Going to school in Paris sounds great, but which school? Public? Private? French? English? British (yes, we considered one of those)? We decided even before we toured any of them that French public school was not the way to go. While Evelyn is taking French at school now, Carolyn hasn’t had any. So a school that had classes taught in English while including French language learning was the way to go for us.
Last November we toured three schools: the American School, a short distance out of town in a sleepy suburb west of Paris; a British school on the south side of the city; and the International School of Paris, located in the the 16th arrondissement, right across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It’s housed in three buildings on a quiet street named Rue Beethoven (how great is that?). You can guess which one we all agreed was the best–the International School of Paris (ISP).
We all were impressed by their studios for art and drama. And the girls liked the idea of smaller class sizes (each grade consisting of 60-80 students). I liked the idea that the girls will probably be able to walk to school and not have to worry about the Metro every day.
While we were there, we saw some of the students from the ISP enjoying lunch in the gardens between the school and the Trocadero (the plaza across the river from the Tower). Of course we had to get a photo of the Tower as well.
a year with mona 
Lovely family – lovely pictures and story! Good to know how you chose the school for your girls — and for my family, although we’ve considered {dreamed!} of what it would be like to travel internationally, we homeschool in the states and would likely continue to do so when traveling, which would likely mean not staying anywhere for an entire year, but only a month at a time.
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One of the biggest upsides of the school has been how the girls–and I–have made friends from all over the world. And they’ve gotten opportunities through the school that we wouldn’t easily have come up with (like cultural and historical visits to various places).
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Our top reason for wanting to travel with the children for extended visits to get a real perspective on life, not just a vacation 😉 They’ll be so much further ahead because of this amazing experience.
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A big discussion we had over time before doing this was whether to take a big summer vacation of travel and see lots of places, or move to Paris, live daily life with school, church, ordinary shopping, etc. etc. And both girls said they would rather do the year than the big summer trip.
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Interesting! I would think, based on the assumed ages of your tween/teenage girls they wouldn’t want to leave their friends and family for a year, but it is quite the life experience. One of the reasons I love your blog is your writing about your experiences living abroad with your family…you paint such a vivid image of your experiences, and I was drawn in the rabbit hole of catching up on some of the beginning of your experiences last night – I’m so glad I did! Thank you for sharing it 🙂
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