely considered odd, even here. They don't realize just what they are missing. I can't fathom it myself. But, from their perspective, our life is messed up, not greatly blessed.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

There is a man with a church in Sweden. He is often a guest speaker in churches in other countries. He came to our church. He said that it's so easy to preach in America. If he says something like, "Well...the apple, you know..." we all nod and know he's referring to Adam and Eve and sin.

 

But if he says, "Well...the apple, you know..." in Europe, he gets blank stares and has to explain things.

 

The bible, church, and biblical references are immediately understood in America, but it's just not so in Europe. They no longer seem to have that as their heritage.

 

We have had 6 different kids from China stay with us for a short while during the past few summers. They are always confused about homeschooling. They seem to chalk it up to a communication error and figure they aren't hearing us correctly. We can't possibly mean that we do all the school at home. They must not be understanding. I try to explain, but after a few minutes their faces go blank and I give up. :)

 

A local friend recently accused me of being a "Doubting Judas".  I totally face-palmed.  

 

But 8, you're right, it's not just a European problem.  

 

How much of the Western culture will we lose as Biblical literacy fades into the past?  Are we re-entering the dark ages?

 

Aaaand... back on topic now... lol.  

 

As I tell my kids, "Remember, you are ambassadors for homeschooling"- same advice to your daughter.  The best she can do is prove, in a non-snotty way, that she is well-educated and eloquent and well-mannered, and let people make their own judgements on homeschooling from the evidence she gives them.  

[Joan in GE]

 She said her French tutor and a few of the other adults are under the impression that homeschooling is illegal in France and that their laws state kids have to attend school unless there is a serious health issue or some other reason for an exception.

 

She is going to read the links and see if she wants to send any of them to them.

 

 

There is serious deception going out my country of residence. At the time of year for young children to be enrolled for the following school year, the posters say something like

 

"every child is obliged to be enrolled in school"

 

Yet the law says that every child has to receive an education in the 'state' where I live - not all the states, not go to school to get the education.

 

So the public thinks it's illegal at home.

 

I haven't been keeping track of what's being presented in France, but recently there was a tv show (well I was given the link recently) where the kids at home, were not doing that much studying, so it made it look pretty bad - It's called "C'est mon choix" but not the link to send to your tutors.

 

Probably the biggest link is the Les enfants d'abord one.

 

I really haven't been keeping track of all the blogs but it could be an interesting assignment for your daughter to do some Google searches (in your search criteria, make sure you've enabled "French" results...)

[Joan in GE]

There is a man with a church in Sweden. He is often a guest speaker in churches in other countries. He came to our church. He said that it's so easy to preach in America. If he says something like, "Well...the apple, you know..." we all nod and know he's referring to Adam and Eve and sin.

 

But if he says, "Well...the apple, you know..." in Europe, he gets blank stares and has to explain things.

 

 

In France and CH....in the literature studied at the Jr. Hi level, they include some Bible stories....and in history they give some of the Judeo-Christian history - I think it is in the effort to remind the inhabitants of their roots due to the cultural differences that are becoming very difficult in Europe....

 

But even so, it's a one time stop, not ideas that are foundational to a large percent of the population....and thus they're not used for analogies in daily life....

 

But here's a question - does knowing Bible stories give a culture 'western values' ? And what are 'Western values" these days? That would hijack your thread which is not my intent - I'm just curious in reading this discussion and thinking about the cultural situation here and that in the US which I admittedly only 'see' from time to time....

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

There is serious deception going out my country of residence. At the time of year for young children to be enrolled for the following school year, the posters say something like

 

"every child is obliged to be enrolled in school"

 

Yet the law says that every child has to receive an education in the 'state' where I live - not all the states, not go to school to get the education.

 

So the public thinks it's illegal at home.

 

I haven't been keeping track of what's being presented in France, but recently there was a tv show (well I was given the link recently) where the kids at home, were not doing that much studying, so it made it look pretty bad - It's called "C'est mon choix" but not the link to send to your tutors.

 

Probably the biggest link is the Les enfants d'abord one.

 

I really haven't been keeping track of all the blogs but it could be an interesting assignment for your daughter to do some Google searches (in your search criteria, make sure you've enabled "French" results...)

 

It's happening in CH as well.  When we rrecieved our letter to register ds1 and dd1 for school, there was a simple box to check for homeschooling.  By the time we got the letter for dd2, that option had been removed from the official paperwork, and we had to write it in and send the form back.  We then got a letter from the school telling us this was insufficient, and we'd need to write an actual letter in order to be officially registered as homeschoolers.