Endlich Sommer

Finally, the last week of school is here! And summer vacation begins on July 31. It has been an interesting year academically, especially for Philip. He started Realschule this year, and initially, I was relieved that he wasn't going to Gymnasium. I was told that Gymnasium was harder and moved a lot faster than Realschule. If this is true, how come more kids aren't dropping out of Gymnasium?

I was surprised at what Philip was expected to learn in Realschule. First, he had algebra and geometry classes this year, fifth grade. I didn't learn algebra and geometry until I was in eighth or ninth grade. And they moved fast--it seemed that he had only a few days to grasp a concept before moving onto the next one. Luckily, Philip picks up math quickly. Unfortunately, he made a lot of mistakes on exams, so his grades didn't reflect his understanding. He's passing, and his grades improved over the year, especially when I stopped helping him.

Second, his biology teacher taught biology to fifth graders the way I taught Intro to Bio to freshmen at Northeastern Illinois University. For example, he was expected to memorize the names of all the major bones and muscles in the human body (even I didn't make my students do that), the entire circulatory system (this my students had to learn), animal classifications, and botany. They're finishing up the year with human reproduction, also known as sex education.

In Deutsch class, he had to write grammatically correct essays from the beginning of the year. His teacher in fourth grade made them write one essay after another, so he was used it. But Philip still has problems with grammar, so he's passing but not with good grades.

English was his best subject. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise, but Philip was never a good speller. I was really worried at the beginning of the year, because he had to learn a long list of vocabulary in a short period of time. And he did have problems at first, but he's developed into a very good speller, in both English and Deutsch.

Overall, Philip did better as the year progressed, and so did Alex. I have to admit, I'm so happy that Alex isn't having the same problems in elementary school that Philip had. Alex's teacher told me that he makes the same mistakes that the German kids make. In other words, he's learning at the same level they are and should be able to get into Gymnasium or Realschule without any difficulties.


Other than school, Alex finished a triathlon. He swam 50 meters, biked 3 kilometers, and ran 500 meters. He finished somewhere in the middle, and everyone got a medal.


Philip played piano in his music school's annual concert. He played well and was proud of himself. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good photos of him while playing. After the concert, we celebrated at a local Biergarten.