Rowan and Cara started school at Frankfurt International School on August 19th – I’m a bit delinquent posting pictures! They are in 5th and 2nd grade this year.

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It’s a big change for them from St. Mary in Cincinnati. At St. Mary, we’d walk or I’d drive them in to school each day. In Germany, they take a bus that uses city stops:

No uniforms, either! They were pretty pumped to put on t-shirts instead of polos.

There’s a fun first day of school tradition, called the Schultute, that I indulged in to try to help the kids with new school/first day jitters. In Germany, a child’s very first day of school – the first day of first grade – is a significant event, and families celebrate it together, sometimes even with extended family (I saw several sets of dressed-up grandparents seeing their grandkids off to school, and/or welcoming them back at the end of the day). The child receives decorated paper cones – Schultutes – filled with gifts like candy and school supplies. Such a great tradition! Even though ours don’t fit the ‘first grade’ criteria, I figured it was worth experiencing it anyway, and hey, it is their first day of school ever here in Germany! The kids were pretty excited about their Milka bars and markers:

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FIS is a big school – 120 5th graders in six homerooms and 100 2nd graders in five homerooms. The school goes from pre-K all the way through high school, so it’s a campus-like feel with pretty great facilities to accommodate all the kids and their interests. Class sizes are small and hopefully that will help them adjust to going from their beloved parish school to one that looks more like a college campus!

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They had a great day and came home smiling and relaxed – I think that having no homework might have helped that a bit.