Musings on a Dutch vs ISA Education

With recent friend departures, I have been thinking a lot about the best schooling option for Jude. Children start school here at the age of 4. In fact, on their actual 4th birthday they show up to school no matter when that is in the school year (holidays aside). This date is fast approaching for all of the kiddos in my mom's group. At the international school, he is going to be saying goodbye to friends constantly and it breaks my heart to think about. Studies show that kids in that environment become very good at making new friends, but don't have a lot of experience with the challenges of having long time friends (working through conflicts, ect.). Jude and Maeve will also miss out on the experience of having neighborhood friends to bum around with as the kids in the houses around us go to the local Dutch school on the corner. He'll miss the grand experience of biking alone to elementary school that so many Dutch children have. And he'll miss out on becoming fluent in Dutch by default.

On the other hand, ISA is an amazing place and I don't doubt the quality of education or resources available there. It reminds me of school in the US and being a proud product of that, it gives me comfort. Not to mention the convenience of Pete taking Jude to and from school. And the logistics of having all of the school holidays the same as Pete (which would not be the case at the local Dutch school). I hope that this is the right decision and that our kids understand why we made it. My dream is that both kids will become fluent in Dutch so that they can integrate with their peers no matter the hang out. Just need to figure out a way to make that happen! Jude's Saturday morning soccer classes are in Dutch and he seems to follow along quite well, but we are a long way from any sort of fluency.

No matter what, I don't think we'll ever quite feel like we belong. We were at an ISA teacher's party this weekend and I was having a nice conversation with a new teacher from Madrid when I realized that she is Jude's music teacher. That's not to say that I can't be friends with Jude's teachers, but it definitely makes things a bit awkward (less so because Jude is a good kid!). And then I show up to the ISA American Parents welcome coffee and don't feel like I belong there either. With only a few men in attendance, the room was almost completely comprised of female partners of men with corporate jobs. The ones with generous housing allowances, relocation packages, free tuition at ISA, etc. That world will also never be ours either. Not to mention the awkwardness of meeting the parent's of Pete's students (the not so good ones). I don't think I can convince him to join me for any of their social events...

When we moved here and knew our kids could go for free to ISA, I figured our education decisions would be quite easy, but they never are, are they!?

Rainbow over ISA