A Day in Our French Homeschooling Life: Ages 1, 4, & 7

April 05, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Education, French Language Learning, French Resources, Home Management, Learning Resources

This is our second year of homeschooling if you consider that my oldest child is now seven, but our "education at home" lifestyle has been gaining momentum since that daughter was young and we first decided to take this path. This year we've found a definite rhythm, but that's not to say that we follow a set schedule. With my children's young ages and with my belief in the importance of play at this stage, certain days are far less orderly than others--but here's a typical homeschooling day for us:

C'est le Weekend: Links for April 1st

April 01, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Weekend Links

Bonjour! Oh my, it's been too long since I've posted here, and I'm sorry. Even when I'm not writing, I'm constantly thinking about what I can share with you next--resources that would be helpful, thoughts to help us sort out family life together in this messy world . . . so merci for staying with me through the quieter periods. Today's post simply has some fun and informative weekend links, but I'll be back next week with more about homeschooling in French (along with some of the English resources my family uses too). I'll also be posting some of my children's favorite French iPad apps. In the meantime, read on:

Weekly Meal Planning Made Simple

March 14, 2016 by Michele Cherie in American Culture, French Culture, Home Management

Bonjour! How was your weekend? On Saturday we celebrated my daughter's seventh birthday by going ice skating, then warmed up with steaming bowls of pho (beef noodle soup) at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. (Birthdays in our family always seem to be accompanied by pho--usually homemade!) Speaking of food, I want to share my weekly meal planning routine with you because this is such a fast, practical, and fun method. I usually do this on Saturdays so I can relax on Sundays & honor the Sabbath. Ready? Here it goes:

Library Visits in France & the Children's Books We Loved There

March 01, 2016 by Michele Cherie in French Language Learning, French Resources, Travel

Bonjour! The rain is pouring down, but spring is whispering from around the corner here in Oregon--there are little purple crocuses blooming in our front yard and yellow forsythia blossoms beckoning from the backyard. Nonetheless, today I'm taking you back to our summer travels in France to share about the library books my children enjoyed during our stay there. (I'll link to them on Amazon so you can obtain them if you're in the U.S. or Canada.) We visited libraries everywhere we traveled in France, and we were thrilled to obtain a library card in Lyon during the last two months of our France stay. (I simply needed to sign a form swearing to our address in France, however temporary it was.)

Flying Solo with Young Children: Single Parent Hacks

February 10, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Travel, Reflections on Parenting

One of the most daunting aspects of our family trip to France this past year was knowing that I would be parenting alone for a month and then flying home with my three young children on two flights (totaling 9 hours) until we could rejoin my husband in Oregon. Thankfully, those experiences were mostly smooth, and not worth stressing over far in advance (as we parents are prone to do). Recently, however, one of my close friends told me that she will be flying alone with her three children on more than twenty hours of flights, and she's asked me for advice. Here are the hacks I suggest:

Beginning February: L'Amour and Crêpes

February 01, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Cultural Reflections, French Culture, Home Management

Février est arrivée--Now that it's February, I'm glad to guide my children through some simple activities connected to love and light. One of the clearest descriptions of love, the apostle Paul's summary in 1 Corinthians 13, lends itself to a simple bilingual project:

Playing in Paris with Little Ones: What Local Families Know

January 29, 2016 by Michele Cherie in French Culture, French Language Learning, Travel

Bonjour les amis! We've been back from France for four months now and I'm feeling the distance. It's been nice to send and receive new year's cards this month (as the French do so throughout the month of January), but a completely unreasonable part of me wishes we could have stayed for the whole school year! Some of you are hoping to take your children to Paris someday soon just as my husband and I did. If you go, you should know about these two lesser-known family-oriented places that will give your children opportunities to play and speak in French:

My Focus for 2016: Less Fun, More Joy

January 19, 2016 by Michele Cherie in Contentment, Home Management, Reflections on Parenting

January is more than half over but I'm still planning and gaining momentum for the year ahead. I'm grateful for the awe-inspiring blessings God provided for my family in 2015--a baby boy, an extended stay in France, and a plot of land (here in Oregon) on which we plan to build a home. That said, 2016 will be a work-heavy year for me as we get deeper into homeschooling, homebuilding, and parenting. Knowing this, my focus this year is self-discipline. That doesn't sound very appealing, does it? None of us like putting ourselves in painful situations or depriving ourselves of fun experiences, but that's not quite what I mean. Instead, I plan to focus on these two points in 2016: