Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all lots of laughter, happiness and a healthy 2015.
I cannot believe I have had my blog for a whole year already. I am really grateful for the support I have received with my little online space in the past twelve months. Thanks for reading my ramblings, giving me your thoughts, making me smile and bringing tears to my eyes.
The past ten days or so have been incredibly relaxed. Switching off completely from reality has been refreshing and we had a wonderful Christmas with my family in France. We spent most afternoons sat around the dining room table eating, chatting, laughing and playing board games. We also managed to catch up with my cousins, aunties, uncles and grandmothers. We see them very rarely so all those moments were really precious to me. Our holidays could not have been better.
This morning, school started again, but it was a whole new experience for my little ones. Crevette (6 years 5 months) and Beanie (4 years 3 months) went to school, but instead of our usual morning rush and brisk walk, we strolled to my mum’s local primary.
For the next two weeks, Beanie will be in Maternelle (nursery) and Crevette in CP (Year 2). After putting her slippers on, Beanie went in with a smile on her face. As for Crevette, he was allocated a seat at a traditional wooden desk facing a blackboard. It could not have been more different from his usual routine sat on the floor in front of the interactive whiteboard. It made me feel rather nostalgic to think that my children would be experiencing school as I knew it when I was growing up.
Excellente idée ça !! Super enrichissant pour les enfants. Tu nous raconteras comment ça s’est passé ! Très belle et heureuse année à tous. Ravie que les vacances aient été reposantes. J’ai eu cette impression aussi, que tout était plus relax, pas de programme ni d’horaires. Ca fait du bien. xxx
Pour l’instant, mon petit bonhomme adore tellement qu’il voudrait vivre en France. Il trouve l’école beaucoup plus facile ici! La puce n’était pas convaincue ce matin, mais l’après-midi étiat beaucoup mieux.
Oh how lovely for your little ones to experience school in France. Hope they both enjoy their first day and sounds like you are having a wonderful time with your family too. Happy blogiversary too! 🙂
It is brilliant for them to experience that. Today really reminded me of my childhood, with the wooden desks, camp beds for Beanie’s afternoon session, mini chalkboards, French exercise books. Even the school had a smell that reminded me of my Primary school years. I am not sure whether it was the furniture or the chalk, but I went down memory lane today, and I loved it!
What a wonderful experience for them! i remember school as you did too!
I am wishing you and yours a wonderful new year lovely xx
Thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments
Happy New Year to you too, Jaime! xx
How lovely that they can attend school in France for a little while.
It is such a fab opportunity for the little ones!
I am so happy to have found your blog! You have this nice vibe =)
Happy New Year!
I would one day want my son to see how we do schooling as well. This trip sounds so cool!
#magicmoments
Thanks Merlinda, that is such a nice thing to say!
Must be such a wonderful experience for them. Hope they make some happy memories x
They already have! That is such a brilliant experience for my little ones!
Happy new year Mel and happy blog! Je suis contente d’avoir connue ton blog grâce à Jess et je continuerais en 2015 à le regarder !
Les enfants doit être contents d’aller à l’école en France et pour toi ça doit être tellement émouvant! La photo est très mignon !
Merci Eva! Je suis aussi ravie que tu m’aies trouvée: j’adore ton blog!
Hope they enjoyed it my lovely! Let’s meet up when you’re back xxx
They did. Crevette could not wait to go to bed so he could be full of energy in the morning!
Sounds like you had a wonderful Christmas, school has moved on, it was all chalk and blackboards in my day. Happy New Year to you #MagicMoments
It feels like Back to the Future and I love it!
How wonderful to catch up over the holidays with family and what an incredible experience for your children too. Wishing you the very best for 2015 xx
Thanks Iona, same to you!
They look so cute…what a lovely culture shock, sounds delightful xxx Happy new year to you and your blessings xx
Happy New Year to you, guys! xxx
Oh how wonderful that they get to experience this!
And such a lovely photo =)
Thanks! It has been an emotional rollercoaster for Beanie, but Crevette has enjoyed every minute of it so far.
