German kindergarten Struggles

I was pretty excited and nervous about getting Adeline into German Kindergarten. I had heard from other moms that their kids loved it and picked up the language extremely quick. I had also heard not so great stories and others struggles. When I started looking in to getting her a "slot" in a kindergarten, I looked at 3 different ones around our town that we were going to live in. When you pay for kindergarten, you have to pay for a 25hr, 35hr, or 45hr slot. I only wanted to send Adeline the minimum amount of time (15 hrs/week), so did not want to pay for anything more than a 25 hour slot. There was one kindergarten very close to our house, in which I heard was AMAZING, and I went to go see it. I LOVED it. I loved the teachers, the classrooms, the play areas and the overall feel of the Kindergarten. I was pretty upset when they ended up not having any open slots. The next one was about a 8 minute drive from us and I really liked that one too. They really wanted Adeline to go there, but they only had a 35 hour slot. I debated sending her there, but I found a Kindergarten in our town and it was walkable distance. I was also happy to hear that they had a 25 hour slot for Adeline. Only problem was that I was not in LOVE with it like I was the other ones. It was smaller, darker, older (seemed like boring) teachers, etc. I never felt like it was unsafe or bad by any means, just didn't get the same "fun" feel. We decided to send her there anyway because of the perfect slot and we could walk there.

When Adeline first started, she was really excited. We had been here for almost 3 months and Adeline didn't have too much of a social life. She was a really good sport and stayed excited about it for the first couple of weeks. Some days she would come home and tell us a german word she learned. Some days she would be excited and say, "I learned someone's name today!" I think after a couple weeks is when the frustration(?) possibly hit. She would hide from me in the mornings and would refuse to go to school. I even had to carry her to the car a handful of times. Every time though, she would pull it together when we got there and would walk right in without any hesitation. She is such a brave girl! When I picked her up, she always seemed and seems like she has a good time.

A couple of months ago Adeline started getting a little defiant and had a HUGE attitude. I was driving me insane. I was thinking she was just going through a horrible stage. She ended up having Spring break, we went on a couple of trips and she was missing a lot of school. Magically, her attitude mostly disappeared. Then it dawned on me that she is taking all her frustration out from Kindergarten on us when she comes home. I really thought, and hoped, that Adeline would pick up on the language quickly. She has learned some words here and there, but can't speak it and I don't think she really understands it either. One of the problems is that one of her teachers speaks English. She doesn't speak to her in German very often and I feel like Adeline followers her around a lot because it makes her feel comfortable. The kids like Adeline a lot, but maybe because she is more of a novelty, being the only English speaking kid and all. I have also been disappointed because it is more like a daycare (which I knew in advance) but I figured they would do fun activities, crafts, etc with them. I have heard that the other Kindergartens do. Well, this one doesn't. She colors everyday by choice, but then it is mostly just doing whatever they want. For Heaven sakes, the paintings behind all the kids in the class pictures are from EIGHT years ago!

I helped my German friend with her little girls birthday party that Adeline was attending. It was a good eye opener for me. The kids are not mean to Adeline, but she is a big outcast. The kids didn't ask her to play with them, she was always by herself and she was completely quiet and on edge. I think she cried 4 times (from being stepped on, hurt, frustrated, etc). That is not Adeline at all and she normally just acts tough. My heart hurt for her a little bit.

So, Adeline has a couple more weeks of "school" left and we are pulling her out. Adeline is SO excited to be done... which again is NOT like her at all. We will be sending her to the DOD international school in August and she couldn't be more excited that they will all be speaking English. It's pretty funny because when Adeline wakes up in the morning she will say, "Is it Kindergarten today?" After we tell her yes, she replies, "DANG IT!" She is a trooper and goes without fight though even though she is uncomfortable and pretty bored since there is no structure at all.

I wish that it had worked out better, but it hasn't all been bad. Because of it, we have met several other German mom's and kids in our little town. If we hadn't put her in, there is a good chance we would have NEVER made friends with other Germans (they don't open up very easily I have found). We will walk around town or be at the store and the kids will say, "Hello Adeline". I like that we feel apart of our community.