First feelings right out of the gate? Heart breaking and filled to the brim with pride for my happy little first grader. She won’t let us call her anything else. “Hey First Grader!”, “How’s the BIG First Grader doing?!” It is now her name apparently; a badge of honor and intense pride for our incredibly independent young lady. (I will refer to my daughter as FJP from here on out).
A shortish recap: In random sentences as the thoughts come streaming through. This would sound like one giant long run-on paragraph with me barely drawing breath if I was talking to you in person.
She started, spoke nearly fluent with her peers right off the bat. Had a holiday concert that my mom was here for. We didn’t know what they were singing because it was Swedish, but it was still very sweet. No pictures as that’s just not done here because other children would be in the pictures and that is not okay to publish or share without the parents or kids permission. A bit different from my upbringing in the States. Started doing voluntary homework 1x/week to “prep” for obligatory homework next year. Said homework still brought tears for both of us as we learned to manage the additional authority figures and cultural differences between us. Long winter days with lots of layers and fights about said layers going on. Introduction to the band Dolly Style and laughter from family discos. I think I can count on 2 hands the number of times we were on time to school out of the full school year. Covid-19 came, but she kept going to school because Swedish government determined that was the safest, and best thing for children and families (not writing that to start a debate, it is simply the fact of the situation). Learned basic math and other number skills. Came home with a billion and one drawings. Loves to correct our Swedish. Found a new best friend and their relationship reminds me so very much of my best friend from grade school (B, I love you!) I think my favorite thing is that her imagination grew (and that is insane because this little lady of mine has always had a very powerful imagination). When asked what happened at school the stories and big mischievous grins we would get in return were always winding, long, colorful, joyful adventures and full of yummy treats. Thank goodness the teachers reported on the events of the day so we could follow up on what really went down that day. Ended the school year like she owns the place.
Longer recap:
Not to sound like the ultimate cliché, because I know it is said all the time, but, where on earth did the past 10ish months go?! Our girl went from little pre-schooler to fully fledged school girl in a flash! So, what was this year like? Well, I am going to tell you.
The major concern before moving and starting grade school at a Stad school (aka fully Swedish language and curriculum) was language. Welp, those worries and sleepless nights were a big ol’ waste of time. Sweden recently implemented standardized phonics testing for Förskolaklass students (done 3 times throughout the year to gauge improvements) and FJP tested right along with her peers at every test. How cool is that?! I am forever impressed by the bravery and skill shown by FJP in managing the speedy immersion and language learning she’s accomplished. We really did just plop her right into the middle of a different world!
During our parent teacher meetings (Samtal) FJP’s teachers explained she was an eager student and happy to share her ideas and opinions. I can only speak to our very unique individual situation, but I feel very grateful for putting her in a Stad skola. Her teachers have been very reassuring and encouraging of her development and needs and I could see when they would push her to excel because they knew she could if they engaged her in different ways. The curriculum was set for the group, but teachers were highly attuned to individual need of each student. They were also very open to talking with us (in English so we could get our thoughts out clearly) when we had concerns and took serious action to address anything. This was a relief as what I had heard from other Americans in Sweden and read other places was that FJP would be one academic year behind her same grade counterparts in the US. Perhaps if we compared apples to apples the two sets of curriculum, she might be? However, I am personally really happy she was not required homework for this first year in compulsory school and I still feel like she learned and grew A LOT in her math, reading, writing and of course language skills (she’s officially bi-lingual and shows a real love for learning languages!).
This seems a good point to bring up the impact Covid-19 had on her school year. When I originally published the first blog piece, I was planning to write a short half-way point update on the journey into being an expat grade school family. Well, the holidays came and went, then the very dark days of winter and just as things were a bit past the halfway and I was thinking “crap I’m late writing that update” BOOM, the world shut down, mostly. Sweden as most know, took a different approach. Grade schools remained open. High schools were moved to distance learning only, but all lower grades remained in session at the school grounds. From listening to other parents most schools took the government regulations then added in their own or addressed them in slightly different ways. FJP’s class (not sure it was even the entire school?) enabled distance learning, which was set up very well and we had ample materials and guidance from the teachers, even though we had to attempt to teach FJP in a language we are only beginners in. We attempted a week of at home distance learning. At the end of that week we determined it was not the right choice for FJP or the rest of the family to keep her home. So, the next Monday she went back to school and we stayed at home working. She continued attending school throughout the ongoing pandemic and we consistently received updates from the Stad, the school director and teachers on the situation. Did coronavirus affect FJP? Absolutely. She was limited in how and where she could play with friends. We have gone into the city with the kids perhaps once since the beginning of March when usually we had gone into central Stockholm every weekend. FJP’s dance classes were also moved to a digital platform. I am well aware that life was not as “normal” for her. It was however, far more “normal” than those of our friends and family back in the US.
Teaching and fritids (before and after school care) went on with adjustments to the new “normal”. Throughout the year we received a weekly email giving us a recap of the weeks work and any updates on future things happening. I had to use Google translate, but as the year went on both the letters and the samtal meetings were easier to read and understand in Swedish. So, I learned some things too.
FJP grew so much and we are so so proud. But, she still asks us when we’re moving back to Massachusetts. She’s holding on to what she thinks she understands as “normal” or “home”. The guilt in moving her is still there. And the guilt of moving her away from here is present, even though there are no plans to do that in the near future. I guess what I’m saying is, yes, kids are resilient, but (BIG BUT) change is hard and it stays with us all. We are still working through this process of expat life, almost 2 years into it we are still so new to it.
For now, onto much needed SOMMARLOV and in August, First Grade!