That’s so lovely that they’re experiencing school in France, similar to your childhood. Sitting round for hours at a dining room table sounds like heaven to me! Happy new year! x
Now I have spent a whole morning at the school, I can confirm it is exactly like it was when I was at school. Had I tried to plan some kind of Back to the Future experience for them, I would not have done any better than this! I absolutely love it. Slippers for the little ones to be comfortable at school, naps, chalk and blackboards rock!
That picture of a frosty walk to school is making me feel chilly 🙂 I love the idea of my kids visiting my old primary school to see how things were before they had ipads everywhere. Wishing you and your family a wonderful New Year! Congratulations on creating a fantastic blog over the last year and I’m looking forward to following it this year. xx
It is soooo cold it took me ages to warm up after the school run at lunchtime.
How exciting!!!! We have had such a relaxed time too. Am feeling very sad today! Oh btw, I was looking at Pinterest last night and can’t believe how many people follow you!!! Wowzers! You are famous!!!!
For once, there was no sadness today as I took Crevette and Beanie to school. I stayed with them and really enjoyed reading in English to the nursery children and singing with them. I also gave an English lesson to a couple of other classes, including Crevette’s. That was so much fun! I am going back tomorrow for Years 3 to 6. It is all so relaxed here: I love it! I am a bit of a Pinterest addict I have to say. I must stop spending all my free time on it!
Bon courage to the children and Bonne Année to all of you !
Thanks Rosie, same to you and your family!
A very happy new year to you. Wishing you lots more health, happiness and success in 2015. I am so glad we connected in 2014 and I will never forget your thoughtful gesture of being the first to purchase from my shop. Thank you again. Your break sounds fab and relaxing and how lovely for your little ones to experience school in France. Looking forward to chatting more in 2015 and hopefully we can meet too – would love to. x
Happy New Year to you, too! It was a real honour making the first purchase from your shop. It would be great to meet in real life. x
Hello there, Happy New Year! That’s fantastic that they are able to experience something so different, and something full of so many special memories for you. And can I just say that you can never have enough slippers-what a lovely idea to have them at school! Hope you all continue having a wonderful time despite the cold! x #magicmoments
I do love the idea of wearing slippers at school when the children are little. It is so much more comfortable than wearing their shoes all day!
Absolutely, I only discovered the joy of the slipper a few years ago and am very glad I did! x
How lovely they get to experience school the old fashioned way. I hope they enjoyed it
My little man is enjoying every single minute of it, but it is harder for Beanie.
Happy New Year Mel. On the one hand, I too am asking where that year has gone. On the other, I find it hard to believe that your blog has only been around for a year! Love the idea of sampling school in France, and am sure you are all benefiting from it lots. Love the picture you paint of the village school….I can find myself going all nostalgic too, despite the fact that my primary school was very urban (and far from idyllic)!
Happy New Year to you too, Sarah! Being at school in France for a couple of weeks is such a fantastic experience. Crevette’s reading in French has improved a lot but he is really struggling with joined writing, bless him!
Looks chilli
It is quite cold around here!
What a wonderful experience for you and your children. Happy New Year lovely. x
Thanks Julie, it has been great so far.
Wow! That’s an amazing experience for them! Bonne annee a vous xxx
Merci, bonne année!
Happy New Year darling, what a wonderful start to the year, how long will you be there? I love that your children are experiencing school as you did. Oliver attends a village primary so similar to the one I attended (also in a small village in Yorkshire) growing up. Hope we get to meet up again this year, I can’t believe you’ve only been blogging for 1 year, you are one of my favourite bloggers in online and real life, much love and thanks for linking up x
Thanks for the sweetest comment I have read in a long, long time. We are there until the end of this week. It has been an amazing experience for the children, despite the late nights spent working on Crevette’s homework. Hope we manage to meet soon. xx
Happy blogiversary and New Year (a little lat – sorry). Sounds like your holidays were lovely and I love that photo of the kiddies heading off to school.
It was such a foggy day! I love that photo, too.
it’s fabulous that they’ve been able to do that in France! I bet it was a bit of a shock to the system. The question now is, do they want to stay or go back to London??
Complete shock, but Crevette loved it. He found it easy… until he was given homework!
My kids experienced the same in between moving from the UK to Australia. My daughter went to CP and and loved it but my son went the Maternelle and didn’t enjoyed it as much. It was weird seeing them go to the same school I went all those years ago. But it was a very “enrichissante expérience”!