Anybody Having Their Kids Go to German Schools (Especially Schweinfurt)

I don't have any knowledge about your area specifically but my two children are both involved in the German school system. We have been here since 2003 and they have gone to the schools since. My son is 8 and in the third grade after two years in the Kindergarten and my daughter is 6 and will start the first grade this coming year after three and a half years in the kindergarten. I have fallen in love with the system, my children are bilingual (my husband and I are both english only speaking Americans) and learn in a completely different fashion than other kids in the DODDS system. I have thought about switching them and quickly changed my mind and kept them where they are. I know some people worry about what would happen when they move back to the states but I am not really concerned with that. I think my children will adapt well and be more advanced for it. I wish you luck! If you have any more specific questions just let me know!

Hi, we are in the military and will be moving to Schweinfurt next year 2011 and now trying to find everything about it especially the school. My hubby and I are also thinking of sending my daughter (going to 2nd Grade next year) to a German school. I saw you posted this 2008, were you able to find a good German school in Scwheinfurt? Would if be fine if you can share some tips and advise on what I need to do and don't do? Appreciate your feedback.

Hi! I live near Kaiserslautern in a small village called Horbach. We are in the military, US citizens, and I am not to impressed with the DODS school. My daughter is 4 and she attends the German Kindergarten in our village. She loves it! It was rough at first, but now is great. She has started pciking up the language enough to speak to the other children and she understands it fairly well. They are great seeing as though they tell her in German first and then English so that she is not lost. I am going to send her starting in September to a Montessorri School seeing as though we are only here until 2010. I want to ensure that she learns the things that she needs to return to the US school at that time.

One of my closest friends has had her daughter who is now 7 in German School , it is called grundschule (grammer school grades 1-4)and she has done fine. She started her in the Kindergarten at age 4 and then she chose to keep her in the German School. There comes a point though from what I have been told that the German School does differ from the US school. They test in 4th grade to see where to place them. Starting in 5th grade (highschool is from 5-10 grade here) the schools are divided into 4 catagories. Depending on which school you are in and remain in until you finish school can have a great bearing on if you ever get a good job here. The schools are called Hauptschule (for not so smart children), Gesamtschule (smarter children), Realschule (more intelligent children) and then Gymnasiumschule (extremely intelligent children). You must apply at another school when you want your children to change even from Grammar School to highschool or within the categories in highschool. Also,when a teacher is abesent for whatever reason, the childrens day is cancelled.

Hope that this helps...

Hello M.,

I live in the Spangdahlem area, and sent both of my sons to German schools. My older son (8) is now in 2nd Grade in the local German elementary school (1st through 4th grade), and my younger son (6) is in his 3rd and last year of Kindergarten. The schools have worked out extremely well for both of them, and I am really happy that I enrolled them there. The only downside to the elementary school is that it gets out at noon, but as I don't work here, it is not a problem for me. Both my husband and I are US citizens and originally non-German speakers, but we have learned a lot from our kids.

I would be happy to answer any questions you have.

My history is about similar to yours. I am German with a 2nd grader in a German school. Not Schweinfurt though. He went to "Kindergarten (3-6)" in a local Italian one. We were 1 year in the US where he attended the public American school and since this summer he is attending the Grundschule in Stuttgart where we live. If you have any general questions that I might be able to answer let me know. From what I heard the Germans have become pretty strict about which school district you live in. Might be different in Schweinfurt but I guess that is the first step that you have to find out if they can only go where you live (Grundschule) and then you can think about finding out if you like that school specifically or if you rather have them go to the DOD school system

Hallo,
meine Tochter ist im selben Jahr geboren, und koennte dieses Jahr auf die Kerschensteiner Schule gehen. Nun ist sie aber sehr klein, und wurde fuer dieses Jahr zurueckgestellt. Wir wuerden sie auch gern dort einschulen, da sie soviele Freunde in ihrem KIGA hat, die auch dort eingeschult werden und auf der SES keinen kennen wuerde. Wir haetten sie dann erst beim Umzug in die Staaten auf einer amerikanischen Schule eingeschult, nun aendert sich voraussichtlich das DEROS meines Mannes und dadurch hat sich alles geaendert und sie wird dieses Jahr doch das Kindergarten-Schuljahr in der SES anfangen. Damit sie nicht mitten im Jahr das Schulsystem wechseln muss und ausserdem 2 amerikanische Schuljahre verpasst, den fuer die Kindergarten-Klasse auf der SES haette sie schon letztes Jahr gehen muessen.
Welche deutsche Schule ueberhaupt in Frage kommt, liegt ja am Wohnort bzw. am Wohngebiet, in dem man wohnt und da gibt es wohl doch noch Unterschiede zwischen den einzelnen Schulen.
Uns haette die Kerschensteiner Schule als Schule selbst auch sehr zugesagt.