Neue Stifte, neues Maeppchen: new German school thread

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Am starting in positive manner as we're 7 weeks into the new school year and all 3 of mine are settled and happy.
Well, d won't be if she does have head lice and has to stay off because she loves school so much.
S1 is in the second year of secondary & still thriving. Is class prefect for the first time which was a great ego boost.
S2 is in Y4 & has been doing better in class but his test results are still lousy (unfortunate choice of phrase if we are lice-ridden) and his teacher is convinced it's the language issue. He's trying harder which is a good sign. He lost the prefect election by 1 vote to his best friend and was chuffed to bits to be his "deputy" and that so many voted for him.

Had forgotten how wonderful the "erste Klasse" is.

oh that thread is a classic!

we have had similar comments from "helpful" little school friends, not specifically about lunchboxes but anything "different" about your family.
They once told dd that she was probably adopted when she was too little to remember it, because she doesnt look like me!
And the clothes police are terrible! Took dd to C&A last week, she refused everything there, after a weary half an hour we managed to agree on a top and some trousers that would pass muster...oh the strain

So hope your dd gets to move to Realschule NN that would give a great positive boost to the whole thread.

admylin, sorry I'm being a bit thick but what was this meeting for then? Was it just a regular parent evening or was it specifically about what type of recommendation your dc is heading towards at this point in time?

Yes this meeting was to talk the empfehlung and what they have to do to improve - but I could tell the horrid teacher already has dd as hauptschule.

From what I know of your dd (from what you have said) I cannot believe they are considering giving her an Empfehlung for the Hauptschule admylin. I expect (I wasn't there of course) but my guess is she is saying consistant 4's means Hauptschule in the long run. Anyway they would have to balance out what she is doing in German and what she is doing in maths. You cannot surely recommend a dc who is doing great in German tests but not so well in maths for the Hauptschule surely?

Are you going to mention it to dh?

I'm so sorry to hear your dd went silent. Poor little thing. What unnecessary stress for them all. I was trying to think the other day what I actually learned at primary; tbh it was not a huge amount. Not a huge amount of facts I don't think, just practised stress-free maths and writing I think, learnt to play the recorder, had a lot of fun. In fact it was my mum who taught me to read and practiced the times tables but at school itself can't remember that much subject content.

Zero stress though, know that much.

Very busy today and over the weekend admy but I'll mail you Saturday evening. Bound to be tote Hosen Saturday night!

Dd is better today. She came out of school yesterday and told me she had corrected the teacher in Englsih class because she was saying 'cuse me instead of excuse me or even 'scuse me - she obviously picked it up on her travels (do maybe Austrlians say 'cuse me?) - anyway I was proud of her and told her well done, ds never dared to correct the teachers!

So, maths test is back - she got a 4 again - I need atleast 2 hours more in the day to fit all the extra practise in to help her.

SSS - thats exactly what they do here. you have to be good in all subjects, and a bright child who isnt so good in one subject, or for example, who writes slowly, still gets the HS empfehlung.

Dd says that one girl in her class is going to move to Hannover and her parents are going to put her in the Gym there - not sure if this is true or just a tall story.!

admylin, does your dd have a tutor?
I am currently paying 4 separate sets of tutors for my children. It does make a difference. Dd's tutor raised her marks by an average of 1 across the board last year, between November and March.

great news, ds1 got a 1 in his SU test!!!!

that's wonderful news!
assuming SU is Sachunterricht? Heimat und Sachunterricht here is a particularly hard nut for english speakers to crack, so a great achievement.

Congratulations too on the grade 1! My poor dd is still suffering from the shock of getting a 4 again. We're going to do some maths tomorrow. Ds is preparing for a test on Monday in maths too. I don't really know if he's doing the preparation properly as he's fairly new to lernen für Klassenarbeiten.

I was just looking at the pile of dvd's we got sent over from UK and thinking we won't have time for those AGAIN this week. Used to love having a sofa, dvd and salt and vinager crisp afternoon with the dc now and then. Never happens often now. What will it be like as they get older and school gets even harder.

good news there from Austria. Autriche dix points!

Admylin you will be sitting on the sofa by yourself eating salt and vinegar crisps and they will be swotting like mad in their rooms.

Lol. dd needs step by step instructions and I have to try and get her to understand it all (thought we already had) and ds's idea of swotting is getting me to help him every 10 to 15 minutes - infact he wants me to test him (I hate maths) so that'll take all my time to think out some questions and figure out the right answer with my calculator before he's finished.

I agree. dd seems to have cracked teh studying by herself thing, since the 5th class. She actually does prepare for tests by herself now!

when they are in the primary school, they are just too young for all this, thats why they cant do it.

Just read your mail, thanks!
I think I will go to the Gesamtschule and look around. It's not far and the website makes it sound quite good. School is from 9am to 4pm.

Ooh well done NN getting her to the stage where she can study independently.

Admylin send me the web address for the school or post it here if you like and I'll peruse it too.

Never had a problem with maths at school, was never INTERESTED in it in the least but kept up without any great effort. Gladly forgot it all when school was over and have rarely tbh needed to apply much of it to real life. Such is my real life.

However since having a school age dc, maths became the bane of my life. Year 1 and 2.... groan. Actually thinking about it is curing my cluckiness. I dön't ever want to do that again.

What are you going to be doing over Christmas NN? Are you all in Munich or will you be with your parents?

Well one school is IGS Roderbruch and the neighbour's dc went there. She says it's a great school and ALL the dc get the chance to do well and get their abi if capable. www.igs-roderbruch.de/joomla/here

She wants to go to Gymnasium like her brother but I think she'll struggle with maths and in Gymnasium you have to be good at maths too.

I mean here!

Thanks everyone, thought the thread needed some good news

We are staying here SSS, my parents will be having the Christmas of the Living Dead with their favourite sibling... obv I am very mature and havent got any sort of chip on my shoulder about my bro being the favourite...

Am just contemplating trip to the UK to get ds examined for possible dyslexia though.
We recently had a nasty experience where he was in hosp, and they were absolutely lusting to put him in the psych section, without any proper medical reasons ever being given. I had to get a lawyer to escape. So I am now so scared, taht I want him diagnosed in blighty, as dont trust the psychs here, they seem to be nutcases to me. Am genuinely not sure if he is dyslexic or not, but do not want him coming out with 20 different psych labels attached.

I think exactly the same way as you nigbynight. Whenever there's something wrong with the dc I keep thinking Oh I must get that seen to next time I'm in UK. Dd had an operation on her hands (thumbs) when she was smaller but only after I'd had her seen by my old GP back home. The doc here just said oh it's OK if she can manage to do everything with her thumb in that position then she can live with it. Trouble is she would never have been able to type quickly/play piano/instruments and would have had problems even writing ordentlich. Now she can do everything and has the best writing.

Id just like to bring a little Christmas cheer to this thread...dd1 (6th class HS) got presented with a 15 euro book voucher yesterday, because she won a reading competition. It was all the 6th class pupils against 6 class pupils from other HS in the area. She was brilliant, and would have beaten Gym and RS children too, but wasnt allowed to compete against them.

Back down to earth, she did a maths test and we dont know the mark yet but fear it may be bad, as she confessed she just didnt get fractions at all...just when we were hoping for a 1 or a 2

oh that's excellent news NN, just in time for Christmas too!

Attagirl NN junior!

I think maths nowadays seems to be an allround extreme sport. I don't personally know anyone whose dc enjoy it/get it, if that's any consolation.

It was fractions! She should have got it!!!
Sorry, I am really not the sort of mother to get wound up about this sort of thing. Its a sign of how bloody the whole situation is, that we start minding so much.