Just a fraction of the school supplies on our list or rentree shopping.
School Supplies: Full disclosure is that the Kiryk family has been unknowingly living in a school-supply vacuum for the past decade. At school in Cambridge, our kids put on clean clothes and show up in their classrooms on day #1; that’s it. Many American parents are faced with school supply lists from both public and private schools, but that’s how Shady Hill does it. Little did we know what alternate universe was in France. In fact, school supplies are such a big deal that it gets attention on the local news, and is referred to in conversation constantly in August. Concerned checking in as to how one is coping is the norm. Upon arrival at our cottage in Aix, we were not asked about electricity or our new digs, but about how “la rentree” was going for us etrangers! References are made as to how extreme the stress-levels of parents (read: mothers) must be about the “RENTREE” (“rahn-trey”: re-entrance to school). They even have a name for it!
The List: The French have got it “goin’ on” when it comes to school supplies. The list online looked quaint and reasonable to the uninitiated when we saw it online from in July. Little did we know that it translated into the biggest forest-stripping mountain of paper products and redundant notebooks, plus math tools, and uber-specific writing implements. Dmitri, who’s 11, is now the proud owner of approximately 1092 sheets of A4 graph paper (Yes, the French actually do write on technical graph paper, which Dmitri now calmly explains is for precise penmanship and for ease of underlining the teacher’s name), separate packets of “drawing” and colored construction paper, and he owns a plastic protractor plus metal compass in a little box. His ruler and red pen are just for underlining the teacher’s name. So far, Jack’s school supplies weigh in at 22.5 pounds, including a few textbooks (ed note: that’s true).
The best invention we’ve come across is a very specific homework planner, “Le Cahier des Textes”. Previously unknown, the French globally dominate Executive Function science — for those for whom this means anything. It’s a brilliant design, never before seen in America, and every French kid must have one. Required! We’re learning how to optimize its use, but suffice it to say that any ambivalence about a homework planner is in our distant past. Maybe we’ll start an import business to EF-challenged America.
Socialism at its best: So, here’s the real thing: all of these supply requirements are basically identical for every school-child in France — public, private, parochial. That’s right, every kid buys just about the same list. Who knew? So, when unsure how to proceed and just about losing our minds after the first trip to the school supply store, I had a revelation. If I go without children, unobtrusively stand behind any mom (pick cashmere sweater and loafers or burka — you’ll be good either way) in the Carrefour (Target meets Costco), and watch what they buy, I can just yank the same stuff off the shelves and I will get it right. It worked. And, if you forget your red pen, your seat-mate will absolutely have one!
More EF Tips for America: The “Carnet de Liaison”. This is a 5×7 soft-covered school-issued notebook, required to be covered at home in regulation plastic (yes, you buy that too). It contains the student’s daily schedule, the rules of the school-which we all had to sign and have available at all times, followed by many pages of the “communication format”. When a teacher or parent wants to communicate, we record a note to each other. The student then will present the book to the designated adult, who will read it and respond. Total transparency! No secret -teacher emails from a fretting parent, no avoidance (sig required), and no tardiness either! If late to class, the book gets signed and must be presented at home. While our boys were a bit intimidated at first by the concept of carrying around their Carnet de Liaison, they now don’t think twice. Oh, and so far, no “communiques” in either, Phew!
Rhymes with Lyric 