Foreign countries
Last night, George dreamt that a family we’re friends with left the country. They went to Hawaii. It didn’t matter if they didn’t speak the language, he explained, because there were subtitles 
I don’t think I had any dreams; I don’t think I was asleep long enough. Toby has a very runny nose, and it’s waking him frequently. He slept during the evening while I was awake, then, when I was ready to fall asleep, he woke up and decided it was time to play. Until 2 a.m. And then he woke at 3. And at 4. And at 4.30. Etc. 
The older three did some bookwork this morning, and in the afternoon they played while I lay down with Toby for a while. Later Barney and Freddy had a go at Rosetta Stone French on the computer. Freddy has never learned any French, and I was surprised how fast he picked it up. Rosetta Stone shows you photos, tells you which one it wants (”le chien” or “la voiture jaune est vieille”, etc) and you’re supposed to click on the right one. The theory is that you’re immersed in the language - rather than translating in your head, you learn to think of the thing as “le chien”. The first time Freddy worked through lesson one, he got 38%. The third time, he got 100%.
Speaking of French, we got an information pack from En Famille, who arrange exchanges between French families and families in other countries. It looks interesting, but I have some serious reservations about sending Barney to live with a family in France for six months, never mind George, who is, according to the organisation, at the best age for an exchange. I wish they’d do shorter exchanges, or slightly less stringent ones (the children aren’t allowed to take mobile phones nor any books in their own language, for example). I really doubt we’d send any of them on such an exchange, though we might look into having a French child here. If anyone has experience of such exchanges, I’d love to hear what you think.
In: babies, cute stuff they say/do, education, family, life
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Wow, 6 months is a hell of a long time for a child of that age. I’d be very interested in it myself if it was, say 2 weeks. But 6 months?!?!? I’d be worried sick!
I can see their point - that a shorter time doesn’t give the child the chance to become truly fluent, to become a “natural” in the language - but yes, the mother in me is going “argh! six months!”