21 November 2005

Trimestre controle

In our old life, we would be preparing both to stuff a bird and ourselves. The slow winding towards Christmas. Here in France, we are in the midst of Trimestre Controle...better known as "How to Torture Your Children in 5 Short Days"

The French school system is based on biweekly exams with a full week of testing three times a year. It is a great way to both teach the children better study habits and to make sure that they are truly understanding the subjects, but to our children...it is torture with a capital T! And to make it truly fun, Celia had her week of testing last week and Nathan has it this week. The tests are truly long and difficult. For example, Nathan has a two hour Math exam, a 90 minute Science exam and a 60 minute German exam today. This continues for Tuesday and Thursday. The saving grace is that there is no school on Wednesday and Friday they are off to Toulouse to the Space Center for a well deserved break.

It has been a great learning experience for Nathan and Celia and Mom to learn how to schedule all of this as well as how to cram all of the information in their brains. They seem to be doing incredibly well.

So while you all are enjoying your turkey on Thursday, give a short prayer for Nathan as he struggles through his History, English and Spanish exams.

